Tag Archives: sauret besserve

Friday 22nd November 2013 – WELL, WE HAD THE SNOW…

… and more than enough of it too. In fact, I don’t think that it stopped all day.

First job was of course to clear off the solar panels just in case the sun decided to show itself (which it didn’t, of course) and then after breakfast I had a play with the printer that I inherited from Marianne. I finally managed to get it to work but of course it ran out of ink almost immediately – par for the course I reckon.

I went round early to Liz’s seeing as the weather was bad, and I was helped on my way by the Parisian who brushed the snow off a few branches to let me pass. He was smiling and we had a little chat too – dunno what’s come over him, being sociable. I hope that he keeps it up – it’s so much nicer around here when everyone gets on with everyone else.

We had a quick lunch at Liz’s and then it was off to Gerzat to record the December Radio Anglais programmes, as the snow was falling quicker and quicker and the roads were becoming worse and worse.

On the way back, we made an executive decision and went to the Carrefour at Riom to do our shopping. We drive right past it and it would save both of us an unnecessary trip out on Saturday – not advisable if the weather gets any worse.

On the way back, the roads were more and more difficult and so I forewent my usual evening coffee. I dropped off Liz and her shopping, and made my way home – via the Intermarché at Pionsat because I remembered a couple more things that I had forgotten.

I made it home safely, which is more than two other vehicles did – slid sideways into ditches. And one of them was a 4×4 and that doesn’t surprise me because people who own them think that they can do anything and drive just as fast as they did before. That’s nonsense because these modern 4x4s are not built like an old “Series” leaf-sprung Land-Rover and when people hear stories of 4x4s being friven flat-out in all kinds of adverse weather conditions, they don’t realise that “flat-out” in an old “Series” leaf-sprung Land-Rover was 40mph.

So now I’m back here, battened into the attic with the fire going full-blast. I have everything that I need so i’m not moving until Monday afternoon.

-6

Sunday 17th November 2013 – NO FOOTY … GRRRRRR!

And I checked before setting out, too. I rang up Fabien who has now taken over the running of FC Pionsat St Hilaire from Bernard, so I am given to understand, and he said at first that today’s 2nd XI match at Charensat was on. But shortly afterwards, he rang back to say that following a mid-morning pitch inspection, the game was off.

Seeing as it was Sunday, I wasn’t feeling too much like a 13:00 start anyway, especially as I didn’t crawl out of bed until abou 10:30. So that was the cue for a leisurely morning.

The afternoon gave me several possibilities – I could see if there were any clubs in the vicinity (Le Quartier, the Goatslayers, St Maurice etc) were playing, or whether Terjat or St Marcel’s matches were on, or else I could stay in and do the rock programmes for Radio Anglais. Common sense and logic suggested that I did the radio programmes and so for once, I took my own best advice (not like me, I know) and dashed out January’s rock music. So that’s out of the way.

This evening I was summoned to appear chez Liz and Terry so that Liz and I could do the rehearsals for our recordings on Friday, and I could have a quick glance at the Fiat Punto that has ground to a shuddering halt (might possibly be that a big end cap has come off, although it’s significant that it started to go wrong after a local garage changed the water punp – has someone dropped a bolt or a spanner down a waterway?)

Liz also sprung a surprise on me – could I help her translate some technical information about the work that is done in a casting foundry. That 18 months I spent in an in-depth study of the evidence of the Tay Bridge disaster, during which about 100 pages was spent in discussing foundry practice and principles, stood me in good stead here, that’s for sure. And I’m not really complaining because Liz also sprung on me an apple crumble and vegan custard together with a doggy bag to take home, as well as another supply of vegan cheese from the UK.

On the way there though, I noticed rather ominously that the sides of the Puy-de-Dome, the Mont Dore and the Puy de Sancy are well-covered in snow. Winter is drawing inexorably closer with every day.

