June & 7 days of July 2024

June & 7 days of July 2024

Have had phone conversations with Jim, Ajit in Varanasi, Marie-Laure and Margit. In Amsterdam, we had a Zoom with Nancy and Rosie, and then another Zoom with Coral. And I learned from Jette that Marcia’s cancer has returned and is terminal. Micheline, she and Nicolas being our first friends in the Midi, passed at age 94. We went to her funeral.

There have been the inevitable internet problems, and with my server migrating, most of my email accounts ceased working from the first day in Amsterdam. I’ve had two sessions for it with Scott and am scheduled for another with him tomorrow.

Our weather has not been great. Some heavy rain – even with thunder. I had my first swim in our bassin on the 15th of June, and we used the pool instead of the lake for our Midsummer’s sunrise plunge into water even though it was completely overcast with no visible sun.

Medically, we saw Dr. Grier for our ears. In Amsterdam, I saw my physiotherapist Hans twice, also the dermatologist who was astonished over the cost of my squamous cell surgery in Britain, and I had the medical exam for the renewal of my Dutch driver’s license with Dr. Proost but had forgotten to take along my ZorgDomein number. Proost was wonderful and completed the exam anyway (eyes, urine and blood pressure were all perfect) and let me then

phone the number to him at 19:15. It all went through. And a few days later I had my license.

Before Netherlands, Margit and Thomas came for much of the day to do portraits of Richard and me. On another occasion, Penny took us to Chateau Mentone for an exceptionally delicious meal. Jessica cooked a dinner for us chez nous for Penny, Susie, Virginie & Philippe. Monica was ill, so she & Phillipe G. could not come. There was a dinner at Marijke’s for 13 including Penny, Margit & Jan, and Thomas & Menno. Richard & I completed our June nefastus with a dinner at La Table with Margit & Jan. We also had coffees at Du Cour with Joanne and Atticus after encountering them spontaneously. In

Amsterdam, we took some food for dinner to Jim’s on our first full day there. Richard fell against a cyclone fence after we left and was substantially bloodily bruised as a result. The Caramba dinner was with Jim, Santima and Amir, and the WG Café dinner was with Jim, Vicky and Santima. We also enjoyed both a dinner at Stephan & Koen’s and an evening with Erdem and dinner at That’s Amore.

Our cinemas in June included both Lion (2016) and Richard Linklater’s most enjoyable Hit Man. The Soteria was a reading and discussion of the painter Michael Sangster’s complex writing about perception and intellect in the visual arts. In Amsterdam, I managed to finish my Basic Bliss for Everyone and am now working on the photos for it. I also read Wendy’s The Fifth Sun published under her penname of Wendy Lozano. It is about the fall of the Mexica/Aztec civilisation to Cortez. I enjoyed it very much. It was to be Book One of her proposed The Crystal and The Cross.

Our Amsterdam excursion was from the 21st of June to the 5th of July. I did manage to see the inside renovations of my former house and met the new owners Sandrine and her son Oscar. Our first week in Amsterdam was the best weather we have had this year. It was sunny, warm (29C on one day) and beautiful, and then it returned to normal Dutch weather. The following week was Richard’s appointment at the Stadhuis for his Dutch nationality, but the computer system crashed and nothing could be accomplished when we were there. Usually, it takes months in advance to make an appointment, but I protested, and we were given an appointment the following day. It became, however, a further struggle when we had the appointment itself, before someone else intervened, and the application was able to proceed. It could be about three months before we now learn of the IND’s decision.

Our returning train from A’dam was agonisingly delayed by nearly an hour as we waited on the cold and windy platform. It was agony. Then I had to pee in the long wait on the platform. I resorted to using a garbage bag that we had found. With only 55 minutes to get from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, we had to arrange on the first train for another train from Paris to Aix. At the station, we did not see Marie-Laure so went on to the RER, and she caught up with us/me at the ticket office at the Gare de Lyon. Our replacement train from Paris for 15:38 was to be an hour later at 16:38, but we were instead put on the one from 17:38. So we had a chance to have coffee for M-L & jus d’orange for Richard & me. On the two trains I slept a little, but mostly worked on the laptop. In Aix, Ryan met us straight away and drove us back home. Richard and I went almost immediately to bed. And we had missed our planned dinner that night with Joanne, Atticus and Yvonne. The following night we had dinner at Moissac Belleview with Penny and Stephen. He treated us.

And the day after tomorrow we are off to the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for five days. It is full, to say the least, but the Provence is still paradise.