Being old.

OMG!!!!  I am soooo old.  Three young twenty-somethings staying in our cottage came over this evening to ask for my advice.  They were talking to me like I was their Mum!  Freaked out a bit until I realised I am actually twice their age.  Now I am very freaked out.  Had to lie down in a darkened room for a while.  Not helped by the fact that I need to do some ironing which is preying on my mind a bit (washed the cushion covers for a sofa we are trying to sell and they are all creased, not a good look).

Been out on the bike a couple more times, managed to get a bit further, but only just.  Was going to go out again today, but large black cloud was looming, so stayed in.  I thought that if it started raining whilst I was out, I wouldn't be able to get back very quickly and would end up very wet indeed.  Had to prepare cv (in french) anyway.

Unfit

Woke up to yet more bloody rain.  However, this afternoon it dried up and we had a bit of sunshine, so I in my wisdom, decided to go out on my bike.  Haven't been on it since last October and have put on a bit of weight since then.  Had to stop at the top of the road.  I used to get all the way up the hill.  And to the village and elsewhere.  After my short stop, went right at the junction along a road that goes downhill slightly.  There were two farmers in the field near to the road, so I ended up turning around and going in the opposite direction as coming back would be uphill and I might not have been able to make it and would have had to stop near the farmers, not having that.  Didn't go far in the other direction, well, it was muddy and I didn't want to get the bike too dirty.  That and I wanted to have a chance of being able to get home.  Had to sit down for a while when I got back, legs were like jelly. 

Foraging at the tip

Did a few tip runs yesterday and on the last trip came home with a large oak barrel (very decorative for the garden) and a plastic garden table (only needs a bit of a clean).  Very chuffed!

Getting sorted

Right.  Time to get my backside in gear.  Need a job and need to do work on this place and need to cheer myself up a bit.  I think January and February are really quite miserable months, wet, cold and dreary and all the bad things loom over you, etc, etc. 

Tomorrow hubby and I are going to go around the gites and the garden and make a list of all the must-do jobs and then split that into the can-do and can't-do jobs (ie ones that require money spent and ones that don't).  I think mostly this year it will be painting (we've got a fair bit of paint) and tree-felling (the Willow HAS to go.  I like them, but this one is far too close to the house and is also blocking out the light from my veggie plot).

Next week I have an interview at the job centre.  So I have to get my cv in order.  In french.  Although they will apparently help me with that, but got to have something as a starting point.  I can't for the life of me remember anything much of my work history, so that will take a bit of preparing.  After that, I've found a couple of temping agencies in town, so I'll see if I can register with them, (once I've got a proper french cv).  I've been spreading the word a bit that I'm looking for work, but most people look at me as though I've said something in a completely different language - as in 'what are you talking about?'  And than I get words along the line of 'There's no way that's going to happen, can't get a job myself' etc etc.  Can but try.

Haven't got anything even remotely smart to wear though - and I'm not even talking about going down the 'suit' road, I'm just talking something that fits without bulging, not stained, not stretched out of shape, not torn and no threads hanging down.  So I'll also be off to the sales to try and find myself at least one top and one pair of trousers that fit and look reasonably smart.  But not too smart.  If I get any interviews at all, it could be factory work or similar, so not point going overboard.  And then there's footwear.  I used to have a smart pair of boots, but now they are not smart anymore.  I've got 25€ left in this weeks budget and I also have to buy stamps tomorrow and pay for me and the girls to go to the dentist on Wednesday, so it'll be very tight (like my current clothes).  Wish me luck.

oops!

Forgot to pick up girls from school today. 

Remembered about 15mins after I should have been there.  They rang just as I was leaving.  (The school, not the girls).

Ironing

Almost had to lie down in a darkened room this afternoon.  Yes, I had to get the iron out.  Isabella is starting swimming lessons with school tomorrow and I have been instructed to label everything.  Unfortunately, the laundry pen (used for writing names on clothes, much more sensible) has now run out and I've had to revert to the iron-on labels.  (Haven't got any sew-on ones). 

This involved:
Hunt for iron - found at back of cupboard in garage.
Wipe dust off iron (even though it was in cupboard).
Find adaptor (it still has uk plug on it).
Hunt for the iron-labels.
Iron on the iron-labels.
Sit down to recover from act of doing actual ironing.

Foraging at the bins.

Did a bit of unexpected foraging today.  Took the rubbish up to the bins (God knows they couldn't possibly collect it from the house) and found a load of things dumped beside the recycling bins.  This happens quite often and is very annoying, especially as it's usually rubbish that should be taken to the tip.  Not normally from the folk in our hamlet, but this time I think it was from our neighbours who moved away at the week-end.  Anyway, brought home: crate of beers (30), two trays of coke cans, six bottles of tonic water, six bottles of perrier,12 small bottles of iced-tea and one large one (....).  All except the beer was a bit out of date, but I opened one of the coke cans and it was still fizzy and the 'waters' will be fine.  Not bad, but won't pay for the 4000,00€ bill we have to cough up by mid-feb in the way of social charges which we were assured were up to date, but apparantly not.

F*** F*** F***

F***ing depressed. F***ing social payments.  F***ing France.

New Year

Had a terrible dream last night, a proper nightmare.  Dreamt that we'd had the bright idea of putting the tv on at midnight to watch pictures of Paris seeing in the new year with fireworks over the Eiffel Tower and such like.  Unfortunately, there was only a video of french folk miming to Tom Jones singing 'It's not Unusual', followed by a troop of topless (female) dancers in a studio, followed by the tv host guy being completely unable to conceal his excitement at finding himself standing amoungst them all.  It must have been a dream, surely it couldn't have been real.  Way too much fizz and B52's last night methinks.