Flip flops

They say "three times is a charm". Today I speed towards Carrefour, which makes it three consecutive days. I buy more "anti-rouille noir brilliant", and a cooked chicken for lunch which my daughter spills into the cart by mistake. Speaking of carts, here they have a smart system where you need to insert a 1 euro coin to unlock a shopping cart. To retrieve the coin, one has to return the cart to the proper cart place. Now, if only the cart drove straight, it would be ideal. ...which is the reason that my 7-year-old flip flops finally break. A young man drives over my right flip flop, ripping the thongs away. "Ah, excusez moi, desole, desole" he says while rushing away.

This afternoon, I pack all the kids and the dog into the car and go to the local vet for Charlie's follow-up visit. As we enter the office, the vet remarks that she sees that the whole family is in attendance. We all nod as one. Charlie's ear infection on the left has cured, but now he has a minor one in his right ear. So we get another tube of infection be-gone. "Say, does this work on humans as well?", I ask. She informs me that it has not been tested. "Ah, but I can try it on someone.", I say as my older son cringes. Every year that Julien has been in Biot, he has never failed to get an ear infection, so sure enough, he has brewed one, right before his scheduled stay at a violin camp somewhere in Provence. Luckily for him, he has some leftover medicine from the spring which he applies in haste.

Back at home, I continue painting the iron rails at the pool side, and realize I have developed tennis elbow of sorts. At times like this, it is convenient to be ambidextrous. The German Shepard nextdoor barks at me while I paint, despite the fact that she has seen me everyday for over a month. Charlie ignores her and explores the terrain. I visualize our new neighbor on the other side having a seizure. Her 15-months-old baby cannot sleep when the dog goes whoa whoa whoa! and the kids laugh in the pool. As I continue painting the rails, I hope she sees that it is indeed the other neighbor's dog that goes whoa whoa whoa...