Category Archives: sauret besserve

Sunday 14th November 2010 – IT’S SUNDAY …

… today, and Sunday is a day of rest.

And after all of my exertions of the past couple of days here and there I needed a rest too.

So much so that it wasn’t until about 12:30 that I arose from my (or rather, Liz and Terry’s spare) stinking pit.

It’s hardly surprising that I wasn’t in the mood for all that much. I just loitered around and let the day fritter away aimlessly.

What went a long way towards it all was that

  1. Liz was cooking, and I’ll walk a million miles for that
  2. Liz and Terry said that if I wasn’t in any rush to go home, why didn’t I stay an extra night?

Well, do bears go for picnics in the woods?

So here I am, well-fed, well-watered, well-showered and well-clean-clothed, all nicely tucked up under the covers.

And here I shall stay until my name changes to Rip van Eric.

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Saturday 13th November 2010 – IT’S A GOOD JOB …

… that it’s Saturday 13th rather than Friday 13th, because Heaven alone knows what might have gone wrong then.

The flight was reasonable – nothing remarkable at all – but I’m a very bad traveller and find it very difficult to sleep on board an aeroplane. This journey was no exception at all.

I was wasted by the time that I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and I wasn’t very comfortable making my way from the airport across Paris for the train to Riom.

And we waited. And waited. And waited.

First of all there had been the engineering works that were slowing everything down.

Secondly, there had been a locomotive failure down the line. It was all happening today.

All in all, by the time that I reached Riom it was not too far short of midnight. Only three and a half hours late.

Instead of going straight home (which was a silly idea anyway at this time of night) Terry ran me back to their house and Liz put me up in the spare bedroom and that was that.

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Tuesday 28th September 2010 – WOULD YOU BELIEVE …

sncf railway train riom puy de dome paris france… that this is the first time that I’ve been on a French train since all of 1978? That was when I had a brief excursion from Rouen to Paris to escape from a party of schoolkids that I was accompanying.

The trip itself was quite uneventful except that I had to share a table with three other people and a large black dog. Everywhere you put your feet it seemed to be on top of the dog. Probably something to do with me going to Labrador, I reckon.

everything went according to plan at Gerzat and Liz dropped me off at the railway station in really good time for my train. I even managed to have time for a coffee and was on the platform in good time for my train.

The British King Richard I was, as every schoolboy will tell you, nicknamed Richard Gare de Lyon because he was always travelling south with his pal Philip of France. I was here in the Gare de Lyon and I was going west. I didn’t like the analogy.

To seek directions to the RER I enquired of a member of the station security staff. He replied in an English which was absolutely impeccable. When I congratulated him on it he replied
"and so it ought to be. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia".
Ahh well.

So down into the basement, off to Something Halles du Something Else on the RER line A, and then change onto the RER line B for Charles de Gaulle airport Terminal 1. And it wasn’t half a struggle fighting through tides of people with a big heavy suitcase. This was the worst part of the journey without a doubt.

When I finally arrived at the airport I waited outside in the wind and rain in the company of a hundred other people for the Hotel navettes. My hotel was the Comfort Inn and I have no idea why they call it Comfort because the light in my room doesn’t work, the shower is only lukewarm and leaks all over the bathroom floor, the meals and drinks are like the internet service – flaming expensive!

But then it’s the cheapest hotel I could find that had a direct connection to the airport and still had a room vacant. I could have paid a lot more for my room elsewhere. And I’m only going to be sleeping in it anyway. It’s better than a draughty railway station concourse.

And I have my humus butties and a packet of biscuits – what more could any man desire?

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Sunday 26th September 2010 – I’m exhausted …

matthieu malnar fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire herment puy de dome ligue de football league france… and that’s just from watching the football this afternoon. If I had been playing in it I would have been absolutely worn out long before half-time.

We were out at a wind-swept Herment today for the 2nd XI’s match, and I can safely say without fear of contradiction that I have never seen FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s defence play as badly as they played today.

matthieu malnar fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire herment puy de dome ligue de football league franceSlow off the mark for the ball, not quick enough going back, failing to clear the ball when they had possession – you name it, the Pionsat defence did (or didn’t) do it.

