Thursday 14th November 2017 – THAT WAS A DELICIOUS …

… tea, that was. Mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, vegan sausages and cauliflower cheese. The vegan cheese doesn’t melt very well so it could have been better, but not with the material that I have to hand.

The bad news is that I finished off the apple crumble tonight. With ice cream yet again, because I’d used the saucepan to make the cheese sauce. All in all, a meal fit for a king.

But what was even better was that the meteorological conditions tonight were absolutely perfect. Not only could I see the street lights or similar out on the Isle of Jersey, but all of the lights on the island were reflected in the clouds so that there was a pale glow in the sky right over where the island is, and it was magnificnt.

You can tell that I’m feeling a little better today.

Strangely enough, I had a bad night’s sleep. My head cold has started up again which is no surprise after being soaked to the skin on Sunday, so it took ages to go to sleep. And I was awake early too.

However, I’d been on my travels too during the night. Back into one of the offices where i worked and everyone from the manager down to the most junior office assistant, was harassing me, and enjoying it too. Not that this was any surprise – it was the story of my life and never bothered me in the past – but it was just by way of a remark.

I managed to beat the second alarm call and so we had a nice early breakfast. And a little more tidying up and sorting out the freezer, labelling all of the stuff that I’ve cooked in the past.

And I also had a little snooze too – but nothing like as deep as yesterday’s efforts.

After lunch I was away with the fairies again for a short while and then I had a stroke of luck.

You may remember from a few days ago that I was sorting out a huge pile of photos going back years. But I’d … errr … misplaced the keywords for the sorting. And browsing around here and there, I managed to come across something that dated back to about 2006 and while it didn’t contain all of the information that I needed, i gave me enough to get going with while I make further enquries.

Another thing that I did was to find on my Social Networking site a group of people who are interested in old lorries. I’ve joined it and I’ll be posting the odd photo here and there and asking for help in identifying them.

At about 16:00 I went out for a walk around the walls. And a little deviation to see how they were getting on with replacing the water pipes.

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I went to this meeting where they were discussing this programme to replace all of the lead piping in the Old Town, and they had started on Monday, so I was keen to see how they were doing.

And they seem to be making good progress too, which makes a nice change.

Now I’m fed and watered, been out for another walk in the moonlight, and now I’m ready for an early night.

I hope that I’ll be feeling a little better tomorrow too.

Monday 13th November 2017 – I’VE HAD …

… the worst day that I’ve had for quite some consderable time.

Crawling out of bed at the usual time was the usual performance and after letting my medication work, I had breakfast. And I was fine up to that point.

It was about half an hour later that I crashed out for the first time and that was how it went on for all of the day. Crashing out, sleeping, and whenever I was awake, trying to do things.

I’ve put the washing away and tidied up the shelves in the kitchen to make even more space, abd all of that is quite an achievement considering how bad I’ve been feeling.

Some time after lunch I reckoned that I would do my best to go outside for a walk, and maybe that might change things around a little.

And I’m glad that I did because it was quite beautiful outside today, and the air was so clear that one could see for miles. Jersey was about the clearest that I’ve ever seen it and so I went back in for the camera.

It’s hard to believe that it’s over 30 miles away from where I’m standing.

And Brigitte was loitering around outside too – lying in wait for me, I reckon.

Further out around the coast I could see as far as the lighthouse at the Pointe d’Agon where I went with Liz and her family. That’s the brownish edifice to the right.

Far out to the left are some rocks that are, I suppose, outlying rocks of the Channel Islands. There’s a lighthouse out there too, and that’s the white building right on the left-hand edge.

There’s a big wind farm out near Barneville-Carteret and you can see that away in the distance behind the lighthouse of the Pointe d’Agon if you look hard enough.

I took a few photos around the coast too.

I’m not sure where that might be over there with the big church. It could well be Brehal, I suppose, although I don’t really know for sure. But it’s certainly an impressive building all the same.

I suppose that I shall have to go for a drive out around there one day to see if I can discover where it is. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find.

There’s also a wind farm that you can see from where Liz and Terry live, and scanning the horizon, I managed to see a wind farm that might be the one.

There’s one thing about my new camera and its telephoto lens – that it can pick up views like these abouve, which in some circumstances, like the wind farm near Barneville-Carteret are almost 40 miles away from where I’m standing.

