Visiting our children

Last week we flew to the UK and visited two of our children. First were Christian and partner. They’ve not long moved into a lovely house in a tiny village. Think Agatha Raisin or Midsomer Murders, a really charming place. I’m hoping that they don’t get murdered.

We also visited a super shopping centre in Sheffield and the city of York while we were at that end of the country. After being used to the French country side around here, everything seemed to be so green and the trees so big!

Moving further south into the Midlands we took my mum out to lunch and I presented her with a signed copy of my book! After that we spend a day visiting Hay-on –Wye via Ross-on-Wye, Christian joined us on this trip. Hay-on-Wye is very, very famous for books. We visited back in 2004 when the children were small. Funnily enough, I am the book lover and was the only one who didn’t buy a book on this trip.

We finished the day eating at a restaurant which is special to our family. Rob ate there with his parents when he was a child. The first time I met his mother and step father we had a meal there and the last time Christian took his grandma out was to eat there too. It’s a very special place for us all.

On the last day we spent the afternoon with Dom. It was nice to catch up with her. We went to visit the Beth Chatto Gardens near Colchester. Well worth a visit; you must look at the lovely pictures on the website. Topped off with a cream tea! To walk the tea off Dom wanted to show us Brightlingsea Beach and all of the lovely bathing huts. The tide was out, but it was a very interesting walk.

Next week we’ll be in Prague. I’m looking forward to seeing Olivier of course and there is that beautiful City to see and explore.

There and back - again

I was hoping to include some pictures in this post, but I still can’t get the pictures from my phone onto my computer. Dom shows me what to do every time she comes, I forget very quickly.

We’re just home after spending another week in the UK. We originally planned to return in September but Rob was looking for cheap flights and we ended up going 8 weeks after our first visit in April. The plan was the same as before; stay with C & J and then with MIL for a few days. We took her shopping which she didn’t really enjoy from the height of a wheelchair. On other afternoons we walked around the village and also visited a garden centre and had a cup of coffee. We also went to see my mum and sister as well a shopping in Worcester. Top of my list was Honey trap lip balm from Lush. I discovered a shop, Healthy Planet Books for Free, where I could choose 3 free books – which I did. How could anyone throw away a book? We made a donation in exchange.

The best part of the visit was the weekend we arrived. C & J took us on a trip on a steam train on The Great Central Railway. The stations on the route were holding a WW2 event. Each station represented a different country, Germany, France and a US base. There was plenty to see, even George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Winston Churchill and others, plenty of singers and music from the 40s. Many people were dressed in clothes from the time and uniforms, some were carrying gas masks. We even had ID cards which were checked while we were on the train – once by a very severe looking German soldier. It was a lovely day.

Early to rise

The alarm went off at four this morning. Rob had to go into work early to let the camera crew into the Chain tower as today was the la Rochelle Marathon. By eight this morning I’d already cleaned the oven door (no easy task), made the Christmas card list and cleaned the step in the shower. Since then I’ve been working and surfing. I’ve managed to prepare more postcards for online than I usually do. Perhaps I should set the alarm for 4 every morning. Perhaps not.

On Friday I had a chest x-ray. My lungs are fine but they did notice my spine is slightly arthritic (regular readers will know all about that problem) which I’ve already sorted.

After that I spent a few hours looking for something to wear for the wedding. Most shops are more interested in evening wear for Christmas and New Year at the moment, so it’s not easy. This is not going to be a formal wedding and I am not wearing a hat. I’ve managed to find one shop with clothes that I like and will go back again next Friday and try some things on.

I’ve also got to find out where to buy confetti from.

Time to buy a dress

Dom and J-M came to visit this weekend. Saturday morning we had the agreeable job of shopping for clothes for Dom and J-M’s wedding at the end of December! We went into a lot of shops, some of which were very different to others. Dom found several dresses that she liked in Burton of all places (considering the chic French shops we have here in La Rochelle). As they are having a civil marriage, she decided on a very simple purple dress, with geometric black lines, very 60s. Me? Absolutely nothing. I tried on three dresses, none of which flattered my lumpy figure.

