We were recently bragging to friends that in 28 years of driving around France we had never been stopped by the police or customs.
Ho, ho. Someone must have told them. Twice we were stopped today for no other reason than we were driving a right hand drive car on French plates and they thought we were on a ciggie run from Andorra.
Thursday 29 November 2007
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Hibernation
St Sévrin
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, cool.
I had been asked to pop to the wooden toy shop to collect a replacement toy car for little grandson #2 (the dog ate the original) and, never one to leave things to the last minute, decided to go today, the day before we head to the frozen north for a few days.
Unfortunately I didn't realise that France is now closed for the winter - well, all the touristy shops in the touristy villages must be closed. The particular village I needed to go to seems to be completely closed. Such a shame that the little lad will have to wait until next spring for his car by which time, of course, he will have grown out of cars and will want some sort of robotic noisy alien type thing.
It seems very strange to be gathering bottles of wine, local delicacies and children's favourites and to be packing up for a trip to the UK. I still trip over the words describing where we are going as it seems so natural to say we are going 'home' for a few days.
We don't have a home in the UK, even though we are still British citizens. I'm trying to find a substitute phrase - 'visiting the kids in England' is too long but that is what we are doing. A six-day whirlwind visit spending most of the time in the car travelling from one place to the next. It will be lovely to see everyone again but I'm sure it will all go in a mist of 'hellos' and 'goodbyes'.
So much nicer to have people to us, in couples or families where we can spend some quality time (don't you hate that phrase) with them.
Bookings being taken for next summer, kids!
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, cool.
I had been asked to pop to the wooden toy shop to collect a replacement toy car for little grandson #2 (the dog ate the original) and, never one to leave things to the last minute, decided to go today, the day before we head to the frozen north for a few days.
Unfortunately I didn't realise that France is now closed for the winter - well, all the touristy shops in the touristy villages must be closed. The particular village I needed to go to seems to be completely closed. Such a shame that the little lad will have to wait until next spring for his car by which time, of course, he will have grown out of cars and will want some sort of robotic noisy alien type thing.
It seems very strange to be gathering bottles of wine, local delicacies and children's favourites and to be packing up for a trip to the UK. I still trip over the words describing where we are going as it seems so natural to say we are going 'home' for a few days.
We don't have a home in the UK, even though we are still British citizens. I'm trying to find a substitute phrase - 'visiting the kids in England' is too long but that is what we are doing. A six-day whirlwind visit spending most of the time in the car travelling from one place to the next. It will be lovely to see everyone again but I'm sure it will all go in a mist of 'hellos' and 'goodbyes'.
So much nicer to have people to us, in couples or families where we can spend some quality time (don't you hate that phrase) with them.
Bookings being taken for next summer, kids!
Monday 26 November 2007
Sunday 25 November 2007
Arts and craft
Ste Catherine
Yesterday's weather: bright and sunny
Yesterday morning we took a beautiful sunny drive down to Cahors town to mooch around the beautiful old town and visit the cathedral.
Cahors Saturday market is bustling and lively, one of the best in France, we are so lucky to have it so close to home. The cathedral with its two domes is spectacular, yesterday morning it was being cleaned ready for a concert which, I only learned yesterday, is a weekly event. The organ, which was built in 1863 is classified a 'national monument' and there are organ concerts every Saturday morning at 11am. We plan to go another week and will sit and admire the stained glass windows while enjoying the concert, before a coffee in a local cafe, a little shopping and, just maybe, lunch.
I'm sure all will be relieved to note that I did take my handbag with me yesterday.
I believe these times are known as 'senior moments' although I believe I am far too young to have those just yet being still several years away from my bus pass (not that I'll get one over here). I am reading a book (pinched from Mum's bedside table) where one of the characters is corrected:
'That's not a senior moment, that's a craft moment. Can't remember a f*****g thing!'
Now, that's more like me.
Yesterday's weather: bright and sunny
Yesterday morning we took a beautiful sunny drive down to Cahors town to mooch around the beautiful old town and visit the cathedral.
Cahors Saturday market is bustling and lively, one of the best in France, we are so lucky to have it so close to home. The cathedral with its two domes is spectacular, yesterday morning it was being cleaned ready for a concert which, I only learned yesterday, is a weekly event. The organ, which was built in 1863 is classified a 'national monument' and there are organ concerts every Saturday morning at 11am. We plan to go another week and will sit and admire the stained glass windows while enjoying the concert, before a coffee in a local cafe, a little shopping and, just maybe, lunch.
I'm sure all will be relieved to note that I did take my handbag with me yesterday.
I believe these times are known as 'senior moments' although I believe I am far too young to have those just yet being still several years away from my bus pass (not that I'll get one over here). I am reading a book (pinched from Mum's bedside table) where one of the characters is corrected:
'That's not a senior moment, that's a craft moment. Can't remember a f*****g thing!'
Now, that's more like me.
Saturday 24 November 2007
Yes you can-can
Ste Flora
Yesterday's weather: Sunny and mild
We took Mum to Albi yesterday to keep a long-held promise to take her to one of the most amazing cathedrals I have ever seen. It's a two hour drive through some lovely countryside, along the Aveyron gorges and via the village in the sky Cordes-sur-Ciel, a stunning 13th century bastide full of gothic mansions with gargoyles on the corner of every building.
The approach to Albi from the northwest is equally amazing, from above you see the beautiful Cathedral of St Cecilia, claimed to be the worlds largest brick built construction.
The austere red outside towers over the town and hides the most incredible interior with virtually every surface painted. The ceiling arches of the Choir were painted by artisits from Bologna and are quite - well, I've run out of superlatives to use.
We arrived at midday, just as all the buildings closed for lunch, so, after admiring the outside of the cathedral we went in search of our own lunch in a small nearby restaurant where we were looked after by a smiling young man who was delighted when we ordered from the chef's special selection - Poêlée de Saint Jaques, scallops cooked to such perfection with a little sauce that did nothing to mask the flavour of the shellfish whilst still being delicious. The restaurant was very cosy but I'm sure on a sunny, warm summer's day the terrace outside must be crowded and busy.
Waitering (is that a verb?) is a very serious business on the continent. In the UK waiting staff tend to be mostly young people, students perhaps or part-timers. In France as in Italy and I am sure other European countries, it is a career. I'm not sure how well paid it is, maybe the majority of waiting staff are family and it is all taken as being part of the family business, so different from the UK.
After walking off our lunch around the narrow streets of Albi, we toured the cathedral and choir then decided to visit the neighbouring Toulouse-Lautrec museum which, frankly, we found a little disappointing.
I associate Lautrec with colourful paintings of can-can dancers at the Moulin Rouge, but the majority of works in the museum were sketches on cardboard with little colour; there were many portraits of very stern-looking people and lots of small oils of horses. I'm sure many would call me a philistine, but paintings of horses frankly leave me cold and I could never understand the fascination for painting these magnificent creatures. Is it a challenge? I'm sure someone will tell me.
The best work we saw in this museum was 'Yvette Guilbert Greeting the Audience' which did make me smile - I wondered what this amazing lady thought of the unflattering paintings of herself which filled one small room at the museum. T-L obviously had a sense of humour.
We just had time to stop at a little chocolatier which smelt just wonderful and which always reminds me of Joanne Harris' novel Chocolat which was set not so far from Albi, before making our way back home, hoping not to make all the drive in the dark.
Albi is a beautiful town, well worth a day-trip from home once in a while - best to do it out of season though as the cathedral is one of the most visited sites in France - mostly in summer.
Friday 23 November 2007
Senior moments
St Clement
Yesterday's weather: sunny, sort of OK but not really warm.
I took Mum shopping yesterday morning. I haven't driven much for a while but wanted to go into town for a few bits and pieces.
