Evil Cheeses

25 September - Another easyish day - slept in again - it was raining so I didn’t go for a run in the morning. Went in to a town near Paris to have lunch with Alice's family (her father, half sister and grandmother) - everyone was very nice although had to struggle a bit to understand the conversation. Lunch was a very extended affair including a Moroccan style cous cous stew which was very filling followed by a simple salad and some cheeses which must have been from Satan's unholy fromagerie ... Lionel (alice's dad) explained to me that pasteurised cheeses were not real cheeses but just chewing gum - the cheeses we had were a camembert, a brie, a goats cheese and another hard cheese - all similar to the fromages i've eaten in god's country - but these ones were eye watering - I didn't want to seem weak so I finished what I took but it was powerful stuff. Later on in the afternoon after we came back to Lesches I went for a run and found everything repeating back on me (the stew, wine, cake, and especially the cheese) - I managed to keep everything down with difficulty but it was not easy. On the run I had a bunny rabbit cross my path and I also spooked a pheasant that I passed (another first) - interesting to see the random wildlife of foreign countries. the one conclusion I can come to about the european countryside is that it's just very, very tame. The hills and bushes ar controlled and pruned and all of the dangerous animals have been run out of town - the scariest thing i've come across thus far is a squirrel that jumped out a garbage bin and gave me a bit of a shock ... I know that the cryptozoologist's probably maintain that there ar panthers and lions and plesiosaurs still roaming the countryside but i've yet to see them yet ...
that night I also met marcel's daughters, Amandine and Manon - both of them extremely cute although a little shy ... Unfortunately they don't speak english so conversation was limited - however the way I always see it the sooner children can talk to you the sooner they can talk back. It's also quite funny being with people with children - thus far when i've been with marcel and alice its felt like we are contemporaries - because we are mostly the same age - but when the children are there and they're doing parental things they seem a lot more adult like and I feel more like a teenager than an adult. Tresting anyway - maybe if I ever have a child i 'll act like a proper grownup - until then we'll see.