Our place in France Chapter 47

There are some weeks which fly past with not enough hours in them to do all that one wants to do, and then there are weeks which drag past, usually when one is anticipating something. And then there are the ordinary weeks which chug along at normal pace, not much to do and at the end , nothing much to show for it. Well, I think this was one of those weeks. The weather has been mixed with a couple of brilliantly sunny days interspersed with grey rain but even the sunny days have been marred by icy winds. When I mentioned this to a friend in South Africa the other day, she laughingly replied, “Well you wanted to go there!” So, everyone please note – I am not complaining, not really – I am just telling you.

On one of the better days we drove into Villefranche and went to the local branch of Emmaus. Yes, it is here too. I had long decided that we needed more carpets to cover the bare floors and to stop the draughts from coming up from downstairs. As all our carpets are fairly well-used, new carpets would not have been right so we went to see what Emmaus could offer. Although it is a massive shop the pickings in the carpet department seemed a bit meagre and we were about to rethink our plan when an assistant came up to us and asked if he could help. When we told him what we wanted, but added that they didn’t seem to have much, he said that there was another floor upstairs where they keep extra stock. So off we went and found a great pile of carpets. Among the lot we found two which exactly suited our needs and one of them still had its Ikea sticker on the back. They are both virtually new if not brand new, with a lovely crisp feel.So much for not buying new carpets! But where would we get two carpets for 15 Euros?We still need one more but it can wait a while.

The next day our hair-dresser arrived and not a moment too soon. What with all the holidays, the visitors and the fact that she and her husband had been in Spain for three weeks, it had been ten weeks since our last trims and we were both taking on a decidedly shaggy look. We always look forward to her visits because she is so jolly and full of life. We always seem to spend half the appointment time just chatting and the other half laughing and as we are at the end of the line for her, we never feel that we are holding her up. She comes quite a long way to cut our hair and we certainly appreciate her efforts.

My wretched hip has kept on giving problems and now, after blood tests, X-rays and an MRI, I am off to a specialist tomorrow. As it is now nearly five months since I injured myself, I almost feel that if we wait long enough, it will heal itself, but hey, the system pays and this way we get the real answer. We hope! If I am told that it is just old age, someone might just get a quick slap!