And it was only a heroic performance by Matthieu in goal – easily the best I have ever seen him play – performing acrobatic like this that kept the score down to a 3-2 defeat.

But today got off to something of a bad start. I was up early for a change and just as well for at 10:04 precisely Bill came round. He needed some help setting up an e-mail account so I sorted him out. But at 10:04 on a Sunday??

And so after that I worked on my notes for the radio programme and spoke to Desiree the local estate agent who gave me some useful info for a radio programme that I have in mind for the future.

On the way back from the football I went round to Terry and Liz’s to talk radio. Simon was there and so we had a chat about a project I have in mind.

I also found the time this morning to book my train out. I’m on the 17:39 from Riom to Paris as I’ve decided to hang around there through the night. There may well be a left-luggage at the Gare du Nord and I might even find a cheap hotel nearby. And if not I can always go for a wander around the city through the night. There will be plenty to do there rather than sitting curled up on a draughty railway station in the middle of nowhere.

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Sunday 19th September 2010 – What do you make of this?

sncf notice giat railway station closed puy de dome franceI went to Giat for the footy this afternoon and as I was a little early I went for a wander around the town.

Of course it wasn’t long before I found myself at the railway station – on the line between Montlucon and Eygurande (the junction with the line from Clermont-Ferrand to Bordeaux). Even though the line is still listed as being open, no trains run and the service is assured by an express bus, but I was here to look at the station.

railway sleeper chairs narrow gauge standard gauge railway line giat puy de dome franceAnd if as by pure chance I noticed this railway sleeper just here. – the second (and also the third) up from the bottom. The rails are firmly attached to the sleepers of course, and set at “standard gauge” – which is 4’8½”.

But if you look closely you can see other bolt holes and impressions in the wood where other chairs have sat on the sleepers at one time. And although I didn’t have a measure with me, a quick and rough estimation put the centre of these chairs, where the rails might be, at about 1 metre apart.

sncf abandoned railway station giat puy de dome france1 metre rings a bell of course – it’s our old friend the Ligne Economique up in the Allier and on a couple of occasions the Ligne Economique shared a set of sleepers and a common track bed with the standard gauge lines, especially in bay platforms at shared railway stations. And when the Ligne Economique closed down, the lines in these bay platforms were for the most part ripped up. So this has got me wondering if the sleepers from the ripped-up bay platforms were put into store for reuse.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire condat giat voingt ligue de football league puy de dome franceThe football at Giat was a real “game of two halves”. In the first period Pionsat swarmed all over the opposition. They scored 2 and they could have had 20 without too much effort.

But at half-time they went to sleep and in the second half Condat-Giat-Voingt went on the attack. They pulled one back and weren’t all that far from getting a second. The transformation was remarkable.

After the game I had to go to Terry’s to bleed the fuel system on the tractor. The quickest route between Giat and Terry’s passes through Pontaumur where I refereed last weekend so I had to stop and put on some dark glasses and a false beard.

We were ages trying to bleed the fuel system and it wasn’t working at all. There was clearly something I missed so I asked Terry to look on the internet under “bleeding diesel”. He replied that we may as well look under “f*cking petrol” and we would still have the same result. But we eventually solved it. The diesel was filthy and it seemed that when the tank ran dry the level of dust and scum floating on the top had settled down and blocked the top of the tap inside the tank. Draining the diesel (mostly all over me) and dismantling the tap and we could clean everything out. Once we’d cleaned it and bled it (and it worked this time) we got it running. And I was paid in food – something that is always welcome.

But on the way to Liz and Terry’s Strawberry Moose and I saw a deer. As it was a female, His Nibs wanted to chase it but I had to tell him … “if you are anything round here you are a stag – S-T-A-G – the second letter is not an H.

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Sunday 12th September 2010 – I made my refereeing debut today …

… but here is not the place to talk about it. It was just one of those days. Even the batteries in my new watch went flat.

