Tag Archives: place d’armes

Monday 29th May 2017 – LAST NIGHT …

… we had the most tremendous storm that I have seen for years.

It started off at 23:00 exactly with the most terrific crash of thunder that rattled just about everywhere in the vicinity. And then the heavens opened and we got the lot.

I’m not sure how long the storm went on for but it was a good couple of hours at least – although I did eventually go to sleep.

And I was on my travels too. A Rock concert that I wanted to see and I ended up seeing it from backstage. A group of about five young men who should have been a rock group but it was more like a Boys Band with them dressed in suits. And I was horrified to notice that they were actually miming, not singing or playing their instruments.

After breakfast I headed off out, and had to swim across the entrance hall as it seemed that the whole of last night’s rain entered the building. Good job I’m on the first floor, isn’t it? It was still raining when I went to pick up the baguette.

Back here, I spent the morning shortening the lace curtains. Well, not exactly shortening them but measuring them and pinning them up so that they don’t drag on the windowsill. In time, I’ll sew them up and cut off the excess. That’s a nice job for a cold winter evening I reckon.

Apart from that, not much else. I rigged up a printer (and that was no easy task either) and printed off a form that I need to complete – which I duly did. It needs a rubber stamp from the Bank and that was my project for this afternoon but I wasn’t going out anywhere in this weather.

As for the oven chips, they were a disappointment. They had been in there for 30 minutes, not 20, and at 230°C, not 210°C, and they still weren’t cooked. It’s rather a disappointment if you ask me.

Another item of interest is that every now and again I develop a raging thirst. When I was in that hostel it was almost perpetual but I’ve not noticed it for a while. However today, I’ve had four or five mugs of coffee and demolished 1.5 litres of soft drink. Is this a sign of something?

So now it’s bedtime. And if the weather is better I’ll be off on a Great Trek down to the Bank and, subsequently, to the Post Office.

Sunday 28th May 2017 – IT’S GOING TO BE A LONG …

… hard winter with this new oven.

As the cynic in me expected, the timing and the temperature is all wrong. You can basically add 50% on to the cooking time and 30° onto the cooking temperature and eventually you’ll be somewhere in the vicinity of where you want to be. I’ve had better-cooked pizzas than this, but at least it was my own so I can’t complain.

It was 02:00 when I went to bed last night what with one thing and another, and my delightfully long lie-in took me up until all of 08:05. After breakfast I headed off in search of a baguette but I didn’t get very far, and for two reasons too.

the newsagents was open and he had some bread in today
for some reason that I don’t understand, all the joints in my legs are aching as if I’ve been on a marathon hike and that’s certainly not the case

It’s Sunday today and that’s a Day of Rest. And that’s precisely what I have done today. I’ve not even been outside apart from the baguette because the weather has changed and we’ve had a rainstorm.

That’s not quite true – because I’ve taken the box that the oven came in down to Caliburn along with another pile of paper and cardboard rubbish. Next time that I’m passing the dechetterie I’ll heave it out. And I came back in with a couple of pairs of pliers to … errr … adjust the pizza tray so that it would fit in the oven. But that exhausted me so much that I crashed out for an hour or so.

Monday is when I’m intending to start work. There’s quite a bit of stuff that I’ve let lapse and it’s high time that I exerted myself.

Saturday 27th May 2017 – IT’S THE FIRST …

… day of the holiday season today. And I have learnt a couple of things

it’s a waste of time going to the shops on a Saturday morning. There’s the market which louses up the centre of the town so you have to sneak through the byways, and there you are stuck behind Grockles driving around slowly and aimlessly looking for a parking space.
On the way back into town, it’s nose-to-tail all the way – a slow crawl. And even if you take the route through the back streets and the housing estates you still end up in a bottleneck and have the delectable spectacles of Grockles fighting over car-parking spaces.
Prices of articles in the local shops near the beaches have suddenly gone up

And so with all of the traffic I spent longer in the traffic queues coming home than I did going around the LeClerc.

But at least I did remember the oven chips, the bread-making stuff and the pizza stuff. However I have had a disappointment. The 30cm pizza plate to fit into the 30.5cm oven is in fact 31.3 cms as it has a rather wide lip. Consequently the door won’t close. However, by the time tomorrow that I will have finished attacking it with a couple of pairs of pliers, it’ll fit just fine. NO doubt about it.

This morning I was awake quite early and we had an early breakfast too. And then I hit the streets and the traffic.

At lunchtime I was out on my wall overlooking the harbour in the nice weather. It was a little cooler today – just a mere 24.5°C so I stayed out there for quite a while with my book. It was really quite pleasant, even though there’s no ship there (the Victress is in the Channel off the town of Littlehampton).

Apart from that, I’ve not done an awful lot. After all, it’s a weekend and there’s no footy. I’ve had my tea and I might even have an early night if I’m not careful.

But I won’t be going shopping on a weekend again, that’s for sure.

Friday 26th May 2017 – HOW LONG IS IT …

… since we featured a proper “Ship of the Day” on these pages?