Anyway, I continued with my little walk around the walls and came back home.

I crashed out a couple more times, but summoned up the courage to make a pepper and green bean curry. With plenty left over for freezing.

And I’m going to have an early night. I hope that I feel better tomorrow because I really have been feeling like death today.

12th November 2017 – I’M DRENCHED.

I was going to say that I’m all wet, and no-one would disagree whatever with that comment.

It’s Sunday today and so I had a good lie-in. I’d been on my travels too. With Nerina in fact, roaming around the streets to the south side of Hungerford Road in Crewe looking for a supermarket calle Macksie’s where we were going for lunch. I had a vague idea where it was – somewhere off to the north of Hungerford Road but I couldn’t think of where it might be and no-one else whom we asked knew either. We ended up in a Court listening to a couple of cases and Nerina was showing her boredom. I could understand that because what we had heard to date wasn’t exactly setting our lives on fire, but there was one case coming up that would be intensely interesting and I was really looking forward to it.

It was about 08:30 when I came to life (such as it is) but more like 09:20 when I crawled out of my stinking pit. A late breakfast which meant that there wasn’t much of the morning left.

Just for a change, I tidied up the shelves a little in the kitchen and made much more space. There’s actually some empty spaces there now and I reckon that I can do even better than that too.

Never mind lunch – at 13:00 I hit the streets. US Granvillaise are playing Vierzon, one division below, in the French FA Cup, kick-off 14:00. Despite the howling gale-force wind I walked up there – and lost half of my biscuits to the gale.

The two teams were quite evenly matched, but the wind made a mockery of the match. Granville scored an early goal, but Vierzon had two corners, two gusts of wind, and consequently two goals scored direct that eluded the entire defence.

Early in the second half Granville had a corner which the defence could only scramble out from under the bar and which was knocked into the net by a lurking Granville forward. And 5 minutes later, a Granville attacker took advantage of a gust of wind to curl a shot in around the keeper.

After that the wind dropped and we had a torrential downpour that soaked all 816 of us in the crowd. We were drenched. And the match petered out into a 3-2 win for Granville.

But Vierzon were panicking and losing their cool, with the result that quite a few of their players found their way into the referee’s notebook. And With a lopsided notebook like that, it’s no surprise that a couple of Granville players found their way in too – and for some quite inocuous offences too.

After the match I dripped my way back home in time to see the second half of the TNS v Queen of the South match on the laptop.

Pizza for tea of course, and the pepper makes it taste even better. That was followed by Apple crumble and ice cream too.

And now it’s an early night again. Back to work tomorrow, if I haven’t caught flu again, that is.

Saturday 11th November 2017 – I’VE BEEN …

… socialising this evening.

And that’s not like me, is it?

Last night’s sleep was one of the best that I’ve had just recently. And I was away with the fairies too – out in the East End of London with the children who had accompanied me on a voyage the other night. Reading all of these historical criminal cases from the Old Bailey is clearly getting to me.

I beat the second alarm and after breakfast did a little tidying up and putting away the washing which is now perfectly dry. Putting it in front of the radiator seems to work. And then I had some things to do – like sort out a music playlist for this evening.

After lunch I crashed out for a good hour and a half and then had to go for a shower and a shave and a good clean-up. And then I hit the town.

It’s Brigitte’s birthday today and she was having a party on a boat in the harbour for all of her friends, and I had been invited. Braving the rain, I walked down there to the harbour.

We were 27 people on this boat, and they all tucked into a couple of huge seafood platters followed by cheese and birthday cake. Of course, there wasn’t very much for me but then again I wasn’t expecting it.

It’s not my scene at all, being there with all of these people for four hours or so, but I have to get out and socialise and to meet the other people from this building. I was even given a lift back, which was very handy given the rainstorm that we were having.

And I’m having yet another early night. And Sunday is a day of rest – a lie-in. And I’m intending to make the most of it.

Friday 10th November 2017 – I’VE BURNT …

… myself today.

Sitting on the sofa with a full mug of boiling hot coffee and I fell asleep. As a result I dropped the top two inches down my front and it didn’t half hurt.

Last night I’d had yet another good sleep and I managed to get up at the appropriate time too. It was warm in here too – 15°C on the thermometer so I turned off the heating. I don’t need it on in this kind of weather.

