Mad Darby Diaries

I am still walking around in shirts rather than sweaters, even though the days are getting shorter, the days gloomier and the temperatures lower.  I have three weeks to go until I move into the apartment,  just in time to turn the heating on and, according to reports, pay extortionate gas bills.  This is the first time I shall have had gas central heating and I am not over the moon about it.  Still, I would rather be here than in the UK where the problems are mounting - long delays in medical treatment, shortage of truck drivers and manpower.  'It's not the fault of Brexit,' I hear the 'leavers' cry, 'it's the pandemic.'  Obviously the pandemic hasn't helped but of course Brexit has largely contributed to the problems. A friend on the Isle of Wight has posted a picture of the White Hart pub with a notice on a blackboard outside, saying 'beer shortage coming soon, panic buy here.'  Don't you just love the British sense of humour?  That is ...

There are so many things to do when buying a property, electric, gas, water, insurance and so it goes on.  Doing everything in a foreign language is challenging but add to that the dreaded masks and it is a miracle I can understand anything.  This morning I went in search of house insurance.  It took precisely 30 seconds for the agent to remove her mask and for me to think, 'thank goodness', now I can understand what she is saying.  She asked me whether I had anything that was worth more than 400€ and was less than ten years old.   I thought about this and came to the conclusion that after a fairly long life I don't own anything of value, not monetary anyway.  She then recommended that I add specific robbery from the house.  Isn't that a contradiction in terms, after all I had just admitted that I owned nothing of value so what exactly would they steal that I would miss?  After all  they are hardly likely to want my photograph albums, or...

 Somewhere in the world there is a country holding a national election but in the states they are in the midst of election fever on a permanent basis.  Biden became President at the end of January yet 7 months later the main topic of conversation across the pond is the mid-term elections in 2022 and whether Trump will run in 2024.  I can understand the anxiety on both sides with the senate and congress so closely divided but wouldn't it be refreshing if all these well paid politicians would get some work done in the meantime?  Individual states are passing ridiculous laws restricting voting rights, relaxing gun laws, banning abortion and interfering in sensible rules on covid restrictions while the federal government sits on its hands doing nothing but hurling insults and talking about the next elections.  Give us a break. Meanwhile in France all sorts of people are jumping into the presidential race.  Will France finally vote for a woman?  I am not ho...

 I was in the UK for a  month and only  had to wear a mask once.  Here in France they must be worn in shops and all indoor spaces.  Following the introduction of having to be vaccinated in order to enter a café or restaurant, the French have rushed to get their shots, which means that the number of vaccinated in France has risen above those in the UK and the US.  Tough but it works and the vaccinated feel safer and more confident. On Sunday we celebrated my son's birthday early in a pseudo American restaurant in Chichester.  We were all in a jolly mood and my son took it in good part when he was serenaded by the waiters wearing strange clothes and 'playing' tambourines and triangles, carrying a 'bomb' dessert.  Bella didn't turn up so the question hangs in the air, 'who is Bella?' As I was being searched in Portsmouth prior to boarding the ferry, the official pointed out that my number plate desperately needed replacing  so today I went to a ...

 I took my grandson to the woods in the pouring rain.  'We can chat while we walk,' he said.  'That's a good idea,' I replied.   'So tell me everything you know about transformers,' he continued.  Well that was a quick chat. My son, grandson and I were in a shop full of mirrors, something akin to a torture chamber at my age.  'I look so old these days,' I said to my son.  My grandson piped up, 'yes you do but you're not old.'  I will try to take the positive from that one. Getting the NHS pass on my son's phone before he travels to France has been a nightmare.  Assuming the problem lay at my own technical incompetence, I asked his next door neighbour, a fireman, if he could help.  He failed.  Then the nurse who lives across the street.  She failed.  Finally my son.  He failed too but he had an answer.  It is the Huawei (not sure about the spelling) phone, it just won't complete the actions required.  Ur...