I’m also having a little change of procedure about the bateries in the barn right now. As you know, the charge controller has packed up in there (the second in as many years) so I’m by-passing the charge controller with a flying lead with crocodile clips on each end. Anyway, the battery that I’m using is fully-charged and I don’t want to overcharge it by leaving it coupled up all day, but before all of these charge control issues there were three batteries that were, well, not too bad, and they gradually lost their charge in the absence of a charge conroller.

What I’m doing then is to charge up for just half an hour the battery that’s there, and then swap over the charge to the three precious ones. If we have a good week or so of decent weather it might actually put some charge in them. Who knows? But it’s worth a try.

-13

Sunday 20th October 2013 – WHOSE SILLY IDEA WAS IT …

…to set an alarm clock for 08:00 and ON A SUNDAY MORNING too?

Well, actually, it was my idea. When I was at Liz and Terry’s the other day, Terry mentioned that he had a scaffolding to take down on Sunday morning and no-one to help him. Right at that moment, Liz was poised over me with a plate of vegetable curry in one hand and a slice of ginger cake in the other, and so my spirit consequently wavered, and here I was at 09:15 heading across the countryside to Rosemary’s.

At that time of the morning, with the rain that we had had throughout the night, there was a gorgeous mist rising serpent-like from the Gorge de la Sioule and I would have taken an photograph or two of it in order to regale you all, but that was when I discovered that I had forgotten my camera.

After a coffee (thank you, Rosemary), we attacked the scaffolding and we soon had it down and in Terry’s trailer. Terry then asked me, rather disingenuously, if I wanted to come for lunch. I said that that would be very nice, to which Terry replied “good. You can help me unload the trailer”. Drat! Foiled again!

So after unloading the trailer we had soup and bread. And I was supposed to go to the football at Montel but I didn’t have the camera and in any case I wasn’t in such an energetic mood, so we chilled out for a while.

Back here, it’s Sunday and pizza night. And then I had Cécile on the ‘phone for over two hours. It seems like she has forgotten something important at her house, and would I mind …

-5

Monday 26th August 2013 – WELL, I MADE IT TO THE AIRPORT

terminal 2 airport charles de gaulle paris franceBut it wasn’t half touch and go, I’ll tell you.

I didn’t manage to get anything in the way of sleep last night either, because I couldn’t find the keys to my storage box and my safety deposit box in Canada.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and so I put a couple of batteries for the Ryobi angle grinder on charge. It’s as well to be prepared, and that will sort out the men from the boys of course. After that, desperate measures were called for and I started going through all of the waste bins.

I’m glad I did because I found my missing personal telephone directory NOYE TO SELF – have a word with Cécile about her method of tidying up. I found lots of other disagreeable objects but no keys and at 08:52 I called it a day and started to pack everything away.

However, I had a thought. I definitely remember putting the keys in a zipped pocket and they ought to be in the zipped pocket of my “Canada Electrical” bag. But I didn’t remember opening the suitcase after I locked up the storage unit. I’d tipped out my sac banane where there are about four zipped pockets, and the keys weren’t there either of course, but there was a zipped pocket on the computer and camera hold-all.

And sure enough, with just a couple of minutes to go, I emptied that out, and there they were! Phew! That was a close shave!

So at Radio Tartasse I recorded two months of rock programmes, then Liz and I did 6 weeks of “Radio Anglais”. I stopped off at the Pionsat Intermarché to buy a pile of bread and salad and I’ve made a mountain of butties – I know all about the closed restaurant round the corner from my hotel and I have my suspicions about Air Transat and their choice of vegan food. It’s as well to be prepared.

caliburn at liz and terry messenger sauret besserve puy de dome franceAfter taking Julie and Clare’s furniture out of Caliburn, I garaged him right round the back of Liz and Terry’s where he can stay quiet for 6 weeks or so out of the way and be good.

