Small bits of news

Hmm...doesn't seem like we've taken any pictures since the last post, so this will be a bit cut-and-dried.

Ed recently took a 2-day driver's ed refresher course to get back some of the points he's lost with traffic violations. It was nothing difficult, lots of charts and slides, but tiring because of the early starting time and the non-stop French. Now he has a certificate to show for his efforts. The points should reappear within a month.

Getting a new carte vitale for Ed seems to be going smoothly. Knock wood. The Dutch health insurance people sent all the forms to the French health insurance people, who then send Ed a letter with a new attestation (paper proof of insurance) asking for him to return his old carte vitale. Which he did and duly received the application form for a new card. We returned this the next day and now we're waiting three weeks, hoping to see the new card appear in the post.

According to the paper, we're having the rainiest winter in twelve years with 300mm since December. Rivers, streams, and ponds are up out of their banks everywhere we go. Most of this has been slow, drippy rain, so you can imagine how gray it's been. The last two days have been bright, sunny, and warm. Laundry's hanging on the line and flocks of cranes are flying northward towards their nesting grounds. Spring must be on the way.

Ed's been working on the plumbing under the kitchen sink so that the whole sink counter can be moved out from the wall. This is preparation for adding insulation to that wall and replacing the sink and its counter. We're also trying to figure out if we can manage to replace the kitchen floor while we're about this. We're very sorry we didn't do this when the house was empty since current floor just seems to get uglier and uglier. We also need counter tops for the peninsula and the cabinet to the left of the stove. This year may be the Year of the Kitchen Completion, but don't hold your breath.