Tag Archives: eric hall

Saturday 14th April 2018 – I HAD A REALLY …

… nice day out today, and when I finish editing the photos (because there are more than just a few) I’ll be posting them up on here so that you can see what I mean.

We started off by having had a really good sleep for once, although there wasn’t that much of it with having not gone to bed until about 01:30. And that rather set the scene for the day, I’m afraid.

But I was still up early enough, had the usual morning ritual and followed all of that with a shower and a scrub of the undies. The heater in this room has a coat-hanger above it and so anything that I wash will dry in half a day and I need to take full advantage while I’m on the road.

There was plenty to do (like catch up with last night’s blog entry and go in search of some toilet paper) until Alison came on line and told me that she was leaving home, and at the appropriate moment I wandered down to the end of the street to meet her.

Just for a change it was the E40 that we fahrn’d fahrn’d farn’d down nd crossed into Germany there, leaving the autobahn at the next exit and heading, not north to Aachen, but southwards.

Despite having issues with the SatNav, that had different ideas that I had about where we needed to go, we eventually found our destination – Auf Aderich 33, 52156 Monschau. And hereby hangs a tail.

The Dukes of Brabant controlled several small German-speaking Provinces around Eupen and Malmédy which had been incorporated into the Austrian Netherlands. But after the territorial reorganisations following the Napoleonic Wars, their Germanic heritage meant that they were incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia.

Following the end of World War I at the Treaty of Versailles these small territories were given to Belgium as part of the War reparations.

But there was a slight problem. Due to the mountainous relief of the country here, the only rail connection that these provinces had with the rest of Belgium was via Germany. And the solution was found – that the railway line itself, known as the Vennbahn – would be ceded to Belgium too.

This produced several anomalies, in that several parts of Germany were now isolated from Germany proper by the now-Belgian railway line and despite several subsequent territorial reorganisations, this left five “enclaves” (and, historically, one “counter-enclave”) still isolated from Germany and surrounded completely by Belgium.

The railway line is no longer in existence (it’s a cycle path) but the enclaves are. And these range from town-sized enclaves down in size to just one house and garden. And here we are at the smallest enclave of them all – Auf Aderich.

And this is what we came to see – the smallest of the German enclaves into Belgian territory.

From here we headed on down the hill into Monschau.

This is a very pretty old town situated along the banks of the River Rur as it flows through a cleft in the rocks. Being situated on a fast-flowing river near to a plateau noted for its sheep, the town was famous for its many mills and cloth-weaving.

Not unnaturally, it became quite a rich town and there are dozens, if not hundreds of magnificent buildings here, built of local stone or wattle-and-daub that leave no(one in any doubt about how rich the town was in those days.

In fact, it was so rich that it was regularly looted and pillaged by all kinds of different invading armies during the turbulent years of the second millennium.

We had a coffee and went for a good wander around. Alison, who had been here on many occasions, showed me the sights.

But none of these sights was as exciting as the second-hand shop in the town that had a “dobro” guitar – the acoustic guitar with a built-in resonance speaker that was very popular with blues musicians in the 1920s and still makes an appearance today (we’ve seen many at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival).

I would have bought it at a heartbeat, until I noticed “made in China” stamped on the neck. So it’s not an original 1920s guitar at all but a cheap Chinese import, of no interest really to me.

We ended up back in Aachen and our favourite restaurant for a meal and a wander around – not to mention a visit to the Muller supermarket where they sell that beautiful white vegan chocolate with coconut flakes.

By the time we returned home it was too late to go to the football, which was probably just as well because I was exhausted. I sat here and vegetated for a while and then went for a walk around the block.

And then, an early night. A good sleep will do me good as I’m moving on tomorrow. Man In A Suitcase is hitting the road.

Friday 13th April 2018 – MY LANDLORD …

… back at the place d’Armes is going to die of shock when he sees how much the kitchen that I want is going to cost him.

Yes, I went to IKEA this morning to have a good nosey around. And it’s only the second-ever occasion – I think – that I’ve been to an IKEA and come away empty-handed. But that was more down to the logistics question of carrying away the stuff than a lack of willingness or of money.

