Crazy..... fiction and real life intersperse..... I fear this terrible Ukraine tragedy has become almost like a war drama at times........ probably the only way one can cope with it...
Morning all. Sunshine and showers, but mild. Did the weekly shop shop yesterday and found that the service station that put up fuel prices by €0.27 in one day last week, had cut the price by €0.23. Not wanting much I thought I will get a small amount as there is no way of telling if it will rise again, or fall some more. Did the shop, went to an empty service station only to find that the pumps were dry, explaining the lack of customers. I think that my midday shop was a little late. Have a good day all.
My wife had just tested negative for coronavirus three days after testing positive.... looking like our French trip can happen now
Morning all. Wet and windy, not an outside day at all. Every time I go to the supermarket in town I pass the football club ground. There is a sign outside giving details of the next home game, except strangely for what time the game kicks off. The team is sponsored by Pub Crea, and I often think where it might be. In fact it is not a pub at all, but an advertising agency. The commercial breaks on TV are called Pubs, being the shortened form of publicité, but despite knowing this football and pubs do seem to stick in my mind after all these years. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Bright, sunny and quite warm. With temperatures this week climbing up into the twenties it will be like the average summer day in England. Amazing how much the mood has lightened after the game yesterday, with some of the critical silenced for three weeks at least. Big game here this evening as my localish team take on the side at the top of table. It has been selected for TV, pay channel, so the normal stream by the league will not be available. Like WFC yesterday they are showing promise, so hope they will not go back into their shell again. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Today the sky has turned yellow. Not because the sun is rising from behind the barns, but because there is sand from the Sahara in the air. There was a little rain overnight, and now the roof lights are covered in spots. The cars are the same, they look as though they have caught a children's illness. It explains why the weather has turned so warm, the breeze is coming directly from the south. Have a good day everyone.
I think you normally expect a strong wind with the Sirocco, and we have almost no wind at all. The sand is thick enough to not be able to see through a car windscreen, and when you start the wipers it creates quite a pile. We have had it in the past, but never as much as today.
Down to 1 cructh and 3 more weeks of foot exercises. This is a slow process, but progress is being made. International break then Liverpool away. Ouch. Have a goodun all.
Morning all. According to the Météo we are bathed in sunshine, but cloud is in fact covering it. Still it is warm and dry, so can be outside which suits me fine. News from France is that La Tour Eiffel has grown a bit more. A six metre radio mast was lowered by helicopter and attached to the top, making it now 330 metres high. Then we have road transport companies blockading fuel depots to complain about high fuel prices, and an outbreak of violence on Corsica about a local jailed séparatiste leader who has been seriously beaten up by a fellow inmate. So really not much is happening. Have a good day everyone.
Picked up youngest grandchild from school yesterday and we always stop off at the park playground on the way home. Found myself standing next to and having a brief non-football chat with Danny Welbeck. Remember him?
About how fascinating small kids are! His daughter is 2/3 years old I'd say. I guessed he'd be tired of being pestered about football...especially when he's not been 100% successful!
Morning all. Unable to access this site for some reason earlier, and no idea why. Still it is bright and breezy, and I must go and do the weekly shop. The sand is still covering the car, so while in town will visit the Blue Elephant and get a bit of a clean up. My daughter who was there yesterday said that the queues to use the jet sprays were lengthy, and no doubt the drains will be filling up with the stuff. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Overcast, but some sun expected later, with a temperature of 17°C. Another Saturday without football, so will follow the advice of Monty Don and attack the buddleia that is by the wall separating us from the lane. It is a purple flowered one and the butterflies love it when in full bloom. We leave the seed heads on during the winter for the birds, but now is the time to cut it back and stop any remaining seeds forming new plants in places that we don't want them. The stems will be put through the shredder creating some mulch, so it really is a very useful plant. Have a good day everyone.
Good Morning All, Another day prepping the house for our possible guest(s): creating cupboard and wardrobe space for what little they'll have; rearranging some things so that they get a degree of privacy/ independence; cleaning and scrubbing in a "doing it up to sell" kind of way; realising how much "stuff" we have in the house! A lot of work to be done especially for what is in effect an unknown quantity as we don't know who we're going to be helping or if we'll get anyone! Seems that, quelle surprise, the government are reneging on a lot of the checks (on us, our home) until after they've arrived! They're also expecting a lot of those who've signed up, maybe half, to pull out for whatever reason. Our philosophy is to provide them with as comfortable and independent accommodation as our home allows, hopefully nurturing as genuine friendship and coming together for Saturday breakfast and Sunday roast (our two main meals of the week, my work often means I eat alone in the evening) to offer some semblance of normality. Hopefully they may have family or friends relatively close by... However it actually pans out we'll be glad to have helped, we're already feeling better for realising that we're in a position to help someone and making that effort.
My in laws in Berlin have just taken in a group of 4 Fez - a woman from Ukraine, her husband from Azerbaijan and their two daughters. None of them speak German and only the two daughters speak a bit of English. It's a question of luck here, but foreign language learning was not particularly emphasized there for anyone over about 30. Most of the Ukrainians here speak only Ukrainian and Russian, sometimes Polish - Germany has about 3 million Russian speakers - some 300,000 Russian citizens and also over 2 million German/Russians (Volgadeutsch) who could help greatly here - if they feel inclined !
