Category Archives: old cars

Sunday 27th December 2009 – How about this …

… for sheer utter laziness? The farthest I have been today is to walk across the courtyard to the barn to check the solar energy being received over there (10.4 amp-hours). Apart from that, a couple of times up and down the stairs and that is basically that.

But as it’s the last day of my holiday until Thursday I reckoned I deserved it. I start work again tomorrow. There’s a couple of little jobs I need to fix and then it depends what the weather is doing. If it’s raining I’ll be starting on the kitchen. If it’s fine I’ll be dragging the two halves of old Ford Transit, the old Cortina and the Mercedes out of the hedge and beginning on the site of the new vegetable plot. If you have a look at image 25 on this page you’ll see the Cortina and the Merc. That’s where I’ll be putting my plots.

Mind you, I reckon it will be “working inside”. The long-range forecast for the seven days is that for six of them there is a risque de pluie. The only day that is any different is Saturday when there is a risque de neige. Who says that the weather round here isn’t reliable?

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Saturday 10th October 2009 – You would be amazed ….

french fire engine
… at the things you find lurking up side streets. Another one of my passions is old vehicles and so when I saw this beastie lurking up a side street in Montlucon today I just had to go for a nosey.

At first, from a distance, I thought it was a Russian GAZ lorry, a copy of the Studebakers and Chevrolets that the Americans supplied to the Russians under lend-lease during World War II but from close-up I don’t think it is. There’s no maker’s name on it anywhere that I could see so I could only be guessing as to what it might be. Although it looks vaguely 1940s-ish that’s deceptive too as Magirus Deutz were turning out lorries of this style as late as the early 1970s.

old french fire engineAll the visible accessories (headlights – that kind of thing) were “made in France” so I’ve no idea. It’s a 4×4 anyway and solidly built.

So in Montlucon I picked up my furniture and almost everything I needed for the attic. I forgot the air vents though – little plastic grilles about 2″ in diameter to cover up the airholes that I need to make. But I also made an excellent purchase – an “end of series” composter that was going for €10:00. Why I need a new composter is because of a change to the beichstuhl arrangements. I shan’t go into the gory details but in a bid to do away with the chemical contraption I am putting into effect an arrangement that involves a plant pot and some biodegradable bin liners. I’m sure you can work it out for yourself.

Talking of biodegradable bin liners, I discovered a new bio shop in Montlucon – just down the road from Brico Depot. Not as big as Amaranth but I drive past it every week so it’s worth a visit. Their biodegradable bin liners cost €5.51 for 25 – a major improvement on Auchan’s €6:00 for 15.

fcpsh football club de foot pionsat st hilaire equipe 3 Damien voyonAt the footy tonight Pionsat lost 3-2 in a hotly-contested match. But I dunno what Damian put in his tea tonight but he played a blinder in goal tonight and made a series of brilliant saves. We were all well-impressed with his performance. With a bit of luck he would have kept out the goals too – he managed to get a hand to all of them.

And Liz has a problem with her telephone and she asked me to ring France Telecom to report the fault.
“You have to say the magic words, Liz“
“I’m baking tomorrow!”

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