Catching Up!
Well, its been a good couple of weeks since I last wrote a post here and its good to be back! I’ve been suffering from writers block (oh, that sounds so serious !) but seriously, I have not been capable of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) due to my world being turned upside town and spun round and round. Personal events in my life had taken a grip on my day to day life and left me first in great expectation and then in deep anguish but I am pleased to report that I’m feeling much better and am back on track. Itching to write!
As Graham Green said: “Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in a human condition”
Cadbury’s Eggs
I have found over the last week that writing is an excellent from of therapy so me being back here is proof in the pudding. A Cadbury’s cream egg that arrived today from the UK has also been of much assistance and tasted so delicious that I just had to write about it! Whilst biting into the yummy milk chocolate (which wouldn’t be considered as chocolate in France) it came to my attention that British chocolate really does taste difference. Now I am seriously worried what will happen to my beloved crème eggs now that Cadbury have been taken over?
Weather – Sun & Ash
Since I last wrote, the weather has definitely taken a turn for the better and we have had two consecutive sunny weekends in Lyon which have been fabulous. No signs of volcanic ash here even though the airports are still closed although there has been a horrible burning smell today although I think that is more to do with our neighbours bonfire! It did have me wondering this morning though!
Its been quite fascinating stuff to watch everyone’s great struggles to get home on the TV, they’re have been some pretty amazing stories of how people have walked, cycled and maybe swam (I don’t think anyone did but that just sounds good doesn’t it?) to get home. Obviously those with money have been more financially able to make arrangements than those on tight budgets, I mean seriously, would you pay a couple of thousand Euros to get home in a taxi? I doubt I would (I mean if I could financially) although it would really depend where I was stuck and whether my airline was paying for my accommodation or not. Stuck in the Bahamas or somewhere exotic, no, I would probably stay there but if I was stuck in somewhere obscure with not a lot going on and I had the money then I’d definitely pay up!
Another Strike, another moan by me
What’s really got me is that the French SNCF are still carrying on with their strikes. I’ve been so disconnected recently that I didn’t even realise they were striking again, but now I know its been ongoing and the transport system in France is in crisis. Surely the French army should commandeer the trains that are not running due to the strike and help people continuing to move? They could be milking this for every penny which would no doubt pay for the extra money they want to earn or whatever it is this time. I just don’t see how they can continue to strike when so many people are in difficulty and are trying to get home – not to mention the fact that it’s the school holidays. I find anyone who can strike during a transport crisis to be of incredible selfishness. I’ll stop on the subject of the SNCF now that I’ve relieved myself of that gripe.
Frog Band & Plant Market

Frog Band
On Sunday there was a plant market in Les Grattes Ciel near where I live, so being in an inspired gardening mood (I am a fair weather gardener) off we went to buy some more plants for our garden.
Les Grattes Ciel is an Art Deco district in Villeurbanne and I am a great fan of Art Deco architecture and design. In fact, my home is in an Art Deco building and when I went to Miami a few years ago I spent all my time taking pictures and admiring the Art Deco buildings there.
The shopping area is a wide avenue lined with trees that ends with the rather grand Mairie, a beautiful white/grey building with huge Art Deco pillars, a really fantastic building but so difficult to capture in a photo. The street was transformed into a pedestrian area and was lined with all sorts of stalls selling many variations of plants and flowers, so many in fact the street looked like a garden centre.
It was a really lovely morning out, with the street cafés open and so many people meandering around, buying plants and flowers. I actually wondered whether all these people had gardens as lots of people here live in apartments and I wondered whether thanks to this market there would be a lot more flower boxes this year. I will have to keep an eye out for those.

Frog Band outside the Town Hall
Everything was topped off by a very animated Frog Band playing fanfare music that had me jigging around like a demented person who couldn’t control their feet. I really didn’t want to jig but with the sun and the music my feet kept jigging much to the embarrassment of my Hubby! I was rather fascinated why they were dressed up as frogs but didn’t want to ask for fear of being misinterpreted. Also, I don’t think they would have heard me as they didn’t stop playing for hours on end.
Now we just have to plant the rest of the stuff we bought and when we do I’ll take some proper pictures and maybe someone can help us in identifying what we purchased!
Rubbery Man
I’ve been following Sion’s Faux Pas Fridays over at Paris (im)Perfect for quite a while and have enjoyed laughing until my sides hurt, but last night I had a reversed faux pas of my own thanks to Hubby. He asked me how to spell Rubbery, so I politely spelt it out for him R U B B E R Y. I then wondered why on earth he wanted to know how rubbery was spelt (we were playing on our Iphones – quite sad I know but hey, this is my generation) so I asked him. He replied that it was for a game he wanted to register to play. So, what type of game I asked thinking it was really weird. Texas Hold’Em he replied. Ahhhh, imagine a light bulb in my head slowly lighting up. He wanted to know how to spell ROBBERY. Poor guy, he was registered as RUBBERY, it was too late! We had a laugh and I don’t think anyone wanted to play against him as he soon shut down the application!
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