Life slowly returns to normal

The weather this month has been amazing, sunny and 20-30ºC most days; but since yesterday, it’s changed to winter, which was something of a shock to the system. It was the open day at the local wine cave today; frequently the midday meal is held in a marquee outside, but not this year. Instead, tables were set in the big room that houses the armagnac stills, which, because the armagnac is being made at the moment, bubbling away in the stills, was lovely and warm. We were entertained by a band from the Nogaro school of music as workers from the cave served aperos.

The walking club was making the meal this year and they did a fantastic job; garbure (a hearty, mountain soup) was followed by duck hearts and chips then cheese, all washed down with red wine, with apple tart and coffee to finish. Anybody who wanted to was welcome to help themselves to armagnac straight from the still; at 70% alcohol, it nearly blows your head off. Colourless for the time being, it will be diluted to 55% with sterilised water  before being put into oak barrels, which will give it its colour, then left for several years until, the angels having taken their share, the alcohol is at 40%, when it will be bottled.

Apart from going to see the doctor and the physio, this was Nick’s first outing post accident; everybody was delighted to see him out and about and we met one of the pompiers who attended the crash. He told me that, as the pompiers from Eauze had been called as well as those from Nogaro, they were expecting a fatality; he was really pleased to meet Nick again and see him looking well.

It’s not all plain sailing yet, as he fell coming in from riding his “mobility scooter” on Thursday; fortunately the only damage was a badly cut nose, but it knocked his confidence and he’s mostly stayed indoors since. His ankle is also infected now, so he’s on antibiotics, but at least he’s in good spirits and enjoying catching up on some reading. For my part, I’m kept busy enough looking after the invalid, but I have found time to plant some strawberries and onions in the veg plot. I’d love to get the tiling finished in the new house, but up to now haven’t had the time.

Le temps ce mois a été incroyable, ensoleillé et 20-30°C la plupart du temps; mais depuis hier, il a changé d’hiver, ce qui était quelque chose d’un choc pour le système. Aujourd’hui était la journée portes ouvertes à la cave locale; souvent, le repas de midi est dans un chapiteau à l’extérieur, mais pas aujourd’hui. Au lieu de cela, des tables étaient dressées dans la grande pièce ou se trouvent les alambics Armagnac, il était très agréable et chaleureux parce qu’on fait l’armagnac en ce moment, il bouillonne dans les alambics. Un groupe bandas de l’école  de musique de Nogaro jouait et des travailleurs de la cave servis des aperos.

Le club de marche a fait le repas cette année et ils ont fait un travail fantastique; Garbure, suivi par cœurs de canard et des frites puis un fromage, le tout arrosé de vin rouge, puis une tarte aux pommes et café pour terminer. Quiconque voulait était invité à se servir en Armagnac droite de l’alambic; à 70% d’alcool, il est tres puissant. Incolore, pour le moment, il sera dilué à 55% avec l’eau sterilisé avant de mettre en fûts de chêne, qui lui donnera la couleur, et laissé pendant plusieurs années jusqu’à ce que, les anges ayant pris leur part, l’alcool est à 40% , quand il sera mis en bouteille.

A part d’aller voir le médecin et le kiné, ce fut le premier sortie de Nick depuis son accident; tout le monde était ravi de le voir et nous avons rencontré l’un des pompiers qui ont assisté à l’accident. Il m’a dit que, comme les pompiers d’Eauze avaient été appelé ainsi que de Nogaro, ils attendaient une fatalité; il eatait vraiment heureux de rencontrer à nouveau Nick et le voir en bon morale.

Les problemes ne sont pas encore fini, comme il est tombé en rentrant de son “scooter de mobilité”, le jeudi; heureusement, le seul dommage était de nez mal blessé, mais il a frappé sa confiance et il est surtout resté à l’intérieur depuis. Sa cheville est infecté aussi maintenant, donc il doit prendre les antibiotiques, mais au moins il est dans la bonne humeur et profite de rattraper un peu de lecture.

Home, sweet home, at last

Since Nick had his accident, life has been a steep learning curve for me; not just the mind-boggling French bureaucracy, but I’ve had to fix the mower, unblock the drain from the shower, learn how to use the chain saw to cut firewood and, ridiculous though it sounds, drive to Pau on my own for the first time.

The thing is that when the angels were handing out senses of direction, I was already lost, probably in search of a bathroom, so I missed out. Normally when I’m driving somewhere, I have my very reliable satnav, but as he was in hospital and I wanted to visit the patchwork show in Pau on Thursday, I had to go it alone. I studied maps and Google streetview and found it without too much difficulty, arriving in plenty of time to have a good look around before the workshop I’d booked for the afternoon, The show was slightly disappointing; lots of people selling fabrics, buttons, threads, etc, but very few quilts on display; but the workshop more than made up for it, working with silk fibres and machine embroidery on soluble fabric.