When I was in Montreal or somewhere down the St Lawrence we could take our pick of dozens each day, but it’s usually pretty thin pickings whenever we are elsewhere.

But not today though, because today our ship really has come in.

It’s another really high tide this week and it’s brought in the Victress, who has sailed in from Southampton to pick up a load of gravel. Built in 1992, she flies the flag of Barbados and displaces about 1500 tonnes.

Not the biggest ship we’ve seen, but the biggest that we’ve seen in recent times and the biggest that we are likely to see here in Granville. She’s not there now, though – the ground’s all flat. And she’s somewhere out in the Channel so it seems. And I’ve not been able to find out where she’s heading.

She was formerly known as Uranus but this was changed due to ribald remarks from captains of other ships – something along the line of “with my binoculars I can see Uranus from here”

After breakfast this morning I had a quick shower and shave and change of clothes and hit the streets in search of the bus stop. Of course I have a choice of two, and of course it was “the other one” but just €1:00 and pretty painlessly (and I’ll do this again) I was decanted at the top of town to rescue Caliburn. He’s had his service, and the strange noise seems to have gone, and he’s had his controle technique. That gives me two years motoring without any major worries, which is always a bonus.

And on the way back, I picked up my oven. That’s now installed and working – and I had to change round my kitchen a little to fit it on the shelves and things don’t fit as well as they did before, which is a shame. But tomorrow I’ll be tracking down a pizza tray, some bread-making stuff and some oven chips. THis is going to start to become interesting.

For lunch I headed off to my usual spot – the clifftop overlooking the port – and this was where I made the acquaintance of Victress. But not for too long because once more I was burnt out of my position and head to retreat to here where I promptly crashed out for an hour.

And while we’re on the subject of photographs … "well, one of you is" – ed … it occurs to me that you have yet to see the view out of my living room windows.

It’s not very inspiring unfortunately (although I’ve seen much worse) but if I look over to the right-hand side I can in fact see the sea.

It’s not exactly the sea view that I was hoping to have, and I don’t have a terrace which would have been perfect, but here in Granville I can’t do much better than this. Especially as if I just step outside the front door of the building the view is stupendous as you know

Later on, I went out to Roncey. Liz’s grandchildren (whom you have seen many times on these pages) are coming to stay tomorrow and it’s important that Strawberry Moose is there to greet them. So now he’s playing hide-and-seek down the bed.

Back here, I had another dollop of the kidney bean stuff that I made yesterday and it was just as delicious too.

So tomorrow it’s a mega-shop again. So just you watch me forget something important.

Thursday 25th May 2017 – PHEW!

Or, rather … phwoarrr, what a scorcher!

There I was, outside sitting on the wall overlooking the harbour eating my butties and I was driven in … by the heat! I’d planned to spend most of the afternoon out there too and I’d taken a good book with me – but it was clearly impossible and after a while I fled to the comfort and safety of my apartment. 1-metre thick stone walls don’t let in much heat, so hear I am hoping that they don’t let in much cold in the winter either.

According to the thermometer that I have here, it only reached 26.5°C outside, but it felt 10°C higher than that. And it reached 24°C in here too, and that’s with all of the windows open too.

I had another dismal night last night and I’ve no idea why that should be. But yet again I was awake long before the alarm went off.

After a relax, I headed off to track down a baguette and didn’t have to go farther than the depot de pain at the newsagents. He was in quite a garrulous mood as usual and we had a lengthy chat, and I managed to avoid bumping into any neighbours on the way.

It’s a Bank Holiday and so in accordance with usual procedures I had a day off work. Well, not quite, as I did a little (only a little) tidying up here and there with bits and pieces. And as you know, I took my butties outside for lunch.

My intention was to go back out later in the afternoon and take advantage of the good weather, but just as I was gathering up my book, Rosemary rang me. It’s always nice to talk to friends of course, and we had a really good chat for about an hour and a half, by which time it was tea-time.

Tea was kidney beans and peanuts and olives in a tomato, vegetable and onion sauce (courtesy of Yours Truly) with plenty of garlic. And there’s enough left over for another three days. But there will be an interruption on Sunday when I shall be experimenting with the new oven (if I remember to pick it up tomorrow). And that reminds me – an oven means “oven chips” of course, and so that means at some time I’ll have to buy some more vegan sausages.

Mustn’t forget.

And speaking of the phone, I’ve had the phone – the land line, that is – just two weeks now, and already I’ve received the mammoth total of three phone calls. One was a wrong number and the other two were these “you have won a major prize – please telephone (some massive overpriced premium line) for further details”.

It’s nice to know that I’m wanted. Although I shudder to think what for.

Wednesday 24th May 2017 – NOW HERE’S A SURPRISE!

Yes – I spent a pleasant hour or so having a coffee with neighbours here in the building.

And no-one whom I have previously met either. And had I been a little quicker, I might even have acquired a washing machine and I’m a little dismayed about that!

