I am a day overdue and have no excuse for it either, given that I’ve not exactly been run off my feet this past week. To resume the story, I got home at around 4pm on Monday after dropping the folks off at Limoges and then Matt off at Angouleme. I quickly got the fire going again and soon had the house toasty. The cats and I had a quiet evening in watching TV in the mezzanine. As there were so many leftovers from the weekend with the parents, I didn’t even have to cook – I had fish pie waiting for me.
Tuesday was a day of laundry and general tidying, followed by an afternoon run to the Super U in Nontron. While there, I saw Josianne, one of the lovely ladies from Matt’s conversation group who has been mentioned on here a number of times. Her daughter Laetita (also previously mentioned – she lives in Belgium where she is a band manager and is great company) has recently been quite seriously ill, although we’re not sure of the details. Last we heard, she was out of hospital and doing OK, but apparently was going back to hospital this week for more tests. Josianne’s been flitting back and forth between here and Belgium and was understandably looking a bit run-down. As seeming proof that bad things tend to cluster, she also told me that her husband’s mother died last week and she’d just been to the funeral. They’ve had a rubbish end to the year so I really hope there’s positive news regarding Laeti at the end of all this.
That evening, Jenny from the equestrian centre invited me over for apéros as she was having a few friends round. Apart from Jenny and I, the remaining 6 or so people were all French and all connected to equestrian activities. Our dubious president M. Hollande has recently announced a threefold VAT increase on all equestrian sports which is going to have a dire effect on many clubs across the country. As a result, the conversation was very heated and very technical, so after a couple hours, I made my excuses and slipped away, not having much I could offer to the debate. I had another free meal that night – this time the remaining enchiladas – and then a film or 2 with the pusses before turning in.
The following day I finished off the laundry and then, conscious that I really should be preparing for our now very imminent gig, I spent a couple hours playing guitar. Carol rang in the afternoon to invite me down for dinner that evening – yet another free meal! – which I gladly accepted. She put together a delicious dinner of chicken, stuffing, roast veg and potatoes and gravy. Afterwards, we got out the cards and I initiated them into Anna Perna, which they both took to very well. More converts to the movement! I left their place somewhere around 10 and was immediately shocked at how cold it was outside. As it turned out, it was -6 that night. Needless to say, the cats were in and waiting for me to provide a lap when I got home. As I was watching TV, I realised my nose was stuffy and my throat a bit scratchy, but chose to ignore the signs. Unfortunately, by the time I went to bed there was no denying it: I was definitely cold-ridden.
I had a patchy night’s sleep and got up feeling very stuffed up, with a sore throat and a woozy head. It was only 15 degrees in the lounge so I got the fire going as soon as possible, dashed out for more wood and then decided that that was all I could manage for the day. I retreated upstairs with a blanket (to the great delight of the Smoo) and spent the day in a snotty daze. Jenny called round to see me in the afternoon to discuss a small bit of work – she wanted a club logo design producing that she could use to have embroidered on to saddles and stationery. After she left, I returned to my den upstairs, breaking only to cook my first meal since Matt and the folks left. I made one of my favourite comfort food recipes, an American dish called Sloppy Joes. I think it is usually made with beef but our version is with turkey, so like everyone over in the States, I ended up having turkey on thanksgiving too. Not long after dinner, I crawled off to bed.
I woke up Friday a little after 9.30, having just slept for 10 hours straight. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling any better. I dosed myself on paracetamol and anti-congestants and had another quiet morning under a blanket keeping warm. Fortunately, it had been a much warmer night: it stayed just above freezing. Despite this, it was such a damp and overcast day that it took all day to get the temperature to rise from 14 to 19 in the lounge, despite having blasted the fire from the moment I got up. I was feeling a lot better but still had a chesty cough and residual snottiness. I decided I still needed a few days before trying a workout again, so instead I worked on jenny’s new logo, which I’ve since finished and sent to her. Francoise emailed me to say I was welcome to call round for dinner over the weekend if I was bored but I decided I should try and shake the cold fully before having a night on the sauce so I passed and the cats and I had another wild night in front of the TV instead.
The next morning was a far more pleasant day. It hit a ‘high’ of 7 degrees and was clear and sunny. I’d woken up much later than I intended but clearly must have needed it because I felt much improved. I made it out to Super U again for a food shop and had a wee wonder about town just to stretch my legs. I got home and had another extended guitar practise, which for some reason was a total disaster. Here’s hoping I got it all out of my system with that one and will play perfectly come the gig on Saturday! Having decided I was on the mend, I treated myself to a cocktail or 2 and a glass of wine with dinner that night.
This was all fine at the time, but I think it took me back a step or 2 as far as my recovery goes. I was snottier on Sunday than I’d been the day before. That said, I was feeling well enough to need some form of activity, so I decided to get productive. We had some bananas that were on the turn so in the morning, I baked a banana bread to use them up, which ended up coming out very nicely if I do say so myself. After lunch, I then prepared a lasagne that I’d shopped for the day before. This is a new recipe that uses minced pork sausage meat, and sounds very yummy. It’s now in the fridge ready for dinner tonight. Hopefully it turns out alright because it’s due to be dinner for the next few nights as well. Beyond my cookathon, I dont think there’s anything else to report for yesterday – except a brief note on work. I recently posted an ad on our online expat network, the first in several months, and to our surprise, it yielded 2 enquiries. One of them has already come back to me to give the go-ahead so I shall have a good new project to get into imminently – enfin!
Right, enough rambling from me. I am going to bring in some more wood and then see what happens when I pick up the guitar today. A bientôt.