Liz kindly prepared lunch, a salad and bread, and I shaved my head with the hair trimmer. There are First Nation Canadians, or Amerindiens, around by where I’m going and I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the Malicete. I’m not leaving them anything to pull off. Anyway, after all of that, we went down to Gerzat in Liz’s car to record 5 weeks of “Radio Anglais” for Radio Arverne.

diesel multiple unit sncf french railways riom puy de dome franceThat was for once quite straightforward and then Liz dropped me off at the station in plenty of time for my train.

I’ve no idea what make or model it is – I shall have to refer to my Jane’s Train Recognition Guide for that, but I can tell you that it wasn’t as rattly or as bangy as the one last time I came here. And as nothing at all exciting happened during the voyage, we arrived in Lyon, and Lyon is much more civilised than trying to go via Paris. I had time to eat some butties and drink a coffee.

double decker TGV Lyon part dieu paris charles de gaulle SNCF French railways franceIn the TGV though we were like sardines. I was lucky in that I boarded early and so I managed to grab a place on the difficult rail halfway down the carriage. Anyone who came after me was struggling for luggage space. It really is ridiculous – why don’t they have a luggage van and a baggagiste on each of the trains? That would make everything so much simpler.

And a good 25 minutes late, due to a tardy connection, we hurtled off into the night with kids screaming and all kinds of things. And not even a place to swing a cat. I hate to think what this would be like on a Saturday evening.

That 25 minutes ended up as being a whopping great 44 minutes by the time that we arrived at the station at Terminal 2, and although that might seem like bad news, it is in fact the first bit of good news that I have had for about a week because it entitles me to a refund of 25% on my ticket – something that I shall be following up with vigour.

paris charles de gaulle airport terminal 2 waiting for hotel shuttle bus franceUp in a crowded lift from the first floor to the fifth floor and into a heaving mass of people waiting for the hotel buses. Last year I stepped out of the station and onto the bus – this year I think that everyone else’s bus must have done 5 or 6 trips before mine came. But at least that had dispersed the masses and we were a mere 12 on the bus.

Having now had a shower (and we aren’t talking about the OUSA Exeecutive Committee here), configured the new laptop for the internet and downloaded a pile of files as well as a FTP program, I can post this load of rubbish and go to bed.

-12

Sunday 25th August 2013 – I’M HAVING DISASTERS …

… and I’ve not even set out yet. I’ve forgotten to bring home my jacket – it’s hanging up on a hook back at Marianne’s. Luckily I took my passport with me to sign for this apartment so it was still in my back pack, however my dictaphone has been well and truly left behind in the jacket and, as you know, I’m sunk without that.

Not only that, I have two new bank cards to take with me and I can’t find either of those. They are probably in the jacket pocket along with the dictaphone. Also, my credit card expires on 30th September while I’m away and the new one hasn’t arrived yet.

Anyway, you can see what kind of journey this is going to turn out to be.

Being a Sunday I had a lie-in and an interesting dream. I started off in Poland in the square of some big city. The place was being invaded, whether by the Russians or the Germans I didn’t know, but we had a 53-seat coach of the type that I used to drive for Shearings and I was vetting refugees to see if they were potentially British and if so, to pass them down to the door where someone would check them over properly and let them aboard. And for reasons that I do not understand, as happens in dreams, the scene decanted itself to Ostend where we continued.

From there I was in a house dealing with Marianne’s vehicles (of course, she hadn’t really owned one for a number of years). She had an Escort van, an old dirty red van something like an LDV 200, and a couple of saloon cars, nothing worth very much but I had to dispose of them nevertheless and it wasn’t easy.

So wide awake by now, I played “hunt the bank cards” unsuccessfully, likewise “hunt the charger for the movie camera that I have inherited” (which I also think is in Brussels – GRRRR) and then had a major packing session. I can’t find tons of stuff that I need but right now I’m past caring. I’ll leave here tomorrow at 09:15 and I shan’t be back til October 15th. I’ll go with what I’ve got and manage without the rest.

At least I do have a dictaphone though. Round at Liz’s for tea and rehearsing our radio programmes she had a rummage in her drawers ad foud a digital dictaphone that has the air of doing whatever I need it to do, for which I am extremely grateful.

