Tag Archives: Virlet

Friday 24th August 2012 – WELL, FOLKS …

collapsed lean to repairing stone wall les guis virlet puy de dome france… here it is. The wall’s all finished!

I was rather optimistic about my “couple of hours” – in fact it was more like 3.5 hours before it was all done.

But the hardest part of it was of course the clearing up afterwards that took the time – I don’t do clearing up as you know.

Anyway, there you are – all done and dusted. The tools have been put away and the araa has been cleared of rubbish the best that I can do.

As for the bits of old cement and so on that I dug out of the wall, they are on a tarpaulin at the side of the house. Soon I’ll be doing some concreting and I’ll be needing hardcore.

As for the weather behaving itself, the moment that I finished putting the last trowel of mortar into the wall, it started to rain. Bang on cue, you might say.

Anyway, seeing as it was 18:10 when I finished, I called it a day and boiled up some water for a shave and a good wash.

Following that, I crashed out, to such an extent that I didn’t make tea. I’d probably be asleep even now if Radio Tartasse hadn’t rung up – apparently the music files for the radio programme are corrupted so can she copy them again?

That’s where I was this morning, in Marcillat-en-Combraille, recording the Radio Anglais rock music programmes for Radio Tatasse. That was fairly straightforward after last month’s debacle.

So tomorrow is shopping at Commentry and maybe even the swimming baths at Neris-les-Bains. A good soak and a good relax should do me the world of good, I reckon, after all of my exertions.

Sunday is the pellerinage at La Cellette and the pot d’acceuil at St Maigner with Marianne, followed by the Virlet brocante and then Liz and Terry’s for rehearsals for the rest of the Radio Anglais programmes, and that’s the weekend done.

And do you like my Sunday?

That, would you believe, is a day of rest.

-6

Saturday 23rd June 2012 – PHEW! I’M EXHAUSTED!

And I’m not surprised either, for I’ve had a busy day today.

This morning I was busy tracing the antics of Séraphin Margane de Lavaltrie and his regiment, the Carignan-Salières along the banks of the St Lawrence River, as well as unravelling the tangled web weaved around Quebec by the enigmatic Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac.

Yes, this is all very exciting, doing these web pages. I’m certainly learning a lot – and that’s the whole point.

Anyway, in the afternoon I shot off to Commentry and did a pile of shopping, but didn’t buy any wire netting. The price of the stuff is exorbitant and I’m sure that I can do far better than that elsewhere with a bit of exertion.

In the meantime I’ll see what I can conjure up or otherwise invent.

I did however manage to fit in an uncomfortable hour in the swimming pool at Neris-les-Bains. Note to self- “don’t go swimming straight after eating a tub of LIDL sorbet”.

bonfire feu de joie fete de st jacques Virlet puy de dome franceAnd so in the evening a nice clean me went back out and off to the village for our traditional, annual walk to explore some of the lesser-known back lanes of Virlet.

I’d stuck a note on the board of the Anglo-French group and so instead of the usual 20 or so people we ended up being quite a crowd – many of whom I knew – and we all had a really nice, cheerful and friendly walk around.

People from all ages were here and that’s nice to see – I like the idea of the youngsters being involved.

strawberry moose bonfire feu de joie fete de st jacques Virlet puy de dome france. It’s not only the villagers who are drawn out by the likelihood of crowds and of an audience.

Whenever there’s a possibility of a photo opportunity with a new group of admiring fans, you can bet your life that Strawberry Moose won’t be far away.

And sure enough, he leapt out of his seat in Caliburn to mingle with the crowds and made the acquaintance of a few more admirers. His fame is certainly spreading and he had just as much fun as everyone else did tonight.

bonfire feu de joie fete de st jacques Virlet puy de dome franceBecause fun there was, and plenty of it too, and for all ages.

After the walk we all headed back to the field at the back of the church. Here, seeing as it’s the Fête de St Jacques we had a feu de joie, a barbecue and snacks, a film and dancing with music provided by my friend Rick the Trailer Guy on cello and his violinist friend.

All very convivial.

A good time was had by all although I didn’t stay too long. I didn’t stay as long as I might have though. For some reason I was absolutely exhausted, and so I was home by midnight.