We were exhausted after a morning’s shop and the weather was dull and damp so we just popped out for a drink late afternoon. We celebrated her birthday which was on the 15th and talked and talked.

Next time they will be here it will be Christmas.

Somewhere in my youth, or childhood...

…I must have done something good.

Yesterday I was grocery shopping when a woman came up to be and asked me if I had a coupon and I said no; cross with myself that I’d missed one. She gave me hers saying that she wouldn’t be spending enough to get the money back. So I got 10€ ($12.58 - £7.94) off my bill at the end!  I'm sure she will never read this but, thank you again anyway.

I also picked up a BBQ tray at half price as it was close to the sell by date. When I got home I broke it up and put it into the freezer, it will make 3 meals for Rob and I.

Evacuation

I went shopping a week or so ago.  It was pretty busy in the supermarket when the alarm started.  A voice came over the loud speaker asking us to leave calmly and quietly.  The message was repeated in English too.  So we all walked to the exit calmly and quietly.  I found somewhere to leave my trolly/cart, that I would remember, but most people were still pushing their shopping towards the exit. 

After a few seconds everyone was coming back again.  Then there was an announcement to say that the alert was a computer error.  See how exciting life can be?

My son, the gentleman

Olivier and I went shopping on Thursday morning for his shoes. I tried not to look as if I was with him, but he was quite nice as I was the one with the credit card. He told me that I wasn’t too bad to go shopping with. The worst thing – he confided in me- is shopping with a girl. “Especially when they expect you to carry the bags”.

Safe and sound

I had a very busy week supervising exams and this morning Rob and I went into town to do a little last minute Christmas shopping and pick Dom up from the station. The man at the Irish Counter very nicely gave me a free plastic carrier bag as I had a flimsy bag from another shop that was going to break. He said as long as I walked round town a lot with it he didn’t mind. (Don’t worry I always use plastic bags till they fall into holes.)

A couple of mornings last week I arrived at the big car park just after seven. The fairground is there at the moment but I suppose everyone was asleep at that hour, so the car park was deserted. I thought that I would feel more afraid to get out of the car than I did but it was fine. The closer I got to the park there were a few more people about, though mainly women like me, on their own. I didn’t want to go through the park so I used the underpass by Dom’s old Lycée. It’s really well lit inside and at either end. I was amazed at how secure I felt.

BANG

If your husband offers to drive you somewhere and drops you off in the car park. If you come out half an hour later with your purchases and get into the car. If your husband has parked by a concrete edge because there is a cute baby tree that offers no shade at all. Then if he drives off in a straight line and hits the concrete: It rips a hole in the tyre.

We then spent another half hour changing the wheel (I read the instructions). We nearly had to call out the garage because we couldn’t undo the screws, eventually Olivier did it by kicking the winder thing with the bottom of his foot. Fortunately the spare was okay, though it’s not the same make.

The car has to go for a service soon anyway so we now know that we must buy a new tyre, if not two or even three…

Don't go shopping with a psy.

Dom accompanied me for the weekly shop this morning, she’ll soon be going back to Poitiers and was looking around for odds and ends (for mum to pay for no doubt). When we got to the till she was very helpful but would insist on giving everything a category. For example there was ‘dead stuff’ which was mainly meat; then ‘heavy stuff’, ‘lighter stuff’ and then ‘phallic stuff’ which consisted of anything from deodorant to cucumbers. She explained that this is what you get when you take a psychologist shopping with you. Thank goodness no one could understand what we were talking about.

Tom Jones
Every time I hear the song, S*x Bomb by Tom Jones I get the giggles. It happened this morning as I was doing the weekly shop. My mum used to watch Tom on TV on Saturday nights when I was tucked up in bed. I’m sure he must be a great granddad by now and still strutting his stuff.

Looking him up in Wikipedia, he’s 67 and a grand father and he made S*x Bomb when he was 60. He’s also a good sport, he appeared in Mars Attack and the Simpsons (well his voice did).