So see you tomorrow from Paris (I hope).

-11

Monday 22nd July 2013- I’M OFF

But then again you knew that already.

This morning I was up bright and early (just for a change) and did all of the domestic chores around the place before shooting off to Marcillat-en-Combraille to record the Radio Anglais sessions for Radio Tartasse.

As usual we had total and utter chaos – they had a printer and after much searching we found the USB cable, but as for the power lead, no hope for that. I ended up reading the text off the computer (I had taken that along in anticipation – one has to be prepared at Radio Tartasse).

Liz and I went on to record the information programmes, which passed off almost without incident, and then we set off back to Liz’s house for lunch.

I called at the bank to pick up the new bank cards but, as you might indeed expect as it’s Monday, the bank is closed.

At Liz’s we had yesterday’s leftovers for lunch and then went down to Gerzat to record the Radio Arverne version of “Radio Anglais”. That passed off without much incident too.

However, in a dramatic change of plan, we went there in Liz’s car. After all, the hottest day of the year and it has air-conditioning. What more can any man desire?

Back here though, not so good.

I melted in Calibuen on the way back and there was no hope of me going on to Brussels. I crashed out for a couple of hours, loaded up Caliburn with the dirty washing and a pile of empty cardboard boxes.

Just after 21:00, with the weather still absolutely roasting, I was on my way.

See you soon.

-8

Sunday 21 July 2013 – AND AM I ALL PACKED?

Am I ‘eck as like.

No surprise there, is there?

I had a lie-in until about 09:20 and by that time it was far too hot to do anything much. Records have tumbled today and I can’t think how often it is that I have had to put cold water into the solar shower to cool it down to an acceptable temperature of about 37°C.

For yes, I did have my first (and probably only) solar shower of the year this evening, and gorgeous it was too – well-worth waiting for.

Mind you I almost didn’t manage to take it – there sunning itself on the concrete pad right almost where I was planning to stand was a whacking great snake – the first real snake that I’ve seen at my house, although I’ve seen plenty elsewhere.

He p155ed off pretty sharp-ish when he saw me and disappeared into the woodpile, right next to where the ladder is. I got to thinking of myself that it was a shame that I didn’t have a couple of friends, some counters and a pair of dice.

And if you want to know what kind of snake he was, at the speed at which he disappeared, he was definitely a calculator. That’s right – a calculator is a very fast adder.

Still, Caliburn is emptied and there’s a pile of stuff in it.

Not all I need to take all of it but there’s a slight change of plan. I’m not leaving right after the radio shows. It’s going to be even hotter tomorrow so it’ll be wicked on the road. I’m coming back here and I’ll leave at about 19:00 when it cools down.

Trying to print off the radio stuff, and nothing worked. It’s not gathering in the paper and so I’ll need to strip it down and find out why. But I never have any luck with printers. There’s dozens round here that don’t function as they are supposed to do.

Luckily Liz came to the rescue with some stuff (and a nice tea and some ginger cake for which I am always grateful) when I was down there rehearsing the radio shows and I’ll have to get Radio Tartasse to do the rest tomorrow.

Now as you know, every now and again I write down my dreams on here.

Many years ago when I was at Uni I helped out as one of a few guinea-pigs for someone who was doing research into dreams. We had to record our dreams and submit them to this guy who was using them as material for his thesis.

Even though the project ended years ago I still keep it up to a certain degree because it was so interesting and now it’s become something of a habit.

I don’t record all of my dreams because without the equipment that we had, it’s difficult to do so, and so I only record the ones that I remember really well. And last night’s was a corker, it really was.

Back in the 1980s when I had my taxi business in Crewe I had a young girl working for me on Saturdays. She stayed for a couple of years and then left to go to college.

She kept in touch with Nerina and me and there was talk at one point that she might come to lodge with us for a while as home conditions were difficult.

Anyway, to cut a long story short … “Hooray” – ed … Nerina and I separated a few years later and I was preparing to emigrate, and I bumped into Nerina. She asked me how I was and we had a little chat about this and that.