I left the car warming up while we wandered over the garden to inspect the chalet which Mum hadn't seen before. Both of us taking care not to slip on the wooden steps and chasing the cat out of this cat-free zone we admired Jon's handiwork and talked about how useful it will be next summer when Jon and I will probably sleep there during the time we are ripping the upper floor of the house to pieces.
Then we headed into town. It's a long time since Mum was last here and with all the leaves off the trees now we could see lots of changes, houses with new roofs or extensions, houses we had never spotted before. Brown fields which were green last time we passed and so on.
It was a beautiful morning and we pottered along chatting about this and that. Eventually we arrived at the supermarket, got out of the car, locked it. Then we unlocked it and got back in and headed home.
On the way back we still admired the countryside, chatting about family and so on. Around a bend, and just in time, I spotted a white van parked with his hazard lights flashing. Wondering what he was doing parked in such a stupid place I pulled out to drive round and came face to face - yes, I promise you, face-to-face with a helicopter.
'So that's what the van was doing there' I thought. We carried on along the road with the helicopter hovering beside us swerving across the fields. I realised then that they were checking the electricity pylons.
When we got home I warned Jon to watch out for the helicopter hopping over the hill later on.
Then I picked up my handbag from the garden table where I had left it and got back in the car to go shopping.
Yesterday's weather: sunny, sort of OK but not really warm.
I took Mum shopping yesterday morning. I haven't driven much for a while but wanted to go into town for a few bits and pieces.
I left the car warming up while we wandered over the garden to inspect the chalet which Mum hadn't seen before. Both of us taking care not to slip on the wooden steps and chasing the cat out of this cat-free zone we admired Jon's handiwork and talked about how useful it will be next summer when Jon and I will probably sleep there during the time we are ripping the upper floor of the house to pieces.
Then we headed into town. It's a long time since Mum was last here and with all the leaves off the trees now we could see lots of changes, houses with new roofs or extensions, houses we had never spotted before. Brown fields which were green last time we passed and so on.
It was a beautiful morning and we pottered along chatting about this and that. Eventually we arrived at the supermarket, got out of the car, locked it. Then we unlocked it and got back in and headed home.
On the way back we still admired the countryside, chatting about family and so on. Around a bend, and just in time, I spotted a white van parked with his hazard lights flashing. Wondering what he was doing parked in such a stupid place I pulled out to drive round and came face to face - yes, I promise you, face-to-face with a helicopter.
'So that's what the van was doing there' I thought. We carried on along the road with the helicopter hovering beside us swerving across the fields. I realised then that they were checking the electricity pylons.
When we got home I warned Jon to watch out for the helicopter hopping over the hill later on.
Then I picked up my handbag from the garden table where I had left it and got back in the car to go shopping.
Thursday 22 November 2007
Bumper to bumper
Ste Cécile
Yesterday's weather: mild, mixed sun and cloud
We took the 'pretty route' down to Toulouse yesterday. It took far longer than it should have but we saw a lot of scenery and travelled many roads that we wouldn't normally need to take. Traffic was almost non-existent. We were surprised at the change in landscape from limestone to woodland to chalky vineyards then heath then rolling fertile hillsides and then we hit the outskirts of Toulouse - yuk.
For the first time in many months we found ourselves crawling along in queues of traffic. It was 5.30pm and people were leaving work to head home. The volume of traffic was no doubt increased because of the transport workers strike, but we found it very tiresome. Did we really used to do that every day? It seems like a lifetime ago sitting in the queue waiting to get out of Guildford, or trudging along the busy road to stand on a crowded platform and catch a train.
We are so looking forward to making a visit back to the UK to see the grandchildren.
Well, I'm sure that without the M25, M40 and M42 it would be very pleasant.
Yesterday's weather: mild, mixed sun and cloud
We took the 'pretty route' down to Toulouse yesterday. It took far longer than it should have but we saw a lot of scenery and travelled many roads that we wouldn't normally need to take. Traffic was almost non-existent. We were surprised at the change in landscape from limestone to woodland to chalky vineyards then heath then rolling fertile hillsides and then we hit the outskirts of Toulouse - yuk.
For the first time in many months we found ourselves crawling along in queues of traffic. It was 5.30pm and people were leaving work to head home. The volume of traffic was no doubt increased because of the transport workers strike, but we found it very tiresome. Did we really used to do that every day? It seems like a lifetime ago sitting in the queue waiting to get out of Guildford, or trudging along the busy road to stand on a crowded platform and catch a train.
We are so looking forward to making a visit back to the UK to see the grandchildren.
Well, I'm sure that without the M25, M40 and M42 it would be very pleasant.
Wednesday 21 November 2007
Walk the cat
St Rufus
Yesterday's weather: warm, overcast, occasional drizzle
It's amazing how different you feel when it's not freezing cold. Suddenly we felt spurred once again into doing all sorts of little jobs we had put off.
We even took the cats for a walk for the first time in a couple of weeks. They enjoy a good walk, in fact we believe that they think they are dogs - if not people. Waiting at the door for us if we've been out. Checking out all new visitors. They even chat to us (no I'm NOT totally mad, they really do talk to us, Misty even answers back when I tell her off!).
We really miss Jazz, wherever she may be but these two are really good company. They seem to feel the same as we do about the missing family member and have become much more clingy in the last few weeks.
Our long-distance cat sitter arrives at Toulouse airport this evening so we have been in a mad whirl of bed making and re-arranging this morning. Off to the airport this afternoon with a stop off for a few shopping items in the meantime.
Yesterday's weather: warm, overcast, occasional drizzle
It's amazing how different you feel when it's not freezing cold. Suddenly we felt spurred once again into doing all sorts of little jobs we had put off.
We even took the cats for a walk for the first time in a couple of weeks. They enjoy a good walk, in fact we believe that they think they are dogs - if not people. Waiting at the door for us if we've been out. Checking out all new visitors. They even chat to us (no I'm NOT totally mad, they really do talk to us, Misty even answers back when I tell her off!).
We really miss Jazz, wherever she may be but these two are really good company. They seem to feel the same as we do about the missing family member and have become much more clingy in the last few weeks.
Our long-distance cat sitter arrives at Toulouse airport this evening so we have been in a mad whirl of bed making and re-arranging this morning. Off to the airport this afternoon with a stop off for a few shopping items in the meantime.
Tuesday 20 November 2007
Strike whilst the iron is hot
St Edmond
Yesterday's weather: gradually got warmer during the day.
I've heard it said many a time that striking is a French national pastime. In fact I have been in Paris during a national transport strike, trying our best to get from the centre of Paris to the exhibition centre near Charles de Gaulle airport every day - of course the strike finished the day after the exhibition closed.
People took to the streets of Paris, if not to protest then just to walk to work. There were skateboarders and cyclists galore. Luckily some of us were able to use a rental car to drive to the exhibition centre but what would normally have been a 40 minute drive turned into a 2 1/2 hour bumper to bumper shuffle each way, adding up to 5 hours a day on an already tiring 9 hour stand at the exhibition.
This latest action has spread today to hospital staff, teachers, postal workers and air traffic controllers. Apparently.
Here, the kids are all in school, the post was delivered, planes do seem to be passing overhead, but I don't know about the hospital.
With mother arriving tomorrow by plane into Toulouse, we are hoping that the air traffic controllers don't continue their action after the planned 6am finish tomorrow.
Yesterday's weather: gradually got warmer during the day.
I've heard it said many a time that striking is a French national pastime. In fact I have been in Paris during a national transport strike, trying our best to get from the centre of Paris to the exhibition centre near Charles de Gaulle airport every day - of course the strike finished the day after the exhibition closed.
People took to the streets of Paris, if not to protest then just to walk to work. There were skateboarders and cyclists galore. Luckily some of us were able to use a rental car to drive to the exhibition centre but what would normally have been a 40 minute drive turned into a 2 1/2 hour bumper to bumper shuffle each way, adding up to 5 hours a day on an already tiring 9 hour stand at the exhibition.