It’ll take me a week to recover, I reckon.

0

Friday 22nd June I DIDN’T HAVE …

… such a good day today.

I was up and about by 08:00 and that’s not something that happens too often as you know. And by 09:00 I was busy on the laptop writing up my notes from Canada.

Anyway, I became somewhat side-tracked, like you do …”like YOU do” – ed … with an exciting little story that I managed to piece together and which shows just how much of a role coincidence seems to play in people’s lives.

There are two neighbouring villages, St Sulpice and Lavaltrie, on the north shore of the St Lawrence.

In Lavaltrie is a man named Riel who has 14 children and as his farm is far too small to support them all as they grow up, the younger children disperse westward to where Canada is expanding.

Meanwhile, in St Sulpice is another family, the Lacombes, who also have too many children and the younger ones likewise disperse, one of them becoming a missionary to the Blackfoot Indians in Saskatchewan.

In 1885 a rebellion breaks out in Saskatchewan and the Missionary Lacombe is sent to persuade the Blackfoot not to join in the fighting. When he arrives he finds that the leader of the rebellion is busy trying to incite them to join in and butcher the Government forces.

And the name of the leader of the rebellion? Yes, he’s Louis Riel from Lavaltrie.

What a small world!

Of course the story is far more complicated than that, but I only have a small amount of space to write it. Anyway, you can see why I’ve been side-tracked for most of the morning.

This afternoon, when I finally did manage to go outside, I checked on the beans and peas. The peas are slowly coming to life but now there are about 20 baby bean plants busy battling their way out of the soil.

I definitely need some more climbing frames for them and so I’ll have to see about some wire netting tomorrow.

After that, it was up on the roof and put the second layer of lime mortar on the roof joint. Hopefully that won’t need any more attention. It should be watertight anyway as there’s plastic membrane there anyway and there is an overhang off the house roof that will shade it.

I used the rest of the mortar to fill in part of the gap in the rendering. There’s still quite a bit of that to do as well.

After that  did some tidying up in the lean-to and noticed that I had some cucumber, courgette and gherkin seeds that are okay to plant in the beginning of June. As we are still a few weeks behind with the weather right now I hoed and raked an few empty bits of a couple of the beds and planted a variety of seeds there.

They have two chances now, whereas in the packet nothing would ever be likely to happen.

I also made up a few pots with lettuce in. I’ll see what happens to that lot.

When I was down checking over the beans and peas I happened to look up the slope across all of the other beds that I had set out, and with all of the plants happily growing away in them I really did have a moment of pride.

With the drastic weeding since I’ve been back, I have to say that my vegetable garden looks the best that it ever has. The new climbing frames for the beans really do set it off.

Tomorrow it’s Commentry shopping, seeing what I can find for wire netting, and then maybe I’ll go for a swim at Neris-les-Bains. I must look my best for the village fête and evening walk tomorrow night in Virlet.

-3

Tuesday 20th March 2012 – I WAS BUSY TODAY

First thing, after breakfast, was to check all of this paperwork that I’ve been doing, and then take a few pieces down to the mairie to sign or countersign.

Back here then, I then had to photocopy everything, or scan it for reference.

Bill rang me up too – he was having computer issues and needed help sorting that out and so I told him that when I had done my errands I would go round to help.

Off to Pionsat, and first stop was the bank, to pay an outstanding bill. And talking of bills, there was Bill in front of me. He managed to make the woman at the cash desk crash her computer and so we all had an agonising wait while she tried to fix it.

So having sorted that problem, it was off to the Post Office. They have a guaranteed 2-day delivery service, which is what I need, but of course none of the special envelopes that you need to do it. She can order one, but it won’t get here until the morning.

At my insistence, she rang the St Gervais office. They had one in and the parcel lorry was there and so St Gervais sent it down in the lorry.

The postal clerk put my papers into it, and handed it to the parcels driver to send it on its way. At least I hope that she did – it’s what she told me that she would do and she better had as well, for I am working to a strict time limit here.

Down to the boulangerie. There was no delivery this morning and so I needed to buy the bread.

But woe is me – the boulangerie closes for lunch between … errr … 13:00 and 15:00. This meant a trip to the Intermarché for some bread, so I picked up a loaf and wandered over to the till.

