Spring has sprung

This photo was taken just over a week ago; the blossom has fallen now . For a few days I had a layer of pink petals in the bottom of the bath every evening. Now the tree is covered in leaves.

I took this all by myself with my phone. When I get the hang of putting what I take onto the computer, you’ll get to see more.

The Queen saw me in my knickers!

I recently left a comment on a post by Connie. It was about school uniforms. Just before I started secondary school at the age of twelve my mum received a list of what I’d need and what I should wear for school. Right down to underwear! I really don’t know how my poor mum afforded all of these new clothes for me – which she had to repeat for my two sisters and brother in later years.

She had to buy the uniform from specially named shops and they were very expensive, but hard wearing. She bought me a ‘lovely’ skirt which was much too long – she said I’d grow into it – I never did grow that tall. Miniskirts were in and we all used to roll up our skirts and hold down the lumpy waistband with a tightly done up belt (non uniform, but well hidden).

In the summer months we were expected to wear straw boaters. They made excellent Frisbees. Can you imagine the glee on the very last day of school as these horrible clothes were consigned to the bin? I clearly remember cutting my school tie up.

For sport in our first year we wore a pair of navy blue knickers (over the regulation navy blue knickers we were already wearing) and a white t shirt. I can assure you that it was very cold in the snow and ice the wrong end of a hockey pitch.

One day the Queen was visiting somewhere locally and we were told that she would pass by the school at a certain time and we would all be out on the pavement to wave to her. This coincided with sport for my class and being the youngest (and shortest)we would be standing at the front. So that is how the Queen saw me in my knickers.

A little update

The 22nd February was Olivier’s 20th birthday; he wasn’t going to come home despite it being the holidays and then I got a message to say that he would be home. I saw him long enough to wish him a Happy birthday and then he was out with friends. He did manage to eat one meal with us during the 5 days he was at home.

The blossom is starting to open this week. Unfortunately it has gone very cold again, hopefully not cold enough for a frost.

We used up our 3Gs in just over half of a month. The idea is that we now have a slower internet connection until the 12th when our 3Gs will be renewed. We haven’t noticed a slowing down – not that any slower than slowest could be possible. Our phone line has been now been cut off. I phoned the answer service without thinking. It’s very strange to be told that your phone number does not exist anymore.

Changes

Our AOL box died on us in the early hours of last Friday morning. It was so frustrating, so many things to do with no internet. I worked offline as much as I could, but I do a lot of research too, so I was pulling my hair out by the end of the day.

Dom and J-M arrived that eveing and he was on his phone straight away trying to sort it out. Would you believe his call was answered immediately. It seems the box was at fault. On Saturday, Rob went out and bought us a 3G key (I’m not sure what you call it in English). This gets the internet out of fresh air as far as I’m concerned. The only problem at the moment is that the key is only on one computer at a time. It is also very slow. Rob is going to buy a box so that 5 computers can benefit from the key at the same time.

I wouldn’t have thought it but I was suffering from severe internet withdrawal symptoms most of last Friday and Saturday.

Bring on the sunshine

I met my friend Robert this morning and we stopped for a brief chat in the park. We were both wishing for some sunshine. He asked me if I could find some on the internet; I didn’t find any, but I found out how to make a sunshine:

☼ ☼ ☼

The sun didn't shine today, but I did try.

Saint Angela de Merici (1474 – 1540)

Today is my ‘fête’! Celebrated in France, fêtes are a nice way of celebrating our names . Today we remember Saint Angela de Merici who founded the order of Ursulines. The order was founded primarily for the education of girls and care of the sick and needy. January 27th is the anniversary of her death . She is patron Saint of sickness, handicapped people and the loss of parents.

Birds

Recently I’ve noticed the starlings on the move in the mornings. I was opening the shutters one morning and thought that the wind had picked up. The trees weren’t moving so I looked up to see thousands (?)of birds flying over. The next time they were flying pretty low between the houses. The weather was milder so I wonder if they were flying low enough to spot insects. There were certainly a few feeding off the lawn later in the day.

This evening we went for a walk in the pouring rain and an owl swooped silently by.

The post about the new Doctor

Friday; I needed to renew my prescriptions so I went to see the new Doctor in the morning. The morning was different for a start, the old Doctor had his surgery in the evenings. I took my blood test results for the last year,test results from the Swedish Chef, the scan of my thyroid from two years ago, my prescriptions and notes about anything else I could think of.

Our Doctor (I still think or him as ours) was a smart man who liked interesting shoes and different shirts. The new Doctor was very casual indeed. I know I shouldn’t say it - rough and ready – sorry. I started to explain to her about being pre-diabetic. There are two schools of thought on diabetes; she’s in the one that says you are either diabetic or not. I’m not. I can have a test every six months. I can have a test for cholesterol once a year. Fortunately I’ve learnt how to eat to keep the numbers down over the past few years. She also tut-tutted because I’d had the urine tests where you collect urine for 24 hours – I don’t need them as I’m not diabetic. As if it was all my fault. At least I got my thyroid tablets.

We can change our Doctor here very easily, I’ll see how it goes

Extra terrestrial

More exams this week. I think we’ve finished for the season. On Monday morning the bus I was on stopped by the station and an extra terrestrial got on. he put a smile on my face for the rest of the morning. There was an awful lot of giggling in the back of the bus later too.

The lost man and me

I was preparing lunch around midday and looked out of the kitchen window onto the street. There was an elderly man looking very confused and lost so opened the kitchen window to ask him if I could help. He had a lot of difficulty speaking and could only answer ‘yes’. I popped outside to talk to him properly and asked him where he had come from and his name. He couldn’t remember and could only say ‘yes’. I tried to think of questions that might help him to remember, but he couldn’t. Locking up the house we set off down the road and round the corner. I rang the doorbell at a house where someone was home and the person there didn’t recognize him. She phoned the retirement home the other end of the village, but everyone was present for lunch. We set off in the other direction to see a neighbour who is on the local council and is married to a villager born and bred.

My neighbour didn’t know him either, so we all set off trying to jog his memory walking though the local streets while my neighbor telephoned the gendarmes who said that they were on their way. The post office closes at one In the village so I spoke to the post office lady who was just arriving home for lunch. She didn’t know him either. She fetched a chair and a drink of water for the old man who seemed grateful. The gendarmes seemed to take ages to arrive, their base is only 10 minutes away. We left him in their care.

My neighbour’s wife has just phoned. The gendarmes eventually took the old man to the emergency department at the hospital where he was known. The line was bad so I’m not sure whether he’s been reunited with his family or taken back to the home that he ‘escaped’ from. At least he’s safe and sound now.

Olivier was very worried, he’s home for the weekend and heard me lock the front door. He went into the kitchen to find a half prepared meal...