One thing that she said quite surprised me. “I’m surprised that you didn’t get …. to move in with you”.
“How do you mean?”
“Well, you must have known that she had a big crush on you”.
Rather like Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams in Carry On Loving“Surely you must have felt it?”
“Felt it? I never got anywhere near it”.
I didn’t, as it happened, and it was rather late in the day to tell me, I thought.

A good few years or so years later I did encounter … again – now separated from her husband and with a young baby in tow.

I was just about to go off New York for a holiday and, on a whim, I invited her along.  But it was far too short notice and it didn’t happen, and I always regard her as “the one that got away” – the lucky girl.

Anyway, last night, here she was. We were in Sydney, Australia, together as a couple, talking to someone about their cats, and a taxi driver stuck his head around the door and said that it was time to go. So we went outside to get into his taxi, a big modern silver Opel with a huge scrape all the way down the side and with a floor made of wooden pallets. He took us back to our home and when he dropped us off, I noticed that the letter box outside had been knocked off its pedestal and bent. So there I was fixing it and putting it back into position so I could post this huge pile of brown envelopes, but … told me that the postman had passed while I was fixing the letter box and it was now too late.

I’ve never had a dream as realistic as this – so realistic that in the middle of it and I had to get up to go for a Gypsy’s downstairs in the bathroom, when I returned to bed and went back to sleep, the dream carried on from where it left off.

It was totally astonishing and I would love to know what has been going on in the back of my mind somewhere that has made it come up with all of this. It’s quite unnerving for some reason and has put me right off my stroke. I shan’t be feeling myself for a good week or so …“and quite right too” – ed

Surreal was not the word.

..

-8

Saturday 13th July 2013 – THE BEST DAY …

… of the year so far.

And for a variety of reasons. Not least of which was the fact that I spent it in convivial company.

Up before the alarm clock, just by way of a change, I was washed, dressed and breakfasted and I’d done some more work on my web pages by the time 09:00 came round.

By 10:00 I had unloaded all the wood off Caliburn’s roof rack and I was on my way to the shops at St Eloy-les-Mines.

Although I didn’t spend anything more than usual, I called in at Cheze and bought some glue for the plasterboard so that I can fit that around the window, and also four tubes of sealant to seal the gap between the window and the wall.

dylan strawberry moose liz terry messenger sauret besserve puy de dome franceFrom St Eloy-les-Mines I round to Liz and Terry’s. Kate, Darren and the kids had arrived for a holiday and I’d been invited for lunch.

It gave me an opportunity to catch up with Strawberry Moose who had come down here for his holidays a few days ago.

I found him having a marvellous time playing on the trampoline and the slide with Dylan.

robyn strawberry moose liz terry messenger sauret besserve puy de dome franceThey very kindly asked me if I wanted to stay for tea and that was really nice. Then afterwards we sat on the terrace at the back.

That gave Strawberry Moose the opportunity to have a cuddle with Robyn, although I’m not quite sure who was cuddling who.

Terry also very kindly gave and lent me a few things to help me progress in the bathroom, not the least being the Ryobi Plus One mastic gun.

But he also gave me a present, which was really nice. Someone was selling some Ryobi Plus One hedge trimmers with lithium battery and charger, for less than the price of the battery and charger alone.

Consequently he bought two, and one of them was for me. I’m most impressed – thanks very much.

As the day faded out into the night, we watched the stars come out. There are thousands of them in the sky here – more than you’ll ever see at most places and that was one of the things that attracted me to the Auvergne.

All in all, it was a very civilised day.

But I was not so pleased when I returned home. It seems that someone has forced the door on my letter box.

Not sure if there’s anything missing though – I’ll need to talk to the Postie about that, but I’ll have to fetch the coppers in because you never know what it was that they might have been after

-3

Monday 24th June 2013 – I HAD ANOTHER …

… vivid dream last night, and I remember telling Cécile about it when I woke up. But 5 minutes later it had gone completely out of my head and Cécile hadn’t been paying too much attention to it anyway, so that’s one that got away.

