Oh, the irony. I was just reading about 'Les Enfant-rois' in my French A-Level course book and thinking how familiar it was when Margot comes knocking on my door (at 4pm) to ask for a lift BACK to school with her friend whom she had round for lunch (Note to self: must clean up mess). Incase you weren't able to work it out, 'enfant-rois' translates to Child-Kings (or Queens I guess...), where their parents have allowed them to have anything and do anything for the entirety of their childhood. 'A child who is focused on its own needs rather than those of others.' So I guess it had to be that very moment where I had Margot asking for a lift back for 1-hour of school at 4, but which was then too long to hang around waiting for Marie at 4.30 (I sped home, refreshed FaceBook and darted back out again...), and then sit around waiting for Margot to finish once again at 5. You know, I'm surprised she even managed to mentally COPE with the task of walking back for lunch.
To add to that I had to collect Juliette at 3.15 and do the food shopping this morning. Today was supposed to be my 'Recovery Day'! God knows I needed it after yesterday's debacles. And I was even feeling so happy and positive this morning... I think it wore off when Margot suddenly 'dropped by' and I ended up cooking their lunch which they'd abandoned to avoid pasta-barnacles in the saucepan (I'd have had to scrape it all off later had I not).
Why won't this family leave me alone?? It's like they're deliberately trying to wear me down. I'll be crawling back to England in desperation at this rate. If I start tomorrow will someone collect me at the other end?!
The silver lining to the cloud (two actually) is that today has whizzed by, despite the depressing fact that it's 'only' 6pm and I feel dead already, and, I actually finally conquered A TYPE OF VERB today. Oh yes, something has gone into that head of mine. I learnt Present Participles, which is basically the equivalent of '-ing' in English. Learning French has shown me HOW EASY English in. Forget the whole 'one cat, two cats/ one sheep, two sheep' confusion, when we want the past tense, we add '-ed' no matter who is saying it! All these blasted verb endings are driving me crazy. On top of au-pairing, of course. At this rate I'll be returning home with an everlasting hair-perm caused by stress.
On the plus side, I sneaked in with the shopping some ready-made Paella with god-knows-what inside, but it means I can throw it together in 5 minutes and be done with the day. Three weeks one day to go... This is one of the most painful, LONGEST experiences of my life. I was thinking today in the car on one of my many unexpected journey's how amazing it'll be (for me of course, not so much for the girls) when they finish at 12, or 3, or whenever else they suddenly want a lift come home, and OH! Connie won't be there! What a relief. I do feel mean abandoning the girls and leaving them with their utterly crazy and psychotic parents, but it'll be nice not have to do another trip in either Renaults (back in the Clio after Caroline made off with the Scenic yesterday afternoon...) or cook another damn pork chop (NO, it WON'T be my 'university speciality dish'), or lay up the main table for another 'King William' type breakfast (don't ask...).
EDIT: 8.40PM - Well, cooked tea to find Margot wasn't even hungry. They've snacked on pasta and cereal all day. It hasn't been 12 hours since I did the shopping and already we're down on one cereal box, and one whole box of chocolate biscuits. I give up. Then Caroline texted me an hour after cooking, serving and clearing tea asking me to wait for her to all eat together. As the French would say, 'oups'. She then returned and launched into a blazing row with Juliette and Margot (dinner-unrelated) and went absolutely mental. I sat quivering in my room. Literally. I consider it an achievement I survived today. So much for 'Trackies and Tranquility'.
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