This latest action has spread today to hospital staff, teachers, postal workers and air traffic controllers. Apparently.
Here, the kids are all in school, the post was delivered, planes do seem to be passing overhead, but I don't know about the hospital.
With mother arriving tomorrow by plane into Toulouse, we are hoping that the air traffic controllers don't continue their action after the planned 6am finish tomorrow.
Monday 19 November 2007
Another tequila sunrise
St Tanguy
Yesterday's weather: Cold
I don't know if the photo does it justice but this was the sunrise this morning.
Stunning. It's still cold but at least it has stayed above freezing today.
Yesterday's weather: Cold
I don't know if the photo does it justice but this was the sunrise this morning.
Stunning. It's still cold but at least it has stayed above freezing today.
Sunday 18 November 2007
Stiff sheets
Ste Aude
Yesterday's weather: Freeeeeezzzzzing. Brrrrr.
Happy Birthday to Jacqui.
Congratulations to Diana and Jeff on the birth of their baby girl.
I left the sheets and pillowcases out on the washing line last night. They are still frozen this morning, but at least I had some washing on the line today before Mrs Veranda!! I don't think that lady ever sleeps - her washing is always out first thing in the morning before we even surface. And anyway, how can two people create so much washing? We always thought that they must have a gîte or a B&B but now that we know more about them we know that there are just the two of them. And a lot of washing.
This months reading group books are Albert Camus' The Outsider' and Raymond Queneau's 'Zazie in the Metro', selected by me. We have a very complicated voting system where one person selects 4 books for the month, everyone has two votes and then there is another vote between the top two books. The group voted them both equally and as they are 'thin books' we decided to read both. We won't be discussing them until we meet in January so there's plenty of time to get through those two and also next month's book 'Never Have Your Dog Stuffed', Alan Alda's autobiography - chosen by Jon. No-one has yet volunteered to host the next meeting, which should be held in January. I think we are all sitting back and waiting for someone else to offer! I don't mind doing a summer lunch party but the idea of sitting 10 people in our kitchen would be just too cosy!
Yesterday's weather: Freeeeeezzzzzing. Brrrrr.
Happy Birthday to Jacqui.
Congratulations to Diana and Jeff on the birth of their baby girl.
I left the sheets and pillowcases out on the washing line last night. They are still frozen this morning, but at least I had some washing on the line today before Mrs Veranda!! I don't think that lady ever sleeps - her washing is always out first thing in the morning before we even surface. And anyway, how can two people create so much washing? We always thought that they must have a gîte or a B&B but now that we know more about them we know that there are just the two of them. And a lot of washing.
This months reading group books are Albert Camus' The Outsider' and Raymond Queneau's 'Zazie in the Metro', selected by me. We have a very complicated voting system where one person selects 4 books for the month, everyone has two votes and then there is another vote between the top two books. The group voted them both equally and as they are 'thin books' we decided to read both. We won't be discussing them until we meet in January so there's plenty of time to get through those two and also next month's book 'Never Have Your Dog Stuffed', Alan Alda's autobiography - chosen by Jon. No-one has yet volunteered to host the next meeting, which should be held in January. I think we are all sitting back and waiting for someone else to offer! I don't mind doing a summer lunch party but the idea of sitting 10 people in our kitchen would be just too cosy!
Saturday 17 November 2007
Brass monkeys
Ste Elisabeth
Yesterday's weather: put it this way, we saw a couple of brass monkeys outside and they were crying.
HAPPY SAINT'S DAY TO LIZZIE
Happy Birthday to Beryl.
Yes, I do know the origin of that saying.
You have to keep pretty busy to keep warm, or pay the electricty bill. We have only electric convectors and one bottled gas fire but we're managing to keep the place pretty warm. Luckily we don't have many rooms to heat and it's usually a challenge when it gets to bedtime as that is one room we don't heat.
The double glazing has been worth every penny already. Once warm the house stays warm for longer.
When we got up this morning the garden thermometer was reading 12 degrees.
I'll correct that immediately. It was reading minus twelve degrees. So we decided not to work outside today but to keep indoors and cook some nice warming soups and a couple of cakes as we had people round for afternoon tea this afternoon.
I only ventured out twice; once to put the washing on the line and once to find that instead of drying, my sheets and pillowcases were frozen solid.
Happy winter, everyone.
Yesterday's weather: put it this way, we saw a couple of brass monkeys outside and they were crying.
HAPPY SAINT'S DAY TO LIZZIE
Happy Birthday to Beryl.
Yes, I do know the origin of that saying.
You have to keep pretty busy to keep warm, or pay the electricty bill. We have only electric convectors and one bottled gas fire but we're managing to keep the place pretty warm. Luckily we don't have many rooms to heat and it's usually a challenge when it gets to bedtime as that is one room we don't heat.
The double glazing has been worth every penny already. Once warm the house stays warm for longer.
When we got up this morning the garden thermometer was reading 12 degrees.
I'll correct that immediately. It was reading minus twelve degrees. So we decided not to work outside today but to keep indoors and cook some nice warming soups and a couple of cakes as we had people round for afternoon tea this afternoon.
I only ventured out twice; once to put the washing on the line and once to find that instead of drying, my sheets and pillowcases were frozen solid.
Happy winter, everyone.
Friday 16 November 2007
A free what?
Ste Marguerite
Yesterday's weather: coldest yet but sunny
We are a little fed up with cold callers phoning us. We've had two this week. The first lady was trying to persuade us that we had won a free gift each and only had to turn up at the salle de fêtes
Well, if there's no such thing as a free lunch, then there's no such thing as a free gift either! The invitation doesn't tell us what sort of presentation we would have to sit through as, of course, we would have to.
We're staying put this afternoon.
When the second cold call came in I was obviously a little more alert and as soon as I twigged that silence when I picked the phone up followed by a background babbling, I just hung up. Just for the record if you are thinking of calling us we do not want our roof inspected, to attend a wine tasting, to win a 'free' holiday or anything else unsolicited.
Thank you.
Yesterday's weather: coldest yet but sunny
We are a little fed up with cold callers phoning us. We've had two this week. The first lady was trying to persuade us that we had won a free gift each and only had to turn up at the salle de fêtes
Well, if there's no such thing as a free lunch, then there's no such thing as a free gift either! The invitation doesn't tell us what sort of presentation we would have to sit through as, of course, we would have to.
We're staying put this afternoon.
When the second cold call came in I was obviously a little more alert and as soon as I twigged that silence when I picked the phone up followed by a background babbling, I just hung up. Just for the record if you are thinking of calling us we do not want our roof inspected, to attend a wine tasting, to win a 'free' holiday or anything else unsolicited.
Thank you.
Thursday 15 November 2007
Paper mountain
St Albert
Yesterday's weather: Cold, wet, sunny, mixed!
It's amazing what you find when you have a sort out. I've been doing the year's filing this morning and found all sorts of things we brought with us from the UK in that 'I haven't got time to sort it so just chuck it in a box' phase just before we finished packing the old house.
I've found birthday cards, anniversary cards, old telephone numbers (of course without a name to match them to!), there are tax forms going back to the early 1990s, paperwork from the Open University whose giant paper mountain I thought I had disposed of, recipes, photos, bills and copies of all the letters I sent with our change of address.
We're having a bonfire soon and I think I found all the paper to get it going!
Yesterday's weather: Cold, wet, sunny, mixed!
It's amazing what you find when you have a sort out. I've been doing the year's filing this morning and found all sorts of things we brought with us from the UK in that 'I haven't got time to sort it so just chuck it in a box' phase just before we finished packing the old house.
I've found birthday cards, anniversary cards, old telephone numbers (of course without a name to match them to!), there are tax forms going back to the early 1990s, paperwork from the Open University whose giant paper mountain I thought I had disposed of, recipes, photos, bills and copies of all the letters I sent with our change of address.