Leaving the exhibition, I headed straight for the clinic, where Nick said the surgeon had been in for a flying visit that afternoon, not even giving Nick time to ask when he could go home, but promising to return later. I’d left something in the car, went to fetch it, and happened to meet the surgeon in the car park. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I asked when Nick could come home; well, he explained, the thing was that our GP wanted him to go to Nogaro hospital for a few days and there weren’t any places yet. I explained that everything was in place for him at home; wheelchair, ramps, bed downstairs, and that he was bored and itching to get out, basically ready to leave, “What, now?!” was the reaction; no, I said, tomorrow (Friday) would be fine. We’d have to discuss it, he replied; could I call in to see him on Friday afternoon? I could see Nick’s stay stretching well into next week, so I pushed a bit harder and eventually got his agreement to let Nick out on Saturday. I got the impression he found my approach a little unconventional.

Thursday was always going to be a long day as, after leaving the clinic, I had to go straight to rehearsal; by the time I got home at 1am, I was shattered.

Nick arrived home Saturday afternoon; I’d let the cycle club know so no one would try to visit him in the clinic, but on Sunday morning I was delighted when they called in at the end of their ride. I brought down extra chairs and got out beers and peanuts as they all told of how scared they’d been 2 weeks ago. Bruno said he’s had nightmares all week as a result. It was great to have the kitchen filled with a noisy group of cyclists, all talking over each other as they drank beer and ate peanuts. Maurice brought Nick what he described as a thank you present – a thank you for having survived – a knife whose handle he’s carved and decorated himself, and all of them reiterated that if there’s anything we need, we only have to call. We were very touched by the generosity of spirit of our friends in our adopted home.

Kieran and Alice turned up later; partly to see how Nick is and partly to see how they could help. Kieran moved a load of firewood while Alice and I put together the plastic greenhouse to protect the lemon and lime trees this winter. It took all of us to move the trees into it, but we managed.

After his most active day for two weeks, Nick looks exhausted.

Depuis Nick a eu son accident, ma vie a été une courbe d’apprentissage abrupte; pas seulement le ahurissant bureaucratie française, mais j’au du à reparer la tondeuse, débloquez le drain de la douche, apprendre à utiliser la tronçonneuse pour couper du bois de chauffage et, si cela semble ridicule, à conduire seule à Pau pour la première fois.
Je crois  que quand les anges ont distribué des sens d’orientation, j’etais déjà perdu, probablement à la recherche d’une salle de bain, donc j’ai raté. Normalement, lorsque je suis au volant quelque part, j’ai mon GPS très fiable, mais comme il étais à l’hôpital et je voulais visiter l’expo de patchwork à Pau le jeudi, je devais y aller seul. J’ai étudié des cartes et Google Street View et je l’ai trouvé sans trop de difficulté, je suis arrivée assez tot pour avoir un bon coup d’oeil autour avant l’atelier que j’avais réservé l’après-midi, j’etais un peu déçu; beaucoup de commerçants qui vendaient des tissus, des boutons, des fils, etc., mais très peu de quilts; mais l’atelier a plus que compensé pour cela, j’ai travaillé avec des fibres de soie et de broderie machine sur tissu soluble.
Partirant de l’expo, je suis allée directement à la clinique; Nick m’a dit que le chirugien est arrivé l’après-midi, mais est resté tres peu de temps; Nick n’a pas eu le temps de lui demander quand il pouvait rentrer chez lui. J’avais oublié quelque chose dans la voiture, et en allant le chercher, j’ai rencontré le chirurgien au parking. Ne voulant pas manquer l’occasion, j’ai demandé quand Nick pourrait rentrer; bien, il m’a expliqué, la chose était que notre generaliste voulait qu’il aille à l’hôpital de Nogaro pour quelques jours et il n’y avait pas encore de place. Je lui ai expliqué que tout était en place pour lui à la maison; fauteuil roulant, rampes, lit en bas, et qu’il s’ennuyait; il etait prêt à partir, “Quoi, maintenant?!” a été la réaction; non, dis-je, demain (vendredi) serait bien. Nous devions le discuter, il a répondu; pourrais-je le voir vendredi après-midi? Je pouvais imaginer le séjour de Nick étendu dans la semaine prochaine, donc je poussé un peu plus et ai finalement obtenu son accord pour liberer Nick le samedi. J’ai eu l’impression qu’il ai trouvé mon approche un peu  non conventionnelle.
Jeudi serait toujours une longue journée parce que, après avoir quitté la clinique, je devais aller directement à la répétition; au moment où je suis rentré à 1h du matin, j’étais crevée.
Nick est arrivé à la maison samedi après-midi; j’avais dit au club de vélo afin que personne n’essaie de lui rendre visite à la clinique, mais le dimanche matin, je fus ravi quand ils sont arrivés chez nous à la fin de leur randonnée. J’ai ramené des chaises supplémentaires et j’ai sorti des bières et des cacahuettes lorsque Ils ont parlé de leur  peur il y a 2 semaines.  Bruno a déclaré qu’il a eu des cauchemars toute la semaine à la suite. Il était génial d’avoir la cuisine remplie d’un groupe bruyant de cyclistes, tout le monde parlant sur l’autre lorques ils buvaient de la bière et mangé des cacahuettes.   Maurice a apporté un cadeau pour Nick qu’il a décrit comme un remerciement  – à remercier d’avoir survécu – un couteau dont il a sculpté et décoré la manche lui-même, et chacun d’eux nous a rappelé que si il y a quelque chose dont nous avons besoin, nous avons seulement à appeler. Nous avons été très touchés par la générosité d’esprit de nos amis dans notre pays adopté.
Kieran et Alice sont arrivés plus tard; en partie pour voir comment Nick est et en partie pour voir comment ils pourraient nous aider.  Kierana bougé une charge de bois de chauffage tandis qu’Alice et moi avons construit la serre en plastique pour protéger les citronniers pendant l’ hiver. Il a fallu nous trois de mettre les arbres dedans, mais nous avons réussi.
Après son jour le plus actif ppendant deux semaines, Nick a l’air épuisé.


