Halloween

I can't believe that halloween is not celebrated here as it is in Canada. I'm sitting here with bags of candies, house decorated, beer in hand - well it's only a little beer. The bottles are small here. Not a soul at the door. Which means I will have to eat the whole darn thing myself. You all know how I love halloween. I even opened the window to check the street but not one trick or treater. Here are a few pictures of my spooky house and party.

This is André and Christi.  She's a mean one when she wants.

 OK, not my best shot but it's halloween.  I can look this way.

 My branches from behind Claudia and Werner's house in Germany.

I had poor Chriti lay down on the floor so I could do this.  She never says no.  She likes a good time. 

Here are a few friends that came to celebrate with us.  OK, these are the only people that came to celebrate but it was fun.

Tomorrow I have the day off.  I am going to do nothing just like the picture below of my two friends that came to see me and left me all alone because they were so busy playing with MY toys.  I thought I was good entertainment but I guess my gadgets are better.  Of course after they read this, they will say that I did nothing and they did all the work. They did cook supper for me ONCE.

And this is why I couldn't blog.  These pictures speak for themselves.  I think this was the time when I was scrubbing the floors or was it when I was washing the walls.  Can't remember!!!

I would love to put a picture of my friends in Germany but I'm not sure if they would want me to.  Maybe if they read this, they will let me know.

Oh I must tell you.  Friday after Berthe and Claire left, I went to Gifi to buy stuff for my party.  I'm in there and this lady comes right to me and says, oh madame que vous avez des beaux yeux bleus.  Oh madam what beautiful blue eyes you have.  Then she puts her hand on my face and starts rubbing it and says, did you always have such blue eyes.  No lady, they used to be purple but I changed them today so they would match my outfit.  Like what was with her.  So then she says, your husband is so lucky to have you, as she now had both hands on my cheeks and was softly rubbing them.  She says, what sign are you.  I was pretty well freaked out by now, OK, please men in white jackets, come and take her away.  Then she rubs my shoulder and back and keeps on saying, you have such nice eyes. So I am thinking,  hey, Madam Freaky, I don't want to be your friend, I have friends.  Get your own.   I started to walk away and she turned around and went in another aisle.  Further down, this woman with a young child (maybe 3 yrs old) is telling her daughter about how this lady came to her and said, who is this child.  The lady said he's my grandchild.  So Madam Weirdo says, your face doesn't tell me that your his grandmother.  I speak up and tell the young woman and her mother, ya she came to me too and freaked me out.  Why is there never anyone with me when things like this happens.  And yes, this is a true story.  I couldn't make up something like that.  It was scary and weird.  She also asked my age and told me that she was 71.  I think that I might need a bodyguard.

Here in France you can buy bread anywhere.  Even in vending machines.  On our trip to Amiens, Berthe, Claire and I saw a machine and bought croissants and chocolate bread.  For 2 euros you get 3 of each.  I of course, being a woman living in France and so knowledgable in the world of French Cuisine, have seen these machines before.  There is one on my way to work but I have never stopped.

I'm adding pictures of things I have mentioned in my previous blogs.  As you all know Allen had BROKEN my laptop and I couldn't put pictures via IPAD so here are a few of them.  Hope you enjoy.  Will blog tomorrow.  Thanks for reading and HAPPY HALLOWEEN.  Oh somebody asked me on facebook why I had so many clocks.  Well one is for France time, the other Charlottetown and the bottom one for Manitoba.  I had put them up before but the tic toc tic toc was driving me crazy but when Berthe came to visit, she put them up straight this time.  I have tuned out the tic tocking. 

I haven't mastered the art of adding pictures where I want them so you will have to be patient.  There are more to come.

This is Zina the princess who I babysat for a week-end.

I miss Minime so I got the next best thing. 