We're having a bonfire soon and I think I found all the paper to get it going!
Wednesday 14 November 2007
One day, two worlds
St Sidoine
Yesterday's weather: bright, sunny, cold.
We've had wet stuff falling out of the sky on and off today. We've not seen any of that sort of thing for weeks so it came as a bit of a shock. The cats found it a bit surprising too and after their usual disappearance through the kitchen door first thing this morning, they drank from their usual flower bowl, sniffed around to make sure there had been no intruders and headed straight back indoors.
We went out to market and the cats decided to stay home making themselves comfy, one on the sofa the other on the bed obviously also taking advantage of the fact that we weren't here to throw the wet, muddy one off the bed. More washing for the pile!
On our way to town the world looked lovely; the sun was shining and the trees were golden brown. We stopped at the post office to collect a parcel that the postman (known as Mr Smiley because he never does) didn't leave the other day even though we were home all day, then we took the 'pretty' route, the back roads down to town. The rain held off while we were shopping and we took advantage to have a quick lunch in town too.
On the way home the hills and trees looked entirely different with black clouds hovering over them; the trees that were golden looked sludgy brown and gray and the air just seemed so much colder. The rain is back again and I'm sure I can hear a cat scratching to be let in again.
Yesterday's weather: bright, sunny, cold.
We've had wet stuff falling out of the sky on and off today. We've not seen any of that sort of thing for weeks so it came as a bit of a shock. The cats found it a bit surprising too and after their usual disappearance through the kitchen door first thing this morning, they drank from their usual flower bowl, sniffed around to make sure there had been no intruders and headed straight back indoors.
We went out to market and the cats decided to stay home making themselves comfy, one on the sofa the other on the bed obviously also taking advantage of the fact that we weren't here to throw the wet, muddy one off the bed. More washing for the pile!
On our way to town the world looked lovely; the sun was shining and the trees were golden brown. We stopped at the post office to collect a parcel that the postman (known as Mr Smiley because he never does) didn't leave the other day even though we were home all day, then we took the 'pretty' route, the back roads down to town. The rain held off while we were shopping and we took advantage to have a quick lunch in town too.
On the way home the hills and trees looked entirely different with black clouds hovering over them; the trees that were golden looked sludgy brown and gray and the air just seemed so much colder. The rain is back again and I'm sure I can hear a cat scratching to be let in again.
Tuesday 13 November 2007
LOST CONTACTS - please help
St Brice
Yesterday's weather: duller but mild, excellent gardening weather
I am currently repairing my desktop computer and have lost many of my contacts and old e-mails.
Please, please, when you read this can you send me a quick e-mail to the usual address so that I can put all my contacts back together again.
If you don't have or have lost my e-mail address, please send a comment WHICH WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED including your e-mail address and I will e-mail you back.
Thank you for your help.
Yesterday's weather: duller but mild, excellent gardening weather
I am currently repairing my desktop computer and have lost many of my contacts and old e-mails.
Please, please, when you read this can you send me a quick e-mail to the usual address so that I can put all my contacts back together again.
If you don't have or have lost my e-mail address, please send a comment WHICH WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED including your e-mail address and I will e-mail you back.
Thank you for your help.
Monday 12 November 2007
Just add colour
St Christian
Yesterday's weather: Mild, dull, dry
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CHARLOTTE
21 TODAY x x x x
As the garden (i.e. weeds, brambles and nettles) are all dying back now it is a good time to clear up and have a good think about what to do next.
Therefore, this afternoon finds me thumbing through plant books, looking for plants with winter interest as well as summer plants, which are much easier.
As this is our first year here, we have confined our garden colour to pots, including the few veggies that we grew over the summer. Whilst fairly successful, we nevertheless want to get on with planting other plants in the ground.
This is certainly not as easy as it sounds since we live on rock here and there is very little topsoil to work with. Digging a hole for a plant is a major excavation and results in multiple jarring injuries to the wrists and shoulders, lots of bad language and bad temper. Still, we want a pretty garden and will struggle on even though it will be a slow process.
As we look out at the moment we see a dying back forsythia the now greatly reduced, the denuded fig tree and a few plants in pots on the terrace. What we would love to see is a lovely display of colour including viburnum x bodnantense which we had in our garden in the UK. This plant, while ordinary in the summer with no flowers, suddenly bursts with fragrant pink flowers on its bare stalks in the winter. A winter flowering jasmine nudiflorum would look good under the kitchen window and a few pieris dotted around would add further colour and interest.
It will be good fun to visit the local garden centres this week and see what else is available with winter colour.
Yesterday's weather: Mild, dull, dry
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CHARLOTTE
21 TODAY x x x x
As the garden (i.e. weeds, brambles and nettles) are all dying back now it is a good time to clear up and have a good think about what to do next.
Therefore, this afternoon finds me thumbing through plant books, looking for plants with winter interest as well as summer plants, which are much easier.
As this is our first year here, we have confined our garden colour to pots, including the few veggies that we grew over the summer. Whilst fairly successful, we nevertheless want to get on with planting other plants in the ground.
This is certainly not as easy as it sounds since we live on rock here and there is very little topsoil to work with. Digging a hole for a plant is a major excavation and results in multiple jarring injuries to the wrists and shoulders, lots of bad language and bad temper. Still, we want a pretty garden and will struggle on even though it will be a slow process.
As we look out at the moment we see a dying back forsythia the now greatly reduced, the denuded fig tree and a few plants in pots on the terrace. What we would love to see is a lovely display of colour including viburnum x bodnantense which we had in our garden in the UK. This plant, while ordinary in the summer with no flowers, suddenly bursts with fragrant pink flowers on its bare stalks in the winter. A winter flowering jasmine nudiflorum would look good under the kitchen window and a few pieris dotted around would add further colour and interest.
It will be good fun to visit the local garden centres this week and see what else is available with winter colour.
Sunday 11 November 2007
I can see clearly (part 2)
St Martin
Yesterday's weather: cold again, bright again.
Spur of the moment decisions are the order of the day.
The fig tree in September
.. and in November
Result: more light in the kitchen and less messy fig droppings next autumn!
Saturday 10 November 2007
I was lost in France (Bonnie Tyler 1976)
St Léon
Yesterday's weather: Milder, sunny.
Friends of ours, who live some distance away, are members of a choir. Last night they were performing Mozart's Requiem in a church some 100 kilometres away to the south. We took another couple of friends with us, setting off early as, despite having a map of the town, it was unfamiliar to us.
Our chorister friends had said that the concert was due to start at 9pm, a normal time for evening entertainment in France, but that of course, this being France, it would start late.
We reached the town in good time but couldn't find the church in question. It is a fairly large town and we saw most of it. Twice. Before finally finding the church. Now to find a parking space. All the nearby (very narrow) streets were full of cars parked bumper to bumper on both sides of the road and we breathed in as we squeezed the car through. We could hardly believe our luck as we passed by the church once more and found a space right beside it. At 9.02pm.
We entered the church expecting, as it was an amateur choir and orchestra, to find plenty of space but it was standing room only. The concert was just about to start. A young lady played the Mozart flute concerto as we leaned against the back wall of the church and as it ended, a very nice young man offered me his chair, placing it beside me with a small bow of his head.
The choir took their places and the standing room opened out a little, our friends found two seats with, what would be called 'restricted view' in the West End or Broadway, but didn't offer a reduced price ticket for sitting behind a pillar. We spotted another empty chair behind the church door and took up the best seats in the house. Right at the end of the aisle with an uninterrupted view down to the altar. Until the man with the video camera got in the way, but we could still see better than most people.
The concert was very good. The soloists were an extremely good team and boasted a counter tenor of such a wonderful voice that the hairs stood up on the back of our necks.
