A-tishoo!

Last week was the start of the school holidays. By 10am that Monday I had received four phone-calls all prefaced with "I'm ON THE PHONE! Oh, hello, would T like a play-date?".

We've been doing lots of house-calls then, visiting the zoo, going to the pictures. Instead of Mandarin Chinese, we're actually making lots of forts in the garden, and revisiting Enid Blyton and her numerous insufferable brats.

As T's toe was still in the painful stage, we borrowed someone's push-chair to go around MOA (the Mall of America, dontcha know). For the first time I was actually able to do some shopping there as there was no-one whingeing (as T in the pushie, and bridgjo was at work). Except I had forgotten just how awkward push-chairs can be - especially there as the lift at the car-park does not actually arrive at the same level as the sky-way - you have to take a flight of stairs down.

The zoo was incredibly hot. Again she was in the push-chair (I began to get paranoid, convinced that people were judging my parenting-skills letting her slob in there. Each day's trip was making me put a larger and larger bandage on her toe), so negligible complaining. Sometimes that is good. There they have strategically placed showers on the walkways so that you can stand under and get a light misting. Very pleasant on the super hot days they seem to have here (NO! I am NOT complaining!).

Yesterday we went to the art shop to get crafting supplies for when the grand-parents visit (today). T managed to drop a block of wood, corner down, on the exact same toe, just where the nail had come off.

Do you ever receive a "sign"? Not the heavens opening, streaming light sort of sign, but more practical? Sort of one day, you hear a word for the first time, and learn its meaning, and the next day it's used 3 times on the news.

The previous week I was driving home and saw a woman pull-over on the motor-way with a flat-tyre (tire for my American readers, I'm so thoughtful). I thought "Ho-hum, what a pain to have a flat on the motor-way, (free-way. Oh never mind, this is too hard). So when I later drove to school, I walked around the car, kicking the tyres, and lo! The back one was all squishy (never a good sign). So off I trundled to the near-by garage, and the chap very kindly sorted it out there-and-then for me for $12.50. Extremely handy service indeed (though I am never sure if you are expected to tip that sort of thing?) - so at least my fortuitous sign meant I didn't have to suffer a buckled wheel-trim and the possible ignominy of having to flag someone down cause my phone's dead.

So the stagiaire's now been kicked-out to make room for our next visitors - bridgjo's mum and dad. She said as she left "That room's quite big really when it's tidy, isn't it?". Indeed.

Oh, and as I left the play-date yesterday, my friend said, "Oh, I didn't tell you - the other week we went to a party, and such-and-such called up the next day saying 'Are you all OK? Only Sebastian's just been diagnosed with Swine Flu'". (And in case you're interested, everyone is fine, and it was just like normal flu for the people who got it).

Ow!

Poor T. The first day of the holidays, and she drops a large piece of plastic piping on her foot, and spectacularly explodes her big toe. It's the kind of injury which makes me want to hop and yelp "fnkf...knkf....fnkf..." each time I glance at it.

I went to the Chemists to get some Dettol this morning for a nice foot-bath and the assistant laughed "you know, you're the second person to come in today and ask for it.I shall have to google it". They do not have it here. When she asked what it was for (antiseptic; the smell; the fact that Mother used it), she said "That's exactly what the last person said too". It must be an English thing, like Branston. Though admittedly slightly less messy when applied to feet.

Bridgjo bought our first barbie this weekend. Technically, it is the second, as the first one was off FreeCycle, and is just large enough for one small chop.

I went and bought a couple of steaks today. The T-Bones were "just over a 1lb". Isn't that about the definition of a roast??

T's holiday is up for the following activities: ice-skating, Bollywood dancing, piano, tennis. We decided against the Mandarin Chinese course, as we thought it might be Too Much.

The au-pair was telling us about being at a night-club the other night with one of the other teachers. As they were dancing, a girl stood on L's foot,and made her cry out with pain. Except that in French, they don't say "Ow", they say "Eye!" (approximately). They thought she was being friendly, shouted "Hi!" back, and whipped her off for a dance. C had to rescue her after the second dance.

Pee Ess

The Contact Lenses arrived! This thrills me with the sort of excitement that you can only get from opening a box worth $500. Obviously a slight anti-climax. If only bridgjo would let me spend the same amount with equal gay abandon on, say, Jimmy Choos ("but you don't understand - I need them to seeeeee!").

Sailing off into the Sun-set

A very nice week-end last week-end.