Coming back from buying my baguette this morning, a couple of men were struggling out of the building with a washing machine – so I held the door open for them and watched (with dismay) as they threw it into the back of a lorry. There was a couple half-way up the stairs and we ended up having a chat. It appears that they had just bought a new washing machine, it had been delivered, and they had given away the old one which was taken away by the suppliers.

Drat! And double-drat!

But anyway, to cut a long story short …“hooray!” – ed … we ended up having quite a chat and they invited me in for a coffee. They are my age, inveterate travellers and Monsieur likes Led Zeppelin. And they also told me quite a bit about the other people who live in the building. We have quite a few musicians in here, apparently, and that can only be good news.

Last night was another difficult night for me – took me ages to go off to sleep and then I awoke quite early this morning. And after breakfast I had a good relax before going off to buy the baguette and to come back fro coffee.

And apart from that, I’ve not done very much else. Quietly sitting in here and doing some work on the laptop and some tidying up too. Isn’t that a change?

Tea was more potatoes, peas, carrots and vegan burger, all cooked in the microwave. That was a good purchase, I reckon, and I’m quite pleased with it. When I pick up my oven I’ll be in my element and I can’t wait for that either.

So I’ll be having another early night, another session of Saint episodes, and (hopefully) an early night. Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday so I’m having a day off – always assuming that I can find a baguette.

Tuesday 23rd May 2017 – AS I PREDICTED …

… last night, I am completely and thoroughly exhausted. To such an extent that I had one of these very deep and total crash-outs this afternoon for about an hour or so where a bomb could have gone off in here and it wouldn’t have awakened me.

It was a late night last night after all, and something of a struggle to rise up and leave my stinking pit. But nevertheless, there I was eventually, having breakfast.

After the usual relax, Caliburn and I hit the streets and headed off for the garage. It’s right out on the edge of town, near the by-pass about 1km further on from LeClerc and round the back of the industrial estate. And that’s where Caliburn might be found right now (hopefully) – having his annual health check ready for the controle technique on Friday.

I’ve no idea how far away it might be from here, but as you know from yesterday I resolved to walk back if I could. And so I set out.

And that was something of a mistake because I ended up going past the BUT – a household furnishing shop something like a small downmarket IKEA. They have a good electrical section however and that’s where I went for a mooch around. And there they had one of these table-top ovens – one that works on a 13-amp plug. It’s quite big, and has all of the controls such as a thermostat, timer, and (more importantly) a diffusion fan for spreading the heat around. It’s an ex-display model and reduced for a quick sale to just … errr … €59.

Of course, I couldn’t resist it at that price, especially as it means that I can get back to baking and making pizzas properly, and so there we are. I don’t have it yet because I was on foot. But it’s all paid for now and I can pick it up when I go to recover Caliburn.

You’re probably wondering why I’m buying all of this really cheap electrical rubbish instead of some decent stuff. There are in fact a couple of good reasons for this

Most importantly, I need a lot of stuff (more than I anticipated in fact) so the idea is to buy it as quickly as possible. If it doesn’t last long and breaks down, it’s no big deal and I can replace it with decent stuff. But bit by bit of course, which will spread the expense out better. It won’t all break down at once (remember that I said that).
You’re probably thinking that this cheap stuff won’t last all that long. But the truth is, neither will I. You know my medical prognosis, so there’s no point in me buying expensive stuff that will last 20 years, because the probability is that I won’t

So having spent yet more money, I set off slowly home. And despite my comments yesterday about there being plenty of cafés along the route, I only stopped twice – once to check the train times and the railway station and the second time to buy a baguette. And it was a very weary me that finally crawled up the stairs to crash down on the sofa.

It took me just under 2 hours to make it back (including my time in the BUT) and I knew that I had done it too. IT was a good half-hour before I could summon up the effort to make a coffee.

At lunchtime I went out with my butties to sit on the wall overlooking the harbour in the beautiful sunshine. I had a book and the idea was that I would sit out there for a couple of hours. But it wasn’t to be because I could feel myself dropping off (to sleep, not the wall, although that would naturally have followed). And so I came back here to crash out.

Tonight’s tea was excellent. Not baked of course, but microwaved spuds, microwaved peas and carrots (out of a tin) and a microwaved vegan millet-and-bulghour burger smothered in vegan margarine. That was fit for a King.

Now it’s an early night and I’mm go and watch an episode or two of the Saint in memory of Roger Moore who died today.

And tomorrow? It’s going to be a difficult day. I’ll seize up overnight and that’ll set me back for a couple of days. But at least I now have an over, which is a big sign of progress.

Monday 22nd May 2017 – IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL …

… day today – but not that I would know very much about it because I’ve had one of those days when I’ve not even set toe – never mind foot – outside the apartment.

Last night was another difficult night and just by way of a change – ho hum – I was awake quite early. But there was no danger of me ever leaving my stinking pit at any silly hour. I loitered within bed until the alarm went off and crawled out of bed.

There have been a couple of setbacks here today. Last night just as I was going to bed, the electricity went off with quite a loud click. The only way to start it up again was to unplug everything.