Then she entered. The nutter.
I don't know how I attract them.
About 15 minutes from the end of the concert she wandered into the church, grabbed the only empty chair and plonked it down next to me.
'Excuse me' she whispered loudly, 'what time did the concert start?'
'Nine o'clock' I told her. She digested this information.
'Does that mean that it will be finished very soon?' I told her that I wasn't sure - well, they had sprung the flute concerto on us so we had no idea if there may have been another work to follow.
A few minutes later she shout/whispered again.
'What is the name of this chorale, Madame?'. I told her. She shouted 'Merci'. Got up and wandered off to inspect the church walls, which, although very nice were extremely bare but obviously held some fascination for her.
The concert ended to a huge round of applause, clapping and stamping as if it were the Royal Albert Hall and the orchestra had been the LSO. We were treated, oddly, to an encore of the 'Dies Ire' which was conducted by the chorus master before we were let out into the night.
So I'm writing this morning whilst listening to a recording of ... you guessed it. And apparently we have three copies which I'm eager to compare over this weekend.
Yesterday's weather: Milder, sunny.
Friends of ours, who live some distance away, are members of a choir. Last night they were performing Mozart's Requiem in a church some 100 kilometres away to the south. We took another couple of friends with us, setting off early as, despite having a map of the town, it was unfamiliar to us.
Our chorister friends had said that the concert was due to start at 9pm, a normal time for evening entertainment in France, but that of course, this being France, it would start late.
We reached the town in good time but couldn't find the church in question. It is a fairly large town and we saw most of it. Twice. Before finally finding the church. Now to find a parking space. All the nearby (very narrow) streets were full of cars parked bumper to bumper on both sides of the road and we breathed in as we squeezed the car through. We could hardly believe our luck as we passed by the church once more and found a space right beside it. At 9.02pm.
We entered the church expecting, as it was an amateur choir and orchestra, to find plenty of space but it was standing room only. The concert was just about to start. A young lady played the Mozart flute concerto as we leaned against the back wall of the church and as it ended, a very nice young man offered me his chair, placing it beside me with a small bow of his head.
The choir took their places and the standing room opened out a little, our friends found two seats with, what would be called 'restricted view' in the West End or Broadway, but didn't offer a reduced price ticket for sitting behind a pillar. We spotted another empty chair behind the church door and took up the best seats in the house. Right at the end of the aisle with an uninterrupted view down to the altar. Until the man with the video camera got in the way, but we could still see better than most people.
The concert was very good. The soloists were an extremely good team and boasted a counter tenor of such a wonderful voice that the hairs stood up on the back of our necks.
Then she entered. The nutter.
I don't know how I attract them.
About 15 minutes from the end of the concert she wandered into the church, grabbed the only empty chair and plonked it down next to me.
'Excuse me' she whispered loudly, 'what time did the concert start?'
'Nine o'clock' I told her. She digested this information.
'Does that mean that it will be finished very soon?' I told her that I wasn't sure - well, they had sprung the flute concerto on us so we had no idea if there may have been another work to follow.
A few minutes later she shout/whispered again.
'What is the name of this chorale, Madame?'. I told her. She shouted 'Merci'. Got up and wandered off to inspect the church walls, which, although very nice were extremely bare but obviously held some fascination for her.
The concert ended to a huge round of applause, clapping and stamping as if it were the Royal Albert Hall and the orchestra had been the LSO. We were treated, oddly, to an encore of the 'Dies Ire' which was conducted by the chorus master before we were let out into the night.
So I'm writing this morning whilst listening to a recording of ... you guessed it. And apparently we have three copies which I'm eager to compare over this weekend.
Friday 9 November 2007
Loyalty
St Théodore
Yesterday's weather: still sunny, still cold
When we left the UK I swore I would never again have a wallet full of loyalty cards. Nectar card, Tesco Club Card, WH Smith card, hotel loyalty card, car rental loyalty card and on and on. I never had them with me when I needed them so missed out on loads of advantages (not). Admittedly Nectar points boosted the drinks cabinet every Christmas but I still have the obscure liqueurs I bought three years ago. They sit at the back of the cupboard unopened and unloved.
You see, a liqueur is just for Christmas, not for life, and I was going through a cocktail making phase that probably only lasted about 6 months.
In my 'treasure chest', an old pine tool chest made by my great grandfather I have a collection of scrap-booking accoutrements, something else I got very excited about doing but never actually started yet. But I will. One day.
Next to these are the greetings card kits and accessories. Ditto to the above.
Then there are the patchwork squares - yes, all in good time. Hundreds of scraps of wool which I know will come in handy for making toys (who for?) socks (I did make one pair but haven't got around to making any more), and blankets. Well, yes. The blankets I do make squares for from time to time.
Anyway, back to the point of this post.
This morning I picked up my Advantage Card from the Intermarché. I got fed up with telling them I didn't have one and let the lady complete the form for me the other day. So, having checked the little booklet to see what I could earn money on this month, I went shopping.
The little booklet tells you that you can get money back on all sorts of things from wine to cereals, coffee, toothpaste, rubber gloves, batteries and Y-fronts. 'Make up to 160 Euros', it says on the front cover. You can only buy three of each of the items offered but, wow, you could earn a fortune in money back. I must check and see how much you need to spend to get that 160 back again.
As for me? Well, my till receipt tells me that I earned 10 cents on today's shopping plus a bonus of 30 cents for the dozen eggs as listed in the booklet. A total today of 40 cents.
Must try harder.
Yesterday's weather: still sunny, still cold
When we left the UK I swore I would never again have a wallet full of loyalty cards. Nectar card, Tesco Club Card, WH Smith card, hotel loyalty card, car rental loyalty card and on and on. I never had them with me when I needed them so missed out on loads of advantages (not). Admittedly Nectar points boosted the drinks cabinet every Christmas but I still have the obscure liqueurs I bought three years ago. They sit at the back of the cupboard unopened and unloved.
You see, a liqueur is just for Christmas, not for life, and I was going through a cocktail making phase that probably only lasted about 6 months.
In my 'treasure chest', an old pine tool chest made by my great grandfather I have a collection of scrap-booking accoutrements, something else I got very excited about doing but never actually started yet. But I will. One day.
Next to these are the greetings card kits and accessories. Ditto to the above.
Then there are the patchwork squares - yes, all in good time. Hundreds of scraps of wool which I know will come in handy for making toys (who for?) socks (I did make one pair but haven't got around to making any more), and blankets. Well, yes. The blankets I do make squares for from time to time.
Anyway, back to the point of this post.
This morning I picked up my Advantage Card from the Intermarché. I got fed up with telling them I didn't have one and let the lady complete the form for me the other day. So, having checked the little booklet to see what I could earn money on this month, I went shopping.
The little booklet tells you that you can get money back on all sorts of things from wine to cereals, coffee, toothpaste, rubber gloves, batteries and Y-fronts. 'Make up to 160 Euros', it says on the front cover. You can only buy three of each of the items offered but, wow, you could earn a fortune in money back. I must check and see how much you need to spend to get that 160 back again.
As for me? Well, my till receipt tells me that I earned 10 cents on today's shopping plus a bonus of 30 cents for the dozen eggs as listed in the booklet. A total today of 40 cents.
Must try harder.
Thursday 8 November 2007
I'm distoybed (with apologies to Sondheim and Bernstein)
St Geoffroy
Yesterday's weather: bright and cold.
We watched a programme last night that has had me thinking ever since, and I'm still not sure what to make of it.
The programme in question was ' George Melly's Last Stand' and was a documentary programme about the jazz singer's last few months before his death, in July, of dementia and lung cancer. I was never a fan of Melly, whose style of jazz never appealed and I found the programme last night rather disturbing but I don't know why I should have found it so. In an effort to find out a little more about him today, I came across a very well written obituary in the Independent. This man lead the most incredible life and I will try to read more about him, perhaps that will help me to work out why I found last night's programme so disturbing.