A bike of two halves

I collected Nick’s bike, helmet and assorted bits yesterday, from Richard’s, where it had been for the last 10 days. The helmet wasn’t as smashed up as I’d been led to believe; it looks as though that took the impact when he hit the grass verge. The bike frame, on the other hand, is in two distinctly separate pieces and will need replacing.

Nick is still in the clinic at Aire and must be feeling a lot better as he’s definitely getting bored now; a man can only do so much reading and sudoku and I think, after 11 days,  he’s just about reached his limit. There was talk of him moving to the hospital in Nogaro, but all he wants now is to come home; he feels there’s no benefit to staying in any longer, so if nothing is said tomorrow, I’ll go to see the GP and ask him to get Nick discharged. It’s so very different from hospitals in the UK; the clinic is privately run, so it’s in their interest to keep patients in for as long as possible.

Friends are being so kind; apart from visiting Nick, they are helping me in so many ways. Christian and Therese came round this afternoon to help with the garden; we worked for three hours, at the end of which we’d removed all the dead and dying tomato, cougette and aubergine plants, weeded and dug over the beds and Christian had strimmed around the edges. Nick won’t recognise it when he gets home; it looks so much better than it did.

Je suis allée chercher le vélo,  le casque et des mèches assorties de chez Richard hier, où il avait été pendant les 10 derniers jours. Le casque n’a pas été aussi démoli comme on me l’avait dit; il semble qu’il a pris l’impact quand Nick est tombé à la bande engazonnée. Le cadre du vélo, d’autre part, est en deux morceaux nettement séparés et devrait être remplacés.

Nick est encore dans la clinique à Aire et doit se sentir beaucoup mieux, comme il s’ennuie maintenant;il fait beaucoup de lecture et de sudoku mais je pense que, après 11 jours, il est arrivé à sa limite. On a parlé de le déplacer à l’hôpital de Nogaro, mais tout ce qu’il souhaite maintenant est de rentrer chez nous; il estime qu’il n’y a aucun avantage à y rester  plus longtemps, donc si personne ne dit rien demain, je vais aller voir le generaliste et lui demander de liberer Nick. Il est donc très différente des hôpitaux au Royaume-Uni; la clinique est à de gestion privé, il est donc dans leur intérêt de garder les patients pour aussi longtemps que possible.

Nos amis sont tellement gentils; outre les visites de Nick, ils m’aident à bien des égards. Cet après-midi Christian et Thérèse sont arrivés pour m’aider avec le jardin; nous avons travaillé pendant trois heures, à la fin de laquelle nous avions supprimé toutes les plantes de tomate, de courgette et d’aubergine  mortes ou mourantes, désherbé et creusé la terre et Christian avaient débrousaillé sur les bords. Nick ne le reconnaitra pas quand il rentre à la maison; il est tellement mieux qu’avant.