The observer was quite friendly and helpful though – he made the point that I did well to turn my back and walk away from the inevitable moaning and criticism.
“How were you able to do that?” he asked. “Have you refereed before?”
“No” I replied “but I have been married”.
He noticed that Caliburn was parked right near the gate with the nose pointing outwards.
“Ready for a quick getaway” I explained.
“Aren’t you worried that someone might heave a brick through your window?” he asked
“Bricks haven’t been discovered yet in the Combrailles” I explained. “We’re still struggling to come to terms with the Stone Age”.

So I went round to Terry and Liz’s to give them their printer, and they very kindly fed me, which was nice of them. It was nice to see some friendly faces, but then I said that when I met the guys that I knew in Pontaumur. It’s amazing how quickly things can change.

I spoke to Bernard, the President of Pionsat Football Club, on the phone afterwards and told him about the game. He reckons that I ought to focus on the positives. He said he would have a word with the observer and call me back. “Focus on the positives” – well, it didn’t take us long.

There are many ways of earning a living than standing in the middle of a field while 100 people hurl abuse at you, but I wish I knew what they were. Craig Bellamy complained about the abuse that he received at West Ham United a year or so ago. He’s on about £50,000 a week at least. How would he like to do it for just €28, travelling expenses and a free shower?

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Thursday 9th September 2010 – Here’s a pic …

… of our latest toy.

terry messenger ford transit ifor williams trailer tractor les guis virlet puy de dome franceI told you a little while ago that Terry and I had bought a trailer between us – and here’s a picture.

It isn’t half a mega-beast, an Ifor Williams Trailer with a carrying capacity of 2.5 tonnes. Terry’s tractor and broyer went onto this and the thing didn’t even bat an eyelid. It’s a 4-wheeler with 12″ wheels, detachable sides and back, and a pair of ramps that would be the envy of anyone.

I have the Minerva and the 2000E estate to collect to Brussels some time when I have the room , and this will do all of that without any effort at all. I’m impressed.

terry messenger ford transit ifor williams trailer tractor les guis virlet puy de dome franceSo this morning I went down to Liz and Terry’s where we put one of the old caravan chassis on top of the other one and then put them both on the trailer.

Guillaume and his mate and then Simon came round in mi-chemin and once they had been sorted out Terry brought the load around here. We took off the two old trailers and dumped them round the side of the barn and then Terry loaded up his tractor and set off for home.

I put a couple of buckets of mortar onto the wall and it’s starting to look much better.

Tomorrow I have to go to Bill’s to fix his computer and then I’m off to Clermont Ferrand for a meeting that starts tomorrow evening and finishes on Saturday late afternoon.

If I don’t blog tomorrow night it will because I won’t have been able to find a wi-fi point.

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Monday 6th September 2010 – I just KNEW …

… that it wouldn’t be THAT easy.

clermont ferrand puy de dome franceI’ve been all the way to Clermont Ferrand today about this perishing driving licence. And here’s a pic of part of the centre of the city with the Puy-de-Dome towering in the distance. I hope you like it.

So I got to the city early this morning (well, early for me, anyway), found a parking space, paid for three hours parking and picked up a nice thick book (on the Treaty of Yalta, in French if you must know) as I know what these Government departments are like

puy de dome franceAt the prefecture I took my ticket for the queue and was totally astonished to find that the number of people ahead of me in the queue is … errr … NONE – now that’s a first in any Civil Service department anywhere in the world. What a waste of all of this parking money that I’ve just spent!

And so the woman at the counter went through my paperwork, and suddenly came to a dead stop.

clermont ferrand puy de dome france“What’s this?” she said, brandishing a document that she had found.
“It’s my medical statement that I had done on Friday” I replied
“I can see that” she said, “but why have you had it done?”
So I explained slowly and gently that it was for a PSV and HGV driving licence.
“I can see that” she replied “but who told you to do it?”
“I understood that this was the procedure and no-one has told me any different” I replied
“Well, the doctor should certainly have told you different. He ought to know that for all new French commercial driving licences, whether for a new candidate or a transfer in from abroad, the medical is done here by our official doctor!”

clermont ferrand puy de dome franceSo I explained that I needed the licence, and an International one to boot, by the end of September. She retaliated by offering me a medical appointment in, if I heard her correctly, the year 2016.
Yes, it was too good to be true. I knew it would be.