After breakfast I had a shower, a shave and a change of clothes so that I look pretty, and then set about paying for my web hosting – the renewal of which is today. And that took, intermittently, the whole day.

And that reminds me. MY web hosting isn’t cheap, but it’s good value when you consider all of the information that’s contained on it. And if you want to help me defray my expenses so I can keep up the good work, you can use the links on the side bar to access Amazon to make your next purchase. Your purchase will cost you the same price, but I receive a small commission.

Once I’d organised the web host (or, at least, I hoped that I had) I braved the rainstorm and went out to the shops. Mind you, I needn’t have bothered because they are in fact opened tomorrow.

LIDL and LeClerc were where I went and I didn’t buy anything out of the ordinary. I’m on an economy drive as you know. But I did find some bread buns at €0.28 each so I bought two and stuck them in the freezer.

As you know, I have some vegan burgers that we made the other day and I’ll try to sort out a proper burger arrangement with mustard, salad and cheese. It’s been years since I’ve done that.

I also called at the Chemists to pick up something for my cold, flu and sore throat. But here’s a problem. Some of the medication that I am obliged to take reacts with the products that has been recommended. In the end, the very helpful girl behind the counter sorted out some natural products for me. And that’s good news. I’ll go there again.

Back here was when I had my little accident with the coffee, and after lunch I was well away yet again. Obviously my first day out was a little too much.

Tea was an absolutely excellent stuffed pepper cooked in the oven, followed by apple crumble and vegan ice cream, seeing as I’d used the saucepanfor the tomato sauce.

And later on, I went out for a walk seeing as it’s now cleared up outside.

Another early night now and then I’ll be fit for the weekend.

Thursday 9th November 2017 – I DIDN’T …

… go out for a walk today.

For the simple reason that every time that I looked out of the window, it was raining. With my state of health I’m not setting foot outside in that.

And here’s another thing that I didn’t do either – and that is to get out of the bed with the alarm.

Last night was a reasonably-early night and although i took me a while to go to sleep, eventually I dropped off into one of the deepest sleeps that I have had for a while. And it was so comfortable and it had been so long since I have had such a sleep that I ignored the alarm completely.

I’d been on my travels too. Around Delamere Street in Crewe at the back of the Crosville CLub where there was a marquee on the corner – a Starbucks or something selling branded coffee. Only a small place and there weren’t too many people queueing but there seemed to be some delay in serving. Looking around, I could see that the marquee was full anyway and there was nowhere to sit. Working on the laptop would be impossible and as there was another place across town in Victoria Street where I could sit more comfortably, I decided to go there. By this time it was next morning and I was in bed in a kind of large room on the first floor abve the coffee shop. There were dozens of beds in here scattered all over the room and my bed was in the centre of the room. I had slept half-clothed and as I completed my dressing there were other people in various beds watching me,

It was 08:10 when I left my stinking pit, so it was a late breakfast. And apart from lunch, I’ve not done very much at all. Just sorted out thousands of photos going back over 10 years and more – a task that I had started in 2013 and hadn’t done very much since.

Rosemary was on the phone for 90 minutes this evening And one of the many things that Rosemary mentioned was that this morning she awoke to find that they had the first snow of the winter back in the Auvergne.

Our lengthy chat meant I had a late tea. Oven chips, beans and sausages again. And just as delicious they were too.

And now I’m going to have another early night. It’s a Bank Holiday on Saturday so need to go shopping tomorrow. I hope that the weather will have improved.

Wednesday 8th November 2017 – I’M FEELING …

… a little better today.

I managed to have a reasonable night’s sleep too. I was in bed something like early and went off on a voyage. I’d been doing some research into criminal cases at the Old Bailey in the 18th Century for the last couple of days, and so last night I was on my travels being involved in some kind of welfare arrangement with children who had ended up before the judges (there are plenty of examples of children aged 15 being hanged in the 18th Century) and this even involved 18th-Century frozen food.

The alarm went off at 06:00 as usual but by that time I was already half out of bed. And after breakfast and a good relax, I even did some housework. I tidied up the frezer a little, rinsed out the new washing machine and did a load of washing (it works quite well, this machine).

It was a beautiful day outside and I was tempted to go out for a walk for the first time this week but instead I crashed out after lunch. Maybe the idea of going for a walk is a step too far. But my head cold seems to have eased off a little and transformed itself into a cough – and haven’t we been here before?