A woman with a full-to-overloaded trolley saw me coming and … quickly put her purchases onto the conveyor belt. Aren’t some people nice?

At Bill’s I managed to fix his computer for him and then we had a good chat for ages – all about old cars, buses and the like. It always helps to pass the time of day.

But it was cold today and so I lit the fire up here this evening. So much so that I lit the fire for the first time in 10 days. And taking advantage, I cooked baked potatoes and baked beans for tea.

Tomorrow I’ll do some gardening, I reckon. That is, unless the weather is really bad.

It’s clear skies and stars outside just now but this is the Auvergne and things can change in the blinking of an eye.

-1

Friday 24th February 2012 – WELL, THAT WAS EXCITING!

Two hours on my feet in front of about 25 people doing my presentation of the Trans-Labrador Highway. Loads of people whom I knew there too which was really nice.

And doing it all in French as well!

And It went down quite well too, much to my surprise.

The thing that I reckon is most important about living in new surroundings is to make an effort to integrate and to take an active role in community affairs. And so that’s my bit done for the next few years.

Anyway, it’s my birthday today so happy birthday to me of course. And in keeping with tradition I did my best not to do anything today. That’s what birthdays are all about of course.

But it didn’t quite work out like that as I had to redo the presentation (and it STILL didn’t work on anyone’s computer except mine and isn’t that a mystery?) and then I had a surprise visit from Terry to wish me a happy birthday, bring me a birthday cake (thanks, Liz) and a couple of birthday presents, to wit one cement mixer and a box of screwdriver bits.

It’s really nice when your friends understand instinctively your needs.

So that was today, really. But here’s a piece of surprising information – apart from about an hour earlier this morning, I’ve had no heat on in here today. And it’s well after 02:00 and the temperature is still over 15°C.

-2

Thursday 23rd February 2012 – HAVING FINALLY …

… broken the back of my presentation, I can get on and do other things.

This morning I cut up another pile of wood for in here, and doesn’t the lean-to start to look empty now, especially as I discovered that a major proportion of the heap in the middle is actually bricks and stone from when the wall collapsed all those years ago.

Moving some of that stuff out has made quite a difference, that’s for sure.

It’s going to be a while though before I can finish in there though – a term of years is not unlikely. The more wood I cut up, the more that I seem to find.

I also had a good look at the window in the bedroom. Having given the matter considerable thought, I now reckon that I know how I’m going to do the surround. And the next chance that I have to work in there, I’ll be making a start.

But tomorrow I’ll be printing off my notes because the presentation is at 20:00 tomorrow evening. So just you watch the printer break down or run out of ink

But assuming that we do go ahead, everyone is invited!

20:00 at the village hall in Virlet

-2

Tuesday 21st February 2012 – IT’S GETTING CLOSE …

… to my presentation time.

For those of you not clued up to what is happening, a few months ago I was at a meeting of the village committee here in Virlet where they were discussing the programm for this year.

Once a month, they have an “event” when everyone is invited, and they ask someone to animate it. When they were deciding on the events, they had most of the meetings covered, but one date stuck out like a sore thumb – 24th February.

Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that 24th February is a date of special significance for me, and so it seemed like an opportunity. As you know, I’m all very much in favour of integration and participating in community events. I should be feeding something back into the community of which I am part.

As a result I offered to animate the meeting on that date, and I’m doing a presentation of my 2010 trip around the Trans-Labrador Highway

Much of it was pretty straightforward but I seem to have run aground somewha.

for some reason that I haven’t quite grasped, a presentation done in OpenOffice and exported as a Powerpoint presentation only displays the first 37 slides (which coincidentally runs to about 1mb) instead of the entire load of … gulp … 123 slides.

I’ve not yet found a workaround for it either.

And this is where I am at the moment

And I only have until Friday to do it too.

0

Tuesday 7th February 2012 – I’M MORE AND MORE …

… impressed with this new little woodstove of mine.

Almost impressed, in fact, as I am with my galvanised steel dustbin.

Last night I cooked myself the rest of the oven chips, some baked beans and a veggie burger in the oven.

