Nothing to do

I am listening to The Waterboys – ‘A New Life’. ‘The new life starts here.’ How blindingly obvious! Where else, and when else, would it – could it – start? ‘I can see my way so clear.’ This CD, notably the angst-ridden ‘Suffer’, saw me through a real life crisis when I was but 27, a mere sapling in the forest of life.

We find the inspiration we need where and when we most need it. Neale Donald Walsch wrote, ‘There is nothing you have to do’, and I only now appreciate the enormity of what that means. Enlightenment is not something which you have to seek, but something you have to recognise, to accept in yourself. I feel complete.

Progress

It’s 7.00am. I’m drinking an espresso, listening to the rain through the open windows as the rest of the family sleeps. Birdsong and the occasional car are the only sounds I can hear. Peace. To be short-lived, as it happens. Today my dad and his partner leave – they’ve been with us for just over a week. Tomorrow the Invisible Woman is of to Ireland for 5 days, leaving me with care of the brood. Mmmm… I’m not counting on much work getting done on the house until she returns.

The electrician should be here today or tomorrow to replace and move the water heater – we’ll be able to have showers here, which should be nice. Our ‘man what does’ should be starting on our new front door and have it ready for us before the end of the month – not bad considering it was ordered in July 2006. We also had confirmation of the quote for replacing the garage roof – it comes in at a very sweet 13,000€. It’s work that needs doing, so we basically have no choice. We’ll get a second devis to be certain that we’re not being ripped off. The same guy charged us 3000€ to bang a hole in the wall and build five steps down to the garden, so I am frankly suspicious. And then there are walls to be removed and walls to be built and staircases to install and roofs to be insulated and floors to lay. Why did we do this again?

The doors get fitted on Friday! Actually, we have advanced rather well. Two bedrooms are now ready and the lounge is ready fro a paint job, thanks to some enlisted help from friends who dropped by for lunch.

The heavy-duty steamer we used to strip the wallpaper tripped the power switch in the house a couple of times, but otherwise everything went swimmingly.

We had a cooker and fridge-freezer delivered and so are now able to eat in the house too. The local electrician popped in and gave the place a tentative thumbs-up. Well, at least, not a categorical thumbs-down. We are unlikely to fry ourselves in the bath, he assures me. It is something else, however, that we shall have to see to at some unspecified future date. He’s also going to fit a new water heater next week, which is jolly nice of him.

A couple of days and a lot of paint later…

We made progress today, thanks to the kids spending the day with their Mamie. Amazing what one can get done without little people needing one’s constant attention. At the risk of boring you, Dear Reader, we finished the children’s bedroom and made a more than impressive start on our own, with first coats finished and fireplaces opened up…We have a great deal to do before we actually move in, but we figure that next weekend is a possibility. My dad arrives on Saturday and will have the dubious honour of being the first person to spend the night in the house, as there is no room where we are now for extra bodies. That way, I’m sure he’ll be tempted into doing little jobs too!

There are boxes full of I-know-not-what. Most haven’t been opened since they left Belgium 6 years ago; a couple, I noticed today as we moved them all, are still intact from their departure from Greece over 7 years ago. What could be in there that I could possibly need or want now? Either way, it will be interesting to open them at some stage this summer…

I’m typing this on my knees. The nearest internet connection is a dial-up modem on another computer. This requires my finding my USB data-drive in order publish today. Which, realistically, is not going to happen. Such is life.

Vive la France!

Vive la France! Finally! It seems we have been operated on various countdowns, so it does feel good to have touched down, quite literally. Munch declared, ‘I’m so excited to be in France!’
The kids travelled well, all things considered. A smooth flight, in every sense. Roissy is still perhaps one of the most unpleasant airports I’ve had the misfortune to pass through. Charles De Gaule, sorry. It’s in serious need of some over-enthusiastic bulldozing. We collected the car, again all very easy, and, if one ignores my 40 minute detour around the northern ring road of Paris, we arrived safely in Thiersanville at around 11.30 am on Saturday. About 24 hours of travel, door-to-door.

Two nights ‘chez les Gramps’, and then the drive down to Saulzais. The kids were again delightful and slept the whole way – a bonus we couldn’t have expected. We drove past our little house, all anticipation and excitement, to discover that the guy we met with last year and arranged for over 5000 euros worth of work (including, most obviously as one drives past the house, a new front door) has done, in the vernacular, squat. On closer inspection we discovered that this initial impression was indeed accurate. Worse, the mason, with whom he was supposed to coordinate work on the rear of the house to knock a hole in a wall and fit double French windows, has completed his half of the job. That is to say, we have a very neatly finished space where French windows will no doubt be very attractive at some future time. For now, though, we have just a hole in the wall, open to the elements and, indeed, to anyone who fancies popping in to visit. I would name and shame this menusier if I thought any of his potential customers would be reading this. As I think that is highly unlikely, I shan’t bother.

We spent yesterday doing the tour of DIY places, hiring a wall-paper stripper and buying paint, dustbin liners, mops and all that kind of paraphernalia. I was suitably keen to get going so managed to strip a couple of walls in what will be the kids’ bedroom last night. The garden is a jungle, the wiring is scarily antique, the loft isn’t insulated or floored yet and there’s a chimney to knock down and block up, buy hey, it’s home.

Troi Oi!

We leave tomorrow - Troi Oi!

Running, running, running... I have passports, plane tickets, two kids and a wife. Good enough. The rest is just baggage - in more sense than one.

Deep breaths. The moment is now. Everything is as it should be.

Au revoir Au Parc

I said my farewells to Au PArc, probably our favourite restaurant-cum-cafe in saigon. It was one of the first to offer smoke-free dining (one of my hobby horses) adn runs a good Mediterranean style menu. One NewYork cheesecake too many though. The Illy espresso was a Godsend last night, especially since my beloved machine has been packed away...

Two sleeps, my daughter informs me, counting them out dramatically for good measure on sticky fingers at breakfast this morning. I woke up at 4.30am, thoughts ticking around my brain, so decided to go for an early morning swim. As I lapped the pool, I was inspired to think of the poem 'Desiderata' and so ditched my 'prepared' speech for Presentation day and went with a reading instead:

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe; no less than the trees and the stars, you have the right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Attributed to Max Ehrmann 1927

It seemed to go well. I had intended to read from Gibran's 'The Prophet' on Children as well. Time was against me. I shall send it to parents anyway - it certainly provokes some serious thinking...

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.