Category Archives: barrat montlucon

Thursday 22nd May 2015 – OUCH!

Yes, just picked Caliburn up from the Ford garage in Montlucon. He’s had his service but anything needed for the Controle Technique has not been done because, according to the garage, there’s “so much that needs to be done” and they’ve given me the kind of written estimate that has noughts all across the page.

And for a start, four of the things that they mention don’t need doing at all and I know that for definite. And as for Caliburn being rusted right through underneath, I’ve never seen so much rubbish in all my life. There’s a small spot on the nearside sill, but that’s not gone through at all and the rest of it is just stone-chip damage, and I did the worst (such as it was) the other day as I’m sure that you remember.

And there’s a lump out of the passenger door that certainly wasn’t there when I left him.

Consequently I’m going to take him for the controle technique “as is”, get a failure slip and then go to chat to someone else. I shall certainly eat Humble Pie if it is as bad as the Ford Garage suggests, and even if it is, I shan’t be paying anything like what the Ford garage wants.

But it will be a cold day in Hell before I ever go to the Ford garage in Montlucon again.

So that’s them off the list. And the Ford garage at Riom came off the list ages ago, and the one at Brussels came off the list after the dismal attempt at fixing the brakes last year as you remember.

There isn’t anyone left now.

Liz kindly took me into Montlucon this afternoon and we had several coffees and a chat, and then after I had rescued Caliburn I went off to do my shopping in the Auchan and in Brico Depot where I bought my bathroom sink and taps.

This morning though, with the new improved workstation, I mixed and engineered the live concert for the next month, and its come out quite well. Just two joints that aren’t quite right and having studied the waveforms, I can say that that’s a fault of the original mixing and there’s not much I can do about that.

As for the rest of it, it either merges in or overlaps perfectly and that was what I was hoping to do. You certainly can’t hear the joins there.

So tomorrow I’ll do the text for the rock programmes, and then start on the rest.

And last night’s temperature? A mere 2°C

-1

Wednesday 20th May 2015 – I’VE SOLVED …

… the question of the damaged computer screen on the old laptop – and I’ve solved it in spades too.

This morning I made a start on the radio programmes and in particular the rock programmes for the next edition of the Radio Anglais programmes that we will be doing.

Using a variety of sources (the SD card out of Caliburn, the music stored on a couple of mobile phones and the music on the memory stick in the Canadian travel bag) I’ve recovered more than enough music to have a good go at a few radio programmes to keep me going.

I’ve done the “miscellaneous” programme, but there’s an add-on missing from the program that I use for making up the live concerts and I’ve no idea where that might be.

But needing to use Audacity led me to require a full screen, and that started me thinking, which is always dangerous.

collection of input output sockets AKAI DVD player France may 2015Ages ago, Terry gave me a cable with an HDMI plug on one end and a USB plug on the other. And both the laptop and the 12-volt DVD player with its impressive 18-inch screen have the aforementioned.

But no matter which way round I plugged the cable in, it wouldn’t carry the signal from the laptop to the screen. Even jury-rigging an ad-hoc USB cable didn’t work either.

However, when I was at Montlucon this afternoon, I purchased the correct cable and – wha-hey! Not only do I have a most-impressive computer screen, I have the most astonishing stereo sound coming out of the speakers of the DVD player.

This is an exciting discovery and I’ll be actively pursuing this avenue in the future.

I took Caliburn into the Ford main agents for his annual service, but here’s a thing. They don’t have a rolling road there so they can’t balance out the brakes. That surely must be a first.

I had to walk into town afterwards and it’s been quite a while since I’ve done that journey.

canal du berry montlucon allier France may 2015My route took me past the site of the old Canal du Berry. Montlucon used to have a huge steel industry and in the days before the arrival, everything came in and out by canal.

This last 5 years or so, they’ve built over the bed of the canal and as I keep on saying, I woder how long it will be before they regret doing that.

medieval centre montlucon allier France may 2015Montlucon is a old Medieval walled city, although you might not think so if you have only ever see the outskirts of the place.