But after a lengthy discussion she did in fact become quite helpful in her own way. She promised to do her best to have my medical certificate accepted. And if she failed, she would send my Belgian licence back to me to take to Canada, but she would “make sure” that I received an International Driving licence.

pope urban II clermont ferrand puy de dome franceNow having had years of promises made to me by all kinds of Civil Servants the world over, my bitter experience is to reserve judgement until I have the paperwork in hand. But it was really nice to find a French Civil Servant doing her best to deal with a difficulty that is not covered by the rules and regulations, and doing her best to think around corners and find a solution.

So after that I went for a wander around. I had paid for all this parking and I wasn’t going to waste it. And in any case I hardly know Clermont Ferrand, even though it’s the “county town” of the area where I live.

cathedral clermont ferrand puy de dome franceThe most important place to visit in Clermont Ferrand is the cathedral. I went inside and managed to take one photo, and then we had an announcement –
“it is now midday and the cathedral is closing until 14:00. Could all visitors make their way to the exits”.
Yes, even God has his two-hour lunch break here in France. Heaven help the sinners in the meantime.

I can’t be doing with this.

So  had a good wander around until 13:15 and then off to the Footy offices where they gave me some log-in details for the website so that I can see my programme. And I am indeed refereeing on Sunday as announced earlier.

Then to Brico Depot for some wood for Terry, followed by a stop off at the Carrefour at Riom for some shopping. But I didn’t do much as I was waylaid at the computer counter. I have a couple of printers here – the very old first-generation printer/scanner/copier that won’t work on Windoze Vista and so I have to copy it onto the old laptop to print it, and the little DJ540 that swallows expensive ink cartridges at an alarming rate. And I need a working printer to print out my refereeing stuff and stuff for the local history group, so I was pricing up another load of cartridges for theDJ540 when I was interrupted by a pile of Epson SX115 printer/scanner/photocopiers reduced on sale to just €49. And the ink for them is the cheapest on offer. So I bit the bullet and purchased one of the aforementioned.

At Liz and Terry’s I gave Terry his wood and inspected our new toy, the Ifor Williams trailer, which isn’t half a mega-beast and well-worth the money that we paid, and then back here to pull more caterpillars off my brassica – I’m in the middle of the second round of the cabbage-white infestation.

It was my turn to animate the Anglo-French group this evening and I had everyone discussing DiY tools and words that derive from them. It went down rather well.

And in other news, terrorists have attempted to bomb a Primary School packed with children, and an 8 year old boy discovered the primed and armed bomb, picked it up and took it into the classroom to show all of his classmates. The carnage that might have been caused can only be imagined.

Now where did this outrage take place? Iraq? Afghanistan? Well actually, it was in Antrim, Northern Ireland, which for those of you who are geographically-challenged, is in the UK. Of course it is rather ironic about how the UK is going to war to deal with “terrorists” who attack armed soldiers who are trained to fight back and to kill, so I carefully scrutinised the news report for the expressions of outrage, horror and revulsion from the British Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the B liar and assorted American politicians who have criticised Scotland’s “interaction” with one of that ilk, yet do you know what? There’s not a word!

And I wonder what they would have said if it had not been the white-skinned Paddy O’Reilly who had planted this device, but the brown-skinned Abdul Mohammed?

And I’m waiting for the aforementioned Paddy O’Reilly to be uncovered and to be named as someone with an interest in the Irish Republic, because I shall be eagerly awaiting the Anglo-American invasion of that country to sort out that nest of vipers that are sending foreign fighters abroad to spread their messages of extremism and hatred amongst innocent children.

But I am not holding my breath as it isn’t going to happen. The Brits and the Americans, and the Irish, and most of the other white-skinned westerners are the biggest bunches of hypocrites I have ever encountered.

It makes me sick.

