Mad Darby Diaries

Dawn doesn't actually break until 8am so my early morning walk is not so early.  I like to walk through the town before people are around, maskless, which is against the regulations here.  There is a steep climb up to the chateau, part steps and part path.  By the time I am halfway up my breathing is laboured so sometimes I stop just to give my lungs a rest.  Yesterday morning it was particularly difficult to breathe so by the time I was halfway up I was struggling.  I don't like to admit even to myself that I can't run from the bottom to the top anymore so I pretend I am looking out over the river and the old bridge.  So I staggered up to the halfway point, turned and looked.  I couldn't see a damn thing the mist was so dense, but as I couldn't continue for a minute or two I remained staring out, at nothing.  Suddenly a runner appeared from nowhere and said sarcastically, 'nice view'.  Oh well with a bit of luck I won't come across him again...

When I was having radiotherapy nearly all the radiographers were men, young men, including the technicians,  and all the doctors were women.  This week I went for a mammogram and sure enough the person manipulating my boobs on the machine was a very young man, in fact 28 he told me.  At my age I don't care  who I am exposed to but it is interesting how the sexes have changed roles.  After the mammogram I saw the doctor and sure enough it was a woman.  When  I had cancer in 2002 all the people doing the radiotherapy sessions were women and all the doctors were men.  Progress at last in one section of our society, although I know a lot of women who would refuse to have a man, younger than their grandsons, pushing and pulling their breasts like sausage meat. I have had mixed results in my tennis matches this week.  On Saturday I was roundly beaten by Sophie, managing only 3 games in my favour.  On Monday I was also losing when after the fir...

I do believe that testing has now got out of hand and is inefficient.  For the test that I needed before |I returned to France entailed me taking the test at home, looking at a little plastic tray and seeing whether there was one bar or two.  One bar meant I was negative.  I then had to take a photo of the plastic tray next to my passport and upload and send it to the lab.  It sounds fine in theory but what if I knew I was positive so got someone else to take the test and put their result next to my passport?  There would have been nothing to stop me  doing that so the whole exercise was futile. Yesterday I went to our local pharmacy.  Regulations now mean that all students have to be tested at least twice a week.  The pharmacy was tightly packed with students, filling out their forms and getting it stamped in order to get a test.  In the middle of this crowd were some old people trying to get their prescriptions.  Anyone was more l...

I am now free to leave my apartment after being cooped up for two days.  Five minutes ago I received the result of yet another test but at least it was free.  In the UK I paid £85 for two tests, half the amount many folks are paying for just one test.  I have to thank my son for that with his shopping around.  The ferry on Tuesday was like the Marie Celeste, no trucks and very few cars but it still took over an hour to get through passport control.  People just don't have the right paperwork or if they do they can't find it, not on their phones nor buried under all the stuff in their cars. It is a year since Trump launched a coup in the States and yet, not only is  he still free, he is the frontrunner to be selected by the Republicans as the next president.  Have they no shame or sense of pride? I turned another year older on Sunday but for a change I was with my family and actually got presents.  Very nice day.  For Christmas one of my sons ...

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...