So this morning I went through a process of elimination – plugging everything back in and switching it on until the main fuse went again. Many years ago I had an expensive coffee percolator and when I left Belgium in 2006 I gave it to Marianne. When I emptied her apartment in 2013 I recovered it and it’s been hanging around in the Auvergne since then, just having a very occasional airing when the weather was good enough to run it.

So yesterday was the first time that I had used it, and sure enough, it’s another one of these items that all these years of storage hasn’t done much good.

And that’s not the only thing either. I’ve been telling you about the broken laptop and how I’m running it here with an external screen – something else that I recovered from Marianne’s. The power surge and the blown fuse have done something to that too and it’s not firing up now. It took me quite a while to work on that before I gave it up as a hopeless task. ++–

Apart from that, I’ve dealt with a pile of correspondence today. Changes of address, changes of bank account, all that kind of thing. That’s kept me out of mischief for quite a while. In fact I was late for lunch and late for tea too, and it’s still nothing like finished.

Tomorrow I’m having a day out. Caliburn is going for his annual service and that’s quite a hike away right across on the other side of town. There’s a bus back, but I’m going to have a go to see if I can walk back. It might take my quite a while, but I’ll see how I get on. There are plenty of cafés on the way back anyway.

So that calls for an early night. I need to be on top form tomorrow.

Sunday 21st May 2017 – FIVE MINUTES …

… under the grill, five minutes with the microwave, and one minute with both of them combined. That’s how I cooked my pizza this evening and while the base was very soggy (as you might expect) it was cooked and the toppings were done to a turn. I’m not going to improve in this, I reckon – at least, not until I buy a real oven and that might be something of a problem because a couple of people have told me about the electrical requirements that the apartment wiring needs – and it simply doesn’t have them.

Sunday is a lie-in of course, and so I valiantly resisted the temptation to leap energetically out of bed as soon as I awoke. In fact, by the time I could no longer stand it and crawled out of my stinking pit, it was … err … 07:05. My lie-in had lasted all of five minutes.

But Sunday is also a Day of Rest and so rest I did. The most strenuous thing that I did was to have a shave and a shower, although cleaning the table-cloth was a very close second. And for most of the day I mooched around cleaning up the laptop.

With the weather being so nice, I went out at lunchtime and sat on the wall on the other side of the headland overlooking the port. Here, I ate my butties and read my book for a while. I went for a little stroll afterwards, but not for long.

And that, dear reader, is the summary of my day.

I did have a chat with Liz on the internet, and I’ve done the washing-up too, and now I’m sitting with my feet up and a book by my side.

Today is finished and tomorrow is another day. I hope that the weather will be as nice as this one.

Saturday 20th May 2017 – THIS WORLD …

… is becoming far too small for my liking.

This morning I met the previous tenant of this apartment. She lived here until March when she moved to an appartment at the front that has a sea view when it became available. And it turns ot that she formerly lived in Belgium and worked in the Fisheries Department of the EU and remembered me well enough to know my first name.

And regular readers of this rubbish will recall that someone from the EU followed me to live in Virlet. At least they are keeping tracks on me.

It was hard to leave my bed this morning. 20 minutes it took me to haul myself out (although I had been out of bed at about 06:00 but I wasn’t waking up then – ohhh no!) ready for breakfast. And once that was over, I had a little relax and then went off measuring up because I had forgotten to do that on Friday.

By 10:00 I was ready to leave, and this was when I bumped into my former colleague. 20-odd minutes we were chatting, although I do have to say that I didn’t say very much.

I found the dechetterie this morning, although I missed the turning and ended up going right around the houses. But now I know where it is and disposing of all of the cardboard was pretty straightforward. I’m sure Caliburn runs about 5mph faster now.

The dechetterie wasn’t all that I found either. I stumbled across a DiY place just down the road – one that I hadn’t noticed before. And I wish that I’d found it before last week because the stuff in there is a lot cheaper that the things that I bought last week. A set of reasonable screwdrivers cost me just €1:10, 13-amp plugs cost me €2:10 and a reasonable spirit level cost me €3:20.

And while I was there I couldn’t resist taking a photo of some more breath-taking parking. I really don’t understand why people are so selfish.

But it’s a sign of the times and you only have to read some of the comments on your social networking account to see just how much selfishness is prevalent in the modern Western world. It fills me full of dismay.

There’s a big Casino hypermarket on this industrial estate so I had a look in there. Stuff isn’t as cheap as in LeClerc but they had a couple of bits and pieces of household stuff that I needed. A trip to LeClerc was therefore in order. That’s much more like it.

I now have lace curtains in the window of my living room too. I went to Centrakor and found everything that I needed to hang them – and to hang the main curtains too. I don’t particularly like the lace curtains but there wasn’t anything in the way of choice and so beggars can’t be choosers. I was determined that, come what may, I would buy the main curtains too, but I didn’t like the look or colour of anything on offer there and so that was that. I wonder if I can find some on the internet.