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Friday 3rd September 2010 – In a change to the advertised programme ….

abandoned railway station les ancizes st georges de mons puy de dome france…. I had a day off today. Totally unplanned but somehow things just seem to work out that way. But first, just have a look at this picture. And what do you make of it? You might need to enlarge it first.

The giveaway clues are in between the two rails in centre pic and also in the top left corner.

What has happened is that at some time or other some kind of railway conveyance has come off the rails at the points just here and ridden along the sleepers for a long way. And no-one has bothered to repair the damage.

abandoned railway station les ancizes st georges de mons puy de dome franceWhere I am in fact is at the old Les Ancizes-St Georges de Mons railway station, where I have been for a prowl around this evening. This is on the abandoned railway line between Lapeyrouse and Volvic – the one that crosses over the Viaduc des Fades and which was closed in dramatic fashion a couple of years ago when they “suddenly discovered” that the viaduct was unsafe. But you know me and my conspiracy theories – I reckon that the closure was planned for years and the lack of maintenance along the line merely proves it. And not replacing these clearly-badly-damaged sleepers just adds more fuel to the fire.

So how come I had a day off when it wasn’t planned?

This morning I went to the doctor’s to have my football medical signed off – if I want to play I need a certificate. As it happened, it cost me nothing as all my details of the medical I had for my referee’s test were on file.

So that was good.

Then I decided that seeing as I was in St Eloy I would do my shopping. and LIDL was good too.

I needed some more identity photos so I went to Carrefour where I planned to finish my shopping. But no photo booth!
“We don’t have one” they said.
“So where do people go for their identity photos?”
“The professional photographer” she said – and watched me splutter.
“Anyway” she added “he’s closed until 15:00”
Sod this for a game of soldiers – a 50-mile round trip where I drove to the Intermarche at Commentry – I know that they have one. Mind you, I half-expected it to be closed for lunch or the machine out of order but no – it worked, and that must be a first.

They aren’t have having their money’s worth out of me, running around to collect all this paperwork.

narrow gauge abandoned railway station ligne economique tacot marcillat en combraille allier franceOn the way back and passing through Marcillat en Combraille I went to look at a building that I noticed when I was with Liz the other evening. Now is this a former railway station or is it a former railway station? You can even see the platform.

In fact what we here was the terminus of the Ligne Economique, – the narrow-gauge railway that ran between Marcillat en Combraille and Commentry.

narrow gauge abandoned railway station ligne economique tacot marcillat en combraille allier franceCommentry is a steel-making town and there was a huge lime furnace just a mile or so away from here, so it’s no surprise that there was a railway line between the two towns. The station building here is in a direct line with the old lime furnaces, but modern building has obscured whatever track there might have been in between the two.

The narrow gauge track was ploughed up in 1930 when they built the standard gauge line over its track bed, so when the main line service was suspended in 1939, Marcillat en Combraille lost its passenger service completely, even though the rest of the tacot system staggered on into the 1950s

So while I was here in Marcillat en Combraille I went to the local Mairie and the secretary agreed to talk to the people who know, to see what help might be given for my proposed research

At Pionsat I dropped off my forms at the Football Club, only to find that I can’t find the receipt for the referee’s stuff, and I’ll need that if I want the club to pay it. I remember seeing it floating around the van so I picked it up to put somewhere safe. That says it all really.

So after a solar shower I went to St George for my HGV medical, and here’s another doctor who tells me that there is nothing dropping off quite yet. Mind you, he had me doing some funny things like standing on one leg with my eyes closed and all of that. And as I’m after a change of licence and an International licence he gave me my file back and told me to take it myself to Clermont Ferrand on Monday.

abandoned railway station les ancizes st georges de mons puy de dome franceOn the way back I went for a prowl around the deserted and abandoned railway station at Les Ancizes and took a pile of photos, a couple of of which you have seen above. In his book First and Last Loves” John Betjeman wrote that “Nothing is more empty than a deserted fairground”. But that was because in his day there weren’t any deserted railway stations. He’d change his tune if he were alive today.

And after coffee at Liz and Terry’s I came home just in time for tea at 21:00. And now you see what I mean. Tomorrow I shall have to work to catch up.

