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… but we had a slight change of plan.
Cécile had a ‘phone call from her mother’s neighbour or someone on the island on Sunday – apparently Mother has had another funny turn and so Cécile’s presence was required.
After working on Ice Station Zebra to fit a few extra locks and so on, we went round to see Rosemary to pick up our shopping from the UK and to leave her a bicycle that one of her visitors wants to borrow. And then we headed off to Liz and Terry’s for tea (and gorgeous it was too) before going back to Ice Station Zebra for an early night.
Next morning, wide awake at 06:00, we loaded up Caliburn with a pile of stuff and after his Controle Technique (passed, of course), we got our motor running and headed for the highway, in the best Mars Bonfire tradition, and the general direction of Fromentine.
That’s Fromentine there, looking from under the new bridge that links the isle of Noirmoutier to the mainland, but Cécile’s mother’s island is a little too far out for a bridge (like one hour’s sailing time) and so, having arrived nice and early, it left us the time to go for a wander and a little bit of looting and pillaging in a second-hand bookshop.
Once Cécile was safely installed upon her ferry I hit the high road and the 880-odd kilometres to Brussels. It is in fact more than 880-odd because the sat-nav, that works these things out, wants to send me around the Boulevard Peripherique in Paris, but even though that might be 60kms or so shorter, the hassle of getting around Paris, even after midnight, is simply not worth the effort and I always take the Francilienne, the N104 that does some kind of tortuous circular route around the city but far enough out so as not to ne encumbered by traffic at that time of night.
I was back in Brussels after my 1500km drive at 04:00, having stopped off at Ancénis for a pizza (thanks for the cheese, Rosemary) and by the time I had finished unloding Caliburn and parking him up in an uncontrolled parking zone 10 minutes walk away from here, it was 06:15.
Yes, yet another working day of over 24 hours. Brings back the good old days, doesn’t it? It must be all of, ohh, I dunno, three months, since my last over-24-hour working day.
…at me when I told them to prepare for snow yesterday afternoon. Mind you, I can’t blame them. Whoever would have thought, that on 25th May, that it would snow? And it’s just after 08:00 in the morning and it’s still snowing.
But yesterday, it was cold and miserable, with heavy grey clouds banking up and it was a reasonable bet that, if the temperature were to drop by a degree or two, we would get the lot.
Anyway, that’s enough of the weather. Yesterday we recorded all of our radio programmes – the rock music programme at 09:30 and the other Radio Tartasse programme at 10:00, both at Marcillat, and then a thrash down to Gerzat for the Radio Arverne programmes at 14:00.
Rob was at Liz and Terry’s, laying some “natural” paving stones that he had bought from a place in Auzances. They didn’t half look nice, and that has set me thinking for when (if ever) I return to Pooh Corner. But thinking is dangerous and I don’t want to plan too far ahead because these days, you never know what is going to happen next.
… 78 kilometres down to Clermont Ferrand (and don’t forget the 78 kilometres back as well) and paid for a parking space in the town, in order to go along and translate the English-speaking interviews into French at this Europavox rock music festival for the radio station in Gerzat for which Liz and I do some work. And that is one of the reasons why I ended uo coming back a few days earlier than normal.
And the first interview was, as you might epect, in English. And what you didn’t expect, because I didn’t expect it either, was that someone else did the translating. Making enquiries with Bernard, the President, it appears that no meeting was held at the radio station to discuss the translation, so someone brought along his girlfriend, “who speaks excellent English” (although you would never have guessed) and, apparently, “they are quite insistent that she does it”.
“Well, they do realise”, I said, “that she’s also doing it on Friday and Saturday too” and with that, I turned on my heels and walked off. And that, as they say, is that. It appears that I’ve left them in the lurch, but ask me if I care.
This morning I went round to Pooh Corner to see how things were there, and it was enough to bring a person to tears. You can’t see anything for the weeds. It’s absolutely dreadful. These 6 weeks of incessant rain (not to mention the snow) have pushed up weeds like tryffids.
The sad thig about this is that if things go according to plan, with the most optimistic scenario, I’m not going to be back spending any more time than maybe one day each month at Pooh Corner until mid-October.