On my travels last night I was dealing with giant worm, or snakes or something. Or, rather, I wasn’t – someone else was. it was all happening at a small rural railway station and this snake in the grass was upsetting people so my reckoning was that the easiest way to tackle it was to send in Terry on The Beast of Beaugut, his ride-on lawnmower, to mow the grass and if possible shred the snake. But it proved much more difficult in practice because for one reason or another the snake was refusing to co-operate.

Having had breakfast and the usual morning rituals I walked up to the bus station and leapt aboard the 358 that took me all the way to IKEA. and eventually managing to buttonhole a salesman. We sat down, had a discussion, drew up a few plans and costed it all out, and it came to … errr … a couple of coppers short of €2,000.

But that’s including a fridge, an oven and one of these two-burner ceramic hobs.

It’s not the cheapest range that they had (you really don’t want to buy that) but it’s next to it. The only concession to what I might call luxury is that there’s a brown oak-coloured work surface rather than the horrible cheap and nasty white one.

But whether he will pay for that is another story, isn’t it?

There was a massive crowd at the restaurant for lunch and it took me hours to be served. And then I wandered off for the bus, horribly late (both me, and the bus).

With not knowing the route of the bus into Brussels I ended up going round the houses and had to take a metro to the Bank.

But here we came up once more against the staggering incompetence of the bankers that I have. And it’s not like the BNP Paribas to behave like a load of bankers but even they seem to be managing it now.

They hadn’t ordered the replacement card for me like they promised (twice now) and having had the issues with various forms of proofs of address, they didn’t like the electricity bill either. They reckon that there’s some complication from their point of view about me living in France with a British passport, but I’ve been doing it now for 11 years so it totally bewilders me.

I was so taken aback by all of this that I forgot to mention the two other things that I wanted to do.

Afterwards, I went for a good wander around the city centre. I had planned to finally make it to the railway museum at Schaerbeek but once more with having had all of this messing about I ran out of time.

There was a football match this evening in Tubize – a bottom-of-the-table relegation dogfight between AFC Tubize and Union St Gilles. And for once, the trains were running kindly for me.

At Tubize, having grabbed some cash, I grabbed a bag of fritjes from the fritkot opposite the station and wandered down to the ground where I picked up a ticket.

And here we had a complication that I had not foreseen – they wouldn’t let me in with my backpack. But after a good deal of negotiation and discussion a friendly, helpful (in Belgium???) security guard offered to guard it for me at the gate and with no other option available, I accepted and in I went.

For once, at Tubize, there was adecent crowd. None of this “crowd-changes to the teams” stuff as is usual. And most of the supporters seemed to be from Union St Gilles too, for if they win they are saved from relegation and Tubize go down.

The match itself was dreadful. We had the first foul right at the kick-off and the first yellow card after just 29 seconds. The final score was 12 (I think – I lost count) yellow cards and one red and I do have to say that I didn’t disagree with any of them.

But the game was woeful. Tubize were inept and despite having many good chances they couldn’t hit the nether regions of a ruminant animal with a stringed musical instrument. Only one player, Jae-Gun Lee about whom I have commented before, looked to be of some good use, so of course they withdrew him after about 70 minutes.

And Union St Gilles were even worse. They had a couple of players whom I wouldn’t like to meet down a dark alley late at night, one of whom was the centre-forward – a big bustling, burly type. He looked quite useful as a battering ram but his team never had possession up front long enough to give him the ball. They managed just one shot on target all night – and scored!

Right at the death, Tubize won a penalty – and as is their usual form at moments like this, the St Gilles keeper saved it. Last kick of the game of course, and the jubilation from the players, officials and supporters as the ref blew for time told its own story.

It was a slow stopping train back to Leuven, packed as far as Brussels with St Gilles fans. But I eventually made it back here by about 00:45 and that’s my lot for now.

See you in the morning.

Thursday 12th April 2018 – SO HAVING BEEN …

… in bed long before 22:00 I was awoken at 02:40 with a severe attack of cramp (the first for some time, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall) and again an hour or so later for no good reason.

