A taste of reality

Mother: Did --insert child name-- pee in his bed?
Father: No, why?
Mother: Because he stinks of pee.
Au pair: I never want to be a parent...

Me, but not me

This latest piece in last week's Economist didn't come from me... http://www.economist.com/node/21560546 Even if I had the time, I am sure I couldn't write so eloquently. I couldn't help but agree with the contents of the article, and it also made me thankful that we've got four grandparents close by in the south of France...

Old but amusing (no, not me)

1. Money can't buy happiness, but somehow, it's more comfortable to cry in a BMW than on a bicycle

2. Forgive your enemies, but remember their names

3. Help a man when he is in trouble, and he will remember you when he is in trouble again

4. Many people are alive only because it is illegal to shoot them

5. Alcohol doesn’t solve any problems, but neither does milk...

Beleuchtung, Kamera, Aktion

It's well known amongst my friends that I'm no film buff. However one of the advantages of having young girls in the house as au pairs is that they keep you in touch with Generation X (or Y or Z or whatever it is now)....The latest one, Jessica, introduced me to a wonderful website which allows me to watch movies online for free (the end of Netflix you understand www.netflix.com) ...check out www.1channel.ch. It was me however who informed her that a .ch suffix denotes a Swiss registered website (Confoederatio Helvetica for the (other) geeks amongst you...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Helvetica). She even went one step further and wrote a complete list of all the movies an old fogey like me just has to watch...some more homework then...

Old dogs, old and new tricks

Shortly after getting back from Spain we had some old friends come and stay in Biarritz for 4-5 days. It was great to relax and spend time with them. I really appreciate being with old friends – it’s so easy just to slip into old friendships regardless of how long it has been since you’ve seen each other. I was also proud to take them to a show jumping competition with me in Prechac near Bazas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazas). I’ve been rabbiting on about the horses for a few years now, so I was happy to finally show them what it was all about. We also had super weather – they arrived lamenting the poor weather and rain in Northern France, they had definitely changed their tune after 5 days of “canicule” and temperatures of up to 40C.

Mormons, Tattoos, Spanish Dancers and a sore shoulder

It was definitely a good thing to get away for a week. Too often we fool ourselves into thinking that spending the summer in Biarritz will be like a real holiday. It is not. The fact that we could disconnect from everything domestic was really beneficial. I managed to get up to date with all my outstanding copies of the Economist (I learnt that if it wasn’t for the lack of a spell as a missionary I’d probably be a Mormon… http://www.economist.com/node/21554173), I did some open water swimming in the Atlantic, I spent large amounts of time in the pool with the kids, I also spent large parts of the week trying to count the number of Spanish, German, Scandinavian and English people who didn’t have tattoos. I even managed to strain a muscle in my back lifting a Spanish dancer (don’t ask). Sandie really enjoyed the fact that someone else did the catering all week, Maxime loved the pool, Jessica lapped up the sunshine and the twins were just generally happy with everything. The only downside was that Maxime fell out of his bed on the last night (no drink was taken m’lud). After a fall of only 30 centimeters, one week, three doctors and six x-rays later we are still trying to work out what is wrong. Hopefully a trip to an orthopedic surgeon next week will shed some more light on a troublesome left shoulder. He has however learnt the meaning of “man flu” and “milking it” and he still makes a pretty good stab of opening chocolate yoghurts with his arm in a sling even if it is in a degree of genuine discomfort. I sense a week of excessive pampering with Papy John coming up…

Check in and chill out

The new flip flops not only played an important psychological role in the holiday preparations, they also played an important role once I’d arrived. I am sure the person who originally designed them did so in such a way that he made it impossible to walk quickly with them. This more than anything else forced me to slow down and take things a bit easier (although I do confess temperatures of 44C and an open bar did also play a part)…