Relativity

Lukan these days is a Big Boy.

He wears underpants. He pees in the loo like a pro. (Don't ask about the poos.) He has moved out of his cot and into a big bed with a big mattress.

He is very happy with his new status. He refutes any suggestion that he is still small.

From his brother:

- Lukan is a baby, Lukan is a baby.

- I not a baby, I a big boy cos I got underpants.

From me:

- Hey look at you, my little pirate!

- I not a little piwate. I a big scawy piwate.

And just in case:

- I big cos I have this many years (holding up 3 fingers).

So when I said the reason he can't join Téo's soccer team is because he's not big enough...? See for yourself:

The other side

The train station forms the northern(ish) boundary of the village, from which the fields become meadows and forest as you go up into the hills*. Here is the southern(ish) boundary, above the vineyards that rise steeply from the valley** below and run along this first foothill.

* Really, they are mountains, but C dismisses them as hills because they are not the Alps.

**And really, it is called a plain, but I dismiss it as valley because, well, it's a valley.

See?

(If you look closely, you can just make out snow a real mountain - Mont Blanc.)

Hard life

Splotch isn't allowed outside yet. And while he certainly would like to get out and explore...

... he doesn't really seem to be suffering to badly from his confinement.

Welcome

If you catch the train to our place, and are seated close to the front, then when you get off, you find yourself in a field. Various visitors, whom I have forgotten to warn, have reported this as being a little disconcerting. Which I can understand. But I love stepping out into the wide open space, and a view whose changing light and clouds and colours never fails to make me pause. Which is maybe why I keep forgetting to give the warning.

What happened on July 7:

Oh look, it's the 7th of the 7th. Janet's birthday. She's 40 now. Hang on... actually no, she's turning 41 today. Shit that means I'm going to be 41 soon. F***!!!

What happened this morning:

There was a card propped up against my bedside light.

The kids bounded into the bedroom, sang me happy birthday, gave me a kiss, and bounced around happily.

C revealed that, contrary to what I had assumed last night, he did in fact have plans to take me out tonight.

Various people called/emailed/texted/facebooked me to say happy birthday.

And, that 4 aside, I remembered how much I love the 9th of the 9th.

So glamorous

If you had told me, say, 15 years ago, that one day I would be going to Brussels for a business trip, I would have thought that sounded so glamorous. Brussels! For the day! Wow!

The reality is somewhat different.

You get up at sparrow's fart, leave while the rest of your family is still snoring, and drive for an hour in the dark and pouring rain to the airport.

The plane is late. You wait.

You fly. You are hungry as you haven't yet had breakfast, nothing appealed at the airport, and nothing appeals on the plane.

You walk and walk and walk to get out of the airport, feeling several blisters developing from your hardly ever worn high-heeled shoes.

You get to the organization you are visiting.

You wait. You meet with various people with whom you may be working. You wait. You eat a canteen lunch. You wait. You meet with further people with whom you may be working. You wait. You are starving.

You get back to the airport. You devour some fast food, but not much in the hope you might find something a bit more healthy. You do some quick clothes shopping (that part is fun, not because there's any particularly glamourous shops, but because the prices are MUCH cheaper than at home).

Something beeps as you go through security, prompting a full body pat down.

You board the plane. You are still starving, having found nothing healthy to eat at the airport that didn't have a huge queue. Nothing appeals on the plane, once again.

You arrive back in your country, eyes watering and very tired. Your feet are killing you.

You snatch the last bread roll from the small food shop at the airport, along with some camenbert.

In the car, you make a hasty sandwich and gulp it down. And see your fly is undone - since when, you don't know.

You drive for an hour in the dark and rain back home.

You go to bed.

Very glamorous indeed.

Cat v2

So, ah, Tabby is no longer. I let her out one morning and we never saw her again. My niece is sure she tried to go back to their place and simply took the wrong road, but I suspect a fox.

There were tears. From the kids too.

After a couple of weeks I started searching for a new kitten. And this morning we got one!

Hopefully we'll manage to keep little Splotch alive...