Heaven alone knows what the place is going to be like by then. And that’s enough to drive anyone to tears as well.
… in the Auvergne again. Although I’ve not made it home yet. First thing I had to do was to sweep up a pile of broken glass in Cécile’s workshop. It’s all been properly bagged up and I’ll be going round to someone’s house tomorrow and inserting it into his back passage piece by piece. Such is the Kingdom of Heaven.
It’s 880 kms from Brussels to La Barre des Monts so, leaving Brussels at 16:00, I was parked up by the seaside at 01:30 this morning – motorway all the way – and it’s a long time since I’ve dozed off to sleep to the rhythm of the waves lapping on the shoreline. But awake and off for a wander ready for Cécile’s ferry to dock at 11:00, and 500kms later we were back here.
But for how long? I haven’t a clue. I need to be back in Brussels, Cécile needs to be back with her mother and so we won’t be hanging around. But I’m not going much further tonight. I can’t even focus on the screen.
… my previous blog had been suspended while there were other things going on in my life which were taking a great deal of my time and effort.
I’m still in Brussels right now but I’m going back home on Tuesday night. Hopefully I’ll be back there on Wednesday and the blog may well continue, if nothing else comes along and disrupts me. But, whatever happens, whenever the blog does recommence, it will be recommencing from here and the old Blogspot has been closed down.
All of the posts from the Blogspot have now been transferred over to here so you won’t miss a thing, and if I know how to transfer its predecessor here, then that would be here as well. It’s quite ironic that, having all been kicked off Yahoo three or four years ago when Yahoo closed down its blogging service and pile of other stuff, it’s now paid just over a billion dollars to buy another blogging service.
But now that my webhosts have very kindly incorporated a blogging service in their range of free add-ons, then in the words of the legendary Marechal MacMahon, “j’y suis, j’y reste” (here I am and here I stay).
… at lunchtime.
Long-term readers of this rubbish will know that there is a very large colony of parrots living here in the wild in Brussels (a zoo was bombed during the war and the birds escaped, and settled in the nearby woods) and some of you have even seen them, but the medical care that is apparently offered to them puts our vets to shame.
They don’t have aspirins in a Polyclinic either. I’m told that the Paracetemol.
But there I was being all dressed up in surgical gown, scrubbing my hands and arms and all that kind of thing. And then they said that I was ready.
“Don’t I need a mask?” I enquired
“Whyever would you want one of those?”
“Well, I understood that in a sterile environment you needed to wear a mask”
“Not at all. That’s just media nonsense”
“So why do doctors and surgeons have to wear them?”
“That’s not for health reasons”
“So why is it then?” I enquired
“That’s because if one doctor or surgeon makes a mistake in an operation, none of the others would be able to identify which one it was, and so the patients couldn’t sue”
I walked back here again afterwardsand after lunch I blitzed through the apartment to have a go at tidying it up ready for my open night. I had three visitors, one of whom seemed to be very interested. So we’ll have to see. There’s an Open Day on Saturday too.
So if I’m lucky, I might get a full day working here tomorrow. On the other hand, I’m sure that something else will crop up to spoil my day.
… here in Brussels today. Yes, who said the other day that Spring has arrived?
Mind you, it didn’t stick around very long but nevertheless it’s freezing outside. A real winter’s day again and it’s driving me nuts, this incessant winter. Who said “global warming”?
So after a morning on the internet and another lap around the shops, I was halfway through this never-ending list of phone calls that is growing quicker than I can ring them, when I had another phone call. Consequently it was “down tools and off for the tram and back to the Porte de Halle”, where I spent until 19:30 sitting on a chair reading Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans
Back here through the ice and frost, I made myself a nice meal and sat down to plan the next day’s work. I need to give the place a thorough cleaning as I’m having an “open day” here tomorrow evening from 17:00 until 20:00 and the place is looking like a battleground even though I’ve only been here a few days. I also have to nip back up the road to be there for 13;00 in between all of this so I need to put my skates on
and for ladies’ underwear too (and “no”, Rhys, before you ask). Actually, I rather felt like John Steed when he went to buy a new bra for Honor Blackman.
