Me & My Boys

Cat was so happy when we got back. Apparently she spent the week alternately hiding under the duvet in terror or sitting on the dining room chair. She didn't eat much, but she's making up for it now. Reminds me, I must get her an appointment at the vet for her vaccinations. Vaccinations in Dutch are 'inentingen'. It always makes me think of Ents, and then I wonder exactly what they're injecting said cat with. My friend, H, naturalised Dutch but born in British Guiana, faithfully fed Cat while we were gone, even though she doesn't like cats much!

Which reminds me to tell you how it it feels that I seem to be able to make friends easily only with those who have travelled or migrated. It's a peculiar malady. My friend H's upbringing in a British colony means we have so many small, yet significant things in common, like a love for ginger beer and eating condensed milk out of the tin!

On holiday we met some interesting people, both sets of them being expats. The first lot were from New Zealand and currently based in Munich, which was their fourth stop after Singapore, Toronto and Seattle. They're going home in December after 12 years abroad.

Chatting to them was like slipping into an old dressing gown, easy and uncomplicated and just as easy to shrug off when they left. It's an art that the expat learns very quickly.

The other interesting person was an English lady, one of the staff at the hotel who is married to an executive from the resort and just came back to France from years abroad in Singapore. She was also really easy to talk to, especially about teabags (Yorkshire Tea is the best), Marmite (how no-one abroad really gets Marmite), English books (I recommended Abe Books), the European fear of draughts (this one is very peculiar!), how German and Dutch tourists insist on taking their swimsuits off in the French saunas, and how British people in German and Dutch saunas really really want to keep them on, and the bilingual nature of one's children. I left my Marissa Pessl book for her when I left. Wish I'd had some Marmite for her.

Marisha Pessl's 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics' is the most enjoyable book I've read in ages. I laughed out loud at some of the passages, I read some aloud to the Husband (who was unbecomingly irritated), and I wished that I could have had the literary background to encapsulate some of those truths that eloquently myself. I loved Donna Tartt's Secret History so I suppose it's just true to form that I should enjoy this book too. I just have to remember to steer clear of Marisha Pessl's second offering, because for the life of me I couldn't get through The Little Friend. Blue van Meer is academically precocious but socially a bit ...not... I suppose I identify because I was a bit like that in my teens.

Actually I should clarify that this is the first book I've read in ages. My book-reading mojo took off when my cross-stitching mojo did. Hopefully the return of one might mean the return of another?

Back to the making friends thing ... in France I felt uneasy linguistically and socially. It was impossible to form a rapport with most of the French visitors at the resort, who, on average, had 'Yes' and 'No' as the sum total of their English. The Dutch people at the resort were bemused that these English people spoke Dutch at all, and even though they spoke to me at the Kid's Club and their children played with mine, they seemed to view me suspiciously. I wonder why? I speak Dutch here in Holland and no-one bats an eyelid at this strange Englishwoman, but transplant me a few hundred kilometres and I am suddenly an oddity. Weird. They seemed astonished that my children are completely bilingual and assumed that my husband must be Dutch.

Today it's raining, and everyone is back to being grumpy. I took Joe to kleuterzwemmen (kindergarten swimming) today and one of the parents was complaining about the kleuterklas schoolreis (kindergarten schooltrip). She resented the fact that her child would get to go to Artis for the second time in two years. She also complained that she goes there every month so for her child it's nothing new. I'm on the OV (PTA) now and I quite firmly told her that the reasons that the school chooses to take preschoolers to Artis are because a) it's easy to oversee the children and b) it's not too far away and c) it has both covered and open areas so if the weather is bad there are sheltered areas and d) that some kids never get to go there so for them it is really a special treat. What I really wanted to say was 'fine, keep your kid home from school if you think it's such a waste of time!'. I find it difficult when people bitch and whine endlessly about school, and it's always the same people! And those same people are never the ones with any kind of involvement in school activities!

The diet is going ok. I've lost 5 kilos now since I started back on my plan. 19 to go. I've stopped eating bread or any wheat products and I'm pretty sure that has been the big factor. Oh, and entering everything I eat on WLR (try it, it has a three day free trial). It's so hard not to eat bread. Every single convenience or easy to eat meal we have is based around bread. I could explore some gluten-free products but I think it's best just to do without for the moment. Sometimes people just have to suck it up.

The same lady mentioned above (who was complaining about the schooltrip) has recently had to get one of those electric scooter things because of her weight. Today she dropped her keys and couldn't pick them up off the floor so I did it for her. She's the same age as me and talking to her is such a catalyst. So was hearing her say 'but I don't eat anything' when I've seen her scooting and eating! Eating pastries and croissants! The lies we tell ourselves. I keep repeating my mantra ...eat less and exercise more... eat less and exercise more ... rinse, repeat.

On the plus side one of the dads asked me how old I was and when I said '33' he said that I look younger. Hey hey! There's life in this old nag yet! Maybe when I'm 50 I'll look 40 ... here's to hoping! (That wrinkle cream must be working ... Vichy... do you want to sponsor me?)

We watched some tv last night (hah, like we don't do that every night!) Last night it was Dr Who and the night before that, Heroes. Is Heroes going kick-ass or what? I am very intrigued with the future Peter Petrelli... Husband just told me that Lost has been renewed for umpteen new seasons. Gah. I think I've Lost Interest. So they cancel Dead Like Me and the wonderful Wonderfalls and keep Lost going far too long. Are these people stupid or what? More shows should step out of the limelight while they're ahead.

Sopranos is, thankfully, in it's final season. So we'll get to watch it in it's entirety before they kill it with random plot twists and people on remoteislands with perfect hair.

I talked to my mom today and she was saying how she can't imagine her child (me) driving through Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg into France. I can't actually imagine it either. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. It's a long way from the veranda. We drove 1240 kilometres and spent 16 hours in the car with many stops on the way there and only two on the way back. French drivers are fearsome. Belgians are worse. I can't tell you how pleased I was to re-enter the Netherlands with their aggressive, yet predictable drivers.

We travelled from Amsterdam, via Utrecht, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Liege, Metz and Nancy to our destination in Vittel in the Lorraine. Liege is very beautiful. I plan to visit again. Our navigation system took us through the tiny streets in Liege on the way to Vittel. On the way back, I ignored the TomTom and followed the traffic boards only to find myself in an underground tunnel, the Derivation de la Meuse, with all the traffic destined for Paris. Yikes!

Oh, and we're going to London on the 15 June. Whoot! Two days at the Victory Services Club with Husband's gran and step-grandad (who is a decorated officer), and then a day in Chelmsford with our friends Ian and Gilly. Can't wait! More excited about the Chelmsford bit than the London bit ... especially as we'll be able to see our old house and show the kids where they used to live. I wonder if I will cry?

So why the warblings? We all have a cold and the kids have two extra free days off school. They're actively trying to convince me of why people shouldn't have children! Seriously, fighting, clawing, screaming, hitting, you name it and it's been happening here today ... If only I had a cupboard under the stairs (not entirely joking ... well, probably but did you spot the hesitation there?)