“The only thing constant in life is change” ~ Francois de la Rochefoucauld

(I had to look it up, I had no idea who was the author!)

Actually the fact that the author of this saying was French is particularly apt for this blog post. I may have mentioned in the past that my wife is French? Well, in a nutshell, it looks like we will be moving to France fairly soon. My father-in-law lives on his own on a farm (in France) in the middle of nowhere, and he’s getting on a bit in years.

That in itself is not a problem.

He still uses wood for fuel, and uses a chainsaw.

That is not the problem either.

He’s becoming a lot more unsteady on his legs these days. Therein lies the problem.

The other day he was cutting up a deadfall, when he fell over. Fortunately chainsaws are designed with safety in mind, so as he let go of it, the chain stopped. So there he was, lying on his back, with the chainsaw across his ankles (still running merrily and heating up his toes with the exhaust). At this point he found he couldn’t get up. After some considerable time he managed to roll over and crawl to a nearby tree where he could pull himself upright.

Now it’s high time he stopped doing that sort of thing; but the problem is there’s no-one else nearby to do it. So a change of career is imminent – hey, after all, as I have a degree in Forestry and also a chainsaw operator certificate, I may as well put these to some use!

I will of course be taking the bike with me – I will have to re-register it in France – and the French love bureaucracy.

But that also gives me an opportunity to start another website about the farm. Stay tuned!