Chapter 2 - visiting Nuremberg

Sorry I'm late with blogging but with company and getting ready for Halloween, it's been a challenge. 
Our second day in Nuremberg was quite an event. We left to go visit the city and of course, got lost. I knew that the market was within the walls of the city, but I just didn't know the name of the market. I thought there was only one but apparently not. I saw GrosMarket so I said, ah it's this way. It wasn't. Not surprising. We finally found the City Centre, with no help of mine and then we found a parking. We walked, we visited, we bought. We found a nice little pub for lunch. When it was time to leave, we somehow took a wrong turn outside the parking lot and there we were, right in the middle of the pedestrian streets where we had just spent 4 - 5 hours walking. OK before I go any further.  I was not driving.  It was Claire.  She did it.  OK, with that off my chest, I will continue.  It didn't take us long to figure out that we weren't allowed there but we couldn't get out. Pillars on one side, stairs on the other side, huge flower baskets at the end. We had no way out. People were taking pictures of us.  Claire ended up driving in-between cement blocks on a hill right beside the castle and just in front of the pub we had had lunch. It was not good. We were stuck. Berthe had to get out of the car to direct Claire in backing up and I was hiding in the back seat. I couldn't be seen and end up in the newspaper. I have a reputation to keep. More pictures were taken.  A man finally said, go through the big wooden flower pots.  They were placed in zig-zag so there goes Claire and we got out.  Must say, her and Berthe are very good drivers even without a map or GPS. 

Next day we decided not to venture too far so we stayed in the village.  Now it's not a big village but walking around, we always ended up at the shoe shop.  Berthe and Claire still don't think I know my way around.  I beg to differ.  I was training them on how to always have a focus point, like the shoe store.  As long as you can find it, you can get back to Claudia and Werner.  In the evening we went out for supper with all of  MY  FRIENDS.  Margit and Gerhard joined us.  It was a great time.  I even got an invitation to Gerhard's art show.  Oh yes, he's an artist.  I know important people. 

Next day, we left to come back to Arras.  For some reason I had allergies so Berthe gave my 1/2 of a benadryl.  Within 20 minutes, I was sleeping with my scarf over my head like an old lady.  Yes picture it, it's OK.  Well let me tell you who got lost while I was having my beauty sleep.  It was the blind leading the blind.  They said they had made an executive decision while I was sleeping and went another way.  NOT TRUE.  They were lost.  They kept missing the exists.  Ah looks good on them.  However, twice they pulled into a garage to ask for directions.  Check this out.  They would both get out of the car, lock me in the car with my scarf over my head plus two branches that we found at Claudia's for my halloween party.  They took pictures of me and took my pulse to make sure I was still alive.  And they call themselves friends.  I'm not convince it was a benadryl.  I think they druged me so I wouldn't get them lost again but they managed to do that themselves.  TWELVE hours later, we made it home via Belgium.

Claire and Berthe went to Paris on Saturday and Sunday by train.  I had to show them how to get the tickets, where to go.  Good thing I'm living like a local and know these things.  Saturday evening I went to see Christi at the gala.  She takes ballet and you can tell that she loves it.  She dances very well.  I kept telling André, ah I used to be able to do moves like that.  Yep, in my younger days.  Now I sit on the floor and I can't get up.  I'm sure alot of you can relate.

Well week 2 with the girls was just as much fun as week 1.  Claire fell off the bed.  Not sure if it's the wine or just because she miscalculated her move.  We went to Ypres and Brussels in Belgium.  They brought Christi with them to Bruges.  They even brought Tom.  They got to really like Tom.  Tom even came with us to Amiens but finally on Thursday, he had to go.  Back in the box.  It's Christi and Andre's GPS.  I don't need a Tom, I know where's I'm going, sometimes.

The girls are gone and I miss them.  It sure was nice having them.  At least I wasn't drinking alone.  Just to point out,  I just have one glass but I can't say the same about them.  They were a bad influence on me.  On my laptop I have a calendar and somehow, they wrote little messages on different dates and every day something pops up, like Friday it said, Berthe and Claire are gone.  Today it was, ah missing Berthe and Claire.  They are quite the pair.

