Category Archives: Eric Hall

Tuesday 1st January 2013 – THAT’S THE HOLIDAY …

… over, then

Tomorrow I start back to work, and there’s plenty to do as you might expect. It’s not been doing itself while I’ve been idling.

So accordingly I had the final day of my DVD marathon session.

There’s still plenty of films to watch but today I’ve seen easily the best film that I’ve seen for ages and ages. An ageing Robert Mitchum starring as Raymond Chandler’s ace sleuth Philip Marlowe in Farewell My Lovely.

At first I didn’t think that he was going to be as good as Humphrey Go-kart and while he acts in a different way, it’s hard to see how Go-kart could have improved on the role.

There’s an “unexpected”  twist right at the end but Yours Truly was well ahead of the pack and had this one nailed from about halfway through, but it didn’t detract from the enjoyment of the film in any way.

So now it’s off to bed and an early start for tomorrow. I need to get a move on.

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Monday 31st December 2012 – A HAPPY NEW YEAR …

… to all my readers.

A heartfelt plea of course, but not from my heart, but from the heart of whoever it was who was responsible for all of the “artwork” on the walls of the Gentlemen’s Rest Room on Crewe Bus Station back in the 1960s.

I remember all of the artwork so well, being an impressionable young lad back in those days and I owe my magnificent Grade 2 ‘O’Level pass in Biology back in 1970 not to the teachers who helped teach the course, but to whoever it was who was responsible for the drawings in the aforementioned.

My success in the poetry syllabus of the English Literature ‘O’ Level I also put down very much to the efforts of whoever it was who was responsible for the text of the illustrations.

Who can forget the heartfelt cry of
“It’s no good standing on the seat
The crabs in here can jump six feet
And if you think that that is high
Go next door – the b@$t@rd$ fly”?
Move over, Tennyson.

Which reminds me – my poetry teacher, Mr Simpson, once asked me “will you read a short extract from Alfred Tennyson?”
To which I replied “Certainly sir. ‘Fred Tennys'”

But back to the gentlemen’s rest room. I also remember the heartfelt wail of
“Here I sit, broken hearted;
Spent my penny but only f@rted”
and considered that it wasn’t a patch on my own juvenile retort of
“Broken hearted, here I sit
went to f@rt, had a $h|t”

And that also reminds me of another extract from days of yore when Alan Fearon once shouted out “I’m going for a $h|t”
to which I immediately retorted “you leave my brother alone!”

But enough of the misplaced humour for now. After two days of doing nothing at all and a third one coming right up tomorrow, I do sincerely wish you all a very happy 2013, and I wish for all of you in the coming year everything that you wished for everyone else in 2012.

Best wishes to all of you.

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Sunday 30th December 2012 – IT’S SUNDAY …

… and it’s also the day before a Bank Holiday too, so this gives me a double reason to sit around and do nothing.

Well, actually, tomorrow isn’t really a Bank Holiday at all, but when I look back over the year and see just how many Bank Holidays that I missed, with having to work and all of that, then tomorrow flaming well is going to be a Bank Holiday and I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

So I started as I meant to go on – which was to lie on my palliasse until something ludicrous and then have a late breakfast.

Followed by … errr … nothing at all.

We did manage lunch, and I even cooked a pizza for tea but that was about the limit of my strenuous activities for today.

And I can’t say that I’m sorry about that either. High time that I took care of myself.

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Saturday 29th December 2012 – I went swimming today.

And how!

And the reason for that is that on the informal weather scale that I keep, this morning was classed as “scattered clouds” but this afternoon was classed as “glorious”. Nothing in the heavens to stop the sun streaming down, and I had the amount of solar energy that would have been expected in the summer.

So after a lie-in I finally finished off the Quebec pages after all this time and these are now on line. After that, it was a quick thrash around the shops in Commentry and then off to the swimming baths at Neris-les-Bains. And for a change it was reasonably warm in there and I’m nice and clean, and I’m looking forward to a good sleep tonight.

All in all, a very quiet day. I’ve been having a few of those just recently. I’m saving my strength for the new year.

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Friday 28th December 2012 – I SOMEHOW OVERLOOKED …

… to write up my notes last night before going to bed. Letting things slide a little, I am, just recently

I really don’t know what you pay me for.

Once again, I started off the morning working on my tour of Québec.

And once again I’ve been distracted in the afternoon.

I noticed yesterday when I was following her that one of her car sidelight wasn’t working. She has her Controle Technique (the French MoT) due next week I told her to bring the car round this afternoon and I’d have a look at it.

Changing the bulb didn’t resolve the problem, so I had a look underneath the bonnet. Replacing a fuse that was conspicuous by its absence resolved the sidelight issue fairly smartly, and there were one or two other little things that needed fixing, so I organised those too.

That was followed by a Hitchcock film (Cécile is as much a film buff as I am) and two and a plate or two of pasta and beans

One of these days I’ll restart work on things around here.

I promise I will.

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Thursday 27th December 2012 – WELL, I WAS …

… going to start back to work today.