But if anyone thinks that I’m going to leave the comfort and safety of my stinking pit at that time of the morning they are totally mistaken. I turned over and went back to sleep;

I was off on my travels too. In a Burtons menswear shop (although it wasn’t) looking for a bright yellow jumper something like the yellow waterproof fleece that I have. And although they had some in, there was something wrong with all of them – too small, wrong colour yellow, wrong fastening and so on. And I was running around in this shop for ages, looking in all of the different crooks and nannies for what I wanted but with no success.

At the summons of the alarm I arose from the dead and we went through the usual morning ritual followed by a shower. And I threw my clothes in the shower with me and just like the Angel of the Lord who came down, I gave them all a scrub. I haven’t brought much with me so I need to do the best that i can with my clothes while I’m on my travels.

Loads of fog and mist about this morning, but seeing as I had plenty of time I walked all the way (all 4.4 kms of it) to the hospital. It’s a struggle up the long hill to there but it’s one f those things that I have to do when I can and when I’m not pushed for time.

But it’s pleasant walking over the cobbled streets watching the young female students riding their bikes over the cobbles towards the University. It can’t be good for the health – especially mine! Ohh yes -I can still chase after the women, even if I can’t remember why!

At the hospital the nurse dealing with me didn’t speak a word of English so I had my set-up interview in Flemish. I must know much more Flemish than I realise and that’s good news.

Even better news is that I seem to have lost 3kgs in weight since last month. My slow weight increase has been depressing me as much as my fatigue is, and so to see three kilos disappear is good news for me.

Sitting in my comfy chair in the public ward (dunno why I didn’t have a room) I was attended to by a different nurse who made hard work of inserting my drip-feed.

And then I was seen by a male doctor this time. Not female doctor with a bevy of beautiful students. But then you can’t have Castle Anthrax every time. But all the same – I don’t know why I came here of this is how they treat me.

it took ages for things to sort themselves out. Even I could see that the drip wasn’t working properly and when I told the nurse “that’s normal” she said. but she was back 20 minutes later when the pump started beeping that it had an airlock. And she was back a couple of other times too.

But eventually, much later than it should have been, the procedure was over. And then I had to find the doctor who had apparently forgotten me.

And my results are the same as last month – everything stable. So back in 4 weeks time. 9th May (a Wednesday) to be precise as the next day is a Bank Holiday.

On the way back I did some shopping for a couple of bits and pieces, including SHOCK HORROR some shorts. if I’m going to be lounging around on the beach this summer in the glorious hot weather that I just KNOW that we are going to have, I need to look the part.

And then to a café for a coffee to wait for Alison.

We went to our Mexican restaurant for a meal and a chat and ended up in a nice café on the old Grote Markt. later on, Alison dropped me off and here I am now ready for bed.

And I can’t say that I’m not sorry either. 145% of my day’s fitness target and it feels like it too. And I have a heavy day ahead of me tomorrow.

Wednesday 11th Aoril 2018 – SO HERE I AM ONCE MORE …

… not in the playground of my broken dreams but in a little studio in the Dekenstraat in Leuven. Didn’t that four weeks go quickly?

But at least my body clock seems to be working okay still. Despite a night that was … errr … somewhat later than I intended, I was wide-awake at 05:40 and waiting for the alarm;

Despite not having breakfast and not having a shower, I still didn’t have time to do everything that I wanted to doso the floor will have to remain unwashed until I return. But I emptied the rubbish, bleached everything that needed bleaching, cut my fingernails and changed the bedding so that I’ll have nice clean comfortable bedding when I return.

Yes, I lead such an exciting life, don’t I? At least I remembered yesterday to turn off the electricity for the heating and the hot water, even if I did forget to unplug the machinery in the kitchen. And I also forgot the opened jar of jam that I was planning to bring with me.

For some reason or other the walk to the station didn’t take as long as it usually does and I was there in less than 20 minutes. Plenty of time for a coffee and a relax as despite what happened four weeks ago, the train wasn’t in the station.

When it did come in, it was a six-carriage train instead of the usual 12-carriage train, and the seats were not reserved. We could sit anywhere we liked. I chose a seat right at the front – less distance to walk at my destination. As we know, time is pretty important when on the Traversée de Paris without Bourvil to carry your suitcase.