50 shades of bruise

Nick bade a happy farewell to his drips and drains yesterday and had his ankle and shoulder x-rayed again. He’s looking forward to going through the metal detector next time we fly. When you see the bruise on his right side, it’s not surprising that he’s still feeling uncomfortable; there’s another, similar one on his left hip and thigh.

But he’s able to get out of bed now, though he finds steering a zimmer frame with one hand awkward; and was able to stand long enough for me to wash his hair today. It seems likely that he’ll be moved to the hospital in Nogaro soon, to start his reeducation and physio, before he comes home, but it should only be for a few days.

I’ve reserved a wheelchair at the pharmacy and a friend in the cycle club has offered to make a ramp for the front door, so that we can get it in and out. I’ll have to ask somebody to remove the bathroom door before Nick gets home, as there isn’t room to get a wheelchair in with the door in situ.

Thank you to everyone who’s sent messages of various sorts, wishing Nick a speedy recovery, and for the many offers of help I’ve had; everything from paperwork to cutting firewood. We both really appreciate the support of our good friends, both here and in the UK, more than I can say.

Nick a dit un adieu heureux de ses infusions et ses drains hier et ils ont fait encore des radios de la cheville et de l’épaule. Il attend avec impatience passer par le détecteur de métal la prochaine fois que nous prenons l’avion. Quand on voit l’haematome à son côté droit, il n’est pas étonnant qu’il a toujours un peu de douleur; il ya un autre, similaire à sa hanche gauche et la cuisse.

Mais il  peut sortir du lit maintenant, même si il trouve diriger un déambulateur avec une main maladroite; il pouvait se tenir debout assez longtemps pour que je puisse laver les cheveux à lui aujourd’hui. Il semble qu’il va à l’hôpital de Nogaro bientôt, pour commencer sa rééducation, mais il ne devrait être pour quelques jours.

J’ai réservé un fauteuil roulant à la pharmacie et un ami dans le club de cycle a offert  faire une rampe pour la porte d’entrée. Je vais devoir demander à quelqu’un de retirer la porte de la salle de bain avant Nick rentre à la maison, car il n’y a pas de place pour un fauteuil roulant avec la porte in situ.

Un grand merci à tous ceux qui ont envoyé des messages de toutes sortes, souhaitant un prompt rétablissement Nick, et pour les nombreuses offres d’aide; de m’aider remplir des fiches à couper du bois et m’accompagner ici et là-bas. Nous apprécions beaucoup le soutien de nos bons amis, à la fois ici et dans le Royaume-Uni, plus que je peux dire.


An update on Nick’s health


I spent most of  Wednesday morning in the insurance office – again; and left with more lists of paperwork to supply and phone calls to make. But at least I was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and felt better than on Tuesday, when I’d gone into meltdown. For some reason, Tuesday was when the big “what if” hit me like a sledgehammer; up to then I’d been positive about how lucky Nick had been, but suddenly I was a shuddering wreck who couldn’t stop crying. Shock, I suppose. Plus not understanding a lot of what was being said regarding the paperwork (never my forté), or the systems that drive it; the enormity of the situation seemed just too much to cope with and it took a while to pull myself back together.

I had more paperwork to sort at the hospital in the afternoon, as well as going to see the surgeon; I think everybody got the impression that Nick didn’t speak French when he arrived, so they choose to talk to me instead.


Nick went to theatre at 8am on Thursday. I started phoning for news at 11 o’clock, but he was still in theatre; he didn’t actually get out of theatre till 2pm and back to the ward at 3.30. His left leg in in plaster from the toes to the knee and I saw the bruise on his shoulder for the first time; impressive.

He was groggy to start with, but fairly soon was awake enough to talk to the stream of visitors who arrived. He was on a lot of pain relief, so not in too much discomfort, but started looking tired, so I left him to sleep and met with Gilles, to fill in the forms for the cycle club insurance claim – it took a mere hour, we must be getting proficient!


The physio called to see Nick today; I think we’ll be seeing a lot of him in the coming weeks and months. Nick’s arm is very swollen, due to lack of movement, so he massaged it and gave Nick exercises to do. He has to make a fist and raise and lower his forearm; at first he could only do that by lifting it with his other hand, he was quite shocked at how weak it’s become.

Kieran went to see him, then came home with me to help me with various tasks I can’t do on my own; taking down the scaffolding, moving furniture out of the sitting room and installing a bed downstairs for when Nick comes home. The problem is that he can’t walk because of his ankle, but can’t use crutches because of his shoulder; so we’ll have to hire a wheelchair for a while and he’ll be restricted to the ground floor.

