It's almost '20

I am grateful that in our own corner, in our own family, there is nothing negative to report. It is a beautiful day, today -- sunny and cold -- just like a winter day should be. I wish for health and happiness for all our friends and family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020

I've been seeing people posting about it being the end of the decade. That's the popular way of thinking of decades, but I always learned the 10 came after 9, and the decade started with 1. But, I can see the counting as starting from 0 -- babies' ages are counted in days and months in year zero and you don't say 1 until year one is finished. One meme that I have seen points out that we should not write our dates on checks and other sensitive documents as 01/01/20. We need to write out 2020. If not, someone could add digits and transform what we want '20 to 2019 or 2021 or any other year of this century.

A lot has changed since 2010, but then again, a lot changes all the time no matter where you put the starting point. It is not an optimistic time, generally speaking. The fires underway in Australia, following the fires in the U.S. Pacific states just a few months ago or the fires in Portugal seem to highlight climate change. It's certain that weather patterns seem to be changing with hotter summers, heavier droughts followed by heavier rains causing heavier damage. Severe winter cold blasts that make Eastern U.S. states and Canada colder than Alaska. In Europe, it seems to me, there's recognition of the problems and the need to curb carbon and methane output, although the move from needing to do something to actually doing it is slow. 

Some of the actions seem ridiculous. Getting people to move from fossil fuel consumption to wood-burning stoves and furnaces is still releasing carbon, isn't it? The endless phone calls we get from companies wanting to install solar panels on our roof is nerve-wracking since we know (and it has been confirmed by the electricity distribution company) that our roof orientation is not good for output. I feel that instead of installing insulation around the house, changing the windows from double-glazed to triple, installing solar panels on a north-westerly oriented roof, the best solution for whoever buys our house one day is to demolish and build a new house. The cost of all the possible improvements to the current structure outweighs the cost of a new eco-friendly building.

Politics -- well, the strike is still on in France and the gilet jaune movement is still around, though not as forceful as last year. In the U.S., Trump has been impeached but we are still wondering how the Senate trial will go. There are still a lot of candidates among the Democrats and the Republicans still only have Trump. AARO is gearing up its "get out the overseas vote" campaign and I'll be working on that. Refugees are still pouring into Europe, though at a slower pace, and trying to reach asylum in the U.S. There is still war in the Middle East and outbursts elsewhere. There are still terrorist attacks.

All that negativity. I'm sorry. We all need to check Gapminder from time to time to keep things in perspective. https://www.gapminder.org/ Take the test. We all need to feel a bit more optimistic.

And the strike goes on

Read this post from my friend Harriet: http://harrietweltyrochefort.com/wordpress/?p=946
I don't think I could say it better.
I feel very housebound. I'm retired, so I don't have the real problems of the working population. My children do, though. My son has been working from home as much as possible and has had to drive to the office on the few days when he had to go in for meetings. My daughter has had better luck. She lives along one of the two automated métro lines and that gets her fairly close to work. However, work is on Montmartre, so it's an uphill walk. She's been able to hitch a ride when necessary. People are very nice in that way.
We've had to go to Paris on two evenings but it wasn't too difficult. During rush hours, it's horrendous. We are lucky. One of the two bus lines that will take us to Vincennes is functioning and line 1 from Vincennes is the other of the two automated lines. As long as our destination is not far from line 1 or line 14 station, we are able to go. For our first venture into town, we took the bus to Vincennes. Since we are close to the end of the line, there were two buses, back to back, and the second was not too crowded; there were seats. The métro was crowded, but not too crowded since we got on at the first station. We were wondering if the Bastille station would be open since that day's demonstration went from République to Nation via Bastille. At Nation, the métro became very crowded and more so at the Gare de Lyon. We got off at Bastille and some of the exits were closed off but not the one we wanted to use.

Our destination? A jazz concert in a passageway off the Rue de Lappe featuring Joe Makholm at the piano. I've known Joe for years but had never seen or heard him perform. I knew him from his days as a baseball umpire when his son played. It was a long time ago and I kept seeing his name come up on FaceBook in posts by mutual friends. Our circle of mutual friends ranges from all over. It was not surprising to find a few at the concert. Monique Wells, from the American Library, where she gave a talk and arrived early while I was working at the circulation desk. Owen Franken, whom I had never met, but had had several email exchanges with and with whom I shared 16 or 17 friends on FaceBook. So, we finally met in person. Bernadette Martin, whom I hadn't seen in many years since an AARO lunch, but I wonder if I hadn't seen her at an International Business Communicators meeting even before that lunch. Others were not able to come because of the strike -- buses not running or too crowded to get on. The concert was excellent but we left at 10:30, before the end, because we needed time to get home. Although the métro, line 1, was running, our bus line had stopped. Rather than try to find a taxi in Vincennes, we took a taxi from Bastille.
I then had to go to Paris for a mid-day meeting. Getting into Paris was not difficult. It was not rush hour. The meeting went well and I left before it was over because I felt I needed 2 hours to get to my physiotherapist appointment. The métro was crowded to Vincennes but I got to sit after a few stops. However, once in Vincennes, the mob waiting for the bus that goes to Nogent was, to be nice, undisciplined. I finally got on the 4th bus, having waited almost 45 minutes. I did not have time to walk several kilometers to the appointment, so it was the bus or forget the appointment. I got there just in time. My 2-hour calculation was perfect, when, normally, it would have taken less than one.