Honestly.

I admit that I had had something of a leisurely morning in a kind-of half-hearted working on my Quebec web pages and that I was gradually winding myself up to the idea of making a start – and then the telephone rang, and that was that.

Apparently, Cecile had just won a set of gates on eBay but on going to pick them up, she discovered that were too big to go in her car.

It’s a good job that I had spent half an hour or so emptying out Caliburn the other day, so like the true superheroes that we are, Caliburn, Strawberry Moose and I dashed into the nearest telephone box to put our underpants on outside our trousers.

Having done that, we dashed to the rescue.

Perhaps it’s here that I should interject that my brother always used to wear his underpants outside his trousers. But that wasn’t because he was a superhero, it was because he was two sandwiches short of a picnic.

A drive out to Doyet (way the other side of Commentry) was reimbursed by the offer of an evening meal, for which I’m always grateful as you know.

And then, after another marathon session lighting her stove we ended up watching episodes of “The Twilight Zone” until quite late.

I shall just have to start work tomorrow now.

Won’t I?

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Wednesday 26th December 2012 – Happy Boxing Day.

02:45 it was that Cecile left last night – nothing like a good evening with pleasant company – and by that time I was well ready for bed.

And so this morning, having remembered to switch off the alarm, I managed a lie-in until all of 09:45.

After breakfast, part II of the DVD marathon continued, and continued for most of the day too.

Lunch was the usual salad butties, and the Boxing Day dinner was the reheated leftover veg from yesterday, fried in an olive oil and mustard sauce of my own making (delicious, even though I say it myself) with a vegan burger.

Pudding was, as you might expect, more Christmas pudding and the left-over vegan cream.

How about that fr a nice, lazy Bank Holiday? High time that I had a lazy day like that. Does me the world of good.

But tomorrow I suppose that I had better start back to work. No peace for the wicked.

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Tuesday 25th December 2012 – THE FIRST NOEL…

… the Angels did say was at about blasted 07:45 this flaming morning.

That’s because despite it being a Bank Holiday and accordingly a Day of Rest, where nothing ever moves before perishing midday, Brain of Britain here forgot to switch off his sodding alarm clock, didn’t he?

Still, the early start gave me plenty of time to relax and open my presents.

Lots of DVDs, CDs, books and computer stuff. All a man could desire – except for Kate Bush and Jenny Agutter of course, but you can’t have everything.

And once breakfast was out of the way I sat down for the start of my marathon DVD session.

Lunch was the typical Christmas Day lunch – nibbling on bits and pieces, and then having had a suitable repose, I prepared the veg for the evening meal.

Boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, carrots, endives and sprouts – all cooked in the steamer.

Cécile came round in the late afternoon, just in time for Carry on Don’t Lose Your Head.

Not my favourite Carry-On film but one that she would understand, with lots of visual humour. High time, given the state of globalisation in the world today, that I started spreading around the spirit of Carry On humour.

So a few more films, a Christmas meal (the aforementioned plus seitan slices in onion gravy, Christmas pudding and vegan cream followed by coffee and Christmas cake), and a good chat, she went home and I went to bed.

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Monday 24th December 2012 – Merry Christmas everyone

I hope that Santa brings you everything that you deserve this morning.

As for me today though, I’ve had the best fire here this evening that I have ever had, and I’m so delighted. After the usual breakfast and bits and pieces I dismantled the stove pipes. I’ve ruined about three brushes and all kinds of things, but it was necessary as the pipes were totally choked with ash and tar and all kinds of stuff. Hardly an air passage in sight, no wonder that the fire wouldn’t draw.

Anyway, the pipes are now thoroughly cleaned, jointed and reinstalled exactly as they should be, and the fire this evening burnt beautifully, even demolishing a large log on the lowest air setting. Even more exciting was the fact that the glass in the window remained mostly clear with hardly a trace of soot. That’s a first.

Apart from that, I wrapped up the presents and toddled off to Marianne’s to deposit hers. We had quite a chat too for a couple of hours, and that was quite pleasant.

So that’s it. Tomorrow I’m supposed to be having a day off but that’s unlikely as, if all goes according to plan, I’ll be having visitors and so I’ll need to cook. That will be exciting.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all.

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Sunday 23rd December 2012 – Sunday is a day of rest …

… although that wasn’t the case here today. I couldn’t even manage to lie in after 08:45.

After breakfast and some work on the computer I carried on tidying up in here. After all, I might be having visitors here in early course. And then, after a few hours of working on the Quebec website, I emptied Caliburn of all of the stuff bought in the UK the other week, and put it away. That was not as easy as it sounds, I’ll tell you.

However we finally had the day that I had been awaiting. Gorgeous, blue sky with scattered clouds and 70 amphours or so in each of the two solar banks on the house. That has cheered me up a little and it would be nice to see more of that for the next couple of days if possible. It’ll make the batteries look much more healthy.   

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Saturday 22nd December 2012 – I’m still here today too.