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Sunday 22nd August 2010 – You’ve no idea …

storm lightning birdwatching centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome france… how long I was standing on the birdwatching point at the back of St Gervaisd’Auvergne, watching this storm rolling across the ridge in the distance – the one that I live just a couple of miles behind.

Nor how many photos that I took either. What I was trying to do was to take a photo of a flash of lightning, and for a while there was plenty of that but I just wasn’t quick enough. And after a while the storm drifted off the the north-east as the wind swung round from the south.

But the storm was impressive from up there and you can see in the pic the sheets of rain that were falling down

I’d been round to Terry and Liz’s to discuss business and the like. We have a lot to organise – including trying to record SEVEN radio programmes at our next recording session. It seems that my trip to Canada (have I mentioned this yet?), if it comes off, clashes with Liz and Terry going back to the UK for a week  and so we will have our work cut out.

But this morning (or what was left of it) and the early part of the afternoon I carried on with the tidying up in the barn. I’ve found tons of stuff I had forgotten all about and which is now all put in boxes, and I’ve cleaned up half my workbench. I can now get into the drawer where the power tools are, and that is real progress.

Once Lieneke’s roof is finished off (and I’ve been saying that for a while now) I can do some more and have the place looking just a little more shipshape. It’s about time, too!

-1

Monday 9th August 2010 – As you know by now …

birdwatching centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome france… my favourite photography spot is at the birdwatching point near St Gervais d’Auvergne where there is one of the most marvellous views in the whole of France.

And just as I crested the rise the sun came out from behind a cloud and shone right onto the radio mast on the summit of the Puy de Dome.

It was well-worth a quick stop to take a photo even though, like most photos, it just cannot do justice to the view that we had. Nevertheless I reckon that it has come out rather well and I’m quite happy with that.

I say “we” because I was with Marianne the local journalist on our way down to Liz and Terry’s. They had very kindly invited a few of us round this evening for a drink and a chat. And it’s always nice to be with friends.

lieneke new roofing edge tiles woodwork les guis virlet puy de dome franceMind you, I’d been with Terry – and Simon too – for most of the day as we have restarted work on this roof of Lieneke’s.

Before I tell you anything at all about what we’ve been doing, let me first post a photo of what we’ve actually done so far. Here i this photo you can see that we’ve finished off the main roof. It’s all properly edged and trimmed and you can see the new woodwork that we’ve fitted to support the slates.

building up sloping stone wall lieneke les guis virlet puy de dome franceBut back on the new task today, what we need to do is to build up this edge to a level and then slope the sides upwards to reach the roof.

There was a flat roof here but a flat roof is no good around here, as a couple of modern builders will find out this winter. We have tons of snow and it lies on a flat roof without falling off, gradually melting and as the melt water is locked in by the snow on top the only way for the water to go is downwards. It percolates through the roof and the joints and then drops into the room below. A sloping roof is an essential – and a good slope at that. 40° is not excessive.

building up stone wall lieneke les guis virlet puy de dome franceWe built the scaffolding up at the end and at the sides and ripped off the old roof Once that had been done Terry built a brick pillar at the far edge to make a level with the half of the wall nearest the camera and with the stone pillar that was halfway along the wall

While Terry was shopping for breeze blocks Simon and I filled in the old window space with stones and I may say that we did an excellent job of that And when Terry returned I carried on mixing while Terry and Simon built up the rest of the wall

While I was clearing up, I had a visit from the Jehovah’s Witnesses – the second time that that has happened The first occasion was ages ago and two nice young women; today was some guy with a beard I don’t have an issue with them as long as they don’t harass me If they believe in what they are doing and don’t try to proselytise then that’s fine by me. At least it keeps them off the streets.

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Sunday 25th July 2010 – Coming back …

red sunset font nanaud pionsat puy de dome france… from Liz and Terry’s this evening, I was just crossing over the Font Nanaud as the sun was setting. I stopped and took a few photos, as is my wont, and while most of them turned out quite well, this one is in fact quite spectacular.

