{"id":140,"date":"2024-10-21T09:42:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T09:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/?p=140"},"modified":"2024-10-21T09:42:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T09:42:45","slug":"news-items-in-the-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.d-c-k.com\/mme-el\/news-items-in-the-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"News items in the paper"},"content":{"rendered":"
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E<\/span>lderly English couple found dead, he nearly one hundred, <\/span>she eighty-five and incurably ill, he had a gun\u2026 and Mme <\/span>El impressed by the \u2018courage\u2019 displayed, so she said.
\n<\/span>I told her what the Pope Francis had given to understand that <\/span>it was no good producing children just like that all the time\u2026<\/span>
She was struck: that couldn\u2019t be the Pope Francis speaking!\u00a0<\/span>
I asked what was wrong with it, children cost money, don\u2019t <\/span>they? She resolutely agreed. And what if there\u2019s not enough <\/span>money to go round? And she: \u2018la mis\u00e8re\u2019, poverty.<\/span>
I explained to her why I hadn\u2019t been for two days: a big cold <\/span>with an unpleasant cough which limits my talking. And she \u2018\u00e7a <\/span>passera\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019ll pass, \u2018je ne vous plains pas\u2019 \u2013 I don\u2019t pity you. I <\/span>told her that all my ailments are on the left side of the body, <\/span>beginning with the ear, then elbow, wrist and ankle, with a big <\/span>bout of sciatica for hip and knee thrown in some years ago.<\/span>
\u2018And the heart on the left!\u2019 she added looking meaningful. Of <\/span>course.<\/span>
I had quite forgotten my trouble in that department. Mme <\/span>El\u2019s weak side is the right one.<\/span>
Mme El and I return from the salon to her room. She tells <\/span>me in her factual manner, the same one all her life, to \u2018close <\/span>the door\u2019 to which a strident \u2018please!\u2019 from the kitchen is <\/span>immediately added. I close the door and Mme El, back in her <\/span>very own chair, heaves a sigh of relief.<\/span>
I suggest to note down in her diary that there was a visitor, <\/span>but she has already forgotten.<\/span><\/p>\n

I tell her who it was and she says that without writing it <\/span>down she would never \u2018remember\u2019 which she finds \u2018grave\u2019, <\/span>serious. Does anyone know what it is like to live without a <\/span>memory? I dictate a sentence about someone coming to see <\/span>\u2018us\u2019, but she writes \u2018me\u2019, she has a mind of her own, I like her <\/span>self-confidence.<\/span>
The obituary in the local paper will hold her attention, <\/span>although reading as such, especially aloud \u2013 she says she <\/span>doesn\u2019t register anything \u2013 writing a few lines in her diary is <\/span>more tiring, but she will make the effort.<\/span>
Mme El is proud of their \u2018caveau\u2019 in the village cemetery, the <\/span>family burial site which is of a generous size, slabs of marble <\/span>piled on top of a cavity where four or five people are waiting <\/span>for her, a decent resting place, she calls it, and everyone in <\/span>their coffin. She wouldn\u2019t want to be cremated for the life of <\/span>her, even if the church now allows it for being a much cheaper <\/span>and in addition space-saving option.<\/span>
Mme El\u2019s life has had its own adventures. She told me that <\/span>once she was stung by an adder as she was putting her foot <\/span>down from the bicycle. As a result her arms, legs and face <\/span>swelled up terribly. Fortunately that was all. She was out of <\/span>action for several days and could then resume as normal.<\/span>
Another time she contracted an injury while working in the <\/span>garden. It became inflamed and she went to see the doctor <\/span>who treated it. However, ten days later she fell seriously ill <\/span>with a life-threatening tetanus infection. She was taken to a <\/span>hospital in Toulouse with nuns for nurses and reckons that she <\/span>was on her way out of this world when she heard a secular <\/span>nurse advocate a tracheotomy to save her. However, the nun <\/span>addressed rejected this and from then on Mme El hasn\u2019t had <\/span>a kind word to say about that profession. The secular nurse <\/span>did go ahead with the intervention, thus keeping alive a young <\/span>mother who was forever grateful, forging a life-long friendship <\/span>with this nurse and her two sons who spent memorable <\/span>holidays on the farm and whom I have also met.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elderly English couple found dead, he nearly one hundred, she eighty-five and incurably ill, he had a gun\u2026 and Mme El impressed by the \u2018courage\u2019 displayed, so she said. I told her what the Pope Francis had given to understand that it was no good producing children just like that all the time\u2026She was struck: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t