After breakfast I went to Marcillat en Combraille and recorded my Radio Anglais rock music programmes for Radio Tartasse – and have I got a belter of a live concert for the month of August – but more of that in due course.

I was able to harvest a pile of radio programmes to put on the net, and then Liz and I did another series of radio programmes in the “Radio Anglais” series.

However, we have a minor hitch – I forgot all about “On The Beach” and we ended up starting “identity controls”, and so we are now all out of synch. Ahh well …

Back at Liz’s I gave Terry a hand to fit some of the windows into his new extension, and then we attacked the left-over pasta from yesterday.

Down at Gerzat we recorded another 4 programmes for the Radio Arverne version of “Radio Anglais” and then Bernard arranged for all of the outstanding programmes held there to be copied onto my memory stick.

But here’s an issue – his main computer wouldn’t recognise the stick. It seems, after investigation, that it’s formatted in RAW data and not in NTFS (or in FAT 32 either) and so we had to do a few manipulations in order to get the data onto it.

Once I’ve taken the data off, I’ll have to reformat it all into FAT 32 or something.

I gave Terry another hand back at Liz’s and then came back here to help Cécile carry on sanding down her ceiling. One of these days I might even be able to make a start on my house, and won’t that be nice?

And talking of working on my house, Liz gave me a tub of really vicious weedkiller – something like the commercial variety of Agent Orange.

I’ve been trying to avoid using weedkiller at any price on my land but I just can’t cope with the weeds and so on.

There are some parts of my land that will be under black plastic sheeting and gravel or even tiles (looking at that lovely lot of tiles that Terry used on his new patio) and so, regrettable as it might be, I’m afraid that that is exactly what will be happening tomorrow morning, if the bad weather holds off.

-2

Monday 17th December … WHAT WITH MY …

… late night last night – not returning home until 01:35 this morning – it was freezing cold up here and so I went straight to bed.

And I was up early too, for today we were doing the radio programmes.

This morning it was out to Marcillat-en-Combraille and the Radio Tartasse sessions.

Down to Liz and Terry’s for lunch and then Gerzat and the Radio Arverne sessions this afternoon. That involved the regular series of programmes followed by the Christmas Special.

Just as I predicted, we haven’t used half of it either. But that’s no big deal – it saves me a job for next year, doesn’t it?

And much to everyone’s surprise, including mine, everything today went off without a hitch. How often does that happen?

Back to drop off Liz a – something that naturally involves a coffee (followed by a slice of vegan ginger cake of course) and then I came back here.

And here I’m staying too, and the reason for that is simple. I’ve not been feeling to well for a couple of days and last night a heavy head cold erupted, hence one of the reasons why I had no sleep.

It now seems to have developed into a fully-blown man-flu and so that’s me up here in the attic for the duration.

I hope that I’ve cut enough wood to last me out.

-5

Sunday 16th December 2012 – I’VE SPENT TODAY …

… not DOING very much at all – some tidying up … "THUD" – ed … and arranging some papers, which makes a change.

Later on, I went down to Liz and Terry’s to rehearse the radio programmes. On the way I stopped to pick up Cécile who had been invited.

It’s a mammoth radio programme as I told you, and I doubted very much that we’ll finish it – after all, 35 pages of A4 is some going. But at least it’s broken the back of the radio programme for next Christmas too, if anything else survives after Friday.

I also received my Christmas prezzie from Liz – a vegan Christmas cake – and I’ll post a photo of it as soon as I can find a fork lift truck to lift it out of the back of Caliburn because it’s enormous.

Cécile was having further trouble with this new wood stove that she’s been given and so I stopped off there to have a good look at it.

It took me a while to figure it out but once that was resolved and it had had a good cleaning it burnt like a good’un.

But it took ages, hence the late return home. Good job that Caliburn knows the way on his own.