I had to take it on a very fast shutter so as to avoid any blur or interference and the colours have come out perfectly, which is quite a surprise. I’m impressed with this.

I’d been round there this evening to organise our radio programme for the next few weeks. We will be talking about this auto-entrepreneur system but seeing as we only have enough information for three weeks we will also be doing something about playing football in the region. I reckon that there are loads of expats living in the area dying to integrate and not sure how – and football is a universal language.

So that’s what I was doing this morning and in the early part of the afternoon – preparation. later on I went to the brocante at Youx – quite a big one too as it happens. I bought something that indicated on it that it was 12-volt current in and 230 volt current out at 80 watts – ideal for Caliburn. But it wasn’t half a Stone-Age appliance. We started off at €10 but I got it knocked down to €3 in the end.

At Terry’s we had a play with it. We put 12 volts into it – and got nothing out. And Terry doubts that it is what it says that it is on the label. It’s not like any inverter he has ever seen.

So I dunno. I’ll add it to the stuff to be played with at a later date.

-4

Sunday 18th July 2010 – I have been severely critical …

…“What, you, Eric? Shurely shome mishtake” – ed … about the way that people in North America treat their heritage. And not just on the odd occasion either. And not just in one country, as a matter of fact. However I do recognise that there are some people who are making a valiant effort.

I am ashamed to say that in my own neck of the woods the lack of interest in culture and heritage and all of this is just as apparent as it is in North America. And that is just what is on public view. There is much more that is going on behind closed (and locked doors) that the public never has the opportunity to see.

art exhibition fete des myrtilles st julien la geneste puy de dome franceI’ve been on my travels today and one of the places I visited was the Fete des Myrtilles at St Julien-la-Geneste.

There was an art exhibition taking place in the church and Marianne the local journalist was there to photograph it. She blagged her way into the church tower to take a photo of the exhibition and asked me whether I would like to go – she knows that I have an interest in boldly going where the hand of man has never set foot.

fete des myrtilles chemin de la croix st julien la geneste puy de dome franceAnd so up in the tower it was – and this was the sight that greeted me. I know that Medieval religious art is two-a-penny and not usually particularly good but that is no reason in my opinion to just chuck it in a corner out of the way where no-one is ever likely to go and just leave it there to fester, to let rats and mice make a nest for it and when in 100 years time everyone has forgotten all about it, quietly burn it somewhere in a lonely field.

According to Marianne it is something to do with the Chemin de la Croix which is something that means nothing to me but seems to be of some kind of significance. Marianne was pretty busy so I didn’t have time to ask her but I’m seeing her at a meeting tomorrow night and so I will interrogate her.

But it appals me how people can treat significant objects in this despicable fashion . Yes, I’m having another “Lancaster Bomber” moment, aren’t I?

church bells st julien la geneste puy de dome franceThings weren’t any better up in the top of the tower either. I took the opportunity to shin up the rickety wooden ladder and force the trapdoor so that I could go into the bell housing. And I bet no-one had been up there for fifty years either.

There were three bells in the belfry and the original pulling gear was all there, although it looked as if it had been disconnected for a hundred years.

church bells st julien la geneste puy de dome franceAnd so we had one bell which was electrically connected to chime the hours and half-hours, although Terry did ask me how they managed in view of the frequent power cuts that they have around here.

The second, which was slightly smaller, was still hanging but disconnected and the third, the smallest of the trio, had been taken down and just flung in a corner where it sat.

Of course, just as I stuck my head into the bell housing, the clock chimed half-past three.
“I bet Marianne did that on purpose” said Terry.
“I don’t know why you are complaining” said Marianne. “You should be grateful that it wasn’t twelve o’clock”.

It’s nice to have friends.

canadian piper bagpipes st julien la geneste puy de dome franceYou may remember that we were here a few years ago and were entertained by a guy from Canada who played the bagpipes and his friend who played the drums. They were back here again today, bringing their bagpipes and drums with them and they entertained the crowd for a short while.