First-off was our first barbie of the season at Isabelle's. John, with all his natural charm as befits a Yorkshireman, informs me my French is still painful - but at least I managed to make it through the entire evening with only one enormous wine-induced mistake (when I describe Tizzy's hair decoration as a magic wand (baguette) as opposed to a hair-slide (barrette), although by that time I suspect even the Swiss themselves also thought I was quite fluent).



Isabelle has a very nice house out in Plymouth - with three ovens, a wine cooler and a dish-washer (see, showing my age. I should have pointed out the pool first). She says it's a bit small for them, but only by American standards, ie they can't cycle around their West Wing like what we can.



On Sunday we were invited out on The Boat. This is a big thing for us, as we hadn't been out on the lake before. these friends have their own company, where, I understand they produce brochures of boats. This means they (or rather the Company) has a rather spiffy "pontoon" ie a wide, three-hulled boat, which, get this, actually has legs which come down independently when you want to stop, and stabilize it completed flat so you don't get buffeted. I'd thought we'd only be out for an hour, but we were out for 4 (more wine), and I even risked a dip (pretty nippy). We went to Big Island out on Lake Minnetonka. I have been told "no definite article, as that marks you out as a Hawaiian or a foreigner". That's the place where all the kids in Daddys' boats go to hang out at the weekend, moore the boats close together so they can run from one to another and, quite frankly, drink themselves silly. Sigh - if only I had been 19 there instead of in Karlsruhe. I think there used to be an amusement park there, but now only enormous $$$ houses.



This week is T's French week at school (ummm, aren't they all?), but it basically implies a week of playing about, as each afternoon is dedicated to a different activity eg Kermesse (sort of school fete/sports day), soccer, fashion show. It's actually her last day tomorrow. Hasn't the year flown by, etc.

'Roid Rage

Having a bit of gyp with my spangly new crown, so toddled off to the dentist's yesterday to get it seen too. After 4 weeks I can still expect to "feel some discomfort", so he's prescribed me steroids. So for precisely 5 days I will be big and muscly, develop a penchant for spontaneously tearing phone directories in half and will insist on being called "Dave".

T went today, as, naturally, last thing last night she pointed out, after I told her about going to the dentists, that she herself had a tooth coming through. Behind her baby teeth at the front. At an angle. So off we went again (she was thrilled - an afternoon off school). He had a good look and said that we're to keep an eye on it, and if the bottom one doesn't come out in 10 days time, to go back and he'll do something to her tooth which I haven't yet discussed in detail with T just yet.

T doesn't mind - she thinks I'll be feeding her toffee to encourage it to come out so that the Tooth Mouse will visit.

He also said her top baby teeth are quite close together so might need "visit an orthodontist when the adult teeth move in" (American speak for "let's blow the inheritance on braces").

I've also had to order some new contact lenses. I have, theoretically if they actually arrive, got a good deal on them. Unusually none of the shops were interested in giving me any discount on a year's supply of lenses, but I immediately got a quote $180 cheaper on the inter-web. Technology is only great if it doesn't turn out to be a scam, of course.

I also spoke to the optician about having The Operation, ie Lasik. He is a practitioner himself (which makes him sound faintly pagan), but basically recommended that I didn't as I would exchange one pair of glasses for another, as it seems to encourage the early onset of "forgetting-where-I-put-my-sodding-reading-glasses-again" syndrome.

Grand Old Day

It was the Grand Old Day out in St Paul (no 's') today, the capital (-tol) of Minnesota, should you have a wish to know.

With immaculate timing they had closed the main thorough-fare into the city for bridge maintenance (taking it all rather more seriously now). We found it using Brownian Motion as the GPS kept trying to send us round in circles and refused to co-operate. She seldom listens.

It was an incredibley long walk along the street of music, stalls and food - 30 blocks it says on the web-site, which I'm thinking is about 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or several thousand double-decker buses in length.

There was lots of music, which we could hear, but not see, due to the presence of a small person who due to her inferior age and purchasing power was not allowed within sniffing distance of anywhere serving alchohol.

Loads of food to eat. I admit I was tempted by the battered and deep-fried cheese-curds, but only momentarily once bridgjo had slapped me around the face a couple of times. In return, I almost persuaded him to ask the friendly boys on the Lavender (with a capital/tol 'L') stand for a rather pretty bag of lavender they were handing out....I stopped him before he got too close, and made some really nice mates.

Interesting street though - lovely old (huge) houses interspersed with houses converted to shops. We'd go there more often if only St Paul wasn't such a hike. Lots of Nepalese restos there too - so maybe we can share the driving and go in one evening.