Mad Darby Diaries

Having spent a very enjoyable 5 days in the rain in Symonds Yat, we faced what ended up as being a very long drive home.  Driving, or crawling, through torrential rain, the journey seemed to be interminable.  After 3 hours at the wheel I declared my need to stop for a cuppa so we pulled in at a service station.   There was a Starbucks in one building so we pulled up our hoods and hurried in.  I wanted Green tea or any herbal tea, even an Earl Grey would be good but I couldn't see tea on the board.  A young lad was stacking the shelf full of biscuits so I asked him if they had tea.  'Oh yes,' he said, so I queued patiently.  After 10 minutes I reached the front of the queue.  'We only sell coffee, not tea, or we have coca cola.'  I left my family drinking their coffee and wandered out in the rain to see what other delights I could find.  Spotting another building I ventured in.   Two more Starbucks and no tea.  You hav...

 Here I am in Symonds Yat celebrating Christmas with my family, where the roads are the same width of the car and where it seems to either rain or one thinks it is raining because it is permanently damp.  Apart from the weather it is a perfect setting with a river running gently by and views across rolling countryside.  Everyone seems to know each other and the local pubs are full of locals mingling with visitors.  Except one which has a sign outside which states in large letters, LOCALS ONLY.  Well who would want to go there anyway? After Johnson's ridiculous lies and party antics no-one seems to be taking him seriously.  He can spout his recommendations and rules to the public and they will ignore him or make up their own rules.  If you didn't spot the occasional mask you would not know that the pandemic still rages in the UK.   Macron will be pleased at the latest research that shows that 79% of the British people are genetically French. O...

 After being incarcerated in my son's house waiting for the results of the day 2 test I was finally allowed out today.  I went to Chichester and was saddened by the number of familiar shops that have disappeared from the town centre.  Bognor is the same.  You wouldn't die of thirst in either town though as the number of cafes has increased.  Both town centres were busy making it difficult to keep a safe distance from others but many people were wearing masks in the street. I was pulled over by Customs in Caen.  As I opened the trunk of the car one of the officers asked me if I was carrying goods.  'Yes,' I replied, ' French Champagne and French wine'  They nodded approvingly and waved me away. During my 3 days in the house, I have cleaned, filed all their paperwork, mended the shower, cooked dinner and tried watching television, the latter being totally uninspiring.  The news consists of covid, travel restrictions, forbidden Christmas parties...

I hate double negatives but you hear them a lot in the UK.  My favourite is 'don't know nuffing about it', often used in police interview rooms.  This week, though, the double negative triumphed when Trump said, 'anybody that doesn't think there wasn't massive election fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election is either very stupid or very corrupt.'  A  perfect description of yourself Mr Trump. On Sunday I played a match in the inter club tournament.  As my opponent was only 32 I didn't have high hopes but much to my amazement, and hers I imagine, I won the first set 6 1.  By the second set she had caught on that I can run most balls down and she upped her game, winning 4 6.  At 4 5 in the third set I looked doomed but after 3 hours of play I managed to eke out the last 2 games, winning 7 5.  She was not happy.  I was happy, and somewhat surprised, although I didn't show it, or couldn't, as after 3 hours I was lucky to be standing.  Monday...

Sometimes I feel as though we are going backwards. We are back to wearing masks outdoors in Saumur, day 2 test has to be a PCR one and now France wants people coming into the country to have a test 48 hours before.   The latter is fairly impossible to find if you are entering France from the UK during the Christmas/New Year period, which seems to go on until about the 8th of January.  All this and there is still no evidence that the new variant is anymore lethal than the previous variants.   Even with 3 vaccinations one is subjected to all these tests.   At some point countries will make vaccinations mandatory and then what? I noticed in Angers that  about 50% of the people on the tram and in  shops wear their masks below their noses, or round their chins.  Do they think it looks more attractive that way? I had lunch with friends in a Thai restaurant this week.  My share of the bill came to 25€ so I put down 3 tens and took a 5€ not...