On Friday evening, we met the rest of the Parisian family to go to the light show, Océans en voie d'illumination, at the Jardin des Plantes. We decided to drive to Vincennes and see if we could get a parking spot, which we were lucky enough to find. The parking garage had 6 spots free when we entered. A few minutes later, it would have been full. That meant we got the métro earlier than we had anticipated. The walk from the Gare de Lyon is not too long and we arrived at the Jardin des Plantes a full hour early.
Anne joined us and, together, we waited for the others. The walk through the illuminations took us from the tropics (and the kids remembered seeing the real marine animals last year in Florida) to end in the polar regions. It was a chilly walk, but it wasn't raining, so comfortable enough. From the exit, we walked to Jussieu, to Le Buisson Ardent, the restaurant where we had reserved for Paul's birthday. Expensive, yes, but I think we all enjoyed our meals. The kids' meals were smaller portions of an adult meal and they cleaned their plates. I had the perfectly prepared calf liver. The walk back to the Gare de Lyon seemed so much longer, though, and I was happy to have the car waiting at Vincennes to take us straight home.
So, we've managed, but it's not fun and I would like to go into the city a bit more. Just this last Friday, I was supposed to meet Anne to go to an exhibit. Again - bus + métro 1 + tram. But she got to the tram before I even left home and announced that the tram was not operating, although it had been on Thursday. So, no, she went home and I stayed home. I would like to see my friend S, but she's near the Gare du Nord and that is too far for me to walk from lines 1 or 14.

Thinking about last summer

I didn't write during the summer. Now, I'm going through our photos to create our annual photo album and that got me to thinking about the summer, again.
Photobox is moving to a new system since Adobe Flash is no longer available. They haven't finished the migration and some of the conveniences of the old studio are gone and it's frustrating. I just don't want to have to start using some other service. I've got so many books created with Photobox. It's already frustrating enough that I have two accounts. I started one in the UK and then another in FR. I managed to migrate the one in France to the UK, but could not merge the two accounts. Each has its own email address. I do wish I could merge them and have everything in a single account.

So, let's get back to the summer. Rue du Général Chanzy held its annual street party. For C, it was her first and she loved it. The weather was good, too; the rain held off until almost the end. There was a new "toy": a bubble maker. C. loved that and spent a lot of time chasing bubbles. Our street has held this party for 30 years. At the time, it was a novelty, so much so, that the Maire (then, Nungesser, now, Martin) has come almost every year. Since we started, the French have created a national "Fête des Voisins", but we don't bother with that date. It has been a great success on our street, with the street blocked off to traffic and open to games such as racing on stilts, rope pulls, snail races and more. Adults gather together to watch the kids. It's nice to see the next generation continue. Meanwhile, A took a week-long vacation in the Loire valley.
Early in June, we went to Northampton to visit the English family. We went to visit a manor and a petting farm. We got to see Au. in a dance show. I had my hobby knitting machine with me and the kids had a chance to knit a little and I fixed the skirt and sweater that were too big.
Immediately after that, I went off with the AARO delegation to Washington for Overseas Americans Week. I was already exhausted because I had done most of the preparation work of getting the appointments. A couple of the other participants helped out once the lists were made but it is exhausting work.

The OAW delegation before we split up the last day.

The FAWCO delegate and I shared a hotel room not far from Dupont Circle. I got to spend one dinner with Amy, who is now working in DC. We had a tiny family reunion, eating our take-out dinner in Dupont Circle! She has a small apartment right at the Circle. Another delegate and I had a night out at the ball game - Washington Nationals vs the Diamondbacks. Other than that we all spent the week scattering ourselves from meeting to meeting both on the Hill and off. 83 meetings, in all!
Paul's cousin, Danielle, died before I got home but since the funeral was delayed, we both managed to go to St. André des Alpes for the funeral and, as usual with funerals, we got to see lots of family not seen in ages. P. and G. stayed at the same B&B as we did, so we had a pleasant get together before they headed back to Six-Fours and we headed back to Nice to catch our train. There was a heatwave and our train back to Paris got delayed. We had water for the trip, but not enough and it was an uncomfortable ride. The OUIGO discount TGVs do not have a refreshment car nor vending machines so if you don't bring your own food (in our case, lunch sandwiches) and water, you are stuck. They do have air-conditioning but they set it at a minimum, relatively high temperature. We were wilted on arrival and still had to catch the RER and walk up the hill once we got to Nogent.
At the end of June, Chl celebrated her 5th birthday. We went to Swann et Vincent, a decent family restaurant at Denfert-Rocherau and got an ice cream cone for dessert at the nearby rue Daguerre. After that, we had a little break. The kids in England were still in school and the kids in Paris were off on the beginning of their vacation until the end of July. Somewhere in there

A day at the zoo

When school was over in England, Cl brought the girls for a week at the end of July and the Parisian kids were back so the cousins had a wonderful few days together. We all went to the zoo one day. They went to the Toutankhamon exhibit and even managed to go up the Eiffel Tower before I took the Brits back to the airport. This was followed by a visit from the American cousins at the beginning of August! We only got a couple of hours together on the river bank, but the kids, who remembered the Christmas visit to Winter Park, picked up playing together as if they'd seen one another just the day before.

Chez Emma

We had a week or so to recover from all the visiting. The Brits stopped in on their way to the Annecy and took A with them for a week and the Parisians went to Oléron for relaxation and oysters. We drove down to Najac to visit E and G and after the week in Oléron, the Parisians had a week not far, so we all managed to get together, again.
Upon our return to Paris, the Brits stopped for a night on their way back to England and took me with them for a family birthday party in London -- another wonderful family reunion, especially for C, who hadn't seen these cousins in several years.
One night at the hotel and I returned home the next day. And then my shoulder froze.
PS: As usual, there are no photos of the kids. I do share them with the family.