Another Week Gone

Just like that and we are already 'hook line and sinker' into October! Don't yah just love it, October, I mean? I do. Here in the south west of La Belle France, we can still have the doors open most of the day, which is a blessing but the intermittent rains stop me getting the washing throughly dry! Mustn't complain (but I will). My Dad refuses to be in doors, sitting out on the balcony from dawn till dusk doing his puzzles or playing with the dogs. The pool is closed until the spring, which is sad but like many of you, I am happily embracing the inbound seasonal changes.

I've been super busy with various magazine projects and also trying to remember to feed Dad occasionally! Bless him. It's good to be busy of course, what else would I do? I've been meaning to catch up with you all for the last week, I promise you! Then this evening all the Social Media platforms suffered a 'black out' which is ongoing! Bliss! Opportunity knocks and here I am! Serendipitous! How odd it feels not to be endlessly, mindlessly scrolling? Seriously weird but in a good way of course.

We are headed back to Mayenne on Wednesday to get our fingerprints done and hopefully some time in the near future we will receive our CDS (French residency permits). This moment has been a long time coming for sure, but it's all oddly bitter sweet with us daring to try the 'half life' for a while. We will spend some time in Uk and some time here, keeping within the tax rules of course, for at least 18 months and whilst we finally take care of the Wreck project. It will be two temporary residencies, calendar watching and all that entails.

From Mayenne we are dropping the dogs off at their aunts, delivering a new oil tank to the Wreck and then racing for the Eurotunnel, back to Blightly before lights out! It's time to drop Dad back with Mum where he belongs and another daughter and Dad adventure has come to an end. I honestly can't remember a year my Dad didn't visit me in some country or other? I say 'visit me' loosely as he spends most of his time with his Son in Law!

I've persuaded Hubby not to book the travel back to France yet, just in case we get caught out by the fuel shortages! It does all sound a bit apocalyptic, tales of gas price hikes, empty shelves and even emptier fuel stations! Getting stuck would be very unfortunate indeed as we only want to be away from home for a week! Also 'him in doors' has a bad habit of rushing everywhere these days and the plain truth of the matter is, that I'm not up to it anymore! I've been in autoimmune 'flare up' mode since returning from the UK just three weeks ago! I just need to take things a little slower until it passes I guess? He really needs to slow the fudge down now please! It remains to be seen how I will cope with 18 months of that 'here and there', 'back and forth' nonsense? What will be will be!

We also have some pressing family issues to attend to in England, as Beth walked out of prison last Friday night with nothing to call her own. Instead of going to the allotted temporary B&B, she decided to ask a random chap for help and is still living in his spare room! She's free, but its clear she doesn't understand the gravity of her position within society as a convicted criminal, poor bean. The system that should protect and care for her, is still failing her miserably a decade on from her first diagnosis. Whats the world coming to, when the 'system' would rather prosecute a mentally ill, vulnerable young woman than provide the secure, safe and appropriate accommodation she deserves?

The prosecution hasn't helped her case at all.

Sigh.

We've of course had some tough conversations with her and even then I'm not sure she gets it yet? Maybe like us she just can't believe just how cruel and inhumane the mental health and court system is? I don't know what to say most of the time. I try to remain hopeful but honestly it's increasingly difficult given our experience of a fractured, understaffed, uncaring and under funded system. She has never did quite fit into the rigid mental health system and now she has the added handicap of being classed as dangerous! It's an absolute tragedy!

I don't know for sure what led to her recent violent outbursts, but one thing I do know, is that the care home she had been placed in wasn't the right place to cope with her issues. The Social Worker absolutely knew that. Also, why she had been taken off all her drugs by her psychiatrist, I will never know? Still the judge threw the book at her and here we bloody well are again, fighting a losing battle. Nobody cares and that's the sad truth. She's a very square peg in a round hole and she just doesn't fit the system! She's in the 'too difficult to solve' pile and they find any excuse not to deal with her issues or her basic human rights. I don't condone violence against care or prison staff, of course not, but she is mentally ill. Care in the community just isn't suitable for some people and that's the brutal, rotten and ugly truth.

D x