“What size would you like, sir?” asked the assistant
“Size 17 please” replied John Steed
“Size 17, sir?” asked the incredulous assistant. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely” replied John Steed
“But how did you work that out?” she asked
“Well, you see my bowler hat? That’s size eight and a half …”
Anyway, so ladies’ underwear having been bought and a new key cut for the cellar also, I also found some time to go to a new shop that has just opened and selling electronic accessories. As dear as I don’t know what, but one thing that they did sell was, for just €6:38, a charger for AA and AAA batteries, but with four different plugs (for Europe, the UK, North America and Asia) and a car cigarette lighter lead. Obviously, that’s the kind of thing that’s going to live in Caliburn, with all its accessories, and follow me around on all my travels.
I’ve also been working on the radio programmes today and almost completed the additional notes for one series of programmes. When that’s done, I want to do another one too for the following series, and get well ahead while I have the chance. I’d be writing the main text too but I haven’t brought any notes with me to do that. It’s a struggle to do the gardening stuff without any notes as it is.
I came back from the Porte de Halle tonight on public transport and from the Place Louise I had a charming companion – a young student from the University who had lost her way. We had quite a chat on the tram and then I directed her from the tram stop to where it was that she was going.
And I also managed to fire up the oven. It heated quite nicely and so I made myself a pizza for tea. This really is progress. But tomorrow I have my work cut out. Apart from the usual shopping expedition, I have 19 phone calls to make.
… from the Porte de Halle tonight for a change. It’s only 5kms and the exercise will do me good. But halfway along the road and feeling thirsty I came across a Carrefour mini-supermarket where I could buy something, but the manager was busy putting away all of the stuff that was on the pavement (and presumably attracting a tax charge)
“Am I too late?” I enquired, a little out of breath;
He looked at his watch
“Well, as a matter of fact you are, but so what?” and he stood aside to let me, and a couple of other passers-by, into the shop.
As you might have guessed, the shop manager was not a Belgian but a North African, of which there are more than just a few in Brussels. Many people complain that they are “taking over” all of the small businesses in the city. And all I can say is “good luck to them” With an attitude like that, they deserve to.
Walking back from the city did however give me an opportunity to take some night photos around the Porte de Louise, something that I’ve been wanting to do for quite a few years. I was at one time working on a folder of photos of the city – in the days after I left work when I would spend days just aimlessly wandering around the city with nothing better to do, and the old Fuji Finepix and a bottle of water in an old rucksack. Ohh happy days. I really need to recover that spirit that I had (in case you are wondering, older readers of this rubbish will have worked out by now that I’m listening to Part II of Marillion’s Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra)
And apart from that, this morning I did a load of shopping and spent a huge amount of time going through Marianne’s correspondence on her behalf, and then this afternoon I did another series of rock music programmes. I’m now a few months ahead on those, which is good news. Now I need to concentrate on the other radio programmes, especially as we will be in the studio recoding next Monday. I have to get a wiggle on.
Cécile’s been working on a newspaper article about methanisation and the deadline was today. So she had a late night on it last night and went to carry on this morning. But …
So here I was, at 07:00 on a flaming Sunday morning, with a 1000-word Open Office text document opened in Note Tab as a binary file and removing all of the formatting. It’s not my lucky day.
Mind you, last night we were celebrating to some degree. Pionsat were playing Ceyrat in a crunch match near the foot of the table, and a win for Pionsat was vital. With the score 2-1 in their favour but heavily under the cosh I made the remark that the next goal would be crucial. And indeed it was , because it went in Pionsat’s favour. Although Ceyrat scored a goal a short while later, Pionsat hit six unanswered goals in the second half to run out winners by a cricket score. Biggest victory I’ve ever seen them win.
Today, though, the 2nd XI weren’t so lucky and playing once more like phantoms, they lost 2-1 to a team that they should have hammered out of sight. I dunno what’s up with them right now.
I also spent a couple of hours back in my man-cave at Pooh Corner this evening. Plenty of things to do and it’s not getting done just by thinking about it.
… in France again – arriving in the small hours of the morning after a healthy 9-hour (700kms) drive from Brussels – including stopping for fuel etc. There’s a lot to be said for travelling on good fast roads through the night.
