Brexit #Getting from Regrexit through Breversal to Bremain

So I've taken a while to react on this blog to 'Brexit', mostly because I've taken a while to formulate thoughts on it (although I'm sure you can imagine how I am feeling*!), and that's mostly because every day over the past week has brought some sort of significant change, response or analysis to add to the equation and start me thinking about it all over again.

And it seems to me that we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Cameron misguidedly proposed an in/out referendum on an issue of historical, emotional, economic, and future importance and received a democratic result. Yet it seems incomprehensible to me that we could leave the EU (or that the majority of people actually understand the consequences of leaving).

So I'm not going to say much more than this as things really are changing every day, but I have been struck by five things: vile Facebook posts overwhelmingly by the 'leave' side; the media using the same evidence to support each side of the argument which makes me sceptical and untrusting about what I read (although I have been impressed with The Guardian's EU Referendum daily updates and The Economist); the UK has got what's coming to it (you can't whinge and preach anti-EU rhetoric for so long and not expect people to believe it); we are in a new world order; and although the EU might be better off without the UK dragging its heels on every issue, it does need to react to this new world order through reform.

*Scottish and European!

You give me fever #Kidneys

There's nothing quite like getting ill in France. No, really. I felt a bit funny on Monday when I left work and by the time I got home I could hardly walk...but I couldn't really lie down either. The only place I was comfy was the loo, which made me immediately think of a UTI. 

It was too late to see a doctor but El Puma was able to pick up some over the counter cranberry pills. I took them, but by 9pm my temperature started to rise. We called an out-of-hours centralised medical service called SOS Medicines and they sent a doctor, but as it was very busy for some reason, he only arrived at 00h30. By then I had a nice fever and was in a lot of pain.

He gave me a prescription for antibiotics, painkillers, spasm relief medication (like I said, it's France), an ultrasound in case it turned out to be a kidney infection, and pills to counteract the effect of the antibiotics, but I wasn't allowed to start the antibiotics until I'd had a blood test and given a urine sample. That guy arrived at 03h30 and finally we were able to sleep.

And actually the point of this post was to say that both El Puma and I were called up the following morning by both the doctor and the lab technician to let us know the result of my blood test, and again by both 2 days later with the results of the urine (yes, kidney infection) and to confirm that I was taking the right antibiotics to treat the particular bacteria found.

I'm not very sure if it's overkill to do all the testing they did, or very smart in order to reduce overuse of the wrong antibiotic, but either way, we were both impressed with the response, treatment and follow up. 

Something Britain could learn from its continental friends... (haha).

We work at the OECD #weplayattheOECD

Last night was the OECD summer party, and this year I brought along two of my Paris-besties (Kelley-Anne on the left and Genevieve in the middle - and no, I have no idea why I'm standing like that!).

We had a super time exploring the veggie bar (one huge table of only vegetables), the fruit bar (a huge table with punnets of cherries, raspberries, strawberries, apricots, grapes etc), the bonbon bar (you can imagine), the ice cream bar (longer queues for that one), the BBQ, and yes, even the beer fountain and champagne bar.

It was great fun and once again Sound Policy took to the stage. I missed getting it on video but one of the highlights of the night was them breaking out into "We are Sound Policy, We work at the OECD" to the tune of We Are Family. Absolutely brilliant. 

Anyway, we realised our strategic error of both parents having a night out at the same time when the next morning we had to take both kids to the pool for their final swim class at 9h30 feeling decidedly under the weather.

Petite Section #Iamthemusicman

And that's been a WHOLE YEAR!

Well, almost. More like 10 months. But a whole school year. Small Fry has gone from his first days of school when he emerged as a tired, small 2-year old, to a confident, funny, exuberant member of a gang of 5 energetic three and four year olds (two of whom will be leaving over the summer boo hoo). He is in awe of his teacher Élodie and has assimilated the school rules of not hitting/pushing/shouting to such an extent that he's teaching them to his sister at home. 

She, on the other hand, looks ready for school already:

Today all the parents were invited at the end of the school day to an exposition of the work of each class. The theme of the year was music and there was lots of artwork on display, which we all get to take home next Tuesday when school actually ends.

Here is some of it:

The school as the orchestra. Small Fry is playing the guitar on the left

 And all the classes joined together for a final sing-song to the parents.

Small Fry gets some help to see

I've heard and read a lot about some of the negative aspects of French schooling, but so far I can sat what an amazing year and what an amazing school! Granted, it's outside the traditional École Maternelle system and is so much the better for it.