Whilst searching the internet this morning I found an even more disturbing website. Forgive me if you have already come across this one, but it was certainly new to me. Deathlist is the most macabre website. The committee of which elects, and names on 1 January each year, the 50 famous people that they expect to die during the coming 12 months.
Talk about the Grim Reaper.
Luckily they don't seem to have much success as their record is only 14 of their expected 50 dying in one year (2003 if you are really interested), so hopefully anyone who finds their name on the list shouldn't be too concerned that it is the kiss of death, so to speak.
And to be honest, including Fidel Castro and Ariel Sharon for 2007 would have been a pretty good bet but of course they only have 8 weeks to go before the end of the year and they're still with us.
---
Yesterday Jon discovered a blog that speaks the absolute truth about policing in the UK today. Written with a brilliant sense of humour and a mistreatment of political correctness that will get him in trouble if anyone discovers who he is Police, Camera, Paperwork says it all and is well worth bookmarking.
We just wish we had the nerve to say it all ourselves!
Yesterday's weather: bright and cold.
We watched a programme last night that has had me thinking ever since, and I'm still not sure what to make of it.
The programme in question was ' George Melly's Last Stand' and was a documentary programme about the jazz singer's last few months before his death, in July, of dementia and lung cancer. I was never a fan of Melly, whose style of jazz never appealed and I found the programme last night rather disturbing but I don't know why I should have found it so. In an effort to find out a little more about him today, I came across a very well written obituary in the Independent. This man lead the most incredible life and I will try to read more about him, perhaps that will help me to work out why I found last night's programme so disturbing.
Whilst searching the internet this morning I found an even more disturbing website. Forgive me if you have already come across this one, but it was certainly new to me. Deathlist is the most macabre website. The committee of which elects, and names on 1 January each year, the 50 famous people that they expect to die during the coming 12 months.
Talk about the Grim Reaper.
Luckily they don't seem to have much success as their record is only 14 of their expected 50 dying in one year (2003 if you are really interested), so hopefully anyone who finds their name on the list shouldn't be too concerned that it is the kiss of death, so to speak.
And to be honest, including Fidel Castro and Ariel Sharon for 2007 would have been a pretty good bet but of course they only have 8 weeks to go before the end of the year and they're still with us.
---
Yesterday Jon discovered a blog that speaks the absolute truth about policing in the UK today. Written with a brilliant sense of humour and a mistreatment of political correctness that will get him in trouble if anyone discovers who he is Police, Camera, Paperwork says it all and is well worth bookmarking.
We just wish we had the nerve to say it all ourselves!
Wednesday 7 November 2007
Eureka
Ste Carine
Yesterday's weather: bright and cool
We have been on a shopping mission for a couple of months now. Every time we went to a village or town we hadn't been to before we searched out a housewares shop.
We've been looking for a tea tray. We wanted one similar to a friends which is a lovely big deep tray made of wood. Whenever I asked in a shop I was shown a vast array of what they had available. Usually made of anything other than wood, not deep and not big.
I don't think it was my bad French. I would always agree that what they were showing me was very nice but it wasn't what I had asked for now, was it? The shop assistant would look slightly miffed but agree with me.
Sarlat is a town that we have avoided all summer, simply because we know it is such a huge tourist attraction and from March to October it is almost impossible to locate a parking space. And, of course it is in the frozen north in Dordogneshire. We thought that we would pay a visit today, the smaller of their two market days each week.
The poor stall holders were definitely feeling the pinch. We and about another 4 couples wandered amongst the two or three dozen stalls. 'Bonjour Monsieur, Madame!' called a rather good looking young man waving a slice of Cantal cheese at us 'Would you like to try my cheese?'. We refused apologetically and passed on. The next cheese stall was run by a Dutch lady, she ran down the list of all the cheeses on her stall to everyone passing by but we didn't see any takers.
Instead, we headed for the 'spice lady' and found one of the few spices we'd not been able to locate - lucky us, was this an omen for the day? Black mustard seeds will make a good addition to the next curry Jon cooks us. She also had raw cashews, stem ginger and Bombay mix. We added some spicy looking olives for good measure. Madame over measured the cashews.
'Oh, that's OK' I said, 'I'll take those'
'Mais, non, Madame' she replied. 'You asked for 200 grams and I won't give you too many. It's just that it is so cold today that my fingers won't work'.
I sympathised and said that it was the coldest year I'd known. She thought I had said the wrong thing and corrected me.
'Yes it is the coldest day'.
'No, I said the coldest year, the summer was awful' We parted company sympathising over the weather and the bad tourist season.
It seems that every other shop in Sarlat sells either foie gras and other duck products or locally produced liqueurs and wines, we spotted some that we'd not seen before and made a mental note to go back another day.
Finally we spotted a kitchenware shop and, lo and behold, there was just the tea tray we had been searching for. Then we had to go through the usual questions:
'Do you want anything else?'. 'No'
'Is it a gift, shall I gift wrap it?' 'No'
'How would you like to pay? Credit card? No, we don't take those but a cheque will be fine'
I love that you can buy almost anything and have it gift wrapped in a shop here for no extra charge. That could save me hours at Christmas.
Time for a cuppa now, I'll carry it on my new tray. Do you know what this tray could do with? One of those nice old fashioned tray runners like my grandmother used to have. I might just look out for one next time I'm out.
Yesterday's weather: bright and cool
We have been on a shopping mission for a couple of months now. Every time we went to a village or town we hadn't been to before we searched out a housewares shop.
We've been looking for a tea tray. We wanted one similar to a friends which is a lovely big deep tray made of wood. Whenever I asked in a shop I was shown a vast array of what they had available. Usually made of anything other than wood, not deep and not big.
I don't think it was my bad French. I would always agree that what they were showing me was very nice but it wasn't what I had asked for now, was it? The shop assistant would look slightly miffed but agree with me.
Sarlat is a town that we have avoided all summer, simply because we know it is such a huge tourist attraction and from March to October it is almost impossible to locate a parking space. And, of course it is in the frozen north in Dordogneshire. We thought that we would pay a visit today, the smaller of their two market days each week.
The poor stall holders were definitely feeling the pinch. We and about another 4 couples wandered amongst the two or three dozen stalls. 'Bonjour Monsieur, Madame!' called a rather good looking young man waving a slice of Cantal cheese at us 'Would you like to try my cheese?'. We refused apologetically and passed on. The next cheese stall was run by a Dutch lady, she ran down the list of all the cheeses on her stall to everyone passing by but we didn't see any takers.
Instead, we headed for the 'spice lady' and found one of the few spices we'd not been able to locate - lucky us, was this an omen for the day? Black mustard seeds will make a good addition to the next curry Jon cooks us. She also had raw cashews, stem ginger and Bombay mix. We added some spicy looking olives for good measure. Madame over measured the cashews.
'Oh, that's OK' I said, 'I'll take those'
'Mais, non, Madame' she replied. 'You asked for 200 grams and I won't give you too many. It's just that it is so cold today that my fingers won't work'.
I sympathised and said that it was the coldest year I'd known. She thought I had said the wrong thing and corrected me.
'Yes it is the coldest day'.
'No, I said the coldest year, the summer was awful' We parted company sympathising over the weather and the bad tourist season.
It seems that every other shop in Sarlat sells either foie gras and other duck products or locally produced liqueurs and wines, we spotted some that we'd not seen before and made a mental note to go back another day.
Finally we spotted a kitchenware shop and, lo and behold, there was just the tea tray we had been searching for. Then we had to go through the usual questions:
'Do you want anything else?'. 'No'
'Is it a gift, shall I gift wrap it?' 'No'
'How would you like to pay? Credit card? No, we don't take those but a cheque will be fine'
I love that you can buy almost anything and have it gift wrapped in a shop here for no extra charge. That could save me hours at Christmas.
