Sunday, June 01, 2014

The Wounded Soldier and Other Stories

I can't say I've been a very assiduous blogger recently. Not that I care, mind. But when I see the last post written was on May 7, it comes a quite a surprise. Time seems to have accelerated since then.

My DB misjudged a set of steps whilst riding his bicycle, thought he could dive over them as he had done many a time. Unfortunately, this time there was a motorbike blocking some of the access and instead of sailing successfully down the three steps, he went sailing over the top of his handlebars and landed on his wrists. Could have been his chin and a smashed jaw, so he's counting his blessings. It still means his left arm is encased in plaster from hand to elbow, and his right hand has a removable brace (like the braces kids with scoliosis wear). The doc wanted to encase both his wrists but my DB lives alone and couldn't see how he could survive being totally incapacitated. As it is, I'm trying to fit working full time around ferrying him about to appointments, feeding him and driving him to and from chez moi. I'm counting my blessings that I don't have to wipe his bottie because I'm not sure our relationship could survive such ignominy at this stage (not sure it could at any stage if I'm honest...)...

You should have seen us walking round the adventure motorcycle expo organised by Touratech in Orange. I drove us there as we couldn't take the bike, and he got sympathetic looks from all the hard-core adventure bikers. He actually looked like he'd been involved in a little too much adventure except that he'd just fallen off his bicycle. The shame! It'll be a while before he can go off on his own adventures again. Instead, we were happy to sit and watch a presentation by Anne Girardin from annamotodiva.com recounting her trip from Alaska to the south of Argentina over a period of ten months. She had barely even sat on a motorbike before she undertook this mammoth ride! It was a very inspiring presentation, and her photos were fabulous.

I've also been doing a lot of reading for friends. One asked me to proof-read his latest book and then, later, to leave a review on Goodreads. I found the review quite tricky because I'd been reading it to find errors, not getting to grips with the story. I also wrote it a couple of weeks after I read it so my recollection of the story was a little hazy.


Then I bought the Kindle version of a book by another FB friend entitled Little Yellow Stickies: Security through Absurdity. Once I'd finished reading it, the author asked me to write a review for Amazon.com. I already had on the UK site (because I always write book reviews), so popped over to copy and paste my review into .com.


Then this weekend, I received fellow blogger Samantha Vérant's pre-publication edition of her romantic memoir 'Seven Letters from Paris'. I finished it this evening, and have to send the book on to the next on the list of pre-publication readers. We will all leave a review on Goodreads the day it's published on Oct 1. I'll have to write something down before then or I'll have forgotten it long before. I've known about this book for some time but reading it was something else. Sam's done a great job telling the story of how she met her husband, or should I say, she met him, then went back to the US.  He wrote seven truly romantic letters to her after she went back to the US, the stuff you dream of receiving, but she ignored him for twenty years, until she finally came to her senses and sent him an apology. To his credit, he wrote back and they picked up where they'd left off. He needs a medal for perseverance, I reckon!



I was telling my (French) DB about Sam's husband Jean-Luc. My DB is not very romantic so when I was telling him about everything that Jean-Luc had done for Sam, he said he needed a good talking to as he had just raised the bar for every Frenchman who wanted to get intimate with an American girl... After reading that book they'd be expecting castles, romantic letters and all sorts of effort. He perked up though when I told him that JL had previously been married to a young Russian. From being a bit of a traitor, JL suddenly became a Person of Interest. It's always been my DB's pie in the sky fantasy to have a young Russian hanging off his arm. Luckily for him he's got me now so he doesn't need to think about trying to seduce either young Americans or young Russians (and have his fantasy crash to earth if JL's ex is typical...)!

There's never a dull moment with my DB...

21 comments:

  1. What an exciting life you lead!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Other peoples' lives always sound exciting DD. Mine is just a bit over-crowded at the moment. :)

      Delete
  2. Glad you're back in blogging action! It was lovely to catch up over my coffee. I'm jealous because you have time to read AND ferry DB around. You're Super Woman. Harrumpf. *Jealous* :-)
    Hope DB is released from his bike-deprived world soon (I think he'll be giving up the staircase stunts from now on - tell him the story of Eddie Kidd.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always have something to read (usually my Kindle) on me so if I have to wait anywhere, I'm happy. Lesson learned long ago when I spent about 30% of my life waiting for my future ex-h (it seemed).

      I also read over lunch and instead of cleaning the house. :)

      Delete
  3. Ha! But Jean-Luc doesn't write me letters anymore! Tell DB...he takes me scuba diving in waters with zero visibility...and then swims away. As for the young Russian girls? No comment. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He'll be most heartened to hear that. :)

      Delete
  4. I bet a young Russian girl wouldn't do what you have to do for your DB although, from what you say, you don't either!

    I like the sound of these books - I remember Samantha's blog, haven't visited it for ages and didn't know her wonderful romantic story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I heard another story about the young Russian today, how she ran out into the road screaming, waving a bottle of vodka in one hand and her underwear in the other! My DB certainly wouldn't like me to that...

      The first book on the list is the fourth in the series. It stands alone, but is more enjoyable if you've read the others. The Sticky book is just amazing, and Sam's story is totally charming.

      Delete
  5. Oops what happened to my comment, maybe I was interrupted, comment bloggus interuptus that is... now you have said what DB translates to but I wasn't sure what it was again? That whole bump ump sounds so incredibly painful to me. Ouch! I am a sucker for a romance, I even read those cheap Harlequin romances after a few of the usual depressing dour ones that you;re supposed to read

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jody, did Blogger eat your comment? DB = dearly beloved.

      Romance warms the cockles, but it's way better when it's a real life story. In Sam's case, truth trumps fiction by aeons. :)

      I don't read depressing or dour. I've decided life is too short to wallow in other people's misery. I came to that conclusion after starting Whatsername's Ashes which I gave up on after a few pages before I topped myself. I do read death and destruction though, but only of baddies. :)

      Delete
  6. Oh dear, poor DB! I've done a spot of care work in my time and bottie wiping is easier if you don't know the bottie! Hope you can get out on the bike again soon. I can't wait to get reading Samantha's book!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right! The bottie has to have no romantic or emotional connection with you! Unless it's under 2. :)

      Delete
  7. Your poor DB. Not sure about cleaning someone's backside so yes, a rather good idea the Doc didn't plaster both hands.

    Wishing him a speedy recovery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, DD. One would do it if one had to but... ewww.

      Delete
  8. Leo's woken up at mention of Russian girls running out into the road with vodka in one hand and underwear in the other....feels he's missed out on life somewhere...as the only Russian entity he encountered was his beloved Russian car - the sort Putin now collects - which he ran on paraffin and which was so well armoured that anything colliding with it crumpled instantly leaving not a dent.
    No bikes for him....too dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny how the mention of Russian girls perks them up. :)

      A friend of mine is married to a lovely Ukrainian girl whose parents have a locally-made vehicle which is so badly made it can be patched up with string (... is a very important thing. Rope is thicker, but string is quicker. Spike Milligan, Silly Verse for Kids).

      Delete
  9. Good to have you back. And I hope that your DB is getting better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi is, Muriel, slowly but surely. :)

      Delete
  10. Welcome back, Sarah. I know all about how time slips away.... Please give your poor DB my best wishes for a speedy recovery and tell him you may not be Russian, but he's very lucky to have you. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Perpetua, he's on the mend and he's appreciating me every day in his poorly state.

      Delete

Comments are bienvenue.