I had forgotten how hard it is being your child's only source of human entertainment! To be fair Alex is very good at entertaining himself, with the help of the Wii, the PC and the television (wall to wall Horrid Henry anyone?) but he is definitely missing Kieran and has already started drawing pictures for him.
Due to the silly English language film times we headed into Paris at 6pm this evening to see Arthur and the Invisibles 3 (don't bother it really isn't worth it). The UCG website said that it started at 7.15pm, it also failed to make it clear that their cinema on the Champs Elysees is spread over 3 buildings and of course we found the other two first. Luckily the time on the website was wrong and it didn't start until 7.45 so we were actually there in plenty of time, especially as the adverts and trailers didn't end until 8.10. This is the second time a film we've been to has started later than the time advertised on the website, I can only assume that this is a typically French thing as they never expect you to arrive on time for anything.
Alex and I made up over 1/6 of the total audience for the film, which is either a result of, or explains, the timing of the showing. On the way out Alex needed the loo and we experienced a very rare phenomenon - a queue for the gents! Alex had realised that the cubicle was just inside the door and was waiting patiently but kept getting barged past by men who thought he was just in the way. He got the last laugh though as they were all inside when the cubicle door opened and Alex was able to slip in as the previous occupant came out.
Travelling into Paris at night with a 7 year old who thinks he's Buzz Lightyear is interesting to say the least and I do wish he'd just happily hold my hand. On the plus side we had a wonderful view of the floodlit Arc de Triomphe as we came out of the cinema and were lucky that the first train through Charles de Gaulle Etoile was one which stopped at Maisons Laffitte.
Alex did flag briefly whilst waiting for the train but it is now after 11pm and he is waiting in my bed like a big spider, wanting to read to me, in some ways having only one child is great but I can see that the lack of "me" space would very quickly get to me, let's hope it doesn't before Sunday evening!
In France they don't have "October half-term" they have "All Saints Holidays", All Saints Day being a public holiday over here. We're in the slightly odd position of having two children with two weeks off and one with only a week and a day, and of course it is the one who is the most difficult to get to school who has to go back earliest! Such is the proliferation of public holidays that no sooner have the others returned to school on 8th November than they have two days off on the 11th for Armistice day and the 12th to "faire le pont", in other words bridge the gap between the holiday on the Thursday and the weekend, which is common practise if a holiday falls on a Thursday.
A while ago Emily suggested going back to England this week so that she could go to Thorpe Park for Fright Night, she then mooted the idea of taking some friends with her and for some reason we agreed. Paul isn't quite sure how he ended up being the driver for this trip but this morning he set off in the Galaxy with four girls and Kieran, leaving me at home with just Alex. I have to say I'll be glad not to have Alex and Kieran in the same house for a few days as they argue too often and too loudly, but it will be very strange being here on my own with Alex.
Of course we have had to plan things to do, so tonight we are going to the cinema to see Arthur and the Invisibles 3 (deep joy), unfortunately French cinemas don't show children's films in English during the day so the earliest showing is at 7.15 on the Champs Elysees but as he doesn't sleep anyway this shouldn't be a problem. Tomorrow we are meeting a friend and her daughter at Parc Corbière and on Saturday we are going up the Eiffel Tower "to the very top" as Alex has requested.
We're hoping that Kieran will be home early enough on Sunday to go Trick or Treating around Maisons Laffitte and I need to make sure that we have goodies to give out to any trick or treaters who manage to find their way down our rather dark alley.
We always knew that the French have a tendency to strike at the drop of a hat, and when we first moved here I thought it was funny that they announced on the radio who was striking that day, but it has gone far enough!
We are now in the situation of having been unable to buy diesel since the weekend and there are students rioting in Nanterre, which is about 15 minutes away from here by train. They're now talking about the electricity running out, so I have gone out and bought candles just in case!
I'm sure that we'll be fine here but I'm rather regretting that Alex and I are not returning to the UK with Paul, Emily and Kieran next week. However, should the electricity go off I may be rethinking my plans, and at least I'll have the petrol car should I need to make a dash for the coast!
I found out this afternoon that our local filling station has diesel, however they are only letting 2 or 3 cars in at a time and there is nowhere to wait so Paul is going to try again later. Fingers crossed we'll be able to fill up the Galaxy so that Paul and the others, including 3 of Emily's friends, can get over to England on Thursday for their Thorpe Park Fright Night trip.
On Monday I went on a walking tour with 15 other Mums from L'Ermitage (Emily and Alex's school) round the Château de Malmaison which was Josephine Bonaparte's country retreat.
I've never been sure about guided tours of stately homes but this was definitely worth it, the guide was very knowledgeable and filled in the background of Josephine and Napoleon and brought them to life with stories,such as the fact that Napoleon would want to spend no more than 20 minutes eating a meal so when they had guests the servants would bring all the courses together and he would eat starter, main course and pudding on one plate, not noticing that Josephine and the guests were hardly eating. Once Napoleon had left the table Josephine would have all the food sent back to the kitchen and served leisurely over 2 or 3 hours.
Malmaison was in a good situation as it was possible to get there and back from Paris in one day which meant that Josephine could spend her leisure time there and Napoleon would join her, still able to work and receive messages from Paris. Josephine, frustrated that he spent all his time working, insisted that Napoleon would take a break every 2 hours and laid on different entertainments in the house or grounds to keep his attention from wandering back to work.
The guide described how the house had been opened up after it's purchase by Josephine, telling us about all the walls which had been demolished to create larger rooms,it must have been very poky beforehand, and pointing out the butresses which had been added to the exterior to reinforce the walls and support the roof.
The only disappointing aspect of the visit was the attitude of the staff at the château. Apart from our party there were about 6 other visitors to the château that morning and yet from 10 past 12 one of the staff members was following us around, reminding the guide that the château closed at 12.30 and pointedly looking at his watch, finally chasing us down the stairs and out of the door, with the guide berating him for being so jobsworth about closing for lunch on time.
I shall definitely be going on further walking tours with this group and am looking forward to finding out all sorts of interesting information about other places in and around Paris.
Now the children are back at school, I've been getting out and about more. In the last few weeks I've been to coffee mornings at both schools, to a girls' night out in Maisons Laffitte, to a get-together for parents interested in home birth in Paris and on a walking tour of the Château de Malmaison (more of which later).
All of these were great, although the choice of a Salsa Night for the girls' night wasn't wonderful as the music was too loud and the food took nearly and hour and a half to arrive, but it was good to meet more local English speaking people.
My mission for after the Toussaint holiday is to find some French speakers and get them to talk to me in French! I'm going to start with the French Conversation sessions at the tennis club and see how that goes.
A couple of weeks ago we went to Parc Asterix which is a theme park to the North of Paris. In feel it is more like the UK theme parks than Disney and is certainly nowhere near as slick, but it was a great day out and Emily and Kieran enjoyed the rides more than those at Disneyland, it is also a much quicker drive.
We were lucky to get a beautifully sunny day after a week of rain and the park wasn't very crowded so we didn't have to queue very long for any ride. Merchandising wasn't as prevalent as at Disneyland either but we still managed to come away with a Dogmatix (or Idéefix as he is known in France), a big blue bone, an Obelix T-shirt for Emily and 4 Asterix books, three in English for Kieran and one in French for Paul.
We'll definitely be going back and will probably get annual passes next year rather than renewing the Disneyland ones.
Here are a few pictures of our day:
