THOUGHT I WOULD REPUBLISH THIS, makes me feel quite happy with my situation now..........in 2013!
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That was the year that was - my own look at my personal year!
2009, a year that I was once again surprised to see the start of, began in fine style!
A reduction in Pension to cover an increase in Health Insurance...! Not a lot, but anything less is BAD!
Home improvement had to be done even so! A toaster that had blown up during Christmas work,
a washing machine that had eaten all my undies and spat them out in shreds - clean but shredded, a new definition of "shreddies", a cooker that took an hour to heat up and then wouldn't allow itself to be cut off...all had to be replaced in the course of the year - quickly preferably!
A bad start, the January sales so awaited to make ENORMOUS savings, was a fizzle!
A damp squid - no bang, no pop! No bargains!
I did notice that by the time you added the insurance, prolonged guarantees, delivery, you arrived at the price of two of the article in question!
I did find a DVD player/recorder and Satellite TV receiver at a reasonable price, so they were ordered - more about that later.......
Now at least I could sit at home and watch digital TV, from all over the World - and record it, if it was worthwhile!
Trouble is you never know if it's worth it- until it's too late, and more than 800 TV programmes means a lot of power punching on the remote control - more cost for batteries - to end up finding nothing and turning the TV off!
At least I found a new toaster, locally, nice and cheap which burnt my bread perfectly. I just didn't understand how it worked!
January brought something else - unusual for my area - SNOW! You know, that white stuff that is supposed to decorate Christmas, but rarely does - well there it was in January - for 2 days!
As usual in the area, everything ground to a standstill - after all, when you're used to temperature between 15 and 40 degrees CENTIGRADE over the year, snow doesn't normally play a great rôle in events!
Whilst waiting for new offers, I started on existing plans to modernise.
Living on the 3rd floor, with exactly 42 stairs to climb - no lift/elevator - being cardiac with a 3 bypass heart operation and 63 years behind me, I decided the time had come to install something really modern to get all my shopping upstairs more easily.
No - not one of those electric chair things, I CAN still walk, but I invested in a roll of thick string, a pulley, a couple of hooks and a large basket, all of which was discreetly hidden at my 3rd floor window!
Modern, quick to install, functional, couldn't be refused by the owner, discreet, but CHEAP!
I've often found "cheap and nasty" to be better in this life! So was it in this case, unfortunately it didn’t work!
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This month of January also brought some very sad news from abroad, the serious illness of my sister - kept quiet until little or no hope was left.
I've already written about as much as is necessary elsewhere - there comes a time when you have to move on.
I found that so after the death of my own wife, already 16 years ago.
My own health had to be controlled as well, and the only appointment I don't like was due - The "eye guy"!
I dislike this "diabetic" control because of the eye drops given before, to widen the pupils. It lets so much light in that you're effectively BLIND for the rest of the morning/afternoon - or both!
There's nothing that physically hurts at this Doctor control, except bumping into things afterwards, maybe even getting knocked down by a car when you're walking home after the examination!
Maybe the fact that the doctor concerned is a rather strange guy, doesn't help!
I normally get on well with my "toubibs" (French slang for doctors, meaning "witchdoctors") chattering on about all sorts of things like football, rugby, the internet and god knows what else, whilst he's getting on doing the necessary, but this guy - well I still don't know his interests, even after 3 years of visits!
So January came slowly to an end - usual type of month - financially busted, but "tired and happy" - sort of!
Finished the month with the visit to the local laboratory, where the local Vampire stuck needles into me, and seeped off what seemed to be a lot of red stuff! In return, I gave him some yellowish liquid, bottled freshly that very morning!
The problem with these visits every 3 months is that you have to be "a jeune" - "nuchtern" or whatever you want to call it - NO BREAKFAST until afterwards, which means, if you're like me, that you sit in the waiting room and entertain all the other patients/victims with gurglings from the stomach area. Once you've been violently attacked by a needle wielding nut, you are ordered to keep your finger on the wound point, if you want to avoid a bruising!
It's amazing how many people you see at 8am in the village, all walking around holding their second hand over their wounded area on the other hand.....!
It also makes it difficult to pop in and get a lovely fresh baguette for breakfast - how do you carry it? Normally at that stage, one says "stuff it, Doc!"
Back home, of course, you sling an enormous breakfast down yourself, everything you're supposed NOT to eat - butter, eggs, ham, etc.... that's why you have the blood test in the first case!
Weird old world, ain't it.....?
iwmpop(mrlemarquis) ***** Vauvert,France**** Dec 09.
republished in 2013 (May)