Back here, I made my butties and went to sit on the headland in the glorious summer with my book. I was there for a good couple of hours and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, even though there were too many people walking along the pathway in front of me. I’ll have to try to find a quieter place next time.

This evening I went to the football. It’s US Granvillaise’s last match this season and they were at home to Bergerac Perigord. And I really am the kiss of death to whichever team I seem to support because they lost yet again. They went 2-0 down due to two goals in a minute – one of which was a magnificent powerful header from a corner – but pulled it back by scoring 2 goals in a minute themselves just before half-time.

Bergerac Perigord scored 2 more later in the game and the US Granvillaise keeper pulled off a couple of magnificent saves – and then US Granville pulled one back with just 5 minutes to go. That five minutes, plus a lengthy stoppage time, was the only time during the match that US Granvillaise played with any sense of urgency. But of course it was too little too late and that was that.

Cheerleaders seem to be the thing in Belgium for the half-time entertainment, but here today we had something different. A whole pile of young girls swarmed onto the pitch and performed a pile of gymnastic routines.

Not that I spent too much time watching because gymnastics is not really what I call entertainment. It’s a bit like ice-skating – it only becomes interesting when a competitor falls over or drops his partner, of the skater disappears into the water as the ice collapses underneath her.

But full marks for them for being out there anyway.

I’ll be off to bed in a minute. I want to have a good sleep because I’ve bought myself a new toy today – quite expensive but very cheap for what it is. And I need a full day or so to set it up.

Friday 19th May 2015 – I FINALLY MANAGED …

… to go out for a walk this afternoon. Mind you, it was a bit touch-and-go.

Last night was another difficult night as far as sleep went, but I was still asleep when the alarm went off so it must have done some good. And it was a nicer morning too – I enjoyed my walk down for my baguette. And I did come back via the scenic route too seeing as how the weather was so nice.

I treated myself to another coffee when I returned, and then spent most of the morning sorting out the confusion on this old laptop. So far, I’ve cleaned out about 30GB of duplicate or unnecessary files and I’m sure that there’s more to come.

Once it’s tidied up, I’ll be moving most of them onto a portable drive and then I can “retire” this laptop. It has a smashed screen (I’m using an external screen off Marianne’s old desktop computer) and a keyboard that has some keys stuck and some other keys missing (I’ve plugged in an old keyboard) and it dates from 2011 yet it still soldiers along, which is more than can be said for the two that I have bought to replace it. One of them ground to a halt in Germany two years ago, and the current one hasn’t ever worked right since the first day that I bought it.

In fact, I’m half-tempted to salvage the keyboard and the screen from the one that failed and use it to rebuild the smashed one. Shame that I’ve left all of my tools and equipment back in the Auvergne.

After lunch, I carried on with what I was doing, as well as doing a little tidying up around here. Strangely enough, the place doesn’t look any tidier no matter how much time I spend on it.

I don’t know what it is about doing nothing much but it makes me more tired than when I’m working hard. I was away with the fairies for a good half an hour this afternoon. But I awoke round about 17:00 and decided that with the sun shining and the sky nice and blue, I really ought to go out and about.

From up on the city walls at the back of my apartment, there’s a beautiful view of the building where I live these days.

If you look at the tree in the centre of the photograph, the window directly above it is my bedroom window. The two windows – one of which is partly obscured by the tree – round the corner are the windows in my living room.

And if you look carefully, you can see Caliburn parked round the front of the building.

I’d taken the big telephoto lens with me up onto the walls, because it was another one of these marvellous days, ideal for photography.

And with the telephoto lens there was an excellent view of Jersey out there in the English Channel. It’s very difficult to believe that it’s at least 59 kilometres – 36 miles – away out there.

From this position, there’s an even better view of Jersey, and you can even see some of the superstructure and buildings on the island. I’m quite determined that one day in the not-too-distant future I’ll be out there on a day trip.

Especially if it means negotiating the buoy and the seagull that the telephoto lens has picked up.

And that reminds me. Michael Jackson had once applied to join the navy, but withdrew his application after he was told that no matter how it was pronounced, the objects that you find in each port are called B-O-U-Y-S.

While we are on the subject of going out to the Channel Islands, there in the harbour this afternoon was the ferry that I would take when I go there. It’s not a vehicular ferry and you can tell by looking at it that it won’t take long to go there.

And that’s the reason why I’m here in Granville. Being a Pisces I always feel the call of the sea and here,
I can pop on a boat whenever I feel like it.

But it’s really a bad idea, because it doesn’t do my humour very much good. Every time I see a ferry, it makes me cross.

Meanwhile, back at the ran… err … on the city walls, there’s an excellent view right out along the coast. Right out there in the background on the horizon is the coast around Barneville-Carteret where I went to see those apartments a while ago, and that’s over 80 kilometres – 50 miles – away.

On the left-hand edge of the photograph is the lighthouse that warns of the rocks that are out there half-way between the coast and the Channel Islands. I do know it’s name, but it’s temporarily slipped my mind.

