It has not been a good week....

 I have had this post it the `Drafts` section of Blogger for a couple of weeks, events were too raw to allow me to finish it. Now things have settled down, I feel I can bear to finish and publish it, if Kim agrees. If not, you wont be reading this!
   This last week has not been a vintage one for the Ark and its crew. The worst problem has been with Kim`s health. Friends will know that she suffers from depression and has done for many years, on and off. Although in the past it has been a severe problem at times, even leading to hospitalisation, for some years it has mainly been under control by taking a small dose of medicine daily. Like my own drug to control high blood pressure, as long as you take the dose you are fine, though in Kim`s case it is more of a balancing act and like a trapeze artiste, the drop is always there, waiting...
  On this occasion, the cause of the latest loss of balance was self-inflicted. Kim`s Doctor, and even more so her Cardiologist ,have warned that her normal medicine, Anafranil, is not all that good for her heart. Luckily, she has been steadily reducing the dose until it is just sufficient, to a level, in fact, which is unlikely to do any cardiac damage. However, as a precaution, it was decided to try another more modern, `cleaner` drug, Stablon. As Kim was in good spirits at the time, and as it was Spring ( ha!) it was thought a good time to try the change.
  So, the `dirty` but tried and tested Anafranil was discontinued and the new wonder-drug started. There seem to be two problems with anti-depressive drugs. The first is they don`t work for everybody, each person suits a different set of drugs. The second is that they take up to three weeks to work---or not to work, if you get my drift. So we started on the three-weeks `probation` with me keeping a careful eye on Kim, I may not be a specialist in drugs, but I AM a specialist in Kim! The first week, things seemed fine, no darkening of mood. Then the progress seemed to level out and by the start of the third week we suspected we were in trouble. Kim was starting to feel miserable and low and by half-way through the week, it was clear the Stablon was ineffective in Kim`s case. A final straw was the killing of our ducks and hens by the trespassing dog of a friend of our neighbour. On Friday, she was starting to get weepy  I insisted on going back to the Doctor. One of the effects of depression is that Kim becomes less decisive, but I felt we were approaching a drop-off point and to wait until Monday would be dangerous. The Doctor agreed and we returned to the old drug, which, I am glad to say, has returned Kim to her usual self. You can imagine our relief! The Doctor doesn`t feel there will be any problem in continuing indefinitely on the low dose, though Kim plans to reduce it further, perhaps next year, we shall see!

  Bye for now, going to submit this article to the Editor!

To market, to market to buy a fat hen..

But not this one!  We wanted to replace our lovely grey hen, unfortunately killed by a trespassing dog, so we decided to re-visit Lezay market. This is a very large market about half-an-hour from us, noted for its livestock sales. This time, we learned from experience and got there at 9.30 to find the market in full swing. Last time, we turned up at 11 and found it largely packing up. Be warned if you want to visit it.
   And, by George, it`s worth the visit! There were every sort of fowl you could imagine, together with many you wouldn`t have. There were cocks and hens, ducks and geese, quails and peacocks, parrots and budgies and even, to our great surprise, a bird that only one person in Britain can legally own (and that person is the Queen)---a swan!

Apart from these avian offers, there were the animals.  Goats, rabbits of all varieties, lambs and guinea pigs and even something which caught the eye of Mrs Noah, a pygmy pig!! I had the greatest difficulty in persuading her not to add this creature to the Ark`s passenger list and she spent ages stroking the creature I am sure it would have spent cold evenings on her knee and what would Fatima, our Muslim friend have said.... Well, we avoided this scenario, and went to find our hen.
The vendor didn`t have any full-grown grey hens but did have some large chicks, so as these were only three Euros apiece, we had two to allow for wastage!

The vendor put our purchase in a special cardboard box and we left it with her while we browsed the rest of the market. There were flowers, vegetables, edible produce of all sorts, most produced locally. there were even eels, both raw ( and alive! ) and grilled, ready to nibble. We could have bought a couple of baguettes and enjoyed an unusual snack, oh, yuk, yuk, yuk, as Alyson would have said!

 Anyway, leaving behind this dubious gastronomic delight, we went on to buy a couple of tomato plants and a small penknife of Corsican type, doubtless made in China, though. Still, it was one I don`t have in my collection and I was very pleased with it. Collecting our hens, we returned home happy with our morning at the market!



 Bye for now, we are going to check that the existing fowls aren`t bullying the newcomers,

Lies, damned lies and........