Liz was working until 18:30 and so that gave me plenty of opportunity to go for a wander around and see what was going on, as well as grabbing something to eat

medieval centre montlucon allier France may 2015This is believed to be one of the oldest buildings in the town, dating from the 14th Century, and it certainly looks it too.

There are several other old buildings in the immediate vicinity, noe of which is as old as this but well-worth a look all the same.

medieval centre montlucon allier France may 2015This though is my favourite building in Montlucon, but what lets it down is its immediate surroudings. Everything has been “redeveloped” with modern concrete slab construction.

It’s not clear whether it was the Mayor or the RAF that was responsible for the demolition in the immediate vicinity, but it’s far enough away from any major centre of any military importance to have been the RAF.

modern montlucon allier France may 2015At least when they rebuilt the city, they had the good sense to leave a large open space all the way from the railway station to the chateau so that there’s this most impressive view, and the fountain sets it all off nicely.

But I really cannot think what must have gone through the minds of the mayor and the town council to have rebuilt thiese dreadful concrete monstrosities.

memorial to SNCF railway employees died in World War II montlucon allier France may 2015Talking of the railway station, there has been some “talk” about the lack of resolution of the French in resisting the German invaders during World War II.

This part of France was only occupied for two years, and this is a memorial to the railway employees of the Montlucon railway depot who lost their lives due to “war-related incidents” during the war.

I’m not sure how many people worked at the depot, but there are 28 names on the list, all of them civilians. It doesn’t say how each of the people died, but I bet that it wasn’t peacefully in bed.

0

Tuesday 12th August 2014 – YET ANOTHER TOW JOB

caliburn tow in Frod Transit A frame les guis virlet puy de dome franceThis time, we used the A frame.

For a change, I was up early and went down to Pionsat to pick up Simon. Then we set off for Riom. I dunno if anyone else has had issues at the Ford garage there but they aren’t half miserable. They weren’t able to fix Simon’s Transit and instead of being embarrassed about it, I found them to be nothing but surly and uncooperative. I struck them off my list of local garages ages ago, and I reckon that Simon has done now.

It took ages for me to work out how to use the A frame – it’s been something like 15 years since I last used it, and of course Simon’s Transit is a big, heavy vehicle – right on the legal limit of 2.5 tonnes on the A frame.

Anyway, eventually we sorted it out and off we set for Montlucon. I would have been much happier with the trailer or even the towing dolly but Simon’s van is far to heavy for both of them and well over the gross weight for Caliburn.

It was quite an interesting drive to Montlucon. It’s all up mountain and down gorge and along canyon, not like anywhere normal, and of course Caliburn only has a small engine so we didn’t get up to anything faster than 70kph, and then not very often at all.

With the weight, going up the steep hill was a struggle but coming downhill was even more exciting, with Simon’s Transit threatening to overrun Caliburn in places.

Not only that, it’s a busy main road and we had to pull over every couple of miles to let everyone past. So it took hours to do the journey.

But anyway, we made it safely (after a fashion) to Montlucon, to find that Barratts, the Ford main agent, was closed for lunch. Luckily, they had left the gate open to the yrd so we could get in there and drop off the van. I had to reverse the whole train right across the carpark so as to put Simon’s van into a parking space, and much to my surprise, it went straight in. That was astonishing, considering that with the A frame pivoting in all directions and no driver in Simon’s van of course, it usually goes off anywhere excpet where you need it to go when you are reversing it all.

Simon bought lunch, for which I was grateful, and then we went back to the garage to negotiate. I know the service manager there and we soon sorted things out, and then we went back to Pionsat.

Simon made a coffee and then I came home and made tea – another aubergine and kidney-bean whatsit.

I’m glad that it all went okay – I was having all kinds of ideas running aeound my head about the million and one ways that this could all go pear-shaped. Still, it’s all in a day’s work, isn’t it?

0

Friday 3rd February 2012 – SO HOW DID THIS 06:00 START GO THIS MORNING?

Surprisingly enough, when the alarm went off at 06:00 I was already wide awake. Well, maybe not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but I was there.

And what was nice about it was that it was 14.9°C in the room here, and when I riddled the ashes, there was still a glimmer of red heat in there.