And on the right of the photograph is the big buoy that marks the entrance to the shipping channel into one of the rivers up there. This telephoto lens is magnificent, isn’t it?

That’s the main road into and out of the town. Right at the top of the hill is a roundabout – straight on is the road that leads eventually to Caen. The football stadium, the big shops and the hotel where I stayed the first night that I was here are along there.

To the right is the road that heads south along the coast to Avranches and eventually to Rennes and it’s how we would arrive here from the South.

Half-way up the hill at the roundabout that you can see there is where the railway station is – just to the left.

That down there is the road that leads from the harbour to the centre of the town.

The yellow building in the centre is the tourist information Office, and the light-coloured building next to it is the Mairie.

On the street corner to the right is the street where you find all of the normal town shops, and to the left is that nice little studio where I stayed for 12 days
.

I showed you a photo of this the other day, but that was taken with the standard lens. Seeing as I had the telephoto lens with me, I reckoned that I’d retake the photo.

It is of course the headland out at Carolles-Plage and you’ll remember that we walked out there a few weeks ago.

In the background is the coast of Brittany on the other side of the Baie de Mont St Michel

Here’s another view of a photo that I took a few days ago but I’ve retaken it with the telephoto lens.

It’s Jullouville of course. That’s another place of the many that has had my company for for a couple of days, and it’s where I had that strange encounter with that weird estate agent.

The hotel where I stayed is behind the big building that you can see to the right of centre.

Just across there is the Eglise St Paul – St Paul’s Church. Despite it looking like a typical Byzantine basilica, it’s actually reasonably-modern, construction having started in 1891 and it’s still unfinished (and it’s very unlikely that it ever will be).

The dome by the way is not made of stone as you might expect, but is one of the early examples of the use of reinforced concrete. And because salty sea-sand was used in the construction, it’s quickly crumbling away and demolition of the entire building has not been ruled out.

And in the background, you can see the floodlights of the football stadium.

Turning round a little more, my lens now focuses on my nice little building – the one with the turrets that we saw from down below the walls the other day when we were walking about.

I still reckon that the turret would be an interesting place to live, if ever it were to come on the market – not that it would be likely I suppose. The view across the harbour and the bay would be tremendous.

In fact, that’s the view that you would have from the front window of the turret. We have the fishing port just there, with the mechanical grab for speedy unloading and the storage sheds right behind.

And then a little further back we have the town beach with that nice apartment block behind it.

In between the two, to the left, you can see the masts of the yachts parked up on the quayside

Meanwhile, behind me, there’s the end of the headland around which we walked the other day and where we took some photographs.

Our pirate friend is over there on his plinth, to the left of the mobile home that you can see disappearing into the distance towards the car and coach park.

In the background on the horizon to the right you can see the Ile de Chausey

You’ve seen several photographs showing bits of the church that is here in the old walled city, but this is the first decent view that you have had of all of it.

It’s the Eglise de Notre Dame de Cap Lihou and its claim to fame is that it’s built on the site of a chapel that was constructed by the English when they occupied the site during the Hundred Years War.

The church here today though dates from 1628 and took almost 50 years to construct. It was registered as a Historic Monument in 1930.

The medieval aspect of the old city is apparent in photographs like this. While the buildings themselves might not be the originals, it’s very likely that the street layout has been preserved.

There are little alleys like that one down there all over the town and it gives the place quite a mystical air. The kind of place where it would be nice and quiet to live, but not very practical if you are the owner of a motor vehicle.

If we continue our walk around the city walls we’ll come to an area where they are undertaking some renovation work.

Part of the walls is fenced off while they repair it, and they are taking the opportunity to transform some of the vacant land at the foot into a public garden.

It’s not finished yet, and won’t be for a while, but it will be nice when it’s all done.

And so we end up at the eastern end of town where there’s a car park and an orientation table. The pyramid shape that you can see in the photo is the roof of the tower of the casino, and then we have the Casino Beach and the promenade, with Donville-les-Bains in the background.

There’s the tidal swimming pool too. The idea is that it fills when the tide is in, and when the tide goes out, the water is retained. But these days there must be a leak in it

The final photograph, for now anyway, shows you a little more of the fortifications of the old city.

If you can clamber up the rock – which is not all that easy – then you have a ditch to negotiate before you arrive at the fortifications proper.

You can see how the shape of the fortifications permits the ditch to be overlooked from all points, so any attacking army trying to scale the walls would be trapped like rats in a barrel.

So from here, I headed off slowly back to the flat. That’s enough walking for today and it’s almost tea-time. And I have another helping of last night’s curry to attend to.

And then it’s an early night. I’ve done quite enough today, and I’ll leave you with another 1950 words to read. That will keep you lot out of mischief too.

Thursday 18th May 2017 – TODAY WAS ANOTHER …

… day when I didn’t do anything at all and I’ll have to get to grips with things pretty soon.

I’d had a late night what with one thing and another and I’d been on my travels too. I don’t remember very much about it now but it concerned a meal that I was cooking – something similar to the one that I made the other day.