The surgeon says he should be able to come home next week; it can’t come soon enough.

Anything to get out of tiling the floor!

It was a most beautiful autumn day, so I went walking and Nick went for a bike ride with the cycle club, as usual, but had a problem with his bike, so came home, swapped bikes and set out to meet up with the rest of the club. He spotted them coming towards him on the road and, incomprehensibly, it seems as though he pulled out to do a U-turn without checking behind him, so was unaware of the car overtaking him. He was thrown up in the air, ricocheted off the car, buckling the roof and wing and crumpling the windscreen before landing in the ditch on the far side of the road. The guys in the club were convinced he couldn’t have survived such a collision, but he’s a Yorkshireman, made of tough stuff.
Luckily for Nick, the passenger in the car was a medical student who’s just done 6 months in A&E in Toulouse and the next person on the scene was a retired sapeur pompier (fireman-cum-paramedic). The emergency services were called, as was another club member who’d gone home early. Jacques called me and arranged to pick me up; he knew Nick was conscious but that was all.
We arrived to find half the road closed and full of sapeurs pompiers and gendarmes’ vehicles. Nick was in an ambulance, able to move his limbs, in a lot of pain, but completely unaware of what had happened. They took him to the local small hospital and that was where the wonderful French health care system took a nose dive, in our experience at least.
When I got to the hospital he’d had x-rays, showing that he’d broken his right shoulder pretty badly. In the course of the next hour hour I asked three times for pain relief for him; I’ve never seen him in such pain, even when he broke his hip. but the nurses were more interested in gossiping than looking after their patient. At last the surgeon arrived, furious that, not only was he not on a drip for the pain, but they hadn’t even immobilised his shoulder. He looked at the x-rays and explained to me (Nick was in no state to understand anything) that he’d have to insert a pin the length of the humerus, along with three screws and a band around the bone. He couldn’t operate till Tuesday because they’d have to order the parts.
Eventually Nick was admitted, still in a lot of pain, but the nurses on the ward were efficient and caring. Finally I got home, had something to eat and slept fitfully.
I got to the clinic in time to help Nick with his lunch as he couldn’t feed himself on Sunday; I was so pleased to see him showered and sitting up, able to feed himself and looking more comfortable.
From there I had to go to Maubourget, a halfway point between here and where the car driver lives, to fill in some insurance documents. I met Jacques partway and he took me the rest of the way and we filled in the forms. The young lad who was driving brought his parents with him; I was dreading the meeting, but they were so kind, not a word against Nick, just “Well it could happen to anyone”. They said the gendarmes should have filled in these forms, but that if they don’t, they don’t have to include this accident in their statistics, so it’s a means of massaging the figures.
Then back to the clinic; by now it was dark and raining and the road markings were almost invisible so I didn’t enjoy the miles I had to drive.
The anaesthetist had been to see Nick, but had postponed the operation till Thursday, because the metalwork hasn’t turned up yet. In addition to this, his ankle was hugely swollen and bruised, but no x-ray had been done, his neck hurt and though they had x-rayed that, they’d done nothing more. Three lads from the club came visiting; they were appalled and made me promise to see our GP the following morning, to insist that something was done, and done very soon, a prospect that filled me with dread.
I got home feeling a bit wrung out, only to find that the wind was in an unusual direction and all the firewood I’d cut on Sunday was soaked. A cold, miserable end to a long, hard day.


When I phoned to ask when I could speak to the doctor, the receptionist promised to ring me back, but of course didn’t; so I went to the surgery to wait. A friend who’s a retired nurse came with me, to help explain where my vocabulary ran out. The doctor saw us, listened to my complaints and reassured me that the surgeon is excellent; he phoned the surgeon to ask what was being done about Nick’s ankle and neck and we were promised that an x-ray would be done of his ankle.

From there we went to the insurance office, where I got a list of stuff I have to take in tomorrow. I was so pleased to have Marie-Neige with me, to explain in simple terms, slowly, what was said. The more I hear, the more I realise how much French I lack.

I bumped into the surgeon on my arrival at the clinic; he didn’t think it was more than bruising, but was sorting for an x-ray of Nick’s ankle to be done; it turned out that it is broken, so he will screw it back together when he does the shoulder on Thursday. I feel vindicated.

The next task was the cycle club insurance; Jacques and Gilles came round, but of course, things are very complicated and when they left after two hours, we hadn’t actually managed to fill in any of the forms, but at least we know what’s required now.

Now I have to write a report of the accident for one lot of insurance; in French, of course, to take to the office in the morning. My head’s spinning!

Désolée, mais je suis trop fatiguée de faire une traduction.