Chores, Conference and a Cold

31.1.18: Pride comes .....

What started with sniffing yesterday is now a cold. Feeling tired, I stayed in bed until 11am. didn't move far from the settee for the rest of the day. And, I'd only smugly said yesterday that I'd managed to avoid colds and flu while all around were falling victim.
Weather:
12°, cloudy

30.1.18: Learning and Lunching

The annual conference organised by Jean and Françoise was this year on the Tasmanian Wetlands given by Professor Peter Davies http://www.utas.edu.au/profiles/staff/environment/peter-davies
It was well pitched for the lay person and as I was given a copy of his book, I  can take my time to assimulate more. The 6th formers present listened attentively for an 1h30 and asked lots of questions so obviously they got a lot out of it too.
Florence and Jean-Louis came with me but didn't stay for the lunch at Al Catala. I sat opposite Lynne, Peter's wife who is a lively, interesting woman. The couple have a cottage in Collioure that was once the home of  Patrick O'Brian, author of "Master and Commander" which was made into a film starring Russel Crowe.  Hadn't known of the existance of this literary link. He also wrote "The Catalans" which I'll try and get hold of sometime. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1551873.The_Catalans
You're probably wondering how Jean and Françoise always come up with so many interesting people who give their time freely. From what I've seen it's about their passion to widen the horizons of young people, hard work, persistance and their ability to transmit their enthusiasm to potential speakers. Peter was over in Geneva for a RAMSAR conference so everything fell into place. By the way, I now know that the Ramsar convention was signed in the city of that name in Iran in 1971 for the conservation and sustainability of internationally important wetlands. And, now you do too!
Weather:
14°, blue skies

29.1.18: Don't ask!

Forgot to say before that the mimosa is coming out; always a welcome sight.
Visited the rubbish recycling with Maggie, then had a coffee and whizz around the supermarket..
Back in the village I met Nicole for a coffee. Back home I rearranged the dvds that I rearranged last week. Where? Exactly where they were before!
Weather:
15°, sun, blue sky and low lying snow on the mountains