In Brussels I did manage to accomplish quite a lot even though there are several things that it takes a while becoming used to again, including the amount of sand in the air that settled on Caliburn. The city is built on a large seam of running sand and it pervades absolutely everywhere. I’d completely forgotten about it. Public transport is another thing too and there were one or two occasions when I forgot how it was that I was suposed to be travelling to wherever it was that I was going.
Back here, after a sleep, it was off to record the radio programmes and to pick up some sliding doors at Chamalières – Cécile`s been shopping on leboncoin again.
Now I need to settle back into life here – but not for long though. I’ll be going back for Brussels part II in early course. It’s all go.
… for the next day or two, and so what i’ll be doing is to try to catch up with my sleep. At just 200m from the University and with a tram line just around the corner it’s really noisy here and last night, with the neighbours arguing until 03:00 there was no chance of any real sleep, especially as the trams start up at 06:00.
I solved the baguette problem by the way. There’s a mini-Carrefour supermarket just a few hundred metres away and they have baguettes at 95 cents. Only twice as much as in a Carrefour in France but it’s a step in the right direction. I did my week’s shopping in there too, and regular readers will recall that in France, that comes to round about €20:00. Here (admittedly with a light bulb included) it came to €38 and something. Highlight has to be the tomatoes, 99 cents per kilo in the Auchan, that cost €2:59 for 800 grams here. No wonder I left the country when I retired.
Most of the time I’ve spent here, I’ve been doing odd jobs around the apartment but I managed to get out and about. Primarily to go to the bank to arrange a transfer or some money to France. However of course, as you might expect, the bank chose today of all days to be closed for repainting and decorating. Nevertheless I did manage to visit a few other shops for a few other things, including a tack of my 12-volt LED warning lights.
On the way back here I stopped off at the Palace to see how the King was getting on, and I noticed a group of Japanese tourists talking to everyone else in the crowd. My curiosity having been aroused, I sneaked up behind then and listened to what they had to say. It was really quite illuminating – a question of “who’s that up there on the balcony of the Palace – you know – the guy standing next to Eric Hall?”
So this evening I’m on my own with Strawberry Moose. We’ve had a pizza and we’ve watched the footy and now I’m having an early night while he’s off to the Bois de la Cambre to look for a few ladyfriends
… out today. But not by vehicle. I don’t mind shifting 35 mm of snow but having to do it over almost 800 metres of lane is rather too much – no danger of having any snowplough down here of course.
But we had a radio programme to record and as Liz managed to extract her car from the snow, I walked down the lane to the main road where she picked me up, and we went off to Marcillat.
No danger of going to Gerzat for the programmes at Radio Arverne though. We’ve postponed that until a week on Friday. If we are lucky, the snow might have melted by then.
But, in a surprising development, not only has it stopped snowing but we can see the full moon in all its glory. That means that the clouds have thinned right out. I’m curious to see what tomorrow might bring now. More of the same, if previous experience is anything to go by.
… and if it carries on like this, I’ll be spending tomorrow digging myself out of a snowdrift or something.
It’s rather a shame as quite recently we’ve had four or five days of splendid weather, so much so that the temperature in the dump load water heater went off the end of the gauge, which is something quite astonishing for this time of the year.
But on Thursday the weather turned miserable, which was only to be expected seeing as we were all working outside. Cécile has a huge fir tree that waves about in the wind, and it’s right on the boundary of one of her fields against the public highway. It needed to be removed and so on Thursday Terry and I rose to the task. We cut it down in three sections and the noise wasn’t half impressive. Cécile filmed it, with the idea, I suppose, of posting it on Youtube if either Terry or I fell out of the tree or in case it fell through the roof of the neighbour but, surprisingly, it all went according to plan and I’ll post a few photos on here in due course.
Yesterday we went to Montlucon to buy more stuff for the various projects, and I even gave Caliburn his annual wash, but on the way back the weather broke and we fled to Pooh Corner to sit out the tempest. With no sign of it abating, we braved it back to Ice Station Zebra this afternoon and this is where we’ll be staying if the weather doesn’t improve.
If I’m snowed in here, at least there’s plenty of work to do, and we have a pile of material to do it with too now.
