Bonjour!
I've had so many grand plans about getting all of this blog up to date and at one point earlier this year, I was so close to having caught up last years' retrospective posts plus keep 2021 under control but everything just seems to have run away from me again. This blog is meant to be a fun thing; a way of recognising and expressing feelings and emotions as well as documenting the life I/we lead, but sometimes it can feel like a bit of bind. Something hanging over me that will never be finished and always a work in progress. Often not progressing at all. The retrospective aspect is good to actually catalogue all our adventures but the here and now is real and heartfelt. I reckon, in times like these, experience has told me to just open up a new page and get writing again. It's quicker, and easier on the brain than piecing together our shenanigans from months ago and once I get back in the habit, the older stuff does also start clicking into place too. Why end up writing two posts from memory if I can just get the current stuff covered off? So, here I am. Back into the words.
La Rentreé
We arrived back in Pau three days before William went back to school. La Rentreé, as it's known in France, is a big deal. It signals the end of summer, even for adults, and everyone heads back to school and work respectively. We had been given an equipment list from the new teacher so we were out on the Wednesday, making sure William had all the necessary stationary for starting in the Cours Préparatoire (CP) at the Big School next door. Seeing all the usual faces at the gates was great but there's definitely a newness to all of this. It's proper school, with a a very traditional classroom setup and the biggest change is that William has homework every night! Five weeks in Scotland and a return to a strict environment has been quite challenging and its not just William who is exhausted with it all.
Fortunately he was only in for two days then it was the weekend. We all needed a bit of time to come up for air! We ended taking William on a reccie mission to spend some of his birthday money on the Friday afternoon then headed out to the Ramsay's for a BBQ. It was great to catch up with Lish, Rammo and the boys but we didn't end up coming home until about 10.30pm and William was utterly burst. We kept things low key for most of the Saturday then went up to see Jess, Olivier, Arts and Frida for afternoon tea later in the day. It was really great to see them and for the kids to have a good play together.
On Sunday, we took William up to the Expo centre as it was promotion day for lots of the different clubs and activities in Pau. There weren't as many sports on offer as I expected but William had a go at tennis, got frustrated and had a good cry. Shattered. He was pumped, however, that his new Playmobil toy arrived from Aamzon (cheaper than the toy shop on Friday night) so he was able to chill for the rest of the day and play with his new car. Two of the rugby lads (Steve and Jack) came round for a BBQ on Sunday night and it was a good way to round off a very sociable weekend back in Pau.
First Full Week
Having spent the vast majority of the past three months not in Pau, I felt and still feel like there are a hundred home and personal admin jobs needing done. In no particular order these include getting the velux shutter fixed, getting the kitchen lights fixed, organising a variety of medical appointments, following up on financial matters, finally applying for my driving licence (the letter from the DVLA arrived - hurrah!), getting on top of my health and fitness, and making a decision about what I'm going to do with myself this year, be it work or education.
The start of the new academic year has felt like new beginning for me too and it also, helpfully, coincided with my to-do pad running out. I researched the market and I've bought exactly what I need to get me organised and industrious again this year. It's perfect.
Armed with my new planner, I tackled the week head on and managed to tick off a number of tasks on my to-do list including: make dentist appointments for us all, write to the gastro doctor, make appointments for a bone density scan and dermatology referral, apply for the intensive French course at the university (and subsequently pull out of it), sort out school insurance, confirm all the rent has been paid correctly, sort a problem with our Ameli accounts, and do my Scottish landlord registration, as well as go to the gym twice with Iain, run (yes, RUN!) twice, do a load of much needed gardening, visit my GP, and do a supermarket shop. When Friday rolled round, I was amped that we were having lunch with Nigel and very much enjoyed the two glasses of wine I had with my meal. ;-)
Special mention to me getting back out for a run this week. I did some run-a-pole-walk-a-pole on the Tuesday morning but I was out with some of the rugby girls on Thursday morning and managed to run a full 2.5km without stopping. Talk about progress!
It's been another busy weekend. We're really trying to lock William into some after school stuff this year and he's keen on a few things including swimming, but trying to get spaces in clubs has proved tricky. We'd also prefer if we could walk or cycle to clubs rather than taking the car but beggers can't be choosers. On Wednesday Iain took him to Judo. Depsite him knowing three people from school, he absolutely point blank refused to participate until about 2/3 of the way through the session. Remarkably, he's asked to go back this week. As a real alternative, I took him to the Dance Academy on Saturday morning. After the reluctance to participate at Judo, I wasn't holding out much hope but he got straight into it from the very beginning. He did get a bit overwhelmed about 2/3 way through and came running into my arms but the teacher said this kind of thing is really normal. Afterwards, he did talk about it positively and I thought it was a really great class for them (and just around the corner!) so hopefully he'll want to go again. He has asked about tennis though so we shall see if that's available.
There was some serious Lego action on Saturday afternoon followed by Iain and William doing some gardening whilst I went birthday present, housewarming gift and cheesecake ingredient shopping. When I got home, the boys had also flipped William's bed into Cabin Mode. When did he get so big?!
Sunday morning was spent at the trampoline park in Lescar for Arlo's birthday. William had an absolute ball and the sweat was dripping off him by the time we left. We quickly nipped home, collected the other gift and cheesecake and headed out to Andy and Sophie's new house for a BBQ. We had a really great afternoon and many a laugh was had at our gift to them. A 2.5m long inflatable unicorn whom Andy has named Hillary (?!)
Talk about busy!
And there I have it, an actual blog post. It's not that hard once you get going, is it?!
Lorna :-)
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