Although I was awake early, it was the alarm at 07:00 that drove me out of bed. And there wasn’t really much incentive to leave my stinking pit either, with the rain teeming down outside.

Nevertheless, I had to brave the elements to go down and pick up my baguette. And despite my vow of yesterday to come home the scenic way, there was no chance of that in the driving rain. It also put paid to any idea that I might have had for going for a walk.

Instead, I did a little more tidying up in here and spent the rest of the day sorting out a pile of files on the computer that I had resurrected the other day. And there are still hundreds of files that need removing too – duplicates that have been stored in all kinds of places on the hard drive that somehow have escaped the filing system that I installed all those years ago.

Once I’ve done all of that, I can back it up. That’s another one of my long-term projects once I buy a desk and set up a little office in the bedroom. In fact, this place is taking on much of the configuration of how I had my apartment in the Avenue d’Exposition in Brussels, which I suppose isn’t very much of a surprise.

All of this was far too much effort for me and at about 18:00 I had a crash-out for half an hour or so.

Talking of tea last night inspired me to do something different. I fried up some onions and garlic in one of the saucepans. Once it was looking good, I added some bulghour, a tin of lentils and a tin of mixed vegetables and some curry powder to taste.

And here’s the thing. I’d bought a little cheap electric slow cooker ages ago and I’d never used it. But I could see the advantages of it which is why I brought it with me. I tipped all of the curry into it and let it simmer away. That way, I had the induction ring empty so I could cook a pan of rice.

There was enough curry made for three meals so two went into the fridge in the vacuum jars that I have, and the other one went down really nicely. And pudding was fruit salad with strawberry sorbet.

So it’s an early night tonight and I hope that I can have another good sleep. Tomorrow I’m measuring up for curtains ready for shopping on Saturday. But on Monday I’m going to have to start making an effort to do something, or my life will simply ebb away.

Wednesday 17th May 2017 – TODAY HAS BEEN ONE …

… of those days where, rather like the mathematician named Hall, I accomplished three-fifths of five-eights of … errr … nothing.

It all started to go wrong during the night – I kept on waking up, tossing and turning. And I’ve no idea why because the bed is quite comfortable and I’m very warm in there – or else that’s it and I’m too warm, but that’s not very likely now.

It was disturbed to such an extent that I was up and about by 06:30 and having breakfast when the alarm went off at 07:00. This is happening more and more often and it’s not like me at all in the past.

Apart from going down to the old town for my baguette (and coming back via the city walls) I’ve spent most of the day on the sofa. I can allow myself the odd day here and there to do this – after all, I am retired.

Liz and I had a chat on the internet, and I made a phone call. And I also did some tidying up. But most of the day was spent checking over the contents of an old computer that I’ve managed to fire up. 12.3GB of duplicate files on there, so I’ve been weeding them out. And the program that I use, although noted for its efficacy, is not noted for its rapidity. It also has a tendency to eat up all of the processing capacity of the machine so it very slowly grinds to a halt. So you have to switch off and start again.

In fact, I had such an exciting, stressful, exhausting day that I crashed out for half an hour too. Just for a change.

Not a day for going outside, because it started to pour down with rain this afternoon and it’s kept it up ever since. So it’s a good job that I had things indoors to amuse me. There haven’t been too many wet days since I’ve been here, have there?

Tea was more stuff out of the European Tinned Food Mountain. I’ve been slowly demolishing it for a couple of weeks and it doesn’t look any different. But one day it will all be gone – whenever that might be. If I had an oven, or some different pans that would work on the induction hob, I could perhaps be more adventurous. But that will come, one day or another.

And so will tomorrow, because I’m done for today. If the weather is better I might even go for a walk, but I’m not holding my breath.

Tuesday 16th May 2017 – TONIGHT’S TEA …

… was bangers, beans and baked potatoes. The rest of the sausages and the left-over half-tin of beans from Saturday night, and some potatoes from the pile that I bought the other week. A bit of pepper on the beans and some vegan margarine on the potatoes, and it was a meal fit for a King.

Last night I was tossing and turning again and I really don’t know why, and I was up long before the alarm went off.But I had a busy morning, even if it doesn’t seem that I accomplished much.

It was washday today and by that, I started off with me – a nice, long, hot shower and a shave, followed by some delicate clothing that needed hand-washing and which I’d been putting off for quite some time.

Once that was out of the way, I attacked all of the rest of the crockery and cutlery that I had brought from the Auvergne, which I had taken there from Brussels after I had sold Expo. And there were tons of it too. All of the cutlery I left soaking in boiling water for several hours to kill whatever might have been lurking on them.

As for the saucepans, they were almost new so I brought them with me (and two of them work on the induction hob too) so they were steam-cleaned – by the simple expedient of jamming the lids on and weighting them down while some water boiled away inside. Any germs that might have been loitering within them have certainly had their chips now.