We were late arriving at Paris Vaugirard due to track repairs and the subsequent congestion but there was no queue at the Metro ticket window so I was through there very quickly. And even better-I convinced them to sell me a carnet of 10 tickets which means that I don’t have to queue at all for the next few weeks. And a carnet comes at a substantial discount.

The metro was reasonably painless -line 4 to the Gare de l’Est and then line 5 to the Gare du Nord and that’ll be the route for the next while until the repairs to the Gare du Nord station on line 4 are completed. It’s all getting to be quite complicated.

For the first time so far this year I was able to sit outside and eat my butties. How long this weather will last, though is anyone’s guess. We’ll be back in the snow before long.

The TGV was packed yet again but I had a good spec. And much to my disappointment we arrived 10 minutes late in Brussels.

That meant that I had missed the train that I like and had to catch the older less-comfortable one instead.

And at the place here I had to wait around for the office guy to come with the keys.

So now having been shopping at Delhaize and had my tea, I really am going for an early night. I’ve been fighting off the sleep all day and I’m about done.

I’ll be up early tomorrow though. A shower and a clothes wash and then the hospital.

Tuesday 10th April 2018 – AND SO I WENT OUT …

… this afternoon into town, as I mentioned that I would.

And with the weather being so appalling (no surprise there) I was dressed up like Nanook of the North.

What then happened was completely predictable. The clouds dramatically raced away, we had a bright blue sky with this strange round, golden object in the sky and I melted. First time this year. I was so hot it was unbelievable.

But as I returned, the weather just as dramatically closed in again and we had a pile of rain. I tell you – this is really getting on my wick now. It’s beyond a joke.

Another night of not very much sleep, and I was on my travels yet again. I was driving down the hill (at the Clermont-Ferrand side) into St Eloy-les-Mines of all places in a car that was comparatively modern, and was joined by a pale blue early MkII Consul (the type with the small rear lights) in a rather tatty condition, and an ancient F-series Vauxhall Victor. Our descent took us into the suburbs of London (like you do) and the local MoT station where the three vehicles were examined. On enquiring of the tester, I was told that “they’ve all passed OK” – which totally surprised me. As he handed me the documents I asked him if there were any advisories. “No, none at all. They are all good” – and that I found even more surprising. But who am I to argue with an MoT examiner when he has just passed all of my cars?

We had breakfast and the usual relax afterwards and then SHOCK! HORROR! I vacuumed the floor of the apartment and cleaned the kitchen cupboard. Not that you’d notice, of course, but I do and that’s what’s important.

For lunch I finished off the soup with some more bits of baguette from the freezer and then headed into town.

My wanderings took me to the harbour to see what the crane was doing, but there was nothing particularly evident as to why it should still be there. And there was no-one around to ask either which was surprising.

I went round to the boulangerie where the good baguettes are sold and picked up one of the baguettes that keep for a couple of days. That’s for my butties on the road tomorrow of course. I’m heading back to Leuven aren’t I?

The post Office was next, to post a letter to the Tax Office and then round to the estate agent’s to pay them this famous €0:34 before I go away.

And here I tackled head-on a subject close to my heart. Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that the kitchen here is rubbish and I want to do something about improving it. So I asked the estate agents if the owner would consider making an investment into his property by making a contribution to the cost.

My demand wasn’t dismissed out of hand, which is one good thing. I need to make a report and to draw up a little plan about what I would like to do. This involves a trip to IKEA to price out a few things and I may well do that on Friday if I can – the one at Zaventam. I’m sure that there must be a bus from Leuven that goes that way. I shall have to make enquiries. I shall have to measure the kitchen area before I go out tomorrow.

This afternoon I was planning to wash the floor and then go for a walk while it dried but shame as it is to say it, I was stark out on the sofa. And you have no idea just how much this is depressing me.

Tea was a frozen curry out of the freezer and then I had my evening walk around the headland. Ready for bed now and I need a good sleep because I’m on the road tomorrow.

I wonder what Thursday at the hospital will bring for me.

Monday 9th April 2018 – IT SEEMS …

… that I have forgotten to reconfigure the alarms on my phone after the Easter break.