0

Monday 19th November 2012 – WE WERE RADIOING …

… today

But I almost wasn’t.

Coming into Marcillat-en-Combraille I encountered a large red lorry, and the closer I approached it, the farther it drifted out across the road into my path.

I ended up with two wheels on the pavement and a big bulge in one of my tyres. And just before I come to the UK too. I could have done without that.

Just for a change, things went according to plan at Radio Tartasse and we weren’t there long. I put some diesel into Caliburn and then went down to Liz’s for lunch – hot-pot, apple crumble and custard.

That was followed by some of Cecile’s chocolate cake and Liz’s carrot cake, all the leftovers from yesterday evening, and very nice they were too.

Radio Arverne was surprisingly well-organised too and we didn’t stay long there.

I’ve been planning a new format for the presentation of the programmes and that seemed to work quite well – a vast improvement on piles of scattered papers all over the place.

Bernard the engineer finally managed to track down some of the programmes that were lost following his technical hitches in March and September but the rest are, unfortunately, irretrievably lost which is something of a shame.

Back to Liz’s for more coffee and carrot cake (I really am so lucky) and that was that

Tomorrow it’s back to work and I’ll be doing the flooring in the shower room I hope, unless I have any more interruptions.

That should keep me out of mischief for a while. 

-4

Sunday 18th November 2012 – I WAS GOING …

… to go to watch a football match this afternoon.

No match for FC Pionsat St Hilaire this weekend so I had had a search around on the internet.

And I came up with quite a choice too – St Avit to see Le Quartier’s 2nd XI (which apparently is many of FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 3rd XI from last year, so they say), Neuf Eglise to watch a cup match, or to Baudelaire or Chambon in the Creuse, where there were a couple of matches.

Instead, though, I stayed in, because I was busy. I have a lot to do and it won’t be done if I don’t do it.

I actually managed a lie-in until 09:45 today, although that wasn’t too much of a lie-in seeing as how I didn’t go to bed until about 02:00.

And after watching The Cannonball Run, which is definitely one of my favourite films for mindless, light-hearted entertainment, I sat down and started on a new project.

As you might (or might not) know, I present a Radio Anglais rock music programme twice a week for Radio Tartasse in Marcillat-en-Combraille.

That sounds very grand but it is in fact just a couple of programmes recycled during the month.

However, I’m playing stuff that most, if not all, my listeners have never heard, because I’m not going for mainstream music but for the more marginal stuff that never had the airplay to be a top 20 hit.

So what I’ve started to do today is to prepare a web page listing all of the albums from which I’ve been playing stuff, and arranging them by month.

It’s a long way from being finished but at least it’s started and it’s well on its way

This evening I picked up Cécile at her place and we went down to Liz and Terry’s – for me to rehearse my radio programmes with Liz and for Cécile to discuss some work with Terry.

In the end we all had a very good chat and a nice socialising evening.

And tomorrow, we’re recording our radio programmes, so I’ll be out all day.

It won’t leave me much time to do this floor.

-4

Monday 29th October 2012 – I’VE BITTEN …

… the bullet and lit the fire up here this evening.

Coming back from radioing, the temperature up here was 12.4°C – that’s about the limit for heat but what clinched it was the fact that I had Sunday’s pizza and garlic bread to cook.

It’s cheaper (like “cost = nil”) to cook them in the little oven on top of the woodstove. In no time at all the temperature up here was a balmy (or is that “barmy”?) 20.4°C and the pizza and garlic bread were done to a turn.

Not only that, the kettle on the top of the stove heated the water to a respectable washing-up type of temperature and so this is not only the first day of heat for winter 2012, it’s also the first day of no bottle gas.

A bottle of gas for cooking costs me about €32 and lasts me roughly 200 days. That’s about €0:16 per day that I’m saving.

Add to that the fact that a bottle of gas (at €32) lasted about 20 days in the old gas heater, then I’ve saved €1:60 per day on heating – a total of €1:76 per day in total.