Although, given the weather, I wouldn’t have minded in the least if the world had come to an end. I can’t remember if this is the 9th or 10th consecutive day of rain but nevertheless, it’s still been very wet and once more, the four banks of solar panels haven’t received any electricity worth talking about. It’s not just the weather that’s in a depression.

I made it out today – into St Eloy-les-Mines and a quick thrash around the shops. Most importantly, I have my brussels sprouts and endives for Christmas Day now. That’s vitally important of course. They well go nicely with my roast spuds, seitan slices, stuffing and onion gravy for Christmas Dinner. That’s if I get any Christmas Dinner – the fire is playing up right now. It’s not burning, just sitting there smouldering and blowing clouds of smoke back into the room. I’ll have to look at the pipework to see whether a mouse has hibernated in the chimney.

One thing that I did do today though was to go to the launderette. There was a load of washing here and waiting for fine weather and hot water will be like waiting for Godot I imagine. There will be more chance of meeting him here right now. So a huge pile of it went into a machine and now it’s all clean.

That means clean bedding tonight and seeing as how I had a good strip-down wash this afternoon, a clean me too. Yes, a strip-down wash. If anyone thinks that I’m standing outside taking a shower in this weather they are mistaken.

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Friday 21st December 2012 – All around the house …

… is shrouded in mist at the moment.

So either the world did come to an end, or else we have a hanging cloud over the mountain. I know which one I suspect. Hanging clouds are a well-known phenomenon around here, as you know, and I reckon that all this talk about the end of the world was a load of nonsense. The Mayans simply ran out of room on the parchment and that was that.

But it may well have been the end of the world for all I care. Another wet, miserable, dreary day like the 8 previous ones. It’s enough to make anyone feel depressed. But a little silver lining to the cloud is that I now know when our Christmas Special is being broadcast. It’s on Christmas Eve at 18:00 and Christmas Day at 13:00. Central European Time of course so you need to make your own adjustments if you live elsewhere of course.

If you don’t live around Clermont Ferrand you won’t be able to hear it on the radio, but you will be able to hear it streamed on the Radio Arverne website. I think that this is the link, but I’ll have to check up on it later.

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Thursday 20th December 2012 – WELL, FOLKS …

… I’m feeling a little better today.

I can cough without feeling that I have that piece of sandpaper stuck down my throat, although coughing does make my ribs ache. All I need to do now is to stop this runny nose before I run out of kitchen roll.

Apart from that, I’ve not been doing much. Spending an hour or two every so often writing the radio programmes – it’s difficult to concentrate to write a whole stream of stuff, and reading a few books.

But you’ll be pleased (or maybe disappointed) to learn that I’ve not had any interesting dreams just now these last few days.

I’ve also had a few phone calls from friends – such as Liz, Marianne and Rosemary, and that’s nice too. Cheers me up no end.

I hope that I’ll be feeling better by Saturday though because I have to go out and do some shopping. Must get the sprouts in for Christmas

And talking of Christmas and Rosemary, I forgot to mention that I’m still eating lettuce out of the garden. Yes – I built up a raised bed with some old planks and laid an old caravan window across the top.

That’s kept the weather out and while the leaves are quite small, they are still there and quite edible. That’s something of a surprise, especially with the horrendous weather that we’ve had.

We’ve had seven consecutive days of rain and since I’ve been back (2 weeks) we’ve only had one day of sunshine. I wish that the weather would improve because I could do with recharging my batteries some day soon – and those of the solar energy systems too

No wonder I’m all sad, depressed and miserable with all of this.

Talk about being under the weather – there’s a lot of weather to be under right now 

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Wednesday 19th December 2012 – EEEUUURRRGGGHHH!

Yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve been like this. The last couple of months of the year has not been very kind to me.

I can’t speak because of my sore throat … "hooray" – ed … I feel as if I have a piece of sandpaper stuck in my throat so it kills me when I cough, and I have a nose that could run a marathon.

I’ve not been outside at all except a brief run out to take the statistics. But then that’s no surprise because the weather is totally awful. I wouldn’t have gone out in this weather even if I were feeling healthy.

So now I’m snuggled up under the quilt by the side of a roaring wood stove and I don’t intend to move.

A good book or two, a couple of good films and some tins of food that I can heat up in the oven on the wood stove along with some baked potatoes and that will do me until I feel better.

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Tuesday 18th December 2012 – Well, I’m still here.

Yes, man-flu hasn’t claimed me yet.

Mind you I’ve been having some weird dreams. I’ve been reading a book on the history of England from 450 to 1066 and in this dream I rewrote the entire book – which was something of an effort. We moved on from there to the station at Wrexham where I was waiting for passengers in a taxi that belonged to the first taxi company I drove for – but it was painted red, not white. I didn’t find the passengers I wanted, but I picked up two others and although they came from a working-class area of Wrexham and were women in their early 20s, they had designed a huge underground shopping mall in Montreal.

So having had a relaxing day, I’ll be off to sleep in a minute and see what else comes my way. I might even feel a little better in the morning.

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