Well enough said for one night.  Now that I am alone and back into my routine, you will see lots more blogs.  Next visit is Allen and Natasha.  They'll be here in 2 weeks.  Ah the joy of living in France.  People come and visit.

Expect pictures tomorrow.  My laptop's working and Bird is hot for blogging.

Where to start - Chapter 1

I haven't blogged in awhile but with company coming, I had to make sure everything was done and that the place looked good.  I did not forget about my fellow readers.  As a matter of fact, I believe that I have some new followers from British Columbia and Ontario.  Welcome.
 
To continue my story about having gone to Emergency, I received a paper in the mail saying that I had to go pay within 8 days.  So up I walk to the hospital.  Same lady at the desk.  I said I am here to pay my bill.  She looked at me and thought Oh My, she's back.  She looked at the papers I had brought plus my letter saying that PEI would pay.  Well she didn't like that.  Oh you have the wrong paper she said.  We will just send you the bill in the mail and you can fix it with your insurance.  Then the words I was waiting for.....did you find a doctor.  Funny how people don't forget me.  Let it be known that I have now the name and phone number of a doctor in Arras.

Sunday my friends Berthe and Claire arrived.  I had left the key in an envelope with MY FRIENDS the owners of the Hotel D'Angleterre.  I couldn't find scotch tape so I had to put ducktape to seal the envelope.  Very classy.  I got home and they were there.  I knew when I saw them that we would be in for new experiences.  Berthe emptied her suitcase in my kitchen as pretty well all the stuff in there was for me.  Kraft dinner, peanut butter, cream of mushroom soup, Heinz tomato soup.  That is why her suitcase was so heavy.

Tuesday we got on the road to come to Nuremberg (Grosshabersdorf exactly) Germany to visit Mirjam's parents  Berthe and Claire, just so you know, they are MY FRIENDS and you are with me.  OK, we cleared that.  We should have had a sign on the car saying:  Classy Crazy Canucks.  It first took us 45 minutes to get out of Arras and I live there.  Just so you know, I know how to get to work and to Gifi, after that, I cannot be trusted.  We stopped to asked directions and in France they all say TOUT DROIT, go straight.  Well we went tout droit but still got lost.  No we do not travel with maps or GPS.  Finally 45 minutes later we're out of Arras.  Claire is driving, Berthe is looking at the book that I wrote how to get to Claudia and Werner's and I am sitting in the back with their 2 packsacks our picnic basket and only a tiny little space to sit.  I felt neglected but I didn't want to say anything in case they asked me to drive.  So I sat there like little orphan Annie and just answered questions when I was asked. OK it wasn't quite like that but I did sit in the back in a small space.  So we drive and drive and decided to have out picnic.  We had chicken, ham, nothing but the best for these girls.  We kind of took a wrong turn and ended up in Heidelburg (not the right spelling but it sounds like that).  We were lost.  We found the police station and thought ah, they can tell us where to go. I'm sure they wanted to tell us where to go but with 3 Acadian French Girls all menopausal, they didn't stand a chance.  First they did not speak English and second they were not from there so we left poor Claire parked in front of the police station and Berthe and I went looking for directions.  Claire knew she was not suppose to be parked there so she did not want to make eye contact with anyone.  Berthe and I relaxed in a bakery, looked around, asked people, nobody understood anybody but we did not panic while Claire was pretty well doing her rosery.  We finally found this man in a workshop in the industrial part of the city and he was able to tell us how to get on the Autobaun.  All while driving I was telling Berthe, oh look how nice that is, Claire you can't look, you're driving.  Ah look at this Berthe, Claire just concentrate on the road, you can look at things when Berthe drives.  All of a sudden we're on the Autobaun, in a tiny car, with hundreds of big trucks on one side and cars zooming at 200 km on the other side.  This was not good for my nerves.  Then it became dark and I couldn't see.  Of course I wasn't driving but I had a sore neck from looking back to see if any cars were behind us.  Oh the things I do for my friends.  We get off the Autobaun to get gas which by the way was my responsibility because the 2 princesses do not like to touch the gas pump.  I, being brave and a mature  standard driver, can pump gas.  Nothing is impossible now for me.  Berthe and Claire changed positions but poor little me, stayed in my little tiny seat and off we go again.  Back on the Autobaun.  Heavy traffic, an accident and we were going 20 km an hour.  That's fast enough.  We did this for about one hour.  I was quite comfortable at that speed.  I really don't know what the other two were complaining about.

