March(ing) on...

I've just read back on my last post and can't believe it's been almost three weeks since I checked in. Now that I have my mojo back, and I'm actually achieving things with my days, the weeks just seem to be whizzing past. 

I'll start with my health. I have to. It absolutely remains at the top of everything I'm doing at the moment. I had my scan and saw the anaesthetist a couple of weeks ago and he was happy that the infection seemed to have cleared up. He told me to finish the five week course of antibiotics anyway which finally came to an end last Saturday. It was an absolute delight to be done. Last Friday I saw M. Hoarau, the other surgeon; the one who'd been roped in to do the emergency surgery. I actually much preferred him. I accept that his excellent level of english made it easier to connect, but I actually found him to be a much more caring guy. Dr Cabal just checked my scar and sent me on my way but Dr Hoarau actually requested the follow up scan and gave me feedback around everything that had happened, along with recommendations for the future. He's reiterated what I'd been diagnosed with in NZ: degenerative disc disease, and the said that I'm going to really need to look after my back or I'll be back in there with another herniated disc at L4-L5. And if that happens, they'll just look at fusing my vertebrae. He seemed surprised that I'm not in any pain at the moment (!) and told me that if I have any problems at all, I have to come back to see him. He's also given me an ordonnance for another MRI in year. Like I said, just much more thorough. So, in the meantime, the physio continues and I'm trying to walk or cycle every day. Some days, if I've done too much, I can really feel sore at night, and I even had to take some paracetamol / codeine at the weekend because I'd been sitting for too long and ended up very achey. Need to be a bit more mindful.

Despite the continued restrictions, there's actually been some decent socialising this month. Due to the 6 Nations and the FFR pulling out of the European Cups, Section have had lots of free weekends so Iain's been home a lot more. It just goes to show how much we're used to having him away every Saturday that these weekends feel like we're stealing time together as a family. We've not done anything fancy but just to go for bike rides, do jobs around the house and order pizza on a Saturday night whist watching Ant & Dec brings a real sense of normality to our weekends. We were out at Rammo and Alisha's place last Saturday for Kaia's 5th birthday and it was just great to hang out with other people and let William run around in the garden all day playing football and bouncing on the trampoline. They only came in because it got too dark to see the ball. ;-) After catching up with Lynny about teaching stuff, and having some great chat with the Oman while I'd been in hospital led me to put together a wee Saturday night Jobbyhill Girls catch up with the aforementioned plus Norma Jean. Typically, Katie was late and Clarey actually forgot (to be fair, it was 7am her time so fair dos) but it was just great to have something in the social calendar to look forward to. Great to see their faces and we all agreed its definitely something we need to do more of. In a very similar vein, I also had Zoom drinks with Susie and Gail at the weekend just there which was two and a half hours of just the easiest blethering you could imagine. I was probably slightly well oiled before I even came online after having spent the entire afternoon watching the rugby at Sophie & Andy's place and drinking a full pack of gf beer to myself. Deffo feeling a bit more like my old self! 

The spring cleaning has continued this month and I finally replied to a woman on Marketplace who was interested in the Buddha. It transpired the she was actually Buddhist and had been looking for one of these for a long time. I explained that I didn't want any money for it, etc etc and she was very touched by me gifting it to her. It all actually became quite emotional but for all the right reasons. It all just felt right. Especially when, later that night, she sent me a photo of him on her shelf with her other Buddhas and incense sticks. I even messaged Nat to tell her how he'd been re-homed and that he'd definitely found a place where he was going to be loved and appreciated. In addition to the Buddha, William's Mountain Buggy has also been re-homed. A big piece of kit which held so many memories for me but it was definitely time for it to go. I am particularly pleased that the family who bought it (a rugby family from Bayonne!) took the whole kit and caboodle: buggy, capsule and base unit. So pleased to sell it all as one big set. 

As we re-homed some of William's baby things, there has also been a huge milestone in his own life: he lost his first tooth! I can't quite believe it. My wee boy with a big gap already. He noticed it had gone "wobbly" on the Saturday and it came out on the Wednesday night while he was brushing his teeth before bed. You can imagine the excitement. Fortunately the tooth fairy / petite souris visited that night and left €2 under his pillow. Winning. 

The foodie things continue and a highlight of the past few weeks was tinned confit de canard. Because, one tin: two dinners! I'd made it with the usual array of roast veggies on the Sunday night but we'd only eaten three of the thighs so on the Monday, I stripped the last one down and fired it in the wok along with peas, peppers, onion, garlic, peanut oil, a pack of uncle ben's rice and an egg. Served with prawn crackers and some gf soy sauce, it genuinely tasted like an authentic duck fried rice and it was a perfect leftovers "user-upper". 

I've saved the best for last on this post. Christine Nash at the University of Edinburgh finally got back to me on Thursday afternoon and bloomin' well offered me a job! As you can imagine, I am feeling pretty chuffed with myself. A real job, in my sector, in an area I've wanted to work in for years, and all from the comfort of my own home in the south of France. As Clark Laidlaw would likely say, "Livin' the dream!". At the moment, they're just offering marking from now until the summer but I just see it as a way to get my foot in the door, get my brain engaged and make some contacts. The idea of delivering online teaching straight off the bat is actually quite daunting so this seems like the perfect way to ease myself into the role. Unless I'm marking dissertations?! So that's me, employed! I actually had a Teams Meeting with the School of SPEHE Admin girl today to go through some contractual things so it's really happening! Looking forward to getting started. 

Right, that's about all for now. I was out for another big walk with Sophie and Karen today and I'm sore tonight. Sake. Oh and ANTS have finally gotten back to me! They need proof of entry to France and it looks like that will be everything for our drivers licences. That will definitely be a celebration when they come through. ;-|

Oh, and to finish, here's Poetry Pete going hard. 

Later, 

Lorna. 👍