Whoop-whoop, I’ve found a reason to enjoy February!! This is pretty exciting news because normally I hate February, with it’s deep end-of-winter cold, the complete absence of any colour whatsoever and mostly because nothing ever happens in this very mediocre of months.
The trees are grey, it looks as if their skinny new branches are reaching into the grey skies trying to seek sustenance from somewhere, although there is nothing awake at this point so they just stand there like mannequins. The forests are thin and dull, the pavements are dull and either wet or caked in salt as we wait for snow.
Well, hello there, again. Clearly I felt duly inspired 3 weeks ago to sit down and write the above while on my morning routine, but for the life of me, I cannot actually now remember why I was keen to dispel my thoughts. It may or may not have been something to do with the annual wine expo being in town (last weekend every February), because there’s nothing quite like a Sunday Champagne brekkie on someone else’s dime, but since we did not manage to get the time to attend this year, I do wonder if this was it? It wouldn’t have been due to the winter sales because a.) they were finished, and b.) I’m trying to encourage the family to curb expenditure- we don’t NEED to spend our little bonuses just because of massive price reductions on those extremely efficient Uniglo doudoune jackets and cashmere vee-necked jerseys. And it certainly wasn’t excitement that spring was on the way, because apparently if spring arrives too early, it’s a sign that all is not well with the world. Which we all know is true and I’m not going to remind you of that here. (If you’re anything like me on social media, it’s difficult to decide which are the more commonly shared posts: plastic pollution or racism, although the latter is currently falling waaay behind).
Anyway, February clearly came to an end, and now it’s March. We’ve started seeing the spring bulbs popping up, and I cannot lie, this whole earth rebirth thing that northern Europe has got going for it is incredibly uplifting.
So what has been going on in our lives so far this year?
I made a list of more important things I need to achieve this year. The list is now currently buried underneath my hubby’s speeding fines (I’m sorry babes), city sponsored magazines that I try to read, (but lose the will, especially if I have as many fabulous books on my kindle as I do) and other general paraphenalia that lies on my computer desk pretending to be of service. My 2019 ToDoList lists the following:
• A school application for Alex, who embarks on a new level of schooling this September.
• Make an online booking for new residents permit, hoping to apply for a 10 year card, because citizenship and its Larousse-sized mound of paperwork will be nigh impossible to achieve by this June.
• Prep to do my French drivers licence before December, my South African licence will be expiring then, and I will need SOMETHING valid.
• Paris trips- wanted to apply for a UK visa for an April holiday, and then also to return to do the right thing and vote in the 2019 SA National Elections.
So far I can only tick off one line here, and that will be the Paris line. We ended up not applying for UK visitors visas , but still went through to do a passport application for Alex. It’s Alex’s third passport, her second application while we’ve been here in France, and yet another reminder of how much time we have been here. Paris. Paris is lovely, as much as I try to deny the clichée-ness of it. We had THE most amazing Paris weather, without a hint of cloud, and full sun for the 30 hours we were there. We also got to enjoy the ‘gin and tonic’ hour to max potential and touristed right up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe for gorgeous views, ate a meal on the Champs, took family pics in front of the Eiffel Tower and then went to drink red wine in our hotel room.
Since we booked into a commercial hotel in a rather dodgy part of the 19th arrondissiment we decided to do the full tourist thing before arriving back in the hotel room at 7pm. Aside from all the lovely sites we took in and enjoyed as a family, I have to say my biggest accomplishment was having my first argument in French. (Hotel had cancelled my booking, despite checking in online before 11. Because we hadn’t actually appeared for check in before 6pm, they have a policy to cancel bookings. Dear sweet sh..amrock, I did express my anger at the whole process, and when I calmed down, I asked if I could re-reserve the room, they said yes, happily. Yes, this all happened in my really bad, but clearly not that bad, french!)
I HAVE ARRIVED, MY FRIENDS. I HAVE ARRIVED.
We have also booked for a slightly dirty weekend in Paris next month so that we can do the right thing and vote in the elections. This time we’re taking the high speed train (the TGV) and have booked into a hostel in the centre of town, and we’re not taking the kids. We are probably not going to be in for much longer than 24 hours, but at least I can happily cross off an item on my ToDoList! (erm, and vote, of course).
Work has been quite busy, which is a good thing, although nothing incredibly new and challenging has taken place. Same old repetitive activities day in and day out. I thought I would have a bit of a challenge when we had an apprentice come in for 2 sessions of 2 weeks training, but it turned out this guy really just had cauliflower for ears, and mushroom cells instead of brains- didn’t listen and didn’t seem to really learn anything. Mostly he just stood around in the way, arrogant in his manner and just did his own thing, which was obviously not what we taught him. I did wonder if my french is that bad that I couldn’t get through to him, but nope, he just didn’t listen properly to anyone. I did lose my cool one evening when the kids happened to be at work, and they overheard me raising my voice in anger. (I suspect they were pretty happy to not be at the receiving end of my disproportionate high standards). Plus he made me feel super uncomfortable in my skin, to such an extent that I would send him home if we weren’t too busy. What the experience has made me see is that I am still my same old self in the skin that I have been wearing for 30-odd years, and that is mostly a good thing, no?
