Mad Darby Diaries

I am losing my past.  The friends and family who shared that past and my memories are disappearing until I find myself only being in contact with people I have met in the last few years.  My past is like the writing on a chalk board being erased line by line until it is gone.  I lost my last contact with my childhood yesterday when I visited a friend I have had since we were five years old.  Somehow we have managed to keep in touch even though our lives took completely different paths but yesterday when I visited she had disappeared into the realms of dementia, lost in a world that her family and friends do not belong to. My disappearing past is my own fault.  I have moved so many times, made good, close friends and then lost touch with them when I have moved on.  Never one to look backwards, I now have no choice but to look forwards.  To what I wonder?  Well first of all hopefully to the demise of Trump, to a Brexit deal so that I can keep my ...

I drove to the ferry a couple of weeks ago and stopped in a service station, not one with petrol and shop, just toilets and picnic tables.  As I stood munching on my ryvita and cheese, followed by an apple, I watched the French unload their lunch.  Out came tablecloths, real cutlery, china plates and serviettes, bowls of fresh salad, cheese, ham and the proverbial bread and wine.  Yes they know how to travel in style.  I read a book once about the British and French armies in North Africa.  The British sat down any old place with a tin filled with corned beef while the French army set up tables, cutlery and all the trimmings and even candelabra.  Well at least they seem to have ditched the candelabra. My son, my sister and I went to Spain for a few days.  It was challenging.  My sister is terrified of everything that involves travel and technology, even putting a train ticket in the barrier to get in and out of a station defeated her.  She...

I give up trying to understand what is going on in the heads of the politicians in the UK - on all sides of the spectrum.  They all voted to trigger Article 50 so I assume they all agreed to respect the result of the referendum.  I could understand why no-one wanted the Irish backstop as negotiated by Theresa May but since then the whole situation has changed.  We have people who want no-deal, those who don't, and others who want a withdrawal agreement but refuse to sign it.  Corbyn has been pushing for a General Election for months and now says he won't agree to one.  And does anyone in Parliament actually care what the people think?  I know that to the rest of the world, the UK has slid into a democratic abyss from which I am not sure it can recover.  It is difficult to even support or agree with one side or the other when they keep changing their minds every five minutes.  I say sack the lot of them, put a toddler in charge and he or she can p...

I was persuaded to play in the tournament this week before realising that it was going to be played on clay, my least favourite surface, and the temperatures are in the mid to high thirties.   I received the days and times on my phone.  My first match was today at 12 noon!  What idiot plays tennis at 12 noon?  Well I do apparently.  I began well, winning the first 3 games against a much better and younger player than me, but then the sun beating down got to me.  The heat I can deal with but the sun is unbearable, even wearing a hat. I ended up losing the first set, when we actually sat down for a few minutes.   When I stood up I could feel my shorts were soaking wet, cold wet, not sweat wet, although they were that too.  I  had sat on my towel, which the water bottle  had leaked all over, and I hadn't even noticed.  This was not just damp shorts.  I resumed play with water running down my legs.  It could have ...

I had a visit from a lady from the garbage department yesterday.  Apparently they are visiting all properties in the commune to explain the new system.  She brought with her 2 bins, one black and one yellow and she stuck a code on the black one.  The yellow one is for plastic only, she explained.  Paper and bottles will be put in the recycling bins at the edge of the village and the black one is for ordinary household waste. The collection will be once a fortnight and I can't leave the black bin out unless it is full.  When I am here on my own that could take a long time.  'In summer that could be a problem,'  I ventured to say, but she said 'here is your ID card.  If the garbage starts to smell take it to the garbage centre and show your ID.'  Then without even blinking or pausing for breath she added, ' You will receive the bill for the garbage collection twice a year.'  What?  'You mean I have to pay for this new system?' I as...

I have been walking with a local group for three weeks and each time the walk has been followed by a celebration of someone's birthday.  I ducked out of the first two but it would have been churlish not to have stayed today as the birthday girl had made cheesy things especially for me.  They are a jolly bunch of walkers and cyclists and on the wall of the community centre where we meet up there is a list of everyone's birthday.  They have established that I am older than most of them but no-one has actually asked for the date of my birthday yet.  How long can I avoid this do you think?  It is most likely that even if they register it there is a good chance of it being forgotten with the New Year celebrations.  Am I being optimistic?  I hope not. The battery of my mobile phone runs out in 3 minutes so I have concluded that it must be kaput.  I went to buy another one.  The cost was so high that a new phone would have cost less. The doctor...

I am one of those people who arrives early or on time.  I plan my journeys to allow for unexpected things happening.  Last Sunday I drove to Charles de Gaulle airport and stayed in the Ibis in Terminal 3 because my flight was the next morning.  There is a shuttle running between the terminals and it takes 5 minutes to get to Terminal 2 from Terminal 3.  What could go wrong?  Well everything as it turns out. The platform for the shuttle was more crowded than usual because apparently there was a 'minor'  technical problem.  I couldn't get on the first train as I was pushed aside by bigger people with even bigger suitcases.  I nearly got on the second train but as my foot stepped on a man trod on it and took my place.  There were no airport employees to control the crowd so like Lord of the Flies, the smaller  and weaker people were overcome by stronger and younger ones.  I wasn't worried about the time, I had plenty of it.  Wh...