Fingerling stars #justus #Wednesdayafternoons #addingSmallFrysoon

Out of nowhere we were hit with 30 degrees...and still it refuses to stop raining. Honestly, it's like rainy season in a tropical country...it's disgustingly humid, it rains, and it's still disgustingly humid. 

But we decided to go to the park anyway - armed with suncream, sunglasses, hats, and brollies (we needed all of them).

I've really enjoyed my one-on-one time with Fingerling on Wednesday afternoons this year while Small Fry has been at his English school.  Next year she will slightly increase her childcare hours and Small Fry will slightly reduce his so that I have some individual time with each of them. I was initially concerned as most of that mommy-and-me time with Fingerling will be between the end of the creche and picking up Small Fry at school i.e. nap time. As it turns out, she's consistently clocking only a 30 minute nap a day, which will give us a lot more time together than I was initially expecting (for better or for worse).

Anyway, over to her:

More fête, more musique #anotheryearrollsaround

I've been blogging about the Fête de la Musique since 2010 (I just checked), and in particular the starting role played (boom boom) by Sound Policy: Better Tunes for Better Jives (a play - boom boom again - on the OECD's motto of Better Policies for Better Lives)...and, well, this year is no different.

Sound Policy bagged a spot in the very trendy area of Paris called the Marais (as the Market  where they used to play is still being renovated). I decided not to take Small Fry this year as it's such a late, loud and long night, and getting home is always a bit of a slog...and because Moon was here to babysit (and who doesn't want a night off, right?)

I have some pictures and video but they pretty much sound the same and look the same so won't bother uploading them. And the one thing that was very different this year was that our local pub in Batignolles had a Brazilian night with scantily clad dancers rather than the usual folk-trio, but of course I didn't take photos of them....

Lost for words #butIlaughedalot

There's no stopping her #unlessthere'slotsofcorners

Off again #CenterParcs

This weekend, we went with two of my best girlfriends here and our whole families to Centre Parcs in Normandy. I met Kelley-Anne and Genevieve when Small Fry was only 8 weeks old at the Anglican Church playgroup. We also had our second kids within 4 months of each other and have been trying for ages to get away on a holiday weekend together.

I have never fancied the idea of Centre Parcs but we thought we'd give it a go as it's close, easy (because it's an enclosed site) and has loads of facilities. Each cottage is around a central Dome area where there are restaurants, a soft play area, go karts, baby bowling, trampolines, and the highlight - a massive swimming pool.

It all sounds great in theory, but in practise it wasn't that great. The accommodation is all from the 1960s and 1970s and is starting to get pretty grotty - vegetation is growing on the roof and sometimes even on the inside walls, the walls are paper thin and there's no insulation, and the whole place was really damp. The problem in the Dome is that it was kept at 29 degrees which is fine for lounging around but when the kids are bouncing around on the trampoline or exploring the soft play area and its castle, they all ended up bright red in the face. And we found 2 cockroaches in the restaurants.

The pool is something else though. It has a wave machine, rapids, a children's paddling pool, a children's water park area, and a bazillion slides. But the noise! It was packed constantly and was so noisy I could hardly speak to my friends beside me. The whole place was pretty packed and I definitely would not rush back, preferring to spend a weekend in a gîte in the quiet countryside!

But the company was great. And we made some fantastic memories, especially as the children played so well together.

Probably the absolute highlight for Small Fry was the go-kart track and he was absolutely brilliant at it. He needed one lap to get the hang of the thing and then he weaved in and out without touching the sides or other cars. 

He got so good at it that he started offering backies:

I even put Fingerling on with him as he was so good. She zipped about on the back of his car like she'd been riding around on the back of a vespa all her life: she was totally cool:

But she also got a chance to play with Clara on the static vehicles:

 The grounds are really forested and walking to and from the cottage and dome was probably the best and calmest part of the day. The rest of the time even I was overwhelmed by noise and people. 

Fingerling on the carousel:

We hired bikes as it was faster getting around the site. Here are Clara and Fingerling enjoying the trailer:

 Strolling along:

 Fingerling checking her fluff between her toes after taking off her socks:

 The trampolines provided hours of entertainment (in 6 minute intervals)

AND Small Fry learnt to ride a bike! But I'm still waiting for the evidence to be sent to me...

Spring clean #Colourmebeautiful

FINALLY our scaffolding has gone...that has been 6 months that we have had no view and no light. It was meant to take 3...but, you know...

We have a beautiful light yellow facade, new white shutters, and the smell of paint stuck everywhere.  

Most shocking of all though is the new door:

Grey! 

