[Maple Sugar]

I woke up in the early hours to the Mistral blowing to beat the band, shutters pounding and cold! So to make the best of the day I decided to put the finishing coat of paint on the woodwork around the interior doors. Out came brushes, paint, accessories. Paper towels, yes! Everything was a go! Noticed another paint pot and thought, oh, good idea, I shall touch up the spots on the hall ceiling at the same time!

White paint. Ceiling touched up. Closed paint pot and put it to one side. Got distracted, as is my wont, by thinking of Fletch in sunnier climes! How the mind wanders!

Beige paint. Did a lovely job on the bathroom door frame. Finished. Stood back and thought that the colour was lovely and bright and, ummm, almost WHITE!!! Ran into the kitchen and checked the pots. Yep, grabbed the wrong one. White. Darn!

Oh well, I though, an extra coat won't hurt. I will redo it tomorrow.

Came out and made a cup of coffee and realized that I had begun on the bathroom. The bathroom. The bathroom where I had planned to take down the doorframe and install a lovely mirrored sliding door that I saw a week ago in the store. Pfuuui!

I spent the whole morning doing something that I will rip down and replace!

And we all know whose fault it is! Not mine! No, no! Not the cat's - he who gets blamed for all that goes wrong! No, no!

The blame lies clearly at Fletch's door! If he had not written such a beautiful travelogue, I would not have been distracted and grabbed the wrong paint pot!

The man has a lot to answer for!

I rest my case.

MS

 

[hils]

I suspect your time has not been wasted. Given your propensity for procrastination, even if you BUY the sliding door in a timely fashion, your white paint will have beiged down by the time you get round to ripping out the old frame and installing the new

That notwithstanding, yes, Fletch is responsible for any number of things ..... so, to avoid any more, I'd suggest you send him down forthwith, devoid of IPad, so he may write to his heart's content for our later (under controlled circumstances) delectation.

h

PS being of similar ilk, I still haven't made good the devastation caused by removing the hornets' nest, but I have rendered and clarified my duck fat

 

[Maple Sugar]

Well done, hils! And to make matters worse, it was lousy French paint, not good English paint!

And before you come over all patriotic about France, Hils, be warned! I am rounding up all the expats in france for your very own barbecue after which you will be known as Saint Hilary of Arcs, Moulins and DIY! MS

 

[hils]

I could do with a bit of warmth and attention. Fine - just remember to throw my animals the bones You're on trust .... I WILL be watching, lol.

 

[Maple Sugar]

I WILL be watching, lol.

And that is just plain SCARY!

 

[hils]

And that is just plain SCARY!

 

[FletchinFrance]

Good morning all, just read the foregoing testimony about the downside of the ageing process as I lie in my pit at the Ibis Hotel , CDG., at 3am trying to work out a rather pressing problem.

I am very pleased to report that it is not just Maple that is suffering from the early onset of dementia, I too appear to have succumbed to its embrace and , as soon as dawn breaks over the hotel, will have to take drastic steps to put right a slight hiccup in my travel plans to return home today.

Yesterday evening I arrived at this hotel and presented my booking form, the polite young man scoured his ledgers for the pre arranged booking and after scratching his head with his quill, informed me that my booking was for tomorrow night, the 26th and not the 25th. Zut alors, mon deau, and " bo.....cks"' says I. Which also means that my TGV ticket and person collecting me have been booked for the 27th and not today, the 26th. So its hotfoot down to the TGV office to eat a huge portion of humble pie and writhe about a bit in front of a sneering fonctionaire , to enable me to get back to Mdme. Crocodile, who will no doubt think that I am "shacked up" in Paris with some Thai bird that I have smuggled back, oh, if only!!!

I dont really need this at the moment, I seemed to have miscalculated the time to get back and have gained a day somewhere along the line, I do feel rather exposed to ridicule by the sneering French public when they discover Le Rosbeef, standing on the station platform, knees knocking with cold in tropical garb with fishing tackle akimbo, trying to smile at "Johnny Foreigner"' in that weak , simpering fashion as employed many times by Rowan Atkinson.

Why me ?why me ? Its not my fault I am getting old and my mental faculties are weakening, its the fault of somebody else, it always is, Air France for being too efficient,or SNCF for printing the wrong date on my ticket. Watch this space.

"Ah, good morning officer, why is my kitbag moving about on its own ?" " Its just a large fish Sir, I have just got back from Thailand".

Regards, Fletch in Frustration.