I'm still alive!

I seem to have been too busy to visit blogs, let alone write a blog post. Olivier is home for the summer and Rob has had some time off, so I haven’t had much time to myself at all. In three weeks we will be back in the UK again to see M-I-L.

I’m suffering from conjunctivitis at the moment. It’s not at all painful, but my eye waters a lot. The vision in my left eye is blurred most of the time which is quite tiring. I’m keeping my eye clean with diluted cider vinegar, it stops the stickiness at least. If you know of any good home remedies please leave a comment!

Yes!!

I expect that you’ve heard these news items in your own country, but they are such good news:

The state of Texas will have to put executions on hold because the European company that supplies one of the ‘ingredients’ has stopped doing business with the state.

The King of Morocco pardoned a criminal not knowing that he was a pedophile and has now withdrawn the pardon. The man left Morocco and is free, out in the world somewhere, but his picture has been seen by millions as the news was broadcast…

I take flight

Rob's been wanting to go on the ferris wheel for some time.  On Sunday morning it was sunny and calm, the ferris wheel goes round at a slow pace so no travel sickness...

 looking towards the St Nicolas tower

 Towards the Port

 The 'Gabut'

 Towards Rue St Nicolas

Me with railway station in background

All photos by Rob who can be seen reflected in my sunglasses.

I knew that I would come in useful one day

Dom phoned me yesterday afternoon. She has a conference in Valencia this week and was packing just before leaving. She telephoned so that I could ask her all of those mummy questions just before setting off on a trip: Have you got your telephone cord?, computer cord?, passport?, ID and so on. She didn’t seem to have forgotten anything. She even had her bikini for her day off. She will be addressing her fellow scientists on Wednesday afternoon. In two weeks she will be repeating the packing to go off to a conference in Berlin (without bikini, I suppose). She did find time to tell me that they have at last arranged their honeymoon. They will be renting a cottage miles from anywhere somewhere in Scotland. They are hoping for cooler weather at least.

 J-M is now an official teacher! Hopefully he will be given a placement not too far from home. Unfortunately, young teachers in France have to go where they are sent.

Olivier is now holding down two part time jobs. He seems to have settled into the local KFC and the weather is hot so that I can wash and dry his smelly uniform without having to rush. He’s been bringing home bits and pieces for us to try, though the desserts have been banned (they are soooo good). Yes, I like the chicken, but the spicy wings are too hot for me. Love the pepper dip sauce!

 He helped a man who had just finished having an epileptic fit. The man’s wife was fetching help, so Olivier found him a bottle of water and stayed with him to make sure that he was okay.

It is so hot here at the moment. After all the months of cold and rain we seem to have swung to the other extreme. What’s the weather like with you?

History goes up in flames

As I write this the Town Hall in La Rochelle is on fire.  Scroll down to see pictures

Painted pylon painters

While travelling along the duel carriage way into town the other day, we noticed that some of the huge pylons parallel to the road had been painted, some red, some yellow. They weren’t finished and when we took the exit road, sure enough, there were the painters putting on their climbing gear and getting ready for a day’s painting. We knew they were the ones because their clothes and hats were beautifully splattered in red and yellow. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of taking my phone out to take a picture.

Yesterday we went south to meet some friends who live near to an estuary. Again the road was accompanied by huge pylons. These hadn’t been painted and are probably not to be disturbed for some time. Perched near the top of each pylon were one or two stork’s nests, complete with busy parents coming and going in order to feed their young. I did try to take photos, but we were moving too fast.

Google has lots of them, some in Spain too:

French Wikipedia tells us that storks make their nests at the top of pylons especially in the marshes surrounding Brouage - which is where we went!

I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree

Whenever we go back to England I'm always struck by the greenery and how large the trees are! C & J took us on a walk through the fields which I thoroughly enjoyed!

 Would you believe that this is a public footpath?

We also crossed a golf course (on a footpath) and the golfers very kindly waited for us to go by.

Trees 

I think that I shall never see 

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; 

A tree that looks at God all day, 

And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

A tree that may in summer wear 

A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 

Who intimately lives with rain. 

Poems are made by fools like me, 

But only God can make a tree. 

Joyce Kilmer, 1913

Easy once you know how

I expect you can imagine how Olivier's eyes rolled heavenwards when I told him I couldn't remember how to get at my pictures.  I was trying to find out how via the computer when I needed to use the phone settings.

So here are the WW2 train pics:

At the top we have King George VI and Queen Elizabeth - and they later waved to us!  We had our IDs checked by a British Bobby with a lovely moustache and a German soldier - is his uniform more WW1? Well, we were time travelling back 70 years...

There were soldiers everywhere. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the GIs - there were too many young ladies in the way. 

Lots of cars, motorbikes, tanks and of course, the trains themselves to look at.

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.

Health (and wealth) report

Yesterday afternoon found me at the Dentist as well as the Doctors. My gums seem to be fine now and the cleaning process was a lot quicker than in the past – must be keeping them much cleaner myself. The dentist X-rayed my three crowns at the front. They are 40 years old now and will need to be replaced. He gave me a quote for 2400€ (that’s $3140 or £2051). Unfortunately he’s not registered with my insurance company, so I would have to go somewhere else to get more money refunded. I can’t afford 2000€ at the moment - I don’t think that I can ever remember being able to afford 2000€! Fortunately there are two other Dentists locally that work with the insurance company.

The Doctor’s visit went better for me. It’s taken me a while (two years) to get used to my new Doctor after having the previous one for 22 years. My thyroid is playing up a bit. I’ve got to lower my dose of thyroxin (e) a little. He suggested doing it by alternating 150µg and 125µg every other day. I have noticed myself being moody recently – Rob has noticed too. Perhaps that is why. Other than that everything is tickity boo!

The sun is shining and it’s starting to feel warm at long last. Olivier went off to spend the afternoon at his friend’s pool.