To be honest, I feel like I’m in a rather intense ‘work hard/play hard’ scenario at the moment, but none of it involves a super healthy life style, and it’s all “Work. Eat. Drink. Go Home. Eat. Drink. Socialise. and Continue”- we’ve had a few dinner gatherings chez nous recently. These are really good for my spirit- I love having dinner parties and the dinner table conversations but we need to cut down a little bit. At least until the summer anyway. 😉
Anton and the girls are well. A few Saturdays ago, we sat down to a family dinner table meal (they’re less frequent at the moment given my working hours, and my lack of enthusiasm to come home after a busy Saturday at the pub and still have to cook dinner if it’s only for 4 of us. Bizarrely, if we’re having people over, it’s just an extension of my morning.). Anyway, we normally sit at the dinner table, rush through our meal, in order to crash onto our couches and watch ‘Allo ‘Allo (current family binge watch). Somehow this one evening about a month ago ended up going on a little bit longer than normal. The conversation centered around bullies and difficult people. We had a really open and inspiring chat with our awesome 11 and 8 year old, that I was so impressed.
Following on, Alex and Beth have really grown up so much this year. Beth, who has always been that kid that I end up having some sort of mother-daughter fight with, has finally started seeing her behaviour from a different side. We have next to no ‘sessions’ anymore, and all I have to do is remind her to look at her actions from another persons views. She’s never actually a naughty kid, nor is she selfish- she’s mostly always putting other people ahead of her, but we all, as a family, take advantage of our relationship, and we tend to be more critical to one another than strangers. Through her, and Alex, we’re all being made accountable for our actions. I know as adults we’re supposed to do that without having to think about it, but let’s be honest here- we have our moments when we’re lost in a space we don’t expect to be in and act out accordingly.
My Alex. She may have the messiest bedroom known to mankind, and she collects the most random collection of rubbish (boxes, plastic bottles, strange pieces of paper and letters), none of which she manages to find space for in her bedroom, (and I have actually given up trying to get her to see that neatness is better. This will come in her own time I hope), but the childhood maturity beaming through her is truly magnificent.
We- as their mothers- have set up a Whatsapp group chat for her and her 2 BFF’s, since her English friend returned to England last August, and none of them really have any need for a smartphone at the age of 10. It has been a lesson and a half for ALL of us tbh. Can you imagine me, on a Saturday morning while at work, when my phone starts buzzing like a, erm, a vibrator?-, and finally when I have burned the onions, let the cream boil over and washed my hands to check out the urgency of the buzzing, all I see is 128 messages between the 2 other friends engaging in a silly Saturday morning chat? Oh shamrock, have mercy!
Since I really have a bad habit of not filtering anything in front of my kids, when the time came to pass my phone over to Alex 6 hours later, I expressed my extreme annoyance at whatever was so important. Nothing apparently. Even Alex was mortally disappointed that absolutely nothing of anything chat-worthy had actually transpired within that session of 128 messages – voice messages, random photos, stickers, GIFS, emojis and something else pretty lame, but no proper conversation. (Learn proper written conversation, always and forever- emojis and stickers and gifs come and go, but nothing will take away the art of writing something.) And then she actually said something to that affect.
Wow, do you have any idea how impressed I was at her for – what I see anyway- as doing the right thing? She wants something meaningful, it must hold water, and she stood up for what she believed in. She didn’t just go with the flow, and not just because I insisted on it, she wanted it.
Across the Anglophile realms, this Tuesday was Pancake Day. Across Christian realms, it’s the start of Lent, which is experienced here in western Europe with fun Mardi Gras festivals. We eat beignets (doughnuts without the hole) and we dress up. (I really do love how Europe in general focuses their Christian celebrations alongside food, but this is something I’ve chatted about on and off for 4 years). Anyway, the children are invited to dress up as characters at school. Beth was rooting around for something to wear. I pulled down the ‘dress up bag’, but she wasn’t interested in any of the princess or fairy outfits that are packed in there. Obviously, she wanted something different, and I wasn’t about to go an buy her something, even if it was cheap and cheerful. A quick brainstorming session ensued- a cat with the alice-band ears, a black outfit and some makeup? A 1980’s pop star with pink wig, Levi bootleg jeans, a sequin shirt and blue-pop makeup? Or, Michelle du La Resistance from ‘Allo ‘Allo, with a beret, brown trench coat, white socks and black pumps? But of course. Yes.
Alex will take up ANY excuse to wear my Little Red Riding Hood coat, and happily discovered she could dress up as their new animated hero Carmen Sandiego (who thieves from the thieves to give back to the good guys.) All in all, they really impressed me with their choices. (And it goes without saying, don’t I have the best selection of coats?)
Alas, I have rambled on a little bit too long today. I sat down this morning to attempt to write with a little more nostalgia, a little less of me, and rather more specifically, a little tale that I have been wanting to kickstart for a while now. Instead I was just me, myself and I.
As usual, sending all our love and kisses and best wishes. I am writing this hoping that you’ll send news and tell what’s going on with you.
Cheers to beers, and since it’s St Paddys month, make it a Guinness.
Lots of love,
Me.
Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals 