September 2024

The bummer was that Gillie tripped, fell and broke her wrist in two places. We spent the day at the Draguignan hospital where she was put into a cast but advised to wait for the surgery once she was back in the UK. Game as she always is, we still enjoyed dinner that night at La Table as well as enjoying the rest of her stay with us. And Jessica came to help Gillie shower and wash her hair.

Our meals this month have included Carlo & Jean-Christophe coming to lunch chez nous, dinners with Penny (Hotel Provençal & Solea), dinner chez nous for Joanne and Gillie, a Sunday luncheon at Penny’s (with Robin, Richard, Irish Barbara, Jessica and Stephen), lunch at the Gare du Nord with Marie-Laure, dinner with Erdem at DenC, and dinner with Jimmy at WG Café. I have Zoomed with Nancy, Julian (about an ‘Exploring Consciousness’ follow-up and an online interview for Treadwell’s concerning Matter Matters), and Pennell & Ram. Had a phone call with Jimmy.

I did see Margit & Jan while Penny was shopping at Lidl and after we had dropped off Mercedes. The car had ‘many’ anomalies and was left for an expense repair for a full week but passed her road test afterwards. Robin arrived the day that Penny took us for the weekend to her place in Nice. He had borrowed a van to get to us but waited all the time when with us for a needed part for Muriel. It had not been collected and was returned to Germany twice.

In Nice, Penny, Richard & I tried to reach Cimiez, but Penny finally phoned for a taxi to return us to her place. That night we enjoyed dinner at Le Bar Oisseau with Toni & Patricia. At 95, he is amazing. The next day, for my birthday surprise, Penny drove us to Ospedeletti on the Ligurian Coast for a luncheon meal at Ristorante Byblos. I even swam afterward in the Mediterranean. The water was warm but rough, and the lifeguard had to assist me out. The next day was the antique market of Nice which was fascinating. We climbed the

acropolis (Colline du Château) and then had a pleasant lunch at Carmela before returning back home via Salernes.

The next day we celebrated Robin’s birthday at home. During this month I listened to the Harris-Trump debate. I thought she could have been better, but Trump was ridiculous. Most upsetting, however, is Kamala’s position on both Israel & fracking. I also learned that Darby’s Steven had died. And we visited Guy at one point. He was quite animated but terribly thin. We had brought him a bottle of aloe vera.

The films have been The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, and Back to Black about Amy Winehouse. Both were good if not also upsetting. I think I have completed my “Dark Green Religion in Europe” article for Bron. And I finished Claire Dederer’s Monster that Gillie had given me. I did not care for the book. Maybe even more so has been José Saramago’s Blindness that Penny has given me and which I may finish later

today or at least by tomorrow. Saramago underscores the horridness of human behaviour in the face of catastrophe. Erdem has read the book and also Elisabetti from Italy who talked to us yesterday while we were having coffee at Blue.

In France this month I have had constant problems, difficulties and black outs with both email and internet. I have not had these while in Amsterdam. Ryan drove us to Aix. Traffic was heavy but we got the train in time with only a few minutes to spare. Marie-Laure met us at the Gare de Lyon. And here in Amsterdam, I have had one session with Hans – now for my lower back. We have arranged with the movers to take all that we still have here to the farm in France. And last night before getting to Jimmy we stopped by the closing party at the vegetable & fruit shop of Phil and Natacha around the corner, had nibbles to eat and some prosecco.

Maybe later today we will visit a museum. It is beautifully sunny but torrential rain is predicted for tomorrow – the month’s final day. We might also be Zooming with Coral, Nancy and Rosie. All in all, it is one step at a time plus the thorn in the side that we will not have enough days for Richard’s Dutch passport to be available for collection before our being booked to return to Paris. Otherwise, I am increasingly happily in love and am treasuring all the loved ones in my life.