Ever since Small Fry could refer to his home he called it 'The Blue House' as we had a blue door to the street, blue doors in the lobby and a blue door to the actual apartment. No more! I do like the new colour but so far it has not been christened as anything other than 'home'.

Pretty in pink #doudoulove

Fingerling has always been very attached to her 'doudou' (cuddly toy), although in this case it started off as being any t-shirt that I had worn. It's a great comfort to her and she pretty much can only go to sleep with it. She very quickly started to favour the pink ones and finally I gave up and don't wear them any more, dedicating 4 to her cause.

Months ago she also came across my pink pyjama shorts and joyfully exclaimed 'doudou'! I resisted for a while but she really does love them. It's a bit embarrassing to have my undergarments aired in such a way, so I try to keep them to the bed and not for public display.

So instead I found her this morning, with 3 doudous wrapped around her neck (leaving her hands free for pram-pushing), with the pants of course out on top.

First rosé of the season #pleasemakethisbesummer

Small Fry's Adventures #Whatboyslike

And if you want to find out about what Small Fry got up to, go here!

Stinky Business #Notjustthework

From the departure for the fish market onwards, things got really craaaazy and I had 3 intense final days.

On Wednesday we started the day early in Muara Angke, the fishing village, fish port and fish market located in the north of Jakarta (i.e. about 2 hours away). I've been to quite a few fish ports and markets in my time now, and you never do quite get used to the smell..especially in developing countries where fish bits are often left rotting in the sun, and guts and scales get stuck in the soles of shoes so that you never feel like you are quite rid of the smell for days afterwards, mostly because you aren't!

Around 10% of the fish landed at the port gets sold through the auction to local processors, and it's generally the poorest quality that will eventually be salted or dried. The other 90% has usually been sold via a mobile phone call directly to processors while the boat is still at sea. This high quality product is then landed, weighed and taken straight to the larger processors.

The auction market

Frozen sardine blocks wrapped in plastic to protect the fish from the ice and to keep their block shape

Unloading frozen product from the boat on to the quay side. This sort of boat could be out fishing for up to 3 months and has a crew of 20-30 men.

The port beside some high-rises, and further along the coast an enormous steam-powered power plant that provides around 60% of Jakarta's needs.

Transporting fish around the port area

Product transported in refrigerated lorries to large processors

The timeless task of mending nets

Weighing the fish on the quay side

Delivering ice to the quay side. It was boiling hot and the ice has naturally started melting. But the largest problem here is that these are blocks of ice. Blocks damage the fish that touch them and are useless in keeping the fish cold that aren't right beside the ice. After the fish has been weighed it was dumped into barrels and a block of ice arranged on top. These poor conditions contribute to the poor quality of the fish, which has little use other than fishmeal (for aquaculture) or pet food.

We then went to the nearby fishing village where the majority of the local processors are based to dry and salt the fish. Here is some fish drying in the sun.

The skin of rays drying

And this is where the skinning takes place

We finished mid-afternoon and were SO grateful for air-con on the drive back into Jakarta. We changed quickly in my hotel and then went on to a couple of meetings with the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, hoping that the fishy smell wasn't too attached to our hair and skin.

I say 'we' because I was accompanied for the week by Ria, a fisheries consultant, who provided translation and helped me arrange meetings. I met her through a contact at the WorldFish Centre where I used to work and she proved invaluable. Even formal meetings are arranged via WhatsApp and SMS so it was useful to have access to a local phone number and someone who spoke Bahasa.

She also provided me with quality eating company!

Cooking our own hotpot

On Thursday we travelled to Bogor, about 2 hours south of Jakarta where there is a big Agricultural University filled with lots of researchers who were happy to voice their criticisms of government policy (useful for me in getting a good overview of what the government is up to in terms of fisheries and aquaculture policy). To beat the traffic we left at 5h30am, but we weren't quite so smart on the return home. We got to Jakarta around 7pm and traffic was at a standstill. It took me 1 hour to travel 100 metres and another hour to travel the final10km home. Of course I had no computer battery left by this point so there was nothing to do but stare out the window at all the scooters zipping by.

Traffic in Jakarta is really atrocious and I'm not sure how people manage a daily commute there.

My final day was Friday: another busy day but I least I knew that at the end of it I was going home. It was another yucky overnight flight to Abu Dhabi, but we arrived bang on time and I was travelling alone I could use the e-passport controls. Within 20 minutes of landing I was outside the airport hailing a taxi, and I was able to join the Boyds for breakfast....and we got back to Paris in time for dinner.

Small Fry had SUCH a blast. Details to follow!