How we made it here, we are not sure but with the directions that Werner gave us, did it.  Claire and Berthe would ask me, is it this way, and I would say, well it looks familiar, it could be, but I'm not sure however when we made it to Grosshabersdorf, I brought them exactly to the right house, in the dark.  We were welcomed by Claudia and Werner, my friends, where we had a nice bowl of hot pumpkin soup and salad and a nice bottle of wine.  Just remember everyone, I knew them first and you have to go through me to get to them.

The funniest day was yesterday but you'll have to wait until tomorrow.  We are going out for supper and I must look my best.  Won't be me, I woke up with 2 cold sores.  Must be the stress of having to figure out how to get here.  However, we are having a blast.  I could not ask for funniest girls to travel with and nicest hosts.  I am blessed, but wait until you hear part 2

Thanksgiving

Friday, I received an invitation for Thanksgiving supper with the guides for Sunday. I thought it was very nice of them to invite me. We were going to be 16. I asked what I could bring and they said, oh nothing, you're our guest. Ah the little darlings. They are well brought up. Of course I said no. So finally they said, OK you bring dessert. One cute guide said, well you can bake something chocolaty. Ya right, like that was going to happen. I don't bake at home, I'm certainly not going to start here. We're in France. Who bakes. Anyway I went to the bakery and bought a nice cake. They tried to get a turkey but here in France they are not as common as in Canada. So they ended up buying 2 huge chickens. They were turkeys want to be. I was told to arrive at 9:00. Was that with my pyjamas....I go to bed at 10:00. We had a wonderful evening. Just don't get the part where first I'm the guest then I'm doing dishes. While I was there, I thought well if I couldn't be with my family for Thanksgiving, I was thankful that I was with 15 kids, dancing around and feeling just as young as them.

Company is arriving soon. Tomorrow will be my cleaning day so the house looks good when they arrive. Apparently Berthe's suitcase was 47 pounds and most of it is STUFF FOR ME. How cool is that. OK not as cool as Marla but FOR MOI. Went shopping today and bought a foot rest that you can put stuff in like blankets or anything that you want to hide. Just 12 euros. Cheaper than my ugly looking brown son of a gun hemmed curtains. Oh I have to let it go. Today I bought clips to try to dress those things up. Berthe has taste and good ideas, she'll figure something out while Claire and I sit back and drink wine. Wish Diane was here, she could help me with the cleaning. Actually she could do it all. She likes feeling wanted. Well Diane, you are wanted right now. I must give Claudia and Werner a call in Germany. See I have friends in other countries. Oh ya, real friends. I'm wishing that Johannes is doing well in India and that Mirjam enjoys university. Kevin, if you're reading this, I bought you 2 Christmas presents already.

Tonight I cooked. I bought this chicken already spiced and you put it in the microwave. Well the instructions said NE PAS SORTIR DU FOURREAU. Do not take out of the Fourreau. What in the name of god is a fourreau. Well I slammed that in the microwave for 4 1\2 minutes and it looked good. I figured oh please God, don't make me sick. I can't go to Emergency. They don't want to see me there and I don't have a doctor. I made (yes myself) red and green peppers, onions, mushrooms, made a little sauce with it. I was trying to add a little vinegar (how do you spell vinegar) but I couldn't figure out how to open the cap. I know, you all think it's easy, well it must be a baby proof cap because I still can't open it. I ate that with pasta. Leftovers for work Thursday. They will be impressed.

My laptop should be here with Berthe so I will be able to add pictures to my blog. You will see pictures of things that I talked about in my previous blogs. 9 more days and the 8 a 8 will reopen under a new name. I hope I'm invited to their grand opening. Very excited.