Tonight though, leaving the oven open, I cooked a saucepan of pasta, beans and lentils in a kind-of curry sauce. And it’s all working really well.

And I think that I’ve found the secret of heating the room even quicker.

A nail has fallen down the back of the fire and as a result I can’t close up the ash tray completely. It’s open about a quarter of an inch. and if I open the air intake just a fraction, it roars away like nobody’s business.

Another thing that helps is having turned the divan round so that it is across the room, it acts as a heat-stop and all of the heat is concentrated between me and the fire.

And while I’m sitting on the sofa, if I prop open the lid about 30° when the fire is roaring, the lid deflects all of the heat right into my upper body.

But this morning it was cold in here – all of 8.2°C in fact.

And that’s hardly surprising because last night outside, was -16.3°C, the coldest temperature that I have ever recorded here.

It was cruel downstairs. Even the orange juice was frozen solid.

I had to go to the mairie as well to check over the projector for this exhibition I’m doing on the Trans-Labrador Highway, and Caliburn had a little struggle to start – not that I’m surprised.

Back here I made a heat pad with that heated seat pad and some insulation, and throughout the afternoon it melted about 25 litres of water. I’m now seemingly melting more water than I’m using so that’s progress of a sort.

I’ve also made much more progress doing the ceiling in the bedroom, and the unexpectred good side of this is that in moving a lot of the stuff around, I’m finding loads of things that I have misplaced. Knives, saws, the large mitre clamps, and also the missing 650-watt circular saw for which I’ve been hunting for ages.

So tonight, with having a big fire in here, it’s quite warm and so I’m off to bed in a minute.

Tomorrow I need to use some of that excess water to make some polyfilla stuff to fill the cracks in the plasterboarding that I did the other day. 15 minutes will see me finish the ceiling as far as I can go and I can’t do any more until the joints in the wall are sealed and smoothed down.

-1

Thursday 2nd February 2012 – I HAVE TO BE …

… up at 06:00 in the morning GRRRRRRR!

Yes, having left Caliburn in the Ford garage at Montlucon and having arranged to pick it up today, the snow fell really heavily in the night.

And snowed to such an extent that Liz was snowed in at her home and couldn’t get out to go to work, and so couldn’t take me to Montlucon to rescue Caliburn and Strawberry Moose.

She doesn’t go back into work until Tuesday and that’s a long time to be without transport – not that there’s anywhere you can actually get to right now with all of this.

Anyway so ringing up the garage to tell them about the change in plans I ended up talking to a guy who I know who works there, and it turns out that he actually lives in Virlet.

To cut a long story short … "hooray" – ed … he’s offered to take me there in the morning which is wonderful. The downside of this being that he opens up the garage in the morning and so leaves home at 06:30.

Still, beggars can’t be choosers.< So what did I do today then if I didn't go to Montlucon? Not much because when I went down to breakfast at 08:45 (early for once) the temperature in the verandah was -6.3°C and outside, a healthy -8.5°C. Yes, winter is here and you don't feel much like working. Back up here I lit a fire and did some more work on my presentation of the Trans Labrador Highway until the laptop battery went flat, and seeing that it was 13:00 I went to keep warm by cutting up some wood.

And I have piles now, but enough about my personal life.

After lunch, which was exciting as the water in the water jug that I was using to fetch water from the container in the barn was freezing over in just the time it took to walk 10 metres,

Another thing that I did was to into the bedroom and made a good bit of progress on the ceiling.

I had a few phone calls, not the least of which was from Dave in Hexham and that’s always a pleasant surprise.

Cooking tea was exciting. -7.0°C in the verandah and the food was freezzing rather than cooking, and washing up with snow is exciting too. But I’m not going far – in fact I’m off to bed. I need my beauty sleep.

06:00 in the morning. Hah! 

-2

Saturday 28th January 2012 – IT JUST GOES TO SHOW …

HEAVY SNOW FALL 2012 les guis virlet puy de dome france… that those people in football clamouring for a winter break mid-season quite simply don’t have a clue about whatever it is that they are trying to say.

Here we are in the Puy-de-Dôme, having had our 6-week winter break in the mildest winter in the area since records began, and the football season restarts this evening.

