… old times in here. Here I am, sitting cross-legged on the floor (just like sweet Regina who’s gone to China) surrounded by piles of paperwork. Only difference is that there aren’t four cats circling around trying to work out which pile of paper you are actively working so that they could sit on it and stop you.
Yes, I’m having another “missing paper” session and so the easiest way to deal with all of this is to bring out all the papers that I can find, sort them into date order and then file them away now that I have bought a binder. And I reckon that I’ll have to buy some more too because this is going to be a long job.
After crowing for the last few days about how good my sleep hs been just lately, it’s inevitable that sooner or later it would come back to bite me.
And so after being thoroughly worn out by my adventures yesterday and aching all over, there I was, wide awake at 03:30.
Mind you, I did go off on my travels again. On a field, which strangely enough was the office car park of where I used to work between 1992 and 2004. I was in a Mercedes 814 bus watching the people walk by and I made some kind of cheerful comment to a girl going past. She made a petulant remark so I got out to speak to her. She was curious to know what I was doing in a bus – and it was a curious bus. There were the three seats in the fron and then a glass partition, and then the door to the passenger compartment. I was trying to explain to her how it all worked but I didn’t know either. She reckoned that it would have been just as well for me to walk to work, but I told her that I’d just come back from taking some people skiing. And our chat continued along those lines for a while.
Suddenly I realised that I had some work to do about fishing – or, more precisely, angling. The deadline was within the next hour or so and I’d done nothing, not to mention the fact that I knew nothing abiut it. I dashed into the building to see if anyone in the Reception knew anything but as usual they were very distant. And there sitting in the corner was my old colleague Frédéric – long-since retired. He was filling a cupboard there as if he had come back to work. Ordinarily I would have gone over to say “hello” but I was far too preoccupied right now.
I beat the alarm quite comfortably this morning and after breakfast I set about doing some things. And here’s something interesting that you might not believe (or, maybe, knowing me, you might).
For a project that I have on the go, I need a medical certificate. I doubt if I’ll pass it but you never know. And there are ony certain doctors who can do it – just one in Granville.
And so I phoned him – and his secretary told me that “Doctor so-and-so isn’t taking on any new patients”
“But it’s not a question of taking on a new patient” I explained. “It’s for a once-only medical examination and he’s the authorised doctor”
“It doesn’t matter” she replied. “He’s still not seeing anyone else”.
“You mean he’s going to turn down €45:00 for 10 minutes work? That’s the strangest thing that I’ve ever heard, and believe me, I’ve heard some strange things in my time”.
“Goodbye”. CLICK
So I’m going to have to travel all the way to Coutances for a medical. And I have to take all kinds of things with me, including a urine analysis. And I had that done in Leuven just now and I have the report, but can I heck as like find it?
Talking of phones, I also had to ring up Montreal and my storage facility. We’re having credit card issues as you know so my payments are falling behind. But with my new card I can go back up to date which is just as well, because otherwise they will foreclose on my camping gear and whatever else thereis in there.
Lunch was another load of soup with bread again. Took a while for the bread to go down but the soup itself was delicious and I’ll have to look out for some more of that.
And after crowing about how nice the weather has been this last few days, it’s been miserable, misty and overcast all day. And after lunch I had to go out. With this urine sample thing, if I can’t find my paperwork I’ll have to have an analysis and I need to know what to do and where to go.
So my route took me around the walls and down the steps to the pharmacie where they helpfully gave me a little container and told me where to go. I have friends like that of course.
Regular eaders of this rubbish will recall that parking features quite a lot on these pages.
And here’s another miserable example of total and utter laziness and selfishness.
The school is just round the corner from here, and here’s a mother parked on the kerb waiting for her brat to come out. It’s just before chucking-out time and all of the school buses will be coming by here any minute now, as well as all of the usual traffic. And she’s blocking the free movement of traffic.
And if you look closely, there’s a free public car park just 50 metres further on, but her darling little angel is too bone-idle to walk that far.
Makes you sick.
For tea tonight I tried some rice with mixed vegetables and a frozen curry. The rice was difficult to eat but I eventually managed it, so that’s something I suppose. One day I’ll try some pasta again and hope that I’ll have better luck next time.
And my walk this evening too. I need to keep it up no matter how unsteady on my feet I feel.
As for the music, I’m up to Neil Young. There will always be a special place for him as far as I am concerned. When I was in a very bad place 25 years ago it was he who kept me going. He suffers from depression – which must be bi-polar, for if you listen to his music you can tell the songs that he wrote when he was “up” and the songs that he wrote when he was “down”.
I remember playing After the Gold Rush on a cach with Percy Penguin, and she enquired about the album
“Released in 1970” I said
“Bimmin’ ‘Eck” she ejaculated. That’s three years before I was born!”
