Wednesday, October 27, 2021

State of hearing


France entering the All Hallows holiday. The schools closed for the next couple of weeks.  The village tikes , ordered out of the house by their long suffering mother, spend the daylight hours driving their 50cc motor bikes up and down the lane. They do wheelies and whoop loudly as they hurtle over the speed bumps.  Their mother sends them out of the house wearing helmets but by the time they've made it to the village green these have been hung over the handle bars. The teenage sister spends her afternoon on the bench under the Chestnut tree talking intently on her mobile phone . We have a suspicion that she and the Anger Management Mans sixteen year old son may be 'seeing' each other.  This is as good a euphemism for what bored teenagers get up to in a French village as any.


Sophie and Angus have a long walk to the Holy Oak. Twenty minutes there and thirty minutes back. The return journey is conducted at a more leisurely pace as every blade of grass has to be sniffed.


Flu jab time. We go to the new medical centre but are redirected to the pharmacy. Flu injections are being given in the broom cupboard behind the left hand cash desk. Angus asks the pharmacist which arm she wants to inject. She replies rather abruptly that ' I couldn't care less'. Angus opts for the left arm. The right arm can wait for next weeks booster jab.


The Old Farmer spends much of his day sleeping in a chair in the corner of his balcony. This is fine while it's sunny and warm but what will happen when winter sets in ? Today , cracks in the fibre glass roof repaired, he sets off for a tour of the countryside in the venerable Ford Transit motor home. It makes a noise that indicates there is something seriously wrong with the engine. The tappets perhaps ? I cautiously mention the alarming noise to him but he assures me he can't hear anything wrong with it. Best to leave the state of his tappets ( and his hearing ) there .... for now. 


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8 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
golly, I haven't heard tappets mentioned since I was helping father re-seat the valves on his old Austin some fifty years back... and they do make a worthy racket if they are out of sync. Possible TOF is being 'selective' in his hearing? Knowing that this time it would need the aid of the young garagiste... YAM xx

Teena and Lala said...

Merlin would not have been a fan of the 'tikes' and there 50cc motor bikes.

WFT Nobby said...

My car engine-obsessed nephew would happily sort out the Old Farmer's tappets. How nephew came to be so preoccupied with what is I think no longer a common passion in younger males remains a mystery - he certainly doesn't get it from either parent!

Coppa's girl said...

The tykes mother must already be counting the days to the end of the holidays, and has already calculated the moment down to the last second! We used to have the same thing here, but fortunately the boys have all grown up and are now proud owners of immaculately kept cars.
We had a walk along the seafront this morning, very pleasant in the weak sunshine, but sadly nothing much for Inca to sniff after the tropical downpour we had all day yesterday.

Angus said...

Many parents wonder about some of the traits their offspring inherit.

Angus said...

Sophie certainly isn't but I can't tell whether it's the tikes or the 50cc's she disapproves of.

Angus said...

I fear that being out of synch is th elast of the Old Farmers tappet problems.

Angus said...

The poor tikes mother has to get through to mid November.