Saturday 6 June 2009

Silver Linings!

Every cloud, so the saying goes , has a silver lining but I must admit it hasn't felt as though this was true in the last couple of days! It has been just so stressful trying to unravel the red tape generated by this car theft, more so because I am not working in my own language !



My French on the whole is pretty good, but because I was so pressured at times ( DH doesn't 'do' French very well !), my mind kept blanking out and I knew I was just looking at people as though they were alliens and couldn't understand a word that was being spoken let alone get any words out ! I did eventually get a grip (!!) and we seem to have got most things under control now - thank goodness! All the necessary forms have been filled in, telephone calls made to put temporary health cover etc in hand and now all we can do is wait for the wheels of officialdom to grind through it all!! What I still find very upsetting are the things that can't be replaced, like the keyring my grand-daughter made me, photos of the grandchildren and other little items that we girls like to keep close to us.



Our home now has more security than Fort Knox - we are still waiting for the insurance to get their people in to sort out our locks, but in the meantime DH has put BIG deadlock bolts on the doors that have missing keys, our car gets parked under the bedroom window with a crooklock as thick as a tree trunk attached to the steering column(they got the spare car keys too!)and before going to bed he parks our ancient 8 seater lump of a Landrover, also immobilised, across our access road - get passed that if you can !!! If ever there was a case of shutting the stable door..........but we do feel a lot safer for taking these precautions for the moment!
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Now for the silver linings that did happen - and there have been quite a few really !

Firstly, thanks to everyone who left messages on the Blog or e-mail, they were so very welcome. I have tried to answer all of them, and hope I haven't missed anyone. These were great moral boosters as well as silver linings !
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We have also met some very lovely, kind & helpful people during our visits to banks, insurance offices, police station etc, all showing us so much sympathy for what has happened and being most apologetic as though it was their fault - they made things so much easier for us! There have also been a few not so helpful it must be said, but I guess that's life!


Then there is the fact that we forgot to pick up our mobile phone when we left home, so that's safe and the camera had already been used that day and was still in its case on DH's trouser belt, so another silver lining I think - one day I might show you the photos I took!
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A special 'silver lining ' from Jo in Tas - a wonderful surprise that arrived today! Back in February I was so upset by the plight of the Victoria Bush Fires Victims that I asked Jo to donate my Pay It Forward gift to this cause . Today I got an unexpected package from Jo which contained a pretty pink parcel







with this inside !






Jo decided to send me something in spite of already donating a gift to the Bush Fire Victims - how nice is that!! Thank you Jo, it is a lovely thought, the bag is beautiful and couldn't have arrived at a better time!!! (click on the photo for a better look!)

Finally, a bunch of flowers from DH, to cheer me up !

So at the moment I think the Good Guys have it over the Baddies and I can come out from my dark room !!!

6 comments:

Elizabethd said...

Ann, I'm so sorry to hear about the theft from your car. It is so unusual in Brittany, but sadly we are hearing more and more about thefts from gardens and cars.
I do hope you have a helpful insurer.

Kaye said...

Glad to hear that everything is working out and that you have finally met some nice decent people

Jo in TAS said...

It's nice to know that I've bought a smile to your face after a dreadful week!
Hugs
Jo

Gina said...

I'm glad that you are feeling a bit better and that things are starting to get sorted. Hopefully soon you'll be able to put the whole nasty experience behind you and it'll just be a distant memory.

Love and hugs Gina xxx

Patsy said...

This was a terrible experience for you, I know. We had something similar happen to us a few years ago. I am glad that you are doing better now. The scary memories go away after awhile. Isn't it nice that people are, for the most part, so nice and helpful.

Patsy
Texas, USA

Suzanne said...

I've been having internet trouble connecting to your blog...sorry about what happen. We lost our car while in college...the police found it, somewhat stripped...it wasn't worth very much to begin with, but it was ours. Glad you are safe in "Fort Knox".