What happened to April?

I've been getting to know the journey between Montpellier and Avignon in the last three weeks. My DB is now all moved and ship-shape in his new pad, and the next time I go, I'm expecting to have nothing to do with boxes, unpacking or hauling stuff to and from the garage. Phew!

In other news, I'm looking very healthy thanks to some tanning capsules designed to help your skin cope with the sun. A healthy glow does wonders for morale, especially when you know it's been acquired just by popping pills.

I've also been reading about ways to combat osteoporosis. The simplest way by far is to do sport so that mechanical pressure is put on the bones to reinforce them. That plus getting enough vitamins C, D, K to form collagen and bone mineralisation. So now you know. Swimming is no good, of course...

...if your boys haven't 'borrowed' it and returned it wrecked...

I made my Spring visit to Pierrette, my personal clothes shopper and, thanks to the crisis in clothes boutiques, I came away with a hefty collection of snazzy bits and bobs. I'd take some selfies, but daren't show you the decidedly un-snazzy room in which I sleep...

I've been wondering how much longer Pierrette can carry on. She's 71 now and not in the best of health. She told me she'll continue until either her clients have no need of her (unlikely), or she just can't carry on physically. I'm one of her oldest clients, along with 'la dame des impôts' who is not short of a bob and spends a fortune with her!

Fact

In order to make room for the new stuff, I took the brave step of nearly emptying my wardrobe of all the clothes I haven't really ever worn. The two 100 litre bin bags contain several jackets. I never wear jackets with lapels and I have no idea why I kept buying them. My job doesn't require looking smart, and I don't find them comfy. They seem to swamp me.

I have yet to actually remove the bags from the landing and take the definitive chucking out step, however... I'm sure that as soon as I do that, I'll need a jacket urgently, and in the exact red colour and style of the one I just gave away. Anguish.

My reading of another newsletter about health enlightened me as to the pointlessness of using antiseptics to clean small wounds. Warm water works much better apparently. For bleeding bobos, apply a 'pansement gras' which Google translates as a 'fat dressing' which won't stick to the scab. I went and threw out the Betadine after reading that. It was long out of date anyway...

Ail des ours/wild garlic pesto

Finally, I bought some 'ail des ours' (wild garlic) from the 'Ruche qui dit Oui' the other week and, after searching on the internet, found a tasty pesto recipe that includes almonds and sun-dried tomatoes. We took a pot on a picnic on one of our recent walks (sneaked in between packing boxes), and very tasty it was too. There's quite a tang to it after the initial mise en bouche. My DB loved it so much that the next time it became available, he bought 4 bunches. This Friday (a holiday oh happy day!), the St Bloggie pesto factory will be cranking out the stuff by the ton... Good thing I didn't throw out all the glass jars in my clothes clear-out too!