Skip to main content

Win some lose some

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 was rigged.  In one court case the lawyer contested that republican poll watchers were not allowed in to observe the count.  This was clearly not true as the cameras proved so the frustrated judge asked the lawyer whether there were in fact poll watchers present.  His reply?  'There was a non-zero number in attendance.'  The last four years and this election illustrate that there is far too much power in the hands of one man and the system is definitely flawed.

I tried to persuade my sister to buy a tablet so that she could WhatsApp her family.  She thought it would be nice to see the people she is talking to but when I asked her son to organise it he said,  'she won't use it.  We have tried before, dozens of times.'  I fear he is right.  I remember her not being able to put her train ticket in the barrier at Malaga airport so she just threw it away.  As my son and I looked back in horror a Spanish man picked  up the ticket and put it in for her.

We are in lockdown so why did 11 men turn up at my new neighbour's house, not wearing masks and clearly not social distancing in a one up, one down property?

Apparently you can't travel into a different region, apart from medical appointments, so I have to travel 10 km further to do my shopping than I would if I used the nearest supermarket.  So much for saving the planet. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Playing by ear

My father could play the piano.  Not an unusual skill but he was deaf.  He lost his  hearing fighting in the army in India in the 30s so he was an adult when he lost it and therefore remembered tunes, even though he couldn't hear him.  However he didn't have the skill to learn anything new so  either you liked the old music or you didn't.  He used to say that he played by ear and then would roar with laughter.  He would have struggled in many ways with modern living but most of all during the pandemic, he would have lost his ability to communicate as he always lip read.  There must be thousands of people like him today who still rely on reading lips to understand,  in fact all of us do it to some extent, so please be patient if someone is struggling to communicate while you are wearing a mask. I went to the supermarket today and at the check out, the cashier asked me to move the trolley into a particular position.  As I manoeuvred it ...

Mondays

 Last Monday my son and daughter in law were due to catch the 8.15am ferry from Portsmouth to Caen.  It was 6.45am when I stepped out of the shower and heard my phone  going.  I snatched it up.  It was a video  call.  'Mum, we have big problems here,'  and before I could speak he thrust the phone into the hands of a Brittany ferries' staff member and said, 'Talk  to my mum.'  Barely conscious of my wet, tangled hair and trying to cover myself up with a  towel which thought gravity was fun, I asked what the problem was.  Apparently they had the wrong vaccination certificates and were being refused passage.  I asked what I could do and she said they could go and get a test and take a later ferry.  'Where is the nearest test centre in Portsmouth?'  I asked.  'There isn't one,' she replied, 'there  is one in Southampton, or Havant.'  What!  No test centre in Portsmouth?  They both have learni...

Equality

 I don't want to hear another person  say that women should be equal to men.  There is no 'should' about it, women ARE equal to men but they are not treated equally.  It has never occurred to me that I am  not equal to any man.  Am I treated equally?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  It requires a step change in the way women think of themselves as being equal before we can hope for attitudes, legislation, economics to  follow and that is my rant for the day. Ever since I have lived in France I have noticed a stark difference between the French and the British sense of humour.  The dry, irreverent humour of the British is completely wasted on the French, and the Dutch and the Americans sometimes for that matter.  Clearly the British humour is unique.  Yesterday I gave an article to a French friend to read.  It was a humorous piece, self deprecating about a woman suffering an attack by an insect on her face with hideous result...