Hardly a traditional French entertainment, you might think, but this is part of the beauty of living here. There are all kinds of people from all over the place living here and they have brought their cultures with them.

renault novaquatre st julien la geneste puy de dome franceThat wasn’t all of the excitement either. This car was parked up around the back of the church and so I went for a closer look, and it took me quite by surprise because it’s a comparatively rare car and I didn’t expect to see one here.

It’s a Renault Novaquatre, a model that was built for just a couple of years. Launched in the Autumn of 1937, it was never a popular car. Few were made and production ground to a halt in the summer of 1940 when the Renault factory was taken over by the Germans, and never restarted after the war.

Back home, I helped Lieneke with her gardening for a while and then Terry and Liz came round for the scaffolding. They invited me back for tea which was nice of them and as Liz had baked vegan ginger cake I gratefully accepted. I was even given a doggy bag!

But earlier in the day I’d been to the brocante at Le Quartier. I had had a good day there, spending a whole €10:50 on a map of the French railway system in 1962, a hold-down switch for my doorbell, a kind-of lance for weed control, a ladle for the composting toilet and – biggest prize of all – a heavy-duty electric paint sprayer. Jerome from Pionsat’s 3rd XI was there too and we had a good chat.

But I’m on the warpath again about these paintings.

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Sunday 27th June 2010 – I had a little fun this evening.

gorges de la sioule birdwatching centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceI was up on my favourite photography spot – the birdwatching centre or centre ornithologique near St Gervais d’Auvergne – as night was falling, with the new Nikon D5000 camera and the tripod, taking some photos of the surrounding area.

You’ve heard me say on numerous occasions that it is one of the best views in France – away across the Gorge de la Sioule over to the Puy de Dome (on the extreme right) and you’ve seen plenty of photos taken from this spot before.

gorges de la sioule birdwatching centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceBut every photographer has his favourite spot where he can take photos for comparing different light conditions and also (it has to be said) different cameras and lenses.

The result is that I’m reasonably impressed with what the Nikon managed to do under these conditions. That’s part of the Gorge de la Sioule down there and you can just about see the mist rising as the evening cools down.

st gervais d'auvergne gorges de la sioule birdwatching centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceBut the couple of long-range photos I took after dark with the tripod on a long exposure didn’t turn out so well. They are far too blurred and that was a disappointment. Late at night a light comes on at the top of the Puy and I was hoping for a decent image.

I reckon that it is when I press the button on the camera that the tripod shakes and I need to overcome that. I’ll have to see if I can find a remote switch for the camera to operate it without touching the camera.

I was down at that end of the area because Liz and I were working on our radio programme today. We are discussing motoring for the next month and it’s amazing just how much you learn. You’ll all have to listen in as it is extremely interesting. And if I could remember the link I would post it.

While we were down there Terry was watching Ingerlund get thrashed by the Krauts. he isn’t impressed by Capello’s new defensive tactics. I did explain to Terry that it was what is known as “The Lego Defence”
“What’s that?” he asked
“It all comes apart in the box”.

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Friday 18th June 2010 – One of the major advantages …

caliburn caravan chassis trailer les guis virlet puy de dome france… of having a trailer is that you can buy a huge load of wood all at one go and move it back home without any problems.

It might have cost a fortune in tyres but I shudder to think of how many loads to Brico Depot, at 70kms per round trip, I would have had to have made instead of just one trip to the sawmill at St Gervais d’Auvergne.

The wood is much, much better quality than at Brico Depot, and about 60% of the price too. Mind you, he cottoned on that he had underquoted me so I replied “well I did try to tell you the other day”. And as a reward he heaped on a few more demi-chevrons.

I’ve had good value from the sawmill and I’ll be going back there again.

The trailer pulled nicely with this load on too. Although the trip back was slower, Caliburn never struggled at all, not even going over the Font Nanaud.

Once I’d unloaded the trailer I had to take it back to Terry’s. They have finished with the scaffolding on that chantier and it needs collecting. I’m busy now until Tuesday so Terry will take the trailer round there and load it up and then either he can bring it here next time he’s passing or I can collect it next time I’m passing.

It’s a really useful idea having a trailer.

And the weather? Only 4.5mm of rain today and I’m running out of dry clothes.

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