Sad news, we lost a sheep Saturday. It was on my watch too. It choked. One minute it was standing and then the next minute...it wasn't. When I called the shepherd man, he said that sometimes when they get old, they eat too much grass and they choke. So I decided, I am no longer eating salad. On a brighter side, we have 40 sheep that are pregnant. I might be an aunt or an uncle, depending on what they have. I might be both. I might even be a mid-wife. Ah the opportunities that I have here. It never ends.

Christi and I are having a halloween party at my place. Not sure what I'll dress up as. Might use my curtain as a cape or something. Who knows. OK, I'm letting the curtain thing go. I will not speak of them anymore.

So goodnight all. Thanks for reading and talk to you soon.

Expensive or what...

Well I am recovering from my strepthroat and doing well. I think that the doctor gave me these individual powder anti-biotics just because it tastes so bad. She wants to make sure that I don't go there again. If nothing else, I've learned 2 important things while living in France. You do NOT go to the hospital and you do NOT get curtains hemmed.

I've been here close to 4 months and for 4 months I did not have curtains in my bedrooms upstairs. I've had towels hanging, sweaters hanging, eh you do what you can when you can't find what you want. Finally, I gave in and bought 2 curtains. It's 1 panel per package and they were 10 euros each. What a bargain. Brown, cotton yep, cut them in two and I have 4 curtains. Each bedroom has 2 windows but they are roof windows so it's hard to find something that fits. What a brainwave I had, buy panels, cut and voila...You have to know that drapes here are the lenght of the ceiling to the floor. So here I go with my curtains to the seamstress. I couldn't wait to finally have drapes, plus I had company coming so I was very excited. I told the seamstress, just cut the little thingy on top because I'm going to put a rod, make a seam on top, hem the bottom and there I have 4 curtains. I thought it was pretty easy. I debated doing it by hand but I figured, ha I'll just bring it to the seamstress and it will be done in a jiffy. Wednesday I go pick them up because I was off. The lady said, ah vous etes ici pour vos rideaux, you are here for your drapes. Oh the excitment in my voice when I said, oh oui, ca fait longtemps que j'attends pour finalement avoir des rideaux dans mes chambres. Oh yes, I've waited so long to finally have drapes in my bedrooms. She had a nice smile, so friendly, so je ne sais quoi. Then, it happened, she said 70 euros s'il vous plait. 70 euros please. From the time it took my brain to realize the price, I had paid and was standing outside on the sidewalk. What had just happened. Well I got home, don't remember much of the walk. Sat on the couch and I was speechless. My 20 euros drapes had just cost me 70 euros extra. I put them up and sat on the bed and thought, OK, she must have used gold thread. I figured well for the price, I might as well look at them all night.

Next morning, I was still admiring my drapes, trying to dress them up so they wouldn't be these plain, cotton brown drapes. There must be a mistake. Now remember, I was sick and the antibiotics must have had an effect on me. I couldn't have paid 70 euros. That's a purse, jeans, shoes etc, but not a hem. I had to go to the drugstore to pick up something (what I should have picked up was more drugs. Who in their right mind would pay that). There had to be a mistake. So I pretty well dragged myself to the drugstore and the seamstress is very close by. I go in and the same lady with the nice smile and so friendly says, oh madame vous aimez vos rideaux. You like your drapes. I said yes very much but can you please explain the cost to me. She says, usually we tell our clients how much it costs and then they can decide if they want it done or not but I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you. FORGOT to tell me, you pretty well gave me a heart attack. Couldn't you see me grasping for air and turning purple. Anyway, what's done is done. 6 euros a meter. I could make money buying a used sewing machine on EBay and making hems. No she didn't give me any money back and my drapes are hanging and everyone once in a while, I go and touch them and I feel them and think, darn I could have gotten a new purse.