This afternoon I had to go back down to the bank, so I took the final load of paper out to put in the recycling as I passed by. And I encountered the bus driver who was taking a short break at a bus stop.We had a chat and she filled me in about the bus service around the town. It’s about 20 minutes from here to the railway station and it costs €1:00 per trip. That will suit me just fine.

And as I was passing the library, with 10 minutes to spare (yes, there are still libraries in Mainland Europe) I popped in and joined. Cost me €10:00 but it’s an unlimited supply of books, CDs and DVDs as well as all kinds of exhibitions and debates.

The Bank hasn’t made much progress in transferring my accounts. And the girl whom I saw asked me for lots of information that I didn’t have (shame that she hadn’t asked me last time to bring it with me today) so this is going to grind on and on. And the amount of paper (in a paperless office) that she printed off for me to sign must run into a respectable forest.

It was hot on the way back so I treated myself to a sorbet – and nice it was too. And when I arrived, I crashed out for a while, to be awoken by Ingrid who wanted a chat. Always nice to talk to friends of course.

And Hannah and Liz chatted to me on the internet too after tea. That was nice too. Hannah has almost finished her course in Madrid now – hasn’t time flown by? She’ll be hitting the rails for a few weeks before flying back to Canada, and she might pass by here.

So now, it’s an early night again. I’ll need to choose another DVD to take with me.

Monday 15th May 2017 – BY ‘ECK!

That was a gorgeous tea!

We started off with some boiling water with turmeric and some drops of lemon juice. And then heaved in a cup of rice.

While that was doing, I chopped up a couple of segments of garlic.

When the rice was cooked, I tipped it into the sieve and rinsed it through with some cold water. Then I added a knob of soya margarine (Alpro as it happens) into the pan and melted it. When it was up to temperature, I heaved in the garlic and the rest of the tinned mushrooms that I hadn’t used yesterday on my pizza. And then some curry powder to taste.

Once that was all frying away nicely, I tipped into the pot a small tin of mixed peas and carrots – water and all – from the European Tinned Food Mountain and left it there to simmer. And when it was well away, I added two teaspoons full of gravy browning. Meantime, the rice was rinsed with boiling water from the kettle, put on a plate (yes, a plate! I’m stopping being uncouth and eating out of saucepans!) and stuck in the microwave.

And here you are – one quick mushroom curry with rice. And it was gorgeous.

“But why use a saucepan for frying?” I hear you ask. Well, that’s because Bane of Britain has done it again. The little portable halogen hob that I am using (and with which i’m almost as impressed as with my galvanised steel dustbin, Rhys) isn’t a halogen hob at all but an induction hob. Apparently you need special pans for it and most of the new ones that I bought the other week aren’t suitable and won’t work with it.

So yet more expense! Anyone want a brand-new wok, frying pan and saucepan? Never been used!

Last night I had a good night’s sleep. Right up to the alarm which was nice. And I’d been off on my travels too. I was preparing the accounts for a well-known media personality (and I’ve forgotten who it was now). He had two cars, both of which were mark 3 Cortinas – one grey and one purple – and I had to figure out a way of working them into the accounts so that the Tax authorities would agree to the expenditure. There was something about having to change over the ownership of the two vehicles at precisely midnight at the end of the accounting year so that there would be a smooth, seamless change. Anyway, I took the purple one for a drive and slid off the road into a stream somewhere. I could lift up the front end of the vehicle and swivel it round but I was still unable to move it so I needed to seek help – which was something that, for some reason or other, I was very reluctant to do.

After breakfast, I had a good relax for a while and then set to and moved the European Cardboard Mountain down to Caliburn. It took me about 10 trips to move it all downstairs and I was pretty exhausted afterwards. I had a spectator too – my mate from next door – so I went over and gave him a stroke. His name is Gribouille apparently and he’s either 4 or 5 – hi mummy couldn’t remember. We had quite a chat and I told his owner that if ever she needed a babysitter for him when she goes away, I would be the first to volunteer.

Back here I had a coffee and put my feet up until lunchtime – it had taken a lot out of me. Cardboard is heavier than you might think.

I know that I said that I would go to the dechetterie this afternoon, but I decided against it. No point in making a special journey out when I have to go out shopping on Saturday, if not before. It can wait until then.

And so instead I sorted out all of the rest of the rubbish, put the waste in the communal bin downstairs and all of the recycling into the recycling bins across the road. While I was there, I brought up the coolbox from Caliburn and put the contents in the fridge. I’ll wash the coolbox tomorrow.

Talking of washing, I washed one load of china that had come with me from the Auvergne. There’s quite a bit to do and I’m having logistic issues until I can buy a dresser. So it’s “bit by bit”. And then some more tidying up. Piles more stuff for the bin but I’ve also found some medical receipts for which I can enter a claim.

My post has caught up with me too, so there was a mountain of that to go through. But it looks as if I’ve been told the wrong address for the apartment, judging by the postman’s scrawl on the envelopes. I’ll need to check with him when I see him and confirm it.

So I’ve had tea, so it’s a quiet rest and read a book for a while before another early night. I have the Bank Revisited tomorrow.

EPIC HALL

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