The stove cost me €279, which means that at €1:76 per day it will be paid for in about 160 days. And as I use the stove about 100 days per year, it means that sometime round about Christmas it will be paid off.

A shrewd move, purchasing this woodstove.

We’d been radioing today, and that wasn’t without incident.

Radio Tartasse at Marcillat en Combraille forgot that we were coming (despite me reminding them on Friday) and so nothing was prepared, which meant that we had to make it up as we went along.

But at Radio Arverne in Gerzat the wheels fell off completely and we had to re-record one of the programmes a couple of times, as well as do some heavy editing, before we had a decent take.

But there’s a reason for that.

Liz didn’t have much sleep thanks to a hyperactive mind, and I had about one hour because, presumably, I have a guilty conscience about something or other.

Walking outside beating the bounds of my property here at 05:15 in the freezing weather because I can’t sleep – that’s a new one, isn’t it?

sunset site ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceOn the way back from Liz and Terry’s as it was going dark, I stopped at my favourite spot – the birdwatching site at the back of St Gervais d’Auvergne – yet again.

We were being presented with the most magnificent sunset as the sun slowly sank beneath the heavy clouds.

If ever a moment called for the camera, then this was it.

sunset site ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceIt was even more interesting to stand there in the dark and watch all of the lights swich on one by one, like some kind of carpet of bulbs spreading out across the landscape.

And of course it called for a repetition of that well-worn old saying –
“Red sky at night – shepherd’s delight”
“Red sky in the morning – Les Ancizes is on fire”.

And that’s not all of it either. I also fixed the non-working flasher on Caliburn and readjusted the fan belt on Liz’s car.

It’s been a busy day today and I’m off to bed now – thoroughly exhausted.

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Sunday 28th October 2012 – BRRRRR!!!!!!!

puy de dome franceIt’s absolutely freezing outside. And I mean that too. Minus 1.6°C outside when I took the stats just now.

And it’s been cold all day as you can tell by just looking at this photo of the Puy-de-Dome that I took from my usual haunt – the birdwatching site at the back of St Gervais d’Auvergne.

Winter has arrived, early as we predicted exclusively on these pages just 10 days ago, and we are still in October too.

puy de sancy puy de dome franceAnd just look over there at the Puy de Sancy and the Mont Dore. It’s more like Mont Blac over there right now. And those heavy clouds are threatening more punishment

And the snow isn’t just scattered over the high ground either. There’s piles of it in the middle distance too.

When that lot was unleashed last night, we were still on SUMMER time would you believe. The weather has gone totally crazy.

So this morning with the extra hour in bed, I was up and about at 09:20 and after breakfast and the usual paperwork, I spent a couple of hours doing some housework, cleaning and dusting and the like.

It’s certainly been such a long time since I’ve done any, and I can actually see some floor now.

This afternoon I went out to Terjat to watch AS Terjat play Neris les Bains’s 2nd XI.

An Allier Division 1 match, theoretically the same level at which FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 1st XI play, but there wasn’t a single player out there whom I would chose for my team. The quality really is quite poor in the Allier.

Neris-les-Bains are quite high up in the league and AS Terjat are mid-table, yet you wouldn’t have thought so from watching this match.

The first half with AS Terjat kicking into a howling wind, the match was played mostly in the Terjat half, but Neris-les-Bains were to all intents and purposes clueless in attack.

In the second half, playing with the wind, AS Terjat scored 2 goals in quick succession and as the wind dropped, Neris-les-Bains scored late in the game, due to a defensive howler in the AS Terjat penalty area.

fter that I went to Liz and Terry’s to rehearse our Radio Anglais programmes for the coming week. Liz made a lovely tea and I had a nice warm shower for which I was grateful.

Back here though it’s freezing and I was sorely tempted to light the fire up here. November 17th was the first fire in 2010 – November 27th was the first in 2011,but the first fire in October is just crazy.

If it’s as cold as this tomorrow and I’m in all evening it will definitely be lit.

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