I can’t really believe it’s Christmas Eve, but it is and as I prepare for the Swedish Christmas dinner this evening (slightly haphazard but happily there are no other Swedes coming so I could feed them Weetabix and they wouldn’t know it wasn’t a century-old tradition) and Christmas Day tomorrow at my friend Noch’s, I am trying to take stock and reflect on the past year.
All in all it has been an excellent year. We settled into our life here, I interviewed a few royals, didn’t put on any weight and the children are growing more beautiful and more amusing (most of the time) by the day. Leonardo played golf yesterday with Grandpa. He got ‘up and down’ (whatever that means) in two. This is apparently extremely good. At one stage he even offered to teach Grandpa how to play golf which was very kind of him as Grandpa has been playing golf for the last 60 years or so.
Rupert has made great progress this year, on the golf course obviously, but also at work. He has been Business editor the past two weeks and has done an amazing job, bringing out 12 pages a day with only a skeleton staff. I think one of the best things about moving here is seeing him flourish and others realise how brilliant he is. In France there was really only me to appreciate him.
This morning I went to yoga with the lovely Ria, my teacher. She is the kind of yoga teacher you want; perfect body and totally inspirational. The minute you walk into class you decide to work hard, mainly because you want to look like her. It’s an odd thing though about human nature. There I was FURIOUS that I couldn’t hold my big toe and bring my leg straight out to the side, which is something a year ago I would have laughed if you’d asked me to even think about. In fact a year ago I couldn’t even touch my toes. This morning I actually stood on my flat hands with straight legs. But instead of congratulating myself on how far I have progressed I was beating myself up over what I couldn’t do, which included the splits. Is it just me or is this human nature? I guess it is how we progress.
Happy Christmas, God Jul (as we say before we eat our Weetabix) and Boun Natale from a sunny Abu Dhabi. I hope you all have a lovely few days.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009
GOD JUL and BUON NATALE to you all too! Hope next year year will be even better!
Hi, Helena,
I’m so happy that I have “discovered” you, thanks to Rick Stein’s French odyssey and I promise I won’t be a pest with too many comments. But I just had to tell you this…
My husband gave me an “Amazon Kindle” for Christmas and the first book I ordered on it was: “All You Need to Be Impossibly French”. I’m really excited. Don’t you love modern technology?
Anyway, thanks for being part of a new milestone in my techno-world. I look forward to curling up with my brand new cyberbook and learning how to be French.
Have a very Happy & Healthy 2010!
Apple
Thank you Apple, I am thrilled to be the first, a real honour, thank you!
Hx
Salut Helena,
Thank you for your witty and entertaining book ; Two lipsticks and a lover. Just finished it.
I am a new, but a big fan of France and French culture. I am trying my best to learn (slowly but surely) the language. Being 41 years old, and tying to learn a new language it is not going to be easy!
As we go otften to France on our holidays, I am now beginning to understand them much better after I red your book. And I am not talking about the language only, but the way of thinking.
I just started to read your another book of yours. To Hell in high heels. About ageing – hmmm, interesting points you got there. What a relief it is to know that even beautiful woman like you is having some common problems of ageing. Let´s not take it to serilously – okay? We will be fine even at the age of 50 – or 60.
Please, please do not stop writing books the way you do, I love it.
Nina, Finland
Thank you Nina, that’s lovely to hear, especially as I was just contemplating giving up on the whole book thing actually. It is tricky now I have a job and also I have covered the topics closest to my heart, as you have seen. But you have made me think again.
Hx
Little tiger~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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