The Last Three Weeks

Social
Robin and Jill invited me for aperitifs and were clearly relying on me for any interpretation nececssary as all the other invitees were French neighbours from along the road. Afterwards Robin thanked me for coming and said that they wouldn't have had the courage to do it without me. That was nice of them but really reflected a lack of confidence on their part rather than their level of French. I am sure they would have managed quite well without me; I was called on to translate only 3-4 times and then for nothing very important.

I was pleased to have been invited because the evening went extremely well and we decided to have a repeat get-together. As we searched for a date I suggested the 5th of November, the only date in the required period that had any significance for me. That turned out to be somebody's birthday so we decided on that; I've no idea what we will do. The evening introduced me to two new residents who could become friends. The brother of my neighbour Florence and his wife have moved into the village from Tahiti and bought a house just down from the Bar du Pont which they are having completely renovated. The wife, Sylvie, is an A S Neill fan so we had plenty to talk about. They apparently decided that the regime inTahiti was becoming unstable and, as their daughters were approaching university age and also because of the proximity of Florence and Jean-Marc, they have moved here and their daughters are studying in Lyon.

The second village boules day has been decided for the 9th of October so I have lost my battle to have it scrapped for this year. However, I got the others to accept that if there are to be two such days next year they should both be scheduled for the June-August time-frame. I got the others to agree that the deadline for signng up should be on the poster announcing the event and Daniel convinced me that we could draw up beforehand a schedule of "fixtures" for all numbers of registrants; ten will be needed for 20-56 players.

My Mother
I decided on another trip back to England to see my mother and will go yet again before Christmas. She had been giving up on life, depressed and not eating or drinking nearly enough. She is barely mobile at all now and complains that all days are the same. Unfortunately that cannot be denied and I'm at a loss to know what to do about it; I shall try audio books next time over, a suggestion from friend Jo. My mother no longer has the stamina to read or watch TV programmes of any length. The situation is not helped by our having little to say to one another; I do few new things and she, of course, none at all. I make sure she has flowers in her sitting room, blooms in the pots on the patio outside it and food for the birds who visit her bird table but that is about the sum of it. Often I feel guilty about not staying with her longer but can't stand the thought of sitting beside her waiting for her to die, which is effectively what it would be. More frequent trips, which serve to keep her morale up at least, will have to be the solution for now.

I sometimes wonder how we will deal with similar situations in the future, when more of us will live for longer. The extended family of the past, all living in close proximity, was a solution before its time and is not likely to recur. Television is a help but friend Jo has a mother even older and more handicapped than mine, blind and deaf. It's easy to question the point of being able to extend the length of life if quality of life can't be similarly extended but far from easy to think of a solution. I wonder how I will deal with that situation if ever I get to it.

Feminism
I've remarked before that I think the French have a more sensible approach to feminism than their anglo-saxon counterparts, avoiding some of the excesses of the latter (as far as a mere man can be allowed to judge). However, there is now a battle going on here in the matter of titles (Mr, Ms, Mrs). There is no French equivalent to Ms and nobody has been able to invent an acceptable one. So the French feminist intelligentsia(?) has decreed that all females should have the title "madame" and is trying to get this enforced in law. For myself, and most French friends, the idea of addressing a 5-year old girl as madame seems ludicrous but, hey, we may become accustomed to it; who knows? I doubt though whether the issue will occupy much of anyone's attention.

On a similar note I found myself saying a quiet "hurrah" to David Cameron's speech to the UN reported on TV when I was in England, when he said that it was pointless the UN voting any more human rights if it was not prepared to do anything about implementing them. I'm not well know for hurrahs for David Cameron but think he made a very interesting point. Fine notions at the UN are two a penny; significantly changing the way the world works for the better is another matter.