An entire day of heavy rain, unusual for France, has turned my thoughts forcibly to the weather. Temperatures are very low for mid-May and the summer seems very far from imminent. The dire predictions of the Global Warming industry seem more and more to be unrealised, hell, we could DO with a little warming here!
  I read a couple of days ago, admittedly from a warming`denier` (shocking, this but they do exist) that global temperatures haven`t in fact increased for fifteen years and the opposing camp are getting increasingly desperate. They have, it appears, `adjusted` their predictions and graphs for the FOURTH time to try to fit the theory to the actual facts, most unscientific! Also, have you noticed that the term `global warming` is being quietly abandoned for the much more convenient term of `climate change` This can be made to fit ANY climatic oddity, even earthquakes, perhaps. You must just realise that it is ALL OUR FAULT.
  Years ago, I worked in the Personnel Dept of a Navy Department organisation. My immediate boss looked at the accident statistics, which he had already announced were lower for the year, and asked me to prepare a graph, illustrating this. I said I couldn`t as the figure had actually risen! Dismissing me with the remark that my attitude was not all that could be wished, he went into conclave with a former Army Major, a noted expert on graphs and statistics. By going back to earlier years when the figure was much higher (during the War, perhaps?), they produced a table where each year`s results are added to the next year. This produced the necessary descending graph line,despite the unacceptable, but true rise in the figures. Not actually a lie, then, but very far from the truth nevertheless....
  The trouble is that someone with an interest in `proving` a fact can twist statistics to prove what he wants. The interest concerned here is the fact that LOTS of money is being made in a generally vain attempt to reduce CO2 levels, which in themselves have not been proved to increase temperature as much as foretold. The largely ineffective windmill programme has put millions into various pockets, for example. How embarrassing if the `warming` proves non-existent?

Bye for now, going to keep warm by the gaz-fire!

The playing of the merry organ...

   Recently, Kim decided that it would be nice to replace our old church-type organ with a more modern and lighter electronic piano which would be easier to play and take up less room in our increasingly cluttered lounge. At first, her research on the Net, principally on Le Bon Coin, led her to a very posh machine in La Rochelle. We had almost closed the sale when two  things gave us pause. The first was the seller saying the foot pedal was at her mother`s house, could it be posted on later. This we did not want to get involved with. the other was a wise suggestion from our friend Christine that an instrument like her own Yamaha keyboard would perhaps be more amusing for Kim to play, offering more facilities than a straight piano.  We had a look at Christine`s keyboard and Kim agreed that it would be just the thing. Back to Le Bon Coin and Kim narrowed down her search to a keyboard in Poitiers which looked promising.A call to the vendor on Friday evening with a view to a visit the next day took a surprising turn. About to give us directions he asked which road we would be approaching Poitiers on, the N10 was the reply. Oh, where are you coming from? Near Loubillé, Chef Boutonne. Oh! was the surprised reply, The board is currently at my father`s house in Couture d`Argenson, do you know it? As it is almost the next village, it would be strange if we didn`t, we can be there in ten minutes! It turned out he was a student at Poitiers and had a flat there.
  Then it was just a case of turning the gas off under the tea and going to see the Yamaha. It turned out to be just what we wanted so we closed the bargain on the spot and carried it home in triumph. As Kim said, it would have been churlish to turn down such a case of being `led` into buying this item, to say nothing of saving over 100Eur from the price of the La Rochelle piano plus the time and money to go to Poitiers! The keyboard sounds great though Kim is a bit daunted at the knobs and buttons, it will take her a while to learn to fly it!

  Buy for now, Tea time!

How very French...

  Kim wanted me to add an extra shelf to one of my home-made book shelves as her last visit to the second-hand book sale had over-stocked the storage. I didn`t have a long enough plank, so we called in at a local building materials depot, which is perhaps more used to providing larger quantities.  I had the measurements of my plank, 15cm by 2cm by a metre. You don`t go to the counter in this establishment, you seek out the wood-man in the warehouse  Did he have such a plank, I asked. Eurr, oui He walked to where a few odd lengths of wood were lying on a pallet and selected a length.  A metre long? He led the way to a huge circular saw and cut off a metre. 15cm wide? Another saw cut a strip off the side of the plank. It`s a bit thick, I thought but it would do. But no.. 2cm thick?  A third saw cut the plank down to the correct thickness.... You can pass to the caisse now, monsieur I will phone my colleague.
  The office is on the other side of the main road, really nothing to stop you driving away but I suppose nobody does. The chap behind the desk looked a bit puzzled and said he could not localise the plank in his computer, no surprise there!  Tell you what, monsieur, just pay what you think, no bill. I found a fiver in my wallet. Parfait, magnifique, au revoir, bonne journée.  France is different, isn`t it?