Today also, I put fuel in the car for the 1st time. First I parked too far, then the fuel thing was on the wrong side, then I couldn't open the fuel thing so I asked a guy that was fueling beside me. I figured that he would know, it's a man thing. He didn't so I had to make a phone call. After appropriate directions, I was able to open it. Then the hose was long, well very long but also very springy. It sprang while I was trying to put it in the hole. I bounced but held on to it with dear life. It all worked out. I was tempted to go through the car wash but I figured, no I'll save that for another day. I had previously tried 4 times at a different car wash but couldn't get the wheel in the right place. But I'm getting better with practice.

Time to call it a night. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and I'm thankful that I have you all in my life.

Just so you don't think...

I wouldn't want you to think that I have forgotten my blog. I have been sick for the last few days but I will blog after work because I have to tell you about my bedroom curtains that I went to get hemmed....70 euroes later. I was wild and still am, that's close to 100.00 canadian, if not more but I'll keep you waiting until tonight. So have a great day everyone. As I'm sitting here writing this, I am also having breakfast. 4 toasts, 2 with peanut butter and jam and 2 with nutella. I have this every morning.

Talk to you later, I've got a job that I have to go to and I love my job.

Hanging out at Emergency

Yesterday I lost half of my voice and today pretty well the other half. My throat infection came back but this time with a vengence. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning trying to breath because my throat was so dry. Here I was running through the apt looking for a losange or something. Only thing I could find was tums. Now tell me that's nice and juicy....NOT. I finally found a halls. Then while I was up I figured, why not call somebody. The time difference is good at that time of the morning. So I called my sister, she laughed at my voice or lack of, then I called Allen and he was no better then Kevin said, what are you still doing up.

Went to work today with this squeaky voice but made it through the day. After work, my throat was getting worse so I came home and decided well I better go to outpatient. I just had strepthroat 2 weeks ago. So I walked to the hospital and when I got there, the lady said, do you have a doctor. I said no. Well you need a doctor. OK, I did not get the memo about NOT GOING TO EMERGENCY UNLESS YOU'RE HALF DEAD because they really don't want to see you there. I said well I don't have one but could I see a doctor here. Name please. I said Louise and she said, can you spell it. I said L O U I S E and then she said, can you write it. I didn't think Louise was that hard to write but whatever. She said, it's going to be awhile. I didn't have anything better to do so might as well hang out here. She told me where to go. I wanted to tell her where to go too, but I refrained myself. I get into the waiting room and there's 5 people. Obviously, they have never been to Emergency where I'm from. After about one hour, they call my name. They show me to a room and Dr. I DON'T HAVE ANY PERSONALITY comes in. She says, do you have a doctor. Oh no, are we going to go through this again. I said no. Well you need to find one because you don't come to emergency for things like that. The office doctor can treat you for this. What's the problem she says. I tell her my story and out of obligation I think, she looks in my mouth. Oh yes, you have an infection. Thank you Dr. Jeckell. Then she says, do you always talk like this. I said no, usually I have a voice and out of nowhere she says, well I don't know you and I don't know if you always talk like this. OK well she is not getting me as a friend. She asked if I was on any medication so I told her and she says, are you anxious. I wanted to say, yes, anxious to get out of here. I really feel the love. Well she tells me for the 10th time, you really need to get a doctor. I will prescribe you something for this time, but make sure you find a doctor. I don't believe she would have won for Miss Congeniality. I told her that I was very sorry for coming to Emergency, that I didn't know the process and I will look into getting myself a doctor. I walked out of there with 2 prescriptions and came back home. So note to self: unless you're bleeding to death or break anything, do NOT go to emergency. Needless to say, I didn't make any friends in the waiting area either. Actually, the people there looked better than me except for the guy that cut his thumb. Looked pretty bad. So if you have strepthroat in France, do NOT go to Emerg. Get a doctor. You learn something every day. It's all part of living the life.

Tomorrow I am off so will go get my prescriptions and will take it easy. Might just come back home, put my PJ's on and watch a movie. Can't eat popcicles, I don't have a freezer.