And today we have had the heaviest snowfall of the winter and so all the matches are postponed.

So much for the winter break

But not that I am complaining too much. I spent the morning and some of the afternoon working on my presentation of The Trans-Labrador Highway for the local village social evening in a month’s time. and I’ve managed to reach the outskirts of Goose Bay – i.e. well over halfway.

It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow anyone any good.

But at about 13:30 the snow stopped and we had a little thaw. That was the cue for me to race off to St Eloy and so some shopping.

And I was back by 15:00 with the usual stuff, but also two Harry Potter films, the director’s cut versions, for €9:99 the pair. I’ll have to see what Herry Potter is up to – so far I’ve managed to avoid those films (except for one that I caught a glimpse of – in French – with Marianne over Christmas).

This afternoon I’ve turned my room around again. I’ve done a lot more sorting out, repositioned the furniture and by the time you read this I will have the bed back where it used to be. Only this time, with a proper array of chests of drawers behind it for the clothes.

What inspired this was the fact that the new large set that I bought in IKEA in the spring, and the medium sized set that I acquired at a brocante 18 months ago fit together nicely and are exactly the right size to fill one of the alcoves.

But I’m surprised at all of the bedding and stuff that I seem to have acquired since I emptied out Expo. I can see me having a really good sorting out one of these days.

I’ve left Caliburn on the road at the top of the lane in case the weather continues to turn nasty. From there I can drive him out.

Because tomorrow afternoon, Terjat, who I saw last Sunday in a basement Allier 3rd Division clash, are at home again. If I can move around, I’ll go for a nosey to see if they really are as bad as they looked last week.

-4

Saturday 27th August 2011 – I’ve found a really interesting …

toolstation weapons of mass construction les guis virlet puy de dome france… plastic bag to wrap all of my tools and electrical bits into when I put them into my suitcase. And I’d love to have a remote camera in there to take a photo of the face of the security guard when he opens it. No sense of humour, these people. Am I the only one to notice that all of the humour and levity seem to have gone out of life these day?

But not to worry. I’ve also put a protractor, a set square, a set of logarithm tables and so in inside the suitcase. They are in a plastic bag labelled “Weapons of Maths Instruction”.

OK – I’ll get my coat.

And so it’s Saturday. And just for a change, I haven’t been shopping. There’s nothing I need to buy before I set off from here on Tuesday to go to Paris. And so I had a very leisurely breakfast – interrupted from my reverie by a large Ford Transit that came bouncing down the track here. “What does Simon want at this time of the morning?” I uttered. But a second glance revealed that the vehicle had French plates. “Is Terry back already?”. But no, it’s the baker in a different vehicle delivering the bread. That livened up the day.

So now wide awake and shipshape, I started to pack. Bill has lent me a big suitcase and Strawberry Moose fits nicely into it. Then, I’ve fitted all of the tools in there, some of the electrical stuff and also the slow cooker. Now I need to fit the rest of the electrical stuff, all of the paperwork and some clothes in there too. I’ve also sorted out some clothes to take – all colour coded and with logos on. I’m into colour-coding and corporate clothing and all of that stuff.

pointing fieldstone wall les guis virlet puy de dome franceThis afternoon I carried on working outside for a change. I finished off the pointing on the wall – at least all that it’s feasible to do right now until I take off the rest of the corrugated iron roof.

I’ve reached right up into the apex of the roof as you can see and over across to the other side of the roof. That’s over half of the roof finished now and while it would have been nice to have found the time to do all of it, I’m reasonably satisfied with that.

It won’t take long to do all the rest and then fit the wind turbine.

pointing fieldstone wall tarpaulin roof lean to les guis virlet puy de dome franceOnce I decided to retire for the day, I took down the ladder and fitted a couple of tarps over the bit where there’s no roof.

This is only going to be a temporary measure while I’m in Canada of course. Once the rest of the wall is pointed and the wind turbine is up, then I can roof it over properly.

Considering it’s Saturday, I’ve been extremely busy today and I’ll be glad to have a decent lie-in tomorrow – I’ve earned it.

