21st July 2013

Canicule. The weather forecast says 35C for Gaillac, but on our balcony yesterday it was 40C and rising. We no longer have a pool to jump in, there's a limit to how many cold showers you can take, so how to keep your cool?    Answers on a postcard, please.
The family kept telling us to get an annual medical check-up. I know, I know: France has one of the best health services in the world, so why don't we?  Long story. I come from a family who never went to the doctor's:  'if you go to hospital, you never come out'.  But, in Feb I had one of those free blood-pressure checks at a US pharmacie which read 198.  Shock, horror.  So, an appointment had to be made - and last Thursday was the day.  Well, even though my reading was now down to 168, it's still too high so I'm now on tablets - if I remember to take them.  Trouble is, they make me sleepy. And, don't even mention my weight.  Tut, tut, tut said the doctor.  Me and Tina, the Springer, have the same problem. And Him indoors?  No more doctor jokes, please.
And the answer to the heat:  we sleep downstairs in the sous-sol. A stone house may be difficult to heat in winter, but in summer downstairs - merveilleuse.