So... 2009 hey?

I’ve been searching for the motivation to write this blog for some time. It’s meant (and will eventually be) a blog about my activities over Christmas and New Year in beautiful France. But things have been a bit difficult lately at work and home. Some conflict between the very english, structured way of working and the far less informal, “can do” Australian way as well as ongoing and potentially expensive problems in my house have been getting me down.

But (and here I risk sounding really, really unoriginal) the whole Obama story has given me new inspiration. Sure, there are loads of black people in the US, UK and no doubt elsewhere claiming him as a sign of a new era. A French politician put it well, describing him as “the last BLACK president” (meaning that every future president will be judged on policies rather than skin colour). Of course, as one American commentator said – we’ll know racism is a thing of the past when we elect a *stupid* black president…

Which brings me to my point. His election is not just a victory for black people and those (like myself) who find even the unconscious hint that skin colour defines ability abhorrent. But it’s also a victory for people who like to see world leaders speak in whole sentences. Grammatically correct sentences! The first US president I remember was Ronald Reagan, and they all had their ups and downs after that but surely none of them ever treated their public with such respect as to expect them to understand words of 3 syllables.

I had a rather fond hope before the financial crisis turned into an economic crisis (and seriously – things are *nasty* over here in the UK/Europe) that we’d all sort of gotten over being led by the USA. That they could go right ahead and sneeze all they liked without us given a damn, let alone catching cold. But the latter half of 2008 certainly showed that hope for the false one that it is. So, if we’re going to continue to be impacted in every way by the US of A, we might as well have an american leader who seems to have a grasp on just how interconnected this world really is.

Right, long story short – so I’ve been inspired blah blah blah.

Happy New Year!!! Bonne Année. And I can pretend that I’m Chinese and that I’ve posted this in time for Chinese New Year – cunningly organised for Australia Day this year, which should mean a killer party. I’m tentatively thinking that I’ll brave the Australian themed pub in Manchester this year. Imagine being an Irish person going into a standard Rosie’s pub in oz and you’ll understand what I mean – potential cringe city. I just don’t want to spend Australia Day anywhere near some kind of fake, english idea of what a oz day party should be. Still, needs must….Let’s face it – I spent last Australia Day making Anzac bikkies for myself at home alone – anything’s got to be better than that!

Anyway… I had an absolutely lovely xmas in France. The weather was just crazy. The first day I was there it was a whopping 18 ºC. Ok, in my distant memory I can remember a time where I might have considered 18 to be rather cool. But this day I was soooo hot, I was in a t-shirt and trying to roll up the legs of my trackie-dacks to make them into shorts. And the sky!!!! This picture is just a taster. After miserable bloody England…

But then 4 days later… Boxing Day, and this is what we’ve got. This is the path that Serge (Ulrich’s father) takes on his way to his massive vegetable garden.

I have of course spoken of the amazing food I’ve had before visiting Ulrich’s parents near Lavelanet, at the base of the Pyrénées. This time I took a few photos. Naturally one of the entrées consisted of escargot – snails. Snails are sort of like some types of seafood – just a structure to soak up the garlic, butter and parsley. Followed by a main course and then naturally the selection du fromage (cheese) and accompanied by du vin rouge….

To combine these themes of food and snow, I give you the local market the day after xmas (the French don’t celebrate boxing day).

While in Lavelanet, we made the normal trip to Andorra to pick up duty free goods. And here there was no doubt about the snow, nothing like last year. Check out this amazing photo (with my new … wait for it … 7 Mb pixel phone camera) – the glorious snowy mountains in this supermarket advertisement aren’t part of the actual ad. They’re a reflection in the glass of the mountains behind them (one suspects this effect was deliberate). The real thing’s below, so you see what I mean.

Next step, Bourge for New Years with Ulrich’s sister Ingrid and her partner Fred (and dog Bianca. And cat Simba. And the rabbits, the guinea pigs, the birds… :) ). So I got in some shopping. Bourge is in a part of France that most people will probably ignore (everyone thinks the whole middle bit is kind of boring) but it’s really pretty. I think last time I showed some photos of the magnificent cathedral, but this time some shopping shots, including the leaning house of Bourge.

Bourge was very cold, but hey, Mossley had some snow too (as it should, given how much further north I am). This is my backyard, across the railway line. Network Rail has been doing some works at the back of our properties and that has been the source of no end of angst. My neighbour and I both need to do some serious repairs and we’ve been waiting for the typically bureaucratically bungling of the good old British system to sort itself out. Bah. You’ll have noticed that neither the public transport system nor the British opposite of a can-do attitude was mentioned in my last blog on the things I like about the UK.

I took quite a few photos this morning (because the snow didn’t last very long), including this one. On second thoughts, a palm tree in England can seem sort of strange really…..

And then there’s the national pastime – waiting for the trains. The train service in the months leading up to xmas and since has been the worst service of any kind I’ve ever come across. People I know in London complain about sometimes not being able to get a seat on a peak hour train. Lately I’ve been lucky to even get ON a peak hour train, because every night the trains are so crowded (duh, try putting on a second carriage maybe?) someone gets left on the platform. I could go on about this for quite a long time, but I won’t :). Still, that last blog really was quite a challenge!

Happy New Year, Year of the Ox, Australia Day, Auckland Day, Inauguration Day, 34th Wedding Anniversary (Mum and Dad), birthday (Ingrid), Tour Down Under/Australian Open and just generally I hope everyone has a good time till next time I find the energy to blog.