The Petition

Wednesday is always a high octane day. So the best way to start it was at the swimming pool. As I lurched along the 25 metre pool, I thought of the elite competitors who had taken part in the Olympics.

They told tales of throwing up after training sessions and generally feeling nauseous with the regimes they had to subject themselves to for the chance of glory.

How they would "leave it all in the water". I never warmed to that phrase but I guess that's because I'm not an elite competitor who should be doing things like leaving it in the water.

I distinctly did not leave anything in the water after my morning swim but I did take away a warm glow of having pushed myself further than planned.

So to home and to prepare the boy for his little session at bebes nageurs. A beautiful idea where parent and child can learn to play in the water. Occasionally some of the youngsters do "leave it all in the water" and the session is cancelled while the pool is given a healthy dose of bleach.

The girls have gone down this route of bebes nageurs - as opposed to leaving it all in the water. And now they do classes on Monday and Tuesday evenings respectively. Indeed the eldest wants to be Rebecca Adlington and swim to glory in the Olympics.

It would be ironic if she did become an Olympic swimmer but she'd presumably do all her training in France. Would she swim for France or Britain?

If the blog is going in 10 or so years, then I'll give the answers. That's assuming I'll be going in 10 or so years.

Difficult to see past 10 or so hours at the moment.

We're all afflicted with a nasty cough. I was fine when I was in London on Monday. Get back to Paris on Monday evening and the dry air has given me a tickle in my throat.

I went for the overproof rum remedy on Tuesday night. It didn't really help my throat but I slept really well.

I thought the rum had gone to my head when I took my CDs back to the library this afternoon. I picked some more CDs and as I was waiting for them to be checked in, then the librarian told me that the ones I'd brought back were a month overdue.

I had a fine of 15 euros. I apologised for the tardiness, naturally blamed my eldest daughter for clearing up my CDs - evidently prompting a memory loss.....

The he started to go on about a library in the 15th arrondissement closing down. And as part of the protest against the closure, librarians throughout the city's 20 arrondissements were refusing to collect book/CD/DVD fines.

Enfin, bref - as I have learned to say - it means that I don't have to cough up the cash. But he did ask me to sign a petition against the closure of the library.

Sensing a chance for übersmarm I said I would have signed the petition even if I'd needed to fork out.

Actually I wasn't being that smarmy I meant it.

Paying my dues when it comes to libraries is fine by me.