December in Paris

In Paris December is a month of purpose. It begins with people warming up because christmas and the new year are coming. People focus on the coming events and how and where they will celebrate, what presents to buy, what food to prepare, what clothing to wear, the tree to buy and decorations and which family/friends they will celebrate with.

The streets, stores and homes are decorated beautifully and it's so pleasant to walk about and see the different styles of decorations -in particular the Eiffel tower and the Champs Elysee, they look splendid.

I was in Gallery La Fayette gourmet the other day watching vendors and consumers. All types of delicious foods displayed in extraordinary ways and ready to be bought. It was fascinating seeing some much good food and so many people. I kept salivating at the sight of salmon, fois gras, cheese, wines and champagnes. I don't do xmas but because people were buying, I felt the urge to buy too and so I did.

For the French 24th Dec, le réveillon de Nöel, , is more significant than 25th. It's a symbolic awakening to the meaning of Christ's birth. Tonight's the big moment everyone's been waiting for when they'll join family or good friends to share a succulent meal with good champagne or wine, followed by mid-night mass. They'll eat as much as they like without worrying about the kilos and calories - that is dealt with in January. Tomorrow,25th Dec, a holiday, will be spent at home, opening presents, relaxing and more eating. I have no family in France so while everyone's having fun, I'll be sitting in front of the telly watching a movie or something. Am used to this kind of life - it's grown on me.

After xmas the whole process restarts in preparation for the new year.

If only every month could be December when people are nicer, loving and caring. But of course once these celebrations pass, it's life back to normal - how so sad!

No visa, no eurostar, no retightening

My visa for the UK wasn't ready last Friday so I didn't travel and I missed my retightening appointment on 19th Dec. I was quite upset about this until I heard about the eurostar problems due to severe weather conditions. I thank God I did not travel coz I would have been scared crazy had I been stuck under that tunnel. I felt sorry for those poor passengers stranded for hours without food and water and hardly any information.

Anyway, despite missing a retightening appoitnment, my locks are not doing too poorly - they're 8 months old and they've developed quite well except for the dandruff problem. I last retightened on 23 October, well over 8 weeks. Twice I had to ask Mugure to retighten some of the locks in front which were ready to drop. Thanks Mugure, a chocolate cake's coming your way!

I contacted three lockticians in London to help me with retightening me since Marie was unavailable until early in the new year. They were all busy. One of them said she wouldn't even want to retighten me coz she didn't want to spoil Marie's good work. Actually that lady, bless her heart, helped me decide not to go for another locktician other than Marie. In fact it was just as well coz I couldn't even get a reasonably priced eurostar ticket in this high holiday season. A single way ticket to London is over 200 euros - that's ridiculous.

I got in touch with Marie for an appointment and it's fixed for 7 January. In the meantime am going to have to be very careful about my hands in my hair. I pray that my locks will stay on my head until then.

Troubled scalp

Am due to travel to London tomorrow for retightening but I doubt I'll make it coz my visa for the UK is still being processed at the British Embassy. I am hoping and praying that they'll call me as soon as possible before the end of the day. If not, well, I lose a eurostar ticket and my retightening appointment on Saturday.

Am worried about the state of my locks coz with winter the dandruff has gotten worse. Even though I drink lots of water, my scalp condition has not improved. It's like my body is well hydrated except for my scalp, hair and dull ashy complexion; they're going through something I can't put my finger on. Maybe stress or hormonal imbalance? I don't know. I don't think am stressed out in a great way to cause havoc to my system. Anyway I've decided to look into stress management. If it's hormornal imbalance then that's abit more complex to deal with. But I eat right, buy 70% of my food from health food stores and I eat plenty of veggies and fruits which am not particularly fond of, but I know eat them coz I know they're good for me.



Because of dandruff, I wash my hair every weekend. And since the water in France is hard - and could also be the culprit - I usually do a final rinse by adding 1/3 cup of white vinegar in a large dish of water. Once my hair's dry, I gently dab a little coconut oil/mint oil onto my scalp-- but even that hasn't helped much, but I do it anyway. I've been avoiding seeing a dermatologist coz I don't like the strong chemical shampoos they prescibe, but at this rate, I don't seem to have much of a choice.