Tomorrow if the weather is nice, it’s the Virlet brocante – one of the best in the area and I’ll go for a look around. I also have to plant some winter lettuce and cabbage and there’s some post to deal with – a few letters, two things to proof-read (one for Dave and one for Rhys) and half-a-dozen e-mails to reply to. When I’ve done that I can knock off because that will be everything that needed doing before I leave.

What? Up to date? Me? Perish the thought.

And in other news, at weekend I usually allow myself a handful of sweets. So this weekend I’ve finished the last of the root beer flavoured sweets because next weekend I can buy some more. They are only on sale in North America.

-2

Saturday 25th June 2011 – It’s been all go here today

karl hagen chantier communaux lapeyrouse puy de dome franceYes, I crawled out of the heaving pit rather late this morning, at about 10:30 to be precise, and it was off to Karl and Lou’s for their chantier. The girls spent the day painting the front of the house while Jean, Francois and I were building a woodshed at the back of the house.

There was the obligatory pause for lunch of course and I took advantage of the moment to take a photograph of all the attendees

fete des nouveaux arrivants marcillat en combraille allier franceI couldn’t stick around for long though because at 14:30 I had to piddle off to Marcillat en Combraille for this meeting. And now I know why they wanted me – apparently they didn’t have a translator and so Yours Truly was stuck with the task.

But it was well-worth going for I met a Dutch guy there who sells and hires out trailers. I’d talked to him a while back about car transporter trailers but he doesn’t do them, and so I made it clear that I had one that I might hire out if he says the magic words.
“Stop messing about Eric. You’ll be well-paid”
“Ahhh. So you know the magic words then!”

One thing led to another and it turns out that he plays music in a folk group of sorts. I mentioned my previous existence when I played bass guitar in a rock group and he’s going to pass my details on to a friend of his who plays in a folk rock group.

annual village walk virlet puy de dome franceLater this evening we were all round at Virlet where we were going to have our annual evening walk, exploring the highways and, more importantly, the byways of the commune. Just for a change the weather was good this year and the walk was enjoyable even though it was done at the pace of a route march.

This here is the old road into the village, long-since replaced by a more modern route and that down there on the right in the photo is an old well for the village

feu de joie virlet village bonfire puy de dome france Afterwards we had the traditional village bonfire – the feu de joie at the back of the church. There was a picnic too – the village had done us proud in this respect – and there was dancing to music provided by …. our friend with the trailer.

With the backdrop of the firework display at Montaigut en Combraille, it really was a most enjoyable evening and Jean, Elizabeth, Clotilde and Rosemary all certainly enjoyed it.

What with one thing and another it really was a good, enjoyable day and I’m off to bed quite happy for a change.

-4

Friday 24th June 2011 – Dunno what’s the matter …

… with me just recently.

I can’t seem to get to sleep at all these days. It’s almost 05:00 and I’m still wide-awake, and it was 05:00 last night when I retired. But this morning I was up at 10:30 and it was just as well because at 11:00 Terry rang me up. He’d had a few issues with the digger and needed a hand.

And so off I toddled and Terry and I spent most of the day sorting it out. It’s quite a learning curve, this machine, that’s for sure.

art exhibition maison communale mairie marcillat en combraille allier franceAfterwards I went off to the opening of this art exhibition in Marcillat en Combraille where I met Marianne Contet again. Danielle from the Anglo-French group was also there and so were plenty of other people whom I knew.

There were dozens of other people too milling around at this exhibition – it seemed to be quite a popular event, especially as there were drinks and a buffet laid on.

view from donjon caliburn marcillat en combraille allier franceThere’s a donjon – a medieval tower – in the centre of Marcillat en Combraille and it’s recently undergone a refurbishment programme.

I managed to blag my way in and went up to the top to have a good look around. There are some beautiful views from the top, including this one of the centre of the town. And there’s a good view of Caliburn too, parked over the road in front of the florist’s.

dog with hat marianne contet art exhibition maison communale mairie marcillat en combraille allier franceSo I went back down to the exhibition and joined in once more with the socialising, but it’s really not my scene at all.

However, it’s just as well that I did because while I was down there, someone asked me “are you OK for tomorrow still?”. It seems that there is a meeting of English-speaking people in the Marcillat en Combraille area and I’m supposed to be speaking at it, but I had completely forgotten all about it.

