The pleasure that Grandchildren bring

Monday February 24th – Thursday 27th February 2020

Sunday 16th February saw me reach the ripe old age of 65, not so bad other than it didn’t come with an old age pension, which will have to wait until I’m 66. What was good though was that my daughters were here to help us celebrate. Amy brought her girls Amelia and Violet with her – two of my three gorgeous granddaughters and Beth brought here beau, Dylan and a jolly nice lad he is too. Kids are no end of a worry, as I’m sure all you parents reading this will agree, but it’s good to see them growing into their skins, settling into work and careers. Between us Karen and I had five grandkids on the 13th February but my youngest son Mike popped the question to his lady friend Gemma on the 14th. Gemma said yes and brings with her two more grandkids’ – Christmas just gets more and more expensive.

Having little ones about the place is a delight for me. The sound of kids laughing and the constant chitter chatter is music to my ears and a definite boost to morale when things are a little on the bleak side. Last year it was Lucas and Thea putting a smile on my face after me being in hospital for getting on two months and having nearly turned my toes up. This time it was Amelia and Violet. As they were leaving Amy came up to me and said that Milly had said she wanted three wishes – one that I was better and two that she could stay longer with us. The first will never happen but she can stay with us for as long as she wants and that’s a fact!  What happened to the third wish I don’t know but heh ho!

When we bought the place in France I dreamt of my kids dropping their kids off for the summer, leaving them with Grandad and Grandma. The accident put paid to that but who knows what the future holds – we’ve got plans to turn the attic into a dormitory, it’s over 80 sq. m’s and would easily turn into two en-suite bedrooms but one big room full of beds and chairs makes more sense financially and think of the fun all the kids could have. Let’s see what this summer brings.

Spring is in the air. Yes it’s (supposedly) deepest, darkest winter here in the heart of France and sat here this afternoon at something like 650m above sea level, the sun is shining, it’s 15*C and it feels like it’s a beautiful April day. We went out for lunch yesterday – a regular Sunday treat – and the dashboard thermometer in the Sprinter showed it as 18*C! What’s going on with the weather? We have been watching the news back in the UK and have seen the awful storms and floods but it’s totally arse about face here – we should be -5*C and under a foot of snow here, not sunbathing and walking around in t-shirts (well not me but you know what I mean). Do you really believe global warming is make believe? I don’t.

Our home improvements had ground to a halt – the builder had gone missing in action and wasn’t answering our messages. I know he’s not been well and has had some awful family issues – his cousins four year old daughter was knocked down and killed, then his mother-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack and then his father-in-law died, not unexpectedly as he has cancer, but that doesn’t make it any easier. We were trying not to get too fraught and stay understanding but all it would have taken was a phone call to put us at ease – and our message on Monday morning told him just that. Well he called back this morning (Tuesday) and he’s promised to be here tomorrow morning to finish the bathroom. Our en-suite has been inoperable since before Christmas when we started to turn it into a walk in shower, or in my case a wheel in shower, and with luck it should be operational come the weekend – hallebloodylujiah!

The bathroom continues apace. Today is Thursday and all three walls are tiled and tomorrow Christophe will tile the floor tomorrow and then on Saturday he will finish off and grout. If all goes according to plan I’ll be showering in my own ‘douche itallienne’ on Monday!

There is more good news though – it looks like we’ve got a new cleaner starting in March which will help no end as all the cleaning, washing and general household stuff all falls to Karen and someone else taking on even a small part of that load can only be q good thing. We’ve also found an English handyman who literally lives 10 minutes away. He sorted out a burst pipe for us over the weekend, at a really reasonable price. It’s a relief knowing that we’ve got someone we can call on if anything goes wrong that in a different life I’d have sorted out for myself.

In closing I thought I’d leave you with a couple of musical treats. Music has always been an important part of my life, it all started with The Beatles in 1963 and it continues to this day. I took up playing guitar very late in life, much to my shame and regret but I keep trying even though it’s difficult sat in a wheelchair. It’s a shame really because I’ve got a gorgeous Fender Telecaster and an Epiphone Sheraton pretty much going to waste at the moment – although I have got a cunning plan currently being investigated. This involves getting a new wheelchair which will stand me up, lie me down and all stages in between. It costs a bloody fortune but comes with all sorts of advantages, have a look and see for yourself.

Unfortunately the price is prohibitive and subject to some debate between Karen and I, Karen being of the view that it would be money well spent (especially if we could get some financial support from the French government) as it stands up, so helping my internal functions and also lies down flat, which would mean I wouldn’t have to transfer to bed every afternoon to rest my weary arse – which is a real faff and tiring for us both but a necessary part of my anti-pressure sore routine.

By the way I’ve still got my sore – it’s been a year now but the good news is that it’s almost healed up.  My view about the chair is quite simple – it’s just another excuse for some dirty money-grabbing bunch of greedy sods to take the piss out of a spaz like me. I’ve made my views plain about how the handicapped get ripped off in earlier posts, these people take the piss because they think big insurance pay-outs or governments are paying. Bastards! Have a look at the link and tell me if a price of getting on for £25,000 is realistic – that’s what the real cost ends up looking like when you add in extras like seat cushions and back rests. The upside is it makes things easier for Karen, so really I’ve got no alternative – and I could take the weight off my arse while I played guitar. Now, how am I going to get behind the drum kit again?

So here are the musical treats I promised you earlier:

Boz Scaggs and ‘Someone Loan Me a Dime’

Daryl Hall’s ‘Someone Like You’ in collaboration with Joe Walsh on ‘Live From Daryl’s House’

Robert Palmer singing Andy Fraser’s ‘Every Kinda People’

– all absolutely superb in my humble opinion – turn up the volume and enjoy 🙂

Thanks for sticking with this through to the end, it is very much appreciated and so, until the next time, stay safe and good health.

Jem

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