Tea was oven chips, vegan sausages and baked beans, followed by apple crumble and custard.

And now I’m preparing for an early night again. I’m definitly going to try to go out tomorrow if the weather is nice. High time I stretched my legs.

Tuesday 7th November 2017 – I’M NOT …

… feeling much better today either.

Despite going to bed early I couldn’t get off to sleep. It was 00:30 and I was still awake. I was still awake at 04:30 too, although I must have been asleep at one point. And I was still awake at 06:00 when the alarm went off.

No possibility of me getting out of bed though. I went back to sleep and it was getting on for 08:00 when I finally crawled out.

During the night I’d been on my travels too. To Oostende where I started off taking a female friend. We went to see a huge cruise ship that had arrived, and although it wasn’t easy to see. There was a tower block in the distance and I was explaining that behind it in the past would have been the huge pile of coal that fuelled the steamships that called here.
From there on, I was with a female partner – it might even have been Nerina – and I was skinning a cat in the same way that you would peel a mushroom. But halfway through the proceedings the cat appeared to recover consciousness. I couldn’t continue and had to pass the cat over to my partner to complete.a

I managed breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning vegetating on the sofa. I did manage to crawl off at one point. I have some Vick vapour rub somewhere – I know that I have because I remember buying it in Leuven – and I wish that I could find it.

Lunch was a struggle. I wasn’t hungry but I do have to eat. It took me quite a while to swallow my sandwich. And then I crashed out again for a few hours on the sofa.

I made tea tonight. I had lentils on the boil for quite a while. In the meantime I made the usual onion, garlic and spice base. In went the mushrooms, the lentils, a tin of mixed veg and some soya cream. I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t hungry. And there’s enough left over for another four meals, all of which went into the freezer.

So now I’m sitting with my feet up. I’ll be in bed very soon if I can clear my nose. A good sleep will do me good, I reckon,

Monday 6th November 2017 – GUESS WHO …

… has come down with the ‘flu?

I was awake at 05:10 this morning with a streaming head and from then on, hings just went downhill. With the temperature being 11°C in the living room that was the cue to put on the heating in the apartment. And it works too, much to my surprise. I can configure the heating so that in here it’s on i the daytime and in the bedroom it comes on for the night.

After breakfast I sorted out some Lemsip stuff. It’s been here for about 10 years but it’s better than nothing, I suppose. And it gave me some relief.

It was a struggle to make lunch and then afterwards crashed out on the sofa. And out to such an extent that I went and dragged the quilt off the bed and made myself comfortable.

That did the trick because I was feeling a little better by 18:00. Well enough to make a vegan pizza and some of the apple crumble – which was delicious with some soya custard.

I shan’t be doing too much now. I’ll be in bed soom, dosed up witj Lemsip and olbas oil. And I hope that I’ll feel better in the morning.

Sunday 5th November 2017 – I’VE HAD A …

… very nice, busy day out today.

I’ve been round at Liz’s for most of the day. We decided a while agos ago to have a bake-in one of these days – an so we fixed on today.

We spent most of the day baking and making soups, and ended up with a huge pile of stuff. There’s –

carrot, coconut and ginger soup
pepper, squash and tomato soup
apple crumble
vegetable piee
coriander hummus
beanburgers

There’s enough here to keep us going for a couple of weeks, I reckon.

We split the proceeds between us but I could only bring a few bits and pieces home as my freezer is, as you know, pretty full right now. And I do wish that I had bought a bigger one.

I can pick up the rest another time.

This morning it’s Sunday and so there was no alarm. And so no-one was more surprised to see when I awoke that it was all of … errr … 05:10. But badger that for a game of soldiers. I went back to sleep until a more realistic 09:10.

I’d been on my travels too. A long complicated voyage but all that I remember of it now is being on a couple of cable-hauled barges going in opposite directions on the Manchester Ship Canal.

After breakfast – and nice fresh muesli too – I had a shower and a clean-up. And then I hit the road in the driving rainstorm. Liz’s two neighbouring kids were there and were in quite a chatty mood. Once they had gone, we could attack the cooking.

Lunch was carrot, coconut and ginger soup, and tea was pie and mash with peas. And delicious it all was too. But it was quite exhausting doing it all and I found it hard to keep awake. In the end I had to come home and crash out for an hour.