Time for a cuppa now, I'll carry it on my new tray. Do you know what this tray could do with? One of those nice old fashioned tray runners like my grandmother used to have. I might just look out for one next time I'm out.
Tuesday 6 November 2007
Kept in the dark
Ste Bertille
Yesterday's weather: Foggy, few sunny breakthroughs
I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of the phone trilling at me. It wasn't an incoming call, just the phone connecting and letting me know that we had had a power cut.
There is absolutely nothing unusual about that. Although since the EDF upgraded the electricity supply to the village last April we haven't suffered from the number of cuts that we used to have. Anyway, we reset everything in the house once more and got on with our day.
At lunch time I went to cook a couple of little part baked baguettes. I find these a good option to getting in the car and going out to buy fresh bread every day and since Lidl sell packs of two for 39 cents they are a real bargain! Just as the new electric oven was heating up the electricity went off again.
'Bugger' we thought and put the gas oven on to cook the bread.
Jon checked that it wasn't the fuse box and everything seemed OK so we decided to sit and wait.
After a couple of hours we began complaining that we had missed out on the low tariff electricity over lunch time.
After another couple of hours we began to get a bit chilly and lit a gas ring to keep warm.
After the sixth hour with candles burning it was looking very cosy but we were getting fed up.
Jon went to check the fuse box for the second time and noticed a switch at the side that we'd never seen before. He flicked it and the lights came on.
Ooops.
Later, when I put some pring rolls in the little electric oven, the lights went out again.
There's a moral here somewhere but I can't think of one.
Yesterday's weather: Foggy, few sunny breakthroughs
I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of the phone trilling at me. It wasn't an incoming call, just the phone connecting and letting me know that we had had a power cut.
There is absolutely nothing unusual about that. Although since the EDF upgraded the electricity supply to the village last April we haven't suffered from the number of cuts that we used to have. Anyway, we reset everything in the house once more and got on with our day.
At lunch time I went to cook a couple of little part baked baguettes. I find these a good option to getting in the car and going out to buy fresh bread every day and since Lidl sell packs of two for 39 cents they are a real bargain! Just as the new electric oven was heating up the electricity went off again.
'Bugger' we thought and put the gas oven on to cook the bread.
Jon checked that it wasn't the fuse box and everything seemed OK so we decided to sit and wait.
After a couple of hours we began complaining that we had missed out on the low tariff electricity over lunch time.
After another couple of hours we began to get a bit chilly and lit a gas ring to keep warm.
After the sixth hour with candles burning it was looking very cosy but we were getting fed up.
Jon went to check the fuse box for the second time and noticed a switch at the side that we'd never seen before. He flicked it and the lights came on.
Ooops.
Later, when I put some pring rolls in the little electric oven, the lights went out again.
There's a moral here somewhere but I can't think of one.
Monday 5 November 2007
Sunday Afternoon in Front of the Telly
Ste Sylvie
Yesterday's weather: Sunny and bright
We aren't great sports TV fans to be honest, but yesterday we fancied one of those lazy Sunday afternoons in front of the box. As there wasn't a comforting Fred and Ginger black and white film on, we elected to watch the New York Marathon, purely for the scenery, you understand.
We didn't see much scenery. Where were those lovely overhead helicopter shots that you get during the London Marathon? However what we did see was pure magic.
Paula Radcliffe on top form striding out ahead of the field to win in great style. What a wonderful race she ran. Well done to Paula, inspired by baby Isla just 10 months old, and husband Gary on hand as ever. Inspirational telly watching.
Which is more than can be said of the ITVs adaptation of E M Forster's A Room with a View last night. I am so glad we only caught the last 40 minutes. Merchant Ivory's 1986 production was so true to the book that it has to be a standard. ITV's butchery and mad additions to the story were such a disappointment, despite the wonderful cast. I will have to go and read the book again, and maybe watch Merchant Ivory to eradicate its memory.
Yesterday's weather: Sunny and bright
We aren't great sports TV fans to be honest, but yesterday we fancied one of those lazy Sunday afternoons in front of the box. As there wasn't a comforting Fred and Ginger black and white film on, we elected to watch the New York Marathon, purely for the scenery, you understand.
We didn't see much scenery. Where were those lovely overhead helicopter shots that you get during the London Marathon? However what we did see was pure magic.
Paula Radcliffe on top form striding out ahead of the field to win in great style. What a wonderful race she ran. Well done to Paula, inspired by baby Isla just 10 months old, and husband Gary on hand as ever. Inspirational telly watching.
Which is more than can be said of the ITVs adaptation of E M Forster's A Room with a View last night. I am so glad we only caught the last 40 minutes. Merchant Ivory's 1986 production was so true to the book that it has to be a standard. ITV's butchery and mad additions to the story were such a disappointment, despite the wonderful cast. I will have to go and read the book again, and maybe watch Merchant Ivory to eradicate its memory.
Sunday 4 November 2007
The Reading Group
St Charles
Yesterday's weather: dull, miserable but not wet
Last night we had our quarterly book club meeting. This took place at the home of one of the members, it's a beautiful 13th century house - or at least part of it is, and he has made the rest of it look just as old. A beautiful conversion.
Sometimes we visit other people's homes and they are so stunning that we are concerned what they will think when it is our turn to invite them to ours, a modest four roomed (at the moment) farmhouse. But then, we realise that there are only two of us living here, we don't need more room than we have, and we love our home, simple as it is.
We had a very nice dinner and discussed our past and present books. We have recently read Felidae by Akif Pirincci. I don't recommend this book, and neither did any of the group members. It is the strangest book I think I have ever read. The next book was The Pirate Hunter by Richard Zachs. The book is supposed to be the true story of the 'infamous' pirate Captain Kidd but includes much more information about pirates, pirate hunters, and most of all injustice. I struggled with this book finding it a real trial, far too much information and a liberal sprinkling of Zachs' own imagination.
We also made our choices for the next three months which sound like more interesting reads. December's book is the first volume of the actor Alan Alda's autobiography 'Never Have Your Dog Stuffed' - now, how is that for a title? I love Alan Alda, so I hope the book doesn't let me down. Then we have On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. I've never read any of his so we are looking forward very much to this one, and the third is 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver, who is apparently a woman , which took me by surprise. The member who chose this book has already read it but doesn't know anyone else who has so hasn't been able to discuss it with them - she said that she wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was thinking about having children but felt that that was pretty safe with our group.
Which will obviously let you know that we are all 'of a certain age'.
We're looking forward to this selection of books. I must get on to Amazon and order them soon.
Yesterday's weather: dull, miserable but not wet
Last night we had our quarterly book club meeting. This took place at the home of one of the members, it's a beautiful 13th century house - or at least part of it is, and he has made the rest of it look just as old. A beautiful conversion.
Sometimes we visit other people's homes and they are so stunning that we are concerned what they will think when it is our turn to invite them to ours, a modest four roomed (at the moment) farmhouse. But then, we realise that there are only two of us living here, we don't need more room than we have, and we love our home, simple as it is.
We had a very nice dinner and discussed our past and present books. We have recently read Felidae by Akif Pirincci. I don't recommend this book, and neither did any of the group members. It is the strangest book I think I have ever read. The next book was The Pirate Hunter by Richard Zachs. The book is supposed to be the true story of the 'infamous' pirate Captain Kidd but includes much more information about pirates, pirate hunters, and most of all injustice. I struggled with this book finding it a real trial, far too much information and a liberal sprinkling of Zachs' own imagination.
We also made our choices for the next three months which sound like more interesting reads. December's book is the first volume of the actor Alan Alda's autobiography 'Never Have Your Dog Stuffed' - now, how is that for a title? I love Alan Alda, so I hope the book doesn't let me down. Then we have On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. I've never read any of his so we are looking forward very much to this one, and the third is 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver, who is apparently a woman , which took me by surprise. The member who chose this book has already read it but doesn't know anyone else who has so hasn't been able to discuss it with them - she said that she wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was thinking about having children but felt that that was pretty safe with our group.