As regular readers of this rubbish might recall, the alarms didn’t go off o Friday (which I put down to a flat battery in the phone) and they didn’t go off today either. I was awakened at 07:00 by the church bells summoning the Faithful (both of them) to early morning Mass.

I’d been on my travels again during the night too. A young boy had come to our house to be looked after until a neighbour could come to pick him up. But chatting to him, it turned out that his mother had died most unexpectedly and this neighbour didn’t know. The best description that he could give me about his neighbour was that she wore a flowered skirt so I went to the end of the lane to wait for her, to intercept her and break the news to her. A variety of people came past, including a group of old ladies with walking sticks and we had quite a chat, and eventually a woman appeared, a large woman wearing a dark blue-grey skirt with the outlines of flowers drawn in white. She was indeed the neighbour concerned so I drew her to one side to break the news to her.
A little later I was back in Crewe at the house of a lorry driver who worked with my father. He had a caravan for sale and I was very interested in it. It was an old one but a lightweight fibreglass vehicle and the plumbing inside was rather eccentric to say the least. But I’d seen this type of plumbing before and couldn’t understand how it worked so I reckoned that the purchase price of this caravan was well worth it just for an informal course on how the plumbing on these things worked.

Eventually managing to tear myself out of my stinking pit, we had the usual morning ritual and then after a little repose and a coffee I attacked the packing.

I’ll be away for a week so I’m not taking much with me. I shall me relying on hotel sinks and washbasins to keep my clothes clean while I’m on my travels. That should do me fine for that kind of period although if I do spot a holiday on offer in the middle of the Sahara Desert I shall be somewhat at a disadvantage. You don’t need many clothes in the desert that’s for sure, but I don’t want to give any of the donkeys an inferiority complex.

And the desert! Yes. Given the dreadful weather that we’ve had and how thoroughly fed up I am of it all, a week or two at an oasis in the middle of the Sahara will do me the world of good.

The morning – and the day – gradually went downhill from there. In the post was a letter from the EDF about yet another issue with my standing orders thanks to the Crédit Agricole (who are quickly establishing themselves as the Worst Bank In The World) and I ended up on the ‘phone to the EDF for 45 minutes sorting things out. The guy there was very helpful and very friendly but that’s hardly the point now, is it?

Rummaging through the freezer at lunchtime, I discovered that I had run out of bread for lunch. There were however some bits of baguette in there left over from when I was ill over Christmas so I made some soup and had them with it.

After lunch, I steam-cleaned the kitchen. And it needed it too. I’ve been letting things lapse in here for a while and I need to get myself back on track.

That led me up quite nicely to my afternoon walk around the headland. It was grey, miserable and overcast again but not really cold – and not raining either which makes a big change.

And back here I made myself a coffee and sat down to drink it before carrying on with the cleaning. But the next thing that I remember, in a hazy, fuzzy kind of way, was that it was 17:35 and my coffee was stone-cold. By my reckoning, I was out for almost 90 minutes. This cleaning is clearly getting to me, isn’t it? And there’s so much to do before I can go away.

Tea was the other burger from last night with a bap, baked potatoes and vegetables steamed in the microwave. And very delicious it all was too. One thing about it is that I’m eating well.

And then we had our little walk this evening where I was interrogated by a grockel.

I’m hoping for an early night tonight and a good sleep. I can’t keep on going like this. I’m so short of energy and motivation that I’m doing nothing at all and that’s not part of my plan at all.

Sunday 8th April 2018 – WHAT KIND OF …

… time is 06:35 on a Sunday morning to be waking up?

That’s almost as depressing as falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon, isn’t it? You would think that with me being so tired these days and with the one day per week when I have no alarm and can sleep for 24 hours without the slightest pang of guilt, that I would make the most of it.

Mind you, I’d been on my travels during the night. Back to an apartment that I owned (which I didn’t but don’t let that worry anyone) in Brussels which was tenanted by the girl who was my tenant at Reyers. We were talking about something or other that involved food and when it came to storing it, the guy who was with her said “but that’s alright if you have a fridge that works”. I was surprised, and said to the girl “what about the fridge here?” to which she commented that “it doesn’t work any more”. I asked her why she hadn’t told me and