So that’s another thing to fit into my schedule that it already bursting at the seams.

As well as that, it seems that the commune here (Virlet) has a vacant date in its social calendar and could I give a talk on the Trans-Labrador Highway? The date concerned is February 24th which, as astute readers will know, is my birthday and so how can I turn it down?

Back here I’ve been working on the computer again but now at 05:00 I’m going to be doing my best to sleep. I have a hectic day tomorrow.

-4

Friday 15th April 2011 – I’m going to bed in a minute.

Yes, I dunno what’s the matter with me just recently – I can’t seem to last the pace any more.

And it isn’t as if I’ve done anything particular either. This morning I spent a couple of hours writing up my notes on Newfoundland, and then spent a while photocopying some documents that I need, and making the odd telephone or two.

Then apart from that I’ve been tidying up. The front of the house has been weeded in some kind of fashion and then I put down some plastic sheeting and put some pallets on top, and there I have my dustbins – all 4 of them. I’ve also cleared a pile of stones from in front of the house too – the big ones to the rockpile and the smaller ones to the paths between the new raised beds, and it’s in place of the stones that I put the pallets and the garden furniture that was up on top on the old potager. I’ve also rearranged the herb beds and the trees that I’ve been keeping in buckets until I can clear the orchard.

This evening I was invited to the annual general meeting of the Virlet Cultural and Historical Society and it seems that I’ve been talked into doing a presentation of my trip to Labrador sometime at the end of the year.

Lieneke is back again too and so I went round for a chat. She’s taken me by surprise as I had put the Sankey trailer across the door of her barn not expecting her to be here until the beginning of May as usual. I’ll have to shift that tomorrow.

And that’s been my day. Hardly tiring, is it? So I don’t know what’s up with me right now.

And in other news, I have gherkins and cucumber rearing their ugly heads in the cloche, and potatoes in the early potato bed.

Things are slowly coming to life here.

I wish that I was.

-2

Tuesday 21st September 2010 – I’ve been really busy today ….

… and I couldn’t really afford to spend the time as I have so much to do.

This morning we had to go to this radio station in Marcillat en Combraille to discuss the arrangements for the programme they want us to do. And what we discussed was almost exactly the same and no different from the last time we were there. Mind you, the guy we talked to was as interested in the Ligne Economique as I am and he told me that he has ridden on it to Durdat Larequille. And seeing as the line closed in 1932 and he has ridden on it, then he probably has a good excuse for forgetting things.

He was minded by a woman who may well have been his wife, and while she was much more purposeful about things and helped to keep her husband on track, she had hearing issues. So as you might expect, this meeting was a bundle of laughs. But nevertheless we did fit in a good chat about solar panels, the Anglo-French group and Terry’s little business.

Then it was off to the Mairie to give them copies of the photos from Saturday.They are “internet” quality so if they want them at proper press quality (350dpi and all that) they can tell me which ones.

Then off to Marianne’s where I stayed for ages talking about Pionsat-Patrimoine, the Anglo-French group, the newspaper, the Foreign library and all that kind of thing. Things are moving around here, although you wouldn’t believe it.

The next people to have the pleasure of my company were the people at the bank. I warned them that I would be going to Canada shortly and so not to be surprised at my “extraordinary expenditure” and not to cancel my bank card – not like 2002.  I suppose I ought to do that for a couple of other cards too.

I also bumped into Damien from the football club while I was in Pionsat.

Rob and Nicolette were out so I couldn’t give them their photographs (they were out later too) and so after lunch I wrote a few important letters (it’s great having a printer that works!) and carried on with my researches. And I might just be onto something. A company called Tiger Rentals might let me have a Toyota Yaris for just about $1500 CAN – about €1100. It’s said that this figure includes the collision damage waiver and all taxes, allows unlimited mileage and permits travel to the USA and the rest of Canada. Now this sounds too good to be true so I’ve sent them a mail for confirmation.

Watch this space.

Of course I need to pay for the accommodation on top but a Yaris does just about 50mpg whereas a motorhome will do just about 18 to the gallon if you are very lucky before you even think about the extra rental charges and whatever charges you might have to pay for camping.

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