  Bye for now, time for bed. Night night

Death of a window cleaner

   Visiting the UK recently to see Kim and Alyson, while Kim was looking after her, I was struck by the visit of the window-cleaner with his ladder and bucket, a normal sight in Britain but completely unknown in France. When I was a youngster, the approved method of finding a little employment was to buy a ladder, a bucket and a shammy leather and set up a round of windows to clean and it is obvious this useful trade still thrives, though the price has grown since it cost five bob.
  However, the trade has never established itself in France for two very basic reasons. The first is that the country French would sooner be seen stark naked in the high street than spend good money on someone else doing what they could do for themselves free. The second reason is simple---shutters.
  Now as you can see from my header pic, all French houses have shutters fitted to their windows. A friend who visited England for the first time was flabbergasted to see that the English almost exclusively don`t have them. But how do you keep the burglars out, she asked.  How indeed.... But the fact remains that they are universal in France and as rare as hen`s teeth in the UK.
  How does this affect window cleaners, I hear you ask, after all you can open the shutters. Well, it`s like this. If you have shutters, the window MUST open inwards, otherwise you can`t lock the shutters. Therefor, all windows in France open inwards, while all in England open outwards. If your windows open outwards you can`t clean them from the inside, so any window above ground level will need a ladder. As most people are a little unsteady on ladders, the job has to be sub-contracted. In France, it`s easy-peasey, you wipe the inside, open the window and can then wipe the outside, even on first floor or higher. Think of the money you`re saving! That`s the reason that the trade of window cleaner is denied to budding French entrepreneurs!

  Bye for now going to look out of the window....
 

The Transmogrification of Mrs Noah.

   As some of you may know, Kim decided some time ago to go the whole hog in our adopted country and take out French nationality. It`s not a decision to be taken lightly but Kim felt that it was fitting for her.  She is always a person who throws herself into things. For my part, I did not feel I could take this step, not from any imperialistic pride in British nationality but because I did not feel it could be done. Being born English, a process of law could not, in my estimation, alter my essential orientation. However, I was quite prepared to support Kim`s desire to become French, and she started the process three years ago, receiving a letter from the Prefecture at the end of  August last year to confirm her change of nationality. She now has  Livret de Famille and French I.D. too!
  Let nobody tell you it`s easy!  French bureaucracy is one of the slowest in the world, and the documents and certificates required were formidable, all had to be translated into French at several Euros a page by an official translator. I suppose that the problems and delay do have the effect of discouraging any frivolous applicant, I admit I would have been tempted to tell them I had changed my mind if I had thought to join her, or even employing some stronger terms!
  However, the thing was done and dusted and she became officially French at the end of August last year. However, like the opening of a new motorway, even if it`s been open for traffic for a couple of months, there has to be a proper opening ceremony and Kim`s took place today. She was invited to come to the Prefecture at Niort to receive her official papers from the Préfêt himself, so we set out this afternoon all dressed up to attend the ceremony.
   We had a bit of a problem finding the Prefecture, although we had an address. Our Satnav is rather old and Niort has been recently refurbished in the city centre, which confused the machine. Eventually, we abandoned the car in an underground car
park and set out on foot, which would have been better if Kim`s posh shoes had been more comfortable. Still, we tracked it down in the end and entered the impressive building, being told to wait with the other new French in a tall corridor. Kim and the other candidates were called forward into another room and informed of their new rights, privileges and responsibilities. Eventually the supporters were called in as well, and the Préfêt, impressively dressed in a black suit with gold foliage on the sleeves and collar, individually handed each new compatriot their file of papers and certificates, with a few words to each. Then, he donned his round hat, also decorated with gold foliage, put on white gloves and saluted while the Marseillaise was played Then, the real business done, we were invited to step outside for a group photo and then for a few nibbles, with a non-alcoholic drink. I couldn`t help thinking we do the food and drink better in Loubillé! The ceremony itself, however,  was surprisingly effective and

Kim admits it made her feel more accepted as French afterwards.







  Bye for now, going to kiss my new French wife!