It's been a few days

Well for my day off, I decided not to go to Brugge. I checked the train time and I thought it would be safer if I had 2 days, just in case...however, I had a wonderful day. Took the bus and went to Conforama and Gifi and I wanted to do more shopping but they kick you out at 12:00. For some odd reason, they figure they have to eat....for 2 hours. So I hung around McDonalds and decided to take the bus back. I decided to stay on the bus and get closer to the City Center because I now wanted to go to Auchan, the other mall. So got off my bus, walked a bit, looked around and went to another bus stop. It was rush hour so lots of people were waiting for the bus. Got on, found a spot, sitting opposite and that makes me sick. All of a sudden, in between the hundreds of thousands of people on the bus, I see the mall come and go and I stayed on the bus.....right passed the Auchan store. I went by 4 schools, 1 church, 2 hospitals, 1 old people's home, 5 driving schools, so I got to see Arras The Outback. So I am on the bus, with my little cart, my new straw market bag and a bus full of 2482 school kids. OK, not that many but school was out and they decided to get on my bus. I bought a few things ie: 4 clocks so I would know what time it was in France, Charlottetown, Manitoba and Alberta. Bought batteries (Allen would be proud because I usually keep the batteries when they're dead, just in case they are not completely dead. I take after my mother for that). Put 4 nails in the nicely painted wall and hung my clocks. After 2 hours, I could not stand the tic tac tic tac and the worst is that they were not all ticking at the same time so it was continuous. So my new, colored, blue, orange, purple and black XXXXXXX clocks are on my counter. So much for that plan.

Friday I was invited for supper at Andre and Christi. Andre's sister and her husband were here visiting so it was very nice meeting them. She made the best chicken I ever ate. Sorry Lise, it was the best chicken cooked that way, that I ever ate. We had champagne with another liquor in it. It's how they do it in Normandie. Very tasty.

It's been very hot here the last few weeks. I'm not good in heat. For some reason, that doesn't sound good. Do you say, I'm not good in the heat. Whatever, it's hot, humid and I have my fan on in the room. It's October 2nd. It's not suppose to be this hot.

Oh big news, I now can drive standard with one hand on the stick. I even had it in 5th gear. Don't know where I put it after when I go faster. Today I worked at Vimy and practiced on another vehicle just to see if I could drive it. It worked. I just don't know what to do when I just want to leave it going until I open the gate. Right now, I turn it off, get out, open the gate, start it again, drive past (is that how you spell past or is it passed) the gate, park, turn it off, get out of car, close gate, get in car, start it and go. Must be an easier way. I'm just afraid it's going to drive over me. That wouldn't be good. Who would entertain you.

Big step for me today. I had to drive to Vimy with the standard and cross the Tcheck round-about which is a triple round-about. Well I see 3. Must be 5 exits, well I see 5. I thought that I would have to pull a Chevy Chase move like he did in European Vacation when he's stuck on the round-about in Paris going around and around. I made it, not sure how but I did. I managed to get lost again going to Vimy. I went by the toll highway, took an exit and finally found my way. Last week while touring, we went through the toll booth 3 times.

I am a somebody now. The girl working at the 8 a 8 told me tonight that they were closing for 10 days. She said, I want to make sure you know because you come here everyday and I wouldn't want you to walk here for nothing. I felt privileged that she would tell me that. I didn't hear her say that to anybody else in line. Just me. I'm important. They like my money.

Talked with Rachelle last night on Skype. I know that she would want me to tell everyone. It was nice Rachelle talking to you. By the way, I like your hair. Allen is home for 10 days so I'm going to give him my list of things that I want him to buy so Berthe can bring them to me when her and Claire come in 2 weeks.

Well it's 9:05 pm. Must make a few phone calls and facetime and see what's happening in Manitoba and Charlottetown. Might try Campbellton too. Tonight, while walking back from the 8 a 8, I was looking at the moon and thinking of how many other people that I know was looking at the same moon. It's a small world after all. So nighty night everyone and wishing that all your dreams come true.