In view of the weather I didn’t feel like going for a walk. It’s not a good diea too because I seem to have acquired a streaming head cold after my night out last night. I’m going to bed in a moment instead.

Saturday 4th November 2017 – I’VE JUST SEEN …

… some of the best goals that I’ve ever seen at this level of football.

A breakaway down the right wing by the right-back. A cross right into the penalty area and a forward running in sidefoots in on the half-volley into the back of the net from 18 yards out.

A couple of minutes later, another breakaway down the right wing once again from the right-back. A cross right into the penalty area and this time a diving header from the substitute centre-forward straight into the back of the net from about 8 yards out.

Both shots totally unstoppable.

Yes, we’ve been footballing today, haven’t we?

We nearly didn’t though. It was a struggle to hail myself out of bed and the beautiful nocturnal voyage that I was undertaking disappeared in a flash.

It was even harder to haul myself outside to Caliburn and go to the shops. The weather didn’t help either – it was teeming down outside with rain the like of which I haven’t seen before while I’ve been here.

There was a lot that I was needing to do, but the weather didn’t make me feel very optimistic. IN the end I just went to LIDL and Leclerc. And I didn’t buy anything that wasn’t on the list either. It was a sad morning for that.

After lunch I crashed out for quite a while – I’m still not feeling myself. But I did wake up in time for the football. Although the day had been bad, it had stopped raining so I walked up to the Stade Louis Dior. ON the way, I encountered the Bank Manager, who told me that there was a paper missing from my Bank account. He’ll ring me next week to discuss it.

US Granville’s opponents tonight were Vendee-Fontenay. Hopelessly adrift at the foot of the table. With me being in the crowd, an away banker was obvious and when they took the lead after three minutes, I would ordinarily have put the mortgage on it too.

It was a weird goal too. Down the right wing the Vendee Winger went to cross the ball in but his kick was blocked by a sliding tackle from the left-back. The ball ballooned in the air, swerved off its expected trajectory right into the path of a Vendee midfielder who was totally unmarked 10 yards out, and he headed into the empty net.

But gradually through the intermittent showers US Granville asserted themselves with the aid of some very good goals, and ran out 5-1 winners.

Despite the heavy scoreline, it wasn’t all one-way traffic. Vendee-Fontenay had some very good spells going forward and Granville had to do some desperate defending.

After the match I had a good walk home and had some rice with a tinned curry, just like I used to do after football back in the old days in PIonsat.

I’m exempted from a walk this evening due to my perambulations to the football ground. And with it being Sunday tomorrow I can have a lie-in. And I deserve it too.

Friday 3rd November 2017 – I KNEW …

… that I would suffer for my exertions this last week or so. And sure enough, today was the day.

Although I was out of bed at the appropriate time, I didn’t feel much like it, I was creaking and groaning from every joint and after breakfast, I sat on the sofa and hardly moved. Just the odd mug of coffee and stroll down the corridor, but for much of the morning I was sitting here on the corner of the sofa dozing away.

After lunch I was back on the sofa again for a couple of hours and away with the fairies again. But I knew that I ought to be doing something positive; so I went for a little walk.

I was right about the pile of gravel on the docks though.

But it wasn’t Pluto or Victress who came for it, but a new arrival, the Shetland Trader. I’ve not seen her before.

Built in 1992 and almost 3,000 tonnes, she’s come from Buckie in Scotland, via Southampton and Alderney for the gravel, which she’s taking over on the usual run to Littlehampton.

But it does make you wonder what hope the UK has after Brexit when it has even to import its gravel from abroad.

With the rain trying its best to break through the clouds, I carried on around the walls.

And there aren’t half some courageous people around these days.

Here we are in November and there they are down there, two women who have decided to go for a swim in the sea. All that I can say is “good luck” to them. Rather them than me.

I stood and watched them for a while, but didn’t squidge them with my welly – I left them to it and came back home for coffee and a warm, although I still haven’t put the heating on yet.

Later on in the evening, after having had a good chat with Rosemary on the telephone, I roused myself enough tp make tea. Mashed potatos, vegetables and a vegan burger. I even struggled out for a walk.

But I won’t be doing anything else. I’ve had enough and I’m going to bed.

Thursday 2nd November 2017 – A RIGHT LOAD OF BANKERS.

