Posts

Down the Rabbit Hole I go

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 I don't think anyone imagines the dark abyss and underground emotional corridors of online dating before trying it out. Nothing could have prepared me for this. Having been elbowed into this by my enthusiastic happily married friends, my first project was to actually have the guts to even download the apps.  I gingerly google  best dating sites for over 50s.  I am immediately swamped by photos of silver foxes, who all look remarkably like George Clooney (these people have really done their homework on my generation) spooning in beddies with their silver foxettes on top of their high cotton count Egyptian duvet cover, or, arms around each others' totally tanned shoulders sipping champagne out of heritage crystal and gazing off into a mediterranean sunset, a small breeze blowing through their matching white linen evening wear.  I put on my glasses and peer at these perfect people and wonder if their wobbly bits are carefully contained under the floaty linen? Most sites have ludi

Rekindling the fire

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Can you remember your (sex)life before menopause - that incessant desire and heat running through your veins. No one ever warned me that one day my body would literally turn the tap off - a mere flicker of that desire left behind like a sad single cake crumb on a platter. If I'd known, I would have been on many a missed shagfest! I really really want to tell you that with love and good communication the flame can be reignited, but, if I'm honest, for me, that sadly was not the case. Then along came breast cancer - a chaotic battle where I fought armed with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and my sense of humour. If menopause stripped me of my youthful desires, the effects of treatment threw me into a sexual desert where I not only felt robbed of my sexuality but of the very essence of my femininity.  I dragged myself along to many a "sexual energy workshop" for post cancer treatment women - the best experience was when one of the nurses came out with a basket of vibrators a

I'm back - and a "singleton" at 50+, gulp.

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 It's funny, isn't it, how life just seems to be not just one mountain to climb but entire RANGES of mountains. You feel like you've finally got to the top of one mountain and then there's another bloody mountain to get over. I left writing this blog about 6 years ago - healthy, happy, smug, partnered up, peri-menopausal and amused by life. Nothing could go wrong now, I believed.  But, my god did things go pear shaped.  Menopause was a total bitch and had me sweating bricks several times an hour. Plus, although I was maintaining my gym routine ( watching the men flex their biceps was  motivational), my metabolism had other ideas, and, I blew up like the balloon - yes I "ballooned," gaining 25kgs in what felt like just one season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills! Got through the dark tunnel of the onset of menopause and even lost the weight. Then early 2019 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Another mountain to climb. Then there was COVID. Then there wa

World Cup Win oh yeah

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WORLD CUP WIN oh yeah There is a certain magic when a country wins a cup, a world cup.  The last time I experienced a win my daughter Colombe was bouncing on my tummy kicking at me waiting to be born. She will be twenty in December and it only feels like yesterday she was begging to be born in the wake of a national win in the world cup. We felt the French economy bend and grow with confidence, we felt the people reach out and grab the international, we felt real understanding on an international level. There was also an amazing sense of "community" within France where different racial groups were applauded rather than condemned. Let’s hope history repeats and expands upon itself. I love this country I call my home, FRANCE,  I so hope it can grow and benefit….your opinion??? Creme B rulee    non?? double cream, approx 350 ml ( in France I use the thickest whipping cream I can find) 100ml full-fat  milk

Mammo - the big squeeze French style

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Having recently turned 50 (argh) the French state sent me an invitation for a free mammo. I took this very seriously and went in for a check up. Breast cancer, the second commonest cancer worldwide  (1.4 million new cases: 11% of all global cancers and 360,000 deaths), is the commonest potentially fatal cancer of women. T here is currently a greater than 4-fold variation in age-standardized incidence rates between countries with the lowest (East and Southern Africa) and countries with the highest (Western Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand).  We all have friends who have had scares and ops and I am the first to step up. But, I have to honest, I really hate mammos (who doesn't!), and frankly, they scare me. I have over-read about the risks of over-radiation with testing and over-prevention. In the end, who cares, I feel it's better to check myself out.I don't believe our health is something to play with. The new testing system in France is the Rolls R

TOYS...manual or machine?

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Are you a modern machine fan or do you prefer it the old fashioned way...by hand? OK relax this is not a post about sex toys...that will be another day! I have admired Nigella Lawson for years, although must admit that since she lost her wobbly bits I am not identifying as I once did. I have all her recipe books which I actually read. In one of my favourites, Kitchen, she lists her " Kitchen Gadget Hall of Shame." Everything from jam makers to super juicers were fired from her kitchen. Totally understand these ridiculous fixations we all get for unnecessary kitchen gadgets - I once stayed up until 3am trolling the web for a second hand ice cream maker because I "NEEDED" it. I have had everything from sausage makers (only used once because the experience was hideous and put me off sex for weeks!...what was I thinking, a sausage maker!!!) to thermal steamers not to mention the drawer full of once-used hand tools such as melon ballers, cherry pip removers,

A THOUSAND and ONE THINGS TO DO WITH ASPARAGUS

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Days off from work make me realise just why I love my life in France so much....walking, market, coffee, crowd watching, cooking... "Eating the seasons" has become a life choice in France. And it's easy! On my days off I just throw my basket over my arm and head off to the market where I find all the seasonal spoils. It probably sounds like a cliché but it's not. In Bordeaux we are utterly ruined with good markets - the best has to be Capucins where the fruit and veg are lined up like jewels, the choice is phenomenal and the sellers charm you into buying twice as much as you need.  I follow the market shopping with a long coffee outside on a terrace and watch the world go by then meander home and cook. It's bliss. Today the markets were full of new season's asparagus in every colour, shape and form. Proudly sporting my new basket, I went to my usual chap who just loves to test his English on me. After buying what seemed like a few kilos of aspara