Mad Darby Diaries

 Yesterday I had to go for a covid test before my operation on Wednesday.  The appointment was 8.00am so I left home in the dark.  Because of the pandemic I don't get out much so I haven't got used to dark mornings, freezing temperatures and fog, not a pleasant experience when driving on country roads with lots of bends and no lines on them.  Why are there no lines on the roads?  The test is not for the faint hearted.  It feels as though they are sticking a needle in your brain and they do it in both nostrils. I went from there for a 2 hour drive to the Prefecture to have my finger prints taken again, to give them yet another photo and to show them my passport, again.  They probably have a special rogues' gallery full of Brits trying to get their resident's permit.  By the time I arrived I was desperate for the toilet but with all the cafes closed and no public toilets around I felt obliged to ask my interviewer if I could use their toilet.  ...

 I went to see the anaesthetist last week.  The first thing he said was 'if you don't speak French then there is no point in continuing.'  All I had said was bonjour.  He then turned his back on me, tapped on his keyboard and muttered something into his mask.  I said that I couldn't understand what he was saying so he swung round and said 'there is no point in continuing if you don't speak French'.   'I do speak French, I just can't understand what you are saying with a mask on and your back to me.'  'oh I see,' he said, and it is difficult to tell behind a mask but I think he may have smiled.  Anyway by the time I left he was positively jovial. Was he wrong?  Yes, in that he made the assumption that I didn't  speak French based on my name probably, but no, he was not wrong to say that he couldn't carry on with the appointment if the patient can't speak French.  In the UK they would have run around looking for an interpreter o...

I need to register my new S1 (essential for health care in France) but the office is appointment only.  The list of options for making an appointment doesn't cover my problem, phone lines are permanently busy, even though it says you can phone to make an appointment.  I wrote two messages on the website but haven't had a reply. On the other hand I have won my battle with the plasterer who tried to insist that the hole in the wall in the kitchen was due to excess damp, even though I saw his worker cut the hole and the plaster was perfectly dry.  He has also agreed to paint the entire wall as well.  Young men really should stop trying to push old ladies around. The winner in the US is Biden even though Trump insists that he is, based on spurious reports of fraud and conspiracy theories.  The loser, thank goodness, is Trump, although he is not going quietly.  He has sent lawyers out all over the country trying to prove, without any evidence, that the election ...

Last night I slept like a baby.  For the past week the US election has had me watching way into the night, fearful that Trump could still pull another  4 years out of the bag.  It isn't over of course, because he will refuse to co-operate with Bidon's transition team, refuse to leave and refuse to do anything constructive.  The best headline was 'Your fired' even though it was spelt incorrectly.  It is a pity he gets to sit in the White House until 20 January, although it is so infected with coronavirus that Biden's team would be better steering clear of the place until it can be totally fumigated. This morning I went to the dentist for a check up.  He looked at my teeth without actually touching them, declared them to be in good shape, told me to come back in a year and charged me 65€.  Then I went to the pharmacy to get the stuff I need for my cataract operation.  It took 2 hours for the assistant to go through the paperwork, photocopy each shee...

 We are in lockdown and on Thursday the UK will probably follow, but there is a difference.  Any shops selling non-essential items had to close here but in true French fashion they rebelled.  Why could supermarkets continue to sell all the things that the small shops normally sell?  Outrage!  Small shops have rights too! So also in true French fashion, the government decided that supermarkets cannot sell non-essential items either.  That's fair.  Except every time we leave the house we must carry a signed form and it has to be a fresh form every time.  This means that one either photocopies the form or writes out its contents laboriously by hand.  There is the possibility of having it on your phone but, of course, this only works if there is service, which there isn't here. Here is the problem.  I have run out of photocopy paper, my phone doesn't work in this area and I can't go and buy any paper, anywhere, because it is deemed to be a n...