I seem to attract the worst sort of bankers, don’t I?

On my way to the LIDL this morning, I stopped off at the Credit Agricole to check the automatic payments on my account. And the monthly payments to my bank in Belgium and my bank in Canada STILL haven’t been paid.

In the bank I got to see an assistant, and he confirmed that although all of ly accounts are now held at the bank here in Granville, the monthly payments referred to above have never been made.

Consequently I insisted on seeing the manager. And when he was finally free and I saw him, I told him precisely what I thought of his bank. And I was impressed with how much polite but offensive French I could conjure up on the spur of the moment.

What made it worse was what happened once he telephoned his International Department and they said that International Dorect Debits can’t be transferred between branches, but need to be cancelled and restarted. And when I asked him why his assistant hadn’t told me that when I went in in May to transfer my account, he didn’t have a reply.

With the heat from my comments on his remarks, they’ll be having the painters in to redecorate his office. I was one very unhappy bunny, as you can imagine. I’ve just been for two months in Canada and the USA spending money that I ought to have had but didn’t – and if you recall, I didn’t stint on my expenditure out there.

I made an appointment for after lunch to continue our discussion, and I went off to LIDL where I bought the bread for freezing, some ice cube sacks, and the wrong size of plastic bag in which to store my frozen stuff.

During my lunch break I gathered up some papers to take back to the bank, and it’s just as well because they had absolutely nothing on their files and, for some reason, they were extremely reluctant to telephone the bank in Pionsat to obtain the information.

The information for the Belgian bank was easy, but for Canada, not so. On the transit form that I took down, the reference number was 16 digits and there was only space on their computerised form for 9.

Having run round in circles for half an hour, I insisted that they telephone the bank in Canada and obtain the information first-hand. Eventually, they agreed and here we encountered the unfortunate fact that Canada’s clocks haven’t gone back yet, so they weren’t open.

I had to loiter in the bank for 45 minutes before the call went through, and after being thoroughly interrogated as to my movements in Canada, they gave me the account details. A 9-digit number indeed, “but you’ll need the 7-digit branch code”.

“I wondered what that box of 7 digits was for on the form just before the space for the account number” said the bank clerk. I despaired.

So now I’ll have to wait until the beginning of December to see if the payments have gone through. But I’m way beyond being annoyed about all of this, as you can imagine.

As I left the bank, I bumped into Brigitte who was loitering around outside. Three times this week, that is. We went for a coffee and a walk around the docks. I came back here and crashed out for half an hour – after all, I’ve walked over 118% of my daily activity today.

I’d had a rough night last night. Tossing and turning for much of it. And I’d been on my travels too – driving a coach on a holiday feeder service. I’d returned home to find that someone else was trying to go out on a feeder but there was no oil in his coach and he was annoyed to say the least. I said that he could go in mine, which somehow I had managed to park in my room in this hostel where I was staying.

What was ironic about this was that I was idly surfing the internet looking for photos of Ford coaches and there in glorious technicolour was a photo of a coach that I used to drive when I worked for Salopia Saloon Coaches in 1979. It’s a small world.

Having done well over 100% of my daily routine, I’ve exempted myself from going for a walk. I’m going for an early night to recover from today’s exertions.

Wednesday 1st November 2017 – I DON’T KNOW …

… who it was who decided to have a party underneath my bedroom windowsill at 04:20 this morning, but if ever I lay my hands on them, they’ll be drinking soup through a straw for the next few weeks.

What made it worse was that I was on an exciting nocturnal ramble and I remember saying to myself “I really MUST remember this!” – but I awoke with such a sudden start that it went comletely out of my head and I couldn’t remember a thing.

But never mind – I managed to be out of bed before the second alarm went off, no matter how much I didn’t feel like it. And after breakfast I had a shower and cut my hair. I haven’t done that since before I went to Canada and it was looking quite unruly.

For the rest of the morning I had the usual nonsense to perform on the laptop. That took me up to lunchtime.

Now I do have to say that this bread from LIDL really does freeze well. And it defrosts even better. I shall have to do more of this and I’m wishing now that I had bought a bigger freezer.

After letting my lunch digest for an hour or so I went for another walk.

My route took me down to the docks so that I could see whether Grima had brought anything exciting yesterday.

There were these tractos – two of them – or, rather, one and a half because the one furthest from the camera is only the gearbox, cab and rear axle.