Which will obviously let you know that we are all 'of a certain age'.
We're looking forward to this selection of books. I must get on to Amazon and order them soon.
Saturday 3 November 2007
Bah, humbug
St Hubert
Yesterday's weather: beautifully sunny.
They've moved things around in the supermarkets again. They do this from time to time. Carrefour have even put up a marquee outside. We got quite excited, thinking that it might have something interesting in, but no, it looks a bit like a cross between Primark and TK Max without the designer clothes and with lots more of those articles that no-one particularly wants to buy: a few odd plates that once belonged to a set, a couple of poor quality towels and a few hedge trimmers(?).
Inside it has suddenly become ToysRUs. Piles of Disney dolls and toys, Lego and Spiderman have taken over three aisles. They are all overpriced to my mind. Do I already sound like Scrooge? and it's only 3 November. Because it is half term groups of children have been excitedly eyeing up the choice, no doubt ready to write their letters to Santa (do they do that in France?) and parents are wondering whether they a) have room for more toys b) can afford that Spiderman limousine for little Pierre and c) thinking that if little Jean next door has it then they will have to do both a and b.
In the next aisle there is an amazing array of chocolates, sweets and biscuits - I'd look very carefully at the sell-by dates before buying and if you buy them early hide them well. I've done this in the past and found packs of out of date chocolates at the back of the wardrobe at the end of January.
I really thought that this year Christmas would start much later than in the UK, and I suppose it has. In the US there is still Thanksgiving to get through before the Christmas season starts.
I'll never forget being in New York one Thanksgiving, we watched Macy's parade from beside Central Park on one of the coldest days I have ever known in my life, then the next day, Black Friday, we saw the Empire State building had changed from its Thanksgiving colours (lit up in orange) to its Christmas colours, red and green lights. Macy's put up its Christmas decorations and suddenly it all became like Miracle on 34th Street.
I don't really like to think about Christmas before 1 December so I will just blank it out until then this year.
Except....
I did buy my cards yesterday and plan to get them written this weekend.
Yesterday's weather: beautifully sunny.
They've moved things around in the supermarkets again. They do this from time to time. Carrefour have even put up a marquee outside. We got quite excited, thinking that it might have something interesting in, but no, it looks a bit like a cross between Primark and TK Max without the designer clothes and with lots more of those articles that no-one particularly wants to buy: a few odd plates that once belonged to a set, a couple of poor quality towels and a few hedge trimmers(?).
Inside it has suddenly become ToysRUs. Piles of Disney dolls and toys, Lego and Spiderman have taken over three aisles. They are all overpriced to my mind. Do I already sound like Scrooge? and it's only 3 November. Because it is half term groups of children have been excitedly eyeing up the choice, no doubt ready to write their letters to Santa (do they do that in France?) and parents are wondering whether they a) have room for more toys b) can afford that Spiderman limousine for little Pierre and c) thinking that if little Jean next door has it then they will have to do both a and b.
In the next aisle there is an amazing array of chocolates, sweets and biscuits - I'd look very carefully at the sell-by dates before buying and if you buy them early hide them well. I've done this in the past and found packs of out of date chocolates at the back of the wardrobe at the end of January.
I really thought that this year Christmas would start much later than in the UK, and I suppose it has. In the US there is still Thanksgiving to get through before the Christmas season starts.
I'll never forget being in New York one Thanksgiving, we watched Macy's parade from beside Central Park on one of the coldest days I have ever known in my life, then the next day, Black Friday, we saw the Empire State building had changed from its Thanksgiving colours (lit up in orange) to its Christmas colours, red and green lights. Macy's put up its Christmas decorations and suddenly it all became like Miracle on 34th Street.
I don't really like to think about Christmas before 1 December so I will just blank it out until then this year.
Except....
I did buy my cards yesterday and plan to get them written this weekend.
Friday 2 November 2007
Yellows and browns
St Tobie
Yesterday's weather: sunny.
It's as if the world has suddenly changed. The early morning frosts of the last week have turned the world from green to golden brown and yellows. I was surprised to see that walnut leaves actually turn, well, dark walnut brown which makes the trees look very sombre compared to the riot of colours in the other trees.
Yesterday's weather: sunny.
It's as if the world has suddenly changed. The early morning frosts of the last week have turned the world from green to golden brown and yellows. I was surprised to see that walnut leaves actually turn, well, dark walnut brown which makes the trees look very sombre compared to the riot of colours in the other trees.
With the sun low over the hills this week, it has spurred Jon to cut down some of the trees closer to the house to try and allow a little more sun on to the patio. We can't do anything about moving the hill or the stand of fir trees which don't belong to us, but we are trying our best to get as much sun as we can during the morning. This will also give us lots of logs to burn in a year or so's time when we have installed the log burner - that will be after converting our sitting room and bedroom into a large lounge - which will be after converting the attic into two bedrooms - which will be after putting in a staircase to the loft and also after putting in the new shower unit which is still sitting in the garage because we can't fit it until we have stairs because the only loft access is over the bath (?).....
So, I don't know what I am doing sitting here writing a blog when there is all this work to get on with. Time for a cuppa, I think.
Thursday 1 November 2007
Of Saints and Sinners
Toussaint
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, cool.
For the last few days the shops, supermarkets and hypermarkets have been full of the most beautiful sight. Hundreds of pots of the most gorgeous chrysanthemums in every colour, their blooms perfect, small flowers to huge pompom flowers, they have been a wonder to behold.
The biggest faux pas would be to offer these wonderful displays to a friend over here as they are only associated with death and mourning. Today is All Saint's Day. Another of those strange public holidays in a secular society which I find hard to understand. People have been buying up these pots of chrysanthemums to take to the graves of their dear departed. Today, and for a few weeks now, every cemetery in every village in France will be a picture of colour in remembrance of those gone before.
In contrast, yesterday was Hallowe'en. We, stupidly, went shopping yesterday afternoon, forgetting that it is half term holiday here. The shops were full of pumpkins and scary masks. In one, parents were hurridly buying costumes and judging by the way they were flying off the shelves we expected to see the town full of ghosts, ghouls, witches and skeletons last night but on our way through Cahors at 10pm all was quiet. The brasseries and restaurants were beginning to serve the last coffees and even the fairground set out at the top of town was beginning to close down for the night.
Unless these frightening creatures were just waiting for their parents to go to bed before they came out to haunt?
Yesterday's weather: Sunny, cool.
For the last few days the shops, supermarkets and hypermarkets have been full of the most beautiful sight. Hundreds of pots of the most gorgeous chrysanthemums in every colour, their blooms perfect, small flowers to huge pompom flowers, they have been a wonder to behold.
The biggest faux pas would be to offer these wonderful displays to a friend over here as they are only associated with death and mourning. Today is All Saint's Day. Another of those strange public holidays in a secular society which I find hard to understand. People have been buying up these pots of chrysanthemums to take to the graves of their dear departed. Today, and for a few weeks now, every cemetery in every village in France will be a picture of colour in remembrance of those gone before.
In contrast, yesterday was Hallowe'en. We, stupidly, went shopping yesterday afternoon, forgetting that it is half term holiday here. The shops were full of pumpkins and scary masks. In one, parents were hurridly buying costumes and judging by the way they were flying off the shelves we expected to see the town full of ghosts, ghouls, witches and skeletons last night but on our way through Cahors at 10pm all was quiet. The brasseries and restaurants were beginning to serve the last coffees and even the fairground set out at the top of town was beginning to close down for the night.
Unless these frightening creatures were just waiting for their parents to go to bed before they came out to haunt?
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