les Davey de France

The Hobbit has been translated into Welsh and published as "Yr Hobyd - Yno ac yn ôl". I rushed to order a copy, of course. Meanwhile we've had visitors. Our son and daughter-in-law have been to stay, and then their friend Phil from Yeovil arrived. They are going to watch a couple of Olympic football matches, one here and two in Marseille, where they drove today. Our flat is smaller than our old one, and poor Phil had to sleep on the floor in the living room. A borrowed airbed proved useless because we didn't have the special pump. Cushions pushed together were abandoned. A duvet on the floor proved pointless. The last night involved cushions secured together by the duvet, and this held throughout the night. Nevertheless Phil's Fitbit announced that he had slept well whatever the conditions. We begin a month of inactivity soon. Well, we are planned to visit our sending church, then to spend two weeks in Northern Ireland. We will chill diligently ready for our big r

Saturday 13/7 I finally felt more like myself again, though it seemed unwise to wander far from a good toilet. That makes 10 days of gastro-enteritis! Sunday I was able to preach.  Monday I was pretty washed out and good for nothing. Meanwhile Pat's back was responding well to painkillers, rest and gentle exercise. Tuesday we went into the café, travelling by bus'd'sub on the way there and bus 9 coming back (never again!). Our tram that takes us to church and to the café is currently having some major engineering works, so it's out of commission until next week. The city lays on relay buses (bus'd'sub, for bus de substitution), which are slow, hot and crowded. They follow, more or less, the route the train would take. We decided to take bus 9 along the boulevard to come back, but it's slow, long and crowded, too. Worse than the bus'd'sub. Wednesday, yesterday, we got to the café on time by taking an earlier bus'd'sub, then decided to make the

We have some medication from the pharmacy. It seems to be good stuff and has reduced the problem greatly.  Meanwhile Pat's old back problem has flared up.

Whether or not things can only get better, I do not know. However it is good to see that the UK has not joined the drift to the extreme right, and there are a few people whose absence from the news bulletins will spark deep joy.

 On Wednesday I returned to the house and immediately suffered symptoms of a tummy bug. Rest, liquids and a light diet resulted yesterday in this getting much worse, with shivers, sweats and a fever. It's very frustrating - there are things I need to be doing. In addition we have a friend staying with us and I'm effectively in purdah. I suppose the main priority is to get well, so today it's plentiful liquids and no diet at all. Let's see if we can flush this out.