They are International Harvesters and by the looks of things they have been standing outside in the weather for a considerable number of years. There’s nothing much of any interest on them, that’s for sure.

I walked on through the town to the car park where I left Caliburn when I first came here

There’s a little park just there with a pond and a couple of fenced compounds with all kinds of different animals in there.

I hadn’t actually been for a walk around it before, and so I took the opportunity to go for a good prowl around, seeing as it was such a nice day.

There was a zig-zag path at the back of it so I climbed right up to the top of it. And there was a good view down to where the old goods railway line used to run down to the docks.

I ended up on the main road out to Donville-les-Bains and from there it was quite an easy walk down the hill to the Casino.

But not so easy going up the hill on the other side to the Old Town. I Had to take my time up there. I’m definitely getting old.

I didn’t know what to make for tea tonight so I prepared some vegetables in a big dish with olive oil, chick peas and peanuts and put it in the microwave. It didn’t come out how I was hoping as the potatoes and carrots weren’t cooked enough, and the frozen veg was overcooked.

But it’s no big deal. You have to pay to learn. I’ll have to do the spuds and carrots on their own first next time.

So I’ve been out for my walk and I’m off to bed in a short while. Tomorrow I’m planning on walking out to LIDL to buy some more bread. We know that the bread sells out quickly, so I’ll have to go out fairly early.

Tuesday 31st October 2017 – I DECIDED …

… to go for a walk down into town this afternoon to do a little shopping.

And so; as you can see, I was having my usual luck when it comes to opening hours and the like. I wasn’t in any rush this afternoon, and that proved to be my undoing.

It always happens to me, doesn’t it?

This morning, I didn’t quite manage to crawl out of bed prior to the second alarm going off. That was something of a disappointment as I’m trying to organise myself a little better.

And it was cold in here too. 12°C in fact. Had I been in the Auvergne I would have had the heating on as 13.4°C is the optimal temperature down there, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall. But that wouldn’t happen inside the attic until mid-November so it shows just how effective the insulation is that I put in the walls and roof.

But with 12°C in here, it still doesn’t feel as cold as 13.4°C does in the Auvergne. So I’ve made it into November anyway with no heat – except for the casual heat in the bathroom when I’m having a shower, and that doesn’t count.

There was plenty to do on the laptop this morning, and to make matters worse I crashed out for an hour or so sometime during thr proceedings.

Lunch was defrosted bread, and that worked quite well. I shall have to do more of that.

Having continued with some work this afternoon, it was about 15:45 when I went down into the town.

My luck was in down at the docks, and it wasn’t only my luck that was in because my ship had come in too.

I’d told you the other day that the stuff was piling up in the corner of the dock where Grima ties up and so I was expecting her arrival any day.

And sure enough, she had arrived on the lunchtime tide, unloaded a pile of scrap, and was busy taking on board the stuff on the quayside.

I’d not seen her load up before so I spent some time watching them piling the stuff on board.

With a skilled crew on board and skilled dockside handlers they were sticking an enormous quantity of stuff on board. Grima might only be a small ship but she has an extraordinary capacity for freight.

And it didn’t make any difference about the time that I had passed on the quayside because the Carrefour would have been closed anyway

The Coccinelle didn’t have any Tahini so I prowled around all of the fine food shops in the town to look for it. Having opened a jar of chick peas and with some left over from the curry last night, I want to make some hummus. Apparenty it can be frozen, which is good news.

My journey took me up past the railway station with no luck, so seeing as I was halfway there, I walked on all the way out to the Bio-Coop. They had some (at a price of course) and I bought some sausages and vegan sandwich spread too.

On the way back I stopped at the LIDL and to my dismay they had sold out of bread. But I bought some onions and potatoes seeing as I was running low.

The 100% of the day’s efforts came up on the fitbit when I was walking back into town (with still a good way to go) so I could exempt myself from going for a walk tonight. It was late too – 18:45 when I returned home. A coffee was on the cards after all of that.

Tea was mashed potato, carrots, frozen peas, frozen sprouts, frozen broccoli and a vegan burger. And very nice it all was too.

And now I am off to bed. I’ve done enougb today, I reckon.

EPIC HALL

The Poisoned Pen (or Poisoned Chalice, more like) – or my relentless struggle against reality