So when the guy telephoned at 06:30 to say that he was on his way, I strode out of my room personfully and was almost knocked flat on my back. It wasn’t the -10°C in the verandah that did it but the -15.8°C outside.

The second-lowest temperature ever recorded here.

We inched our way into Montlucon and I went to sit in a cafe until 08:00 when the garage opened and I could reclaim Caliburn, which cost me an arm and a leg to do so;

bUt I’ll tell you what – for the first time ever, there are some real brakes on Caliburn and he stops just like he ought to do. He also handles so much better as well.

And that was only the beginning of the expenditure. After that, it was off to Lapeyre, from where I bought the house windows.

They told me last time I was there that they were discontinuing that particular product line in February and so if I wanted the matching door I needed to order it before then.

And so I did – a nice fully-glazed front door, one large panel to match the windows. Cheapest there is, as it happens but why I wanted it is that it lets in the most light.

Back in Pionsat I bought a few bits and pieces off the tool lorry at the market and then went round to Marianne’s for a coffee and a chinwag.

After that I came home and did some work. There’s a pile more timber gone into the bedroom ceiling and I’ve also carried on drilling away at the wall in the lean-to. But that’s hard work as the drill is really heavy and I’m up against some granite right now.

I also experimented with ways of unfreezing the water, something that I’ll need to be thinking of soon. One way I’m going to try is to wrap an old Volvo heated seat pad around the tap and connect it to the excess charge circuit – see what that does.

Tonight I had a gorgeous tea – a huge plate of chips and baked beans.

It’s so cold that I’ve bought a large bag of oven chips, put it in a plastic container and buried it in a snowdrift. I brought a pile of them up here and cooked them in the oven bit of my stove,

I cooked the pan of beans in there as well. It took a while but it was well worth waiting for, and i’ll be having oven chips again.

But washing up after was something else. Chopping board stuck to the table, tea towel stuck to the oven, everything else stuck to something else. I’ve got the water and the fruit and veg up here with me. Frozen lettuce goes not taste very nice, especially with frozen cucumber

I shall have to do something about this on a long-term footing.

-3

Wednesday 1st February 2012 – I’M CALIBURN-LESS…

… at the moment.

He’s gone to the mender’s for his annual check-up and I fear it’s going to be another expensive one as apparently he has a warped front disc. And that might explain why the tyres have been wearing unevenly and also why the braking has never been as good as I would have liked ever since he was new.

But something to do with me that is “warped”. That’s no surprise to anyone, is it?

So this morning Caliburn and I dug ourselves out of a snowdrift and headed off to Montlucon. And I found a car wash that was open (despite the cold) next to the LIDL, so Caliburn could have his annual bath.

I was quite tempted myself but mine’s not due for another couple of months or so. But Caliburn is clean, anyway and the salt has been washed from out of his wheel arches.

At the Auchan, where I did some desultory shopping, I came across, at long last, a decent camera bag. The right size, with lots of pockets and so on. It was expensive, but then again so is my camera equipment and leaving it rolling around on the floor of Caliburn is not really a solution.

I also bought some tins of ratatouille for the storeroom, having noticed the label and thinking “that’s just the brand for me!”. But with lesdyxia luring KO, a closer look at the label revealed that it is in fact branded “Pre-vert”, or ‘Green Meadow’.

Ahh well.

Having left Caliburn at the garage on the edge of town, I had to walk into the centre to meet Liz who had been teaching there today and who had offered to bring me home.

And dressed up in layers of coats and jackets with gloves, hat and furry boots to counter the Combrailles weather, while Montlucon was basking in a barmy mere -2°C, it made me feel like Nanook of the North. and I spent a good while looking around, but I couldn’t find him anywhere.

I did however catch a glimpse of myself in a mirrored door, and I reckoned that I looked just like someone whose trawler had just docked in the harbour. Ahhh, the sartorial elegance of it all.

Back home, we are about to experience something of a crisis – we’ve run out of Christmas cake! Whatever am I going to do now?

But the good news is that I’m sitting here in my little room, basking in a balmy 23°C while outside, it’s -6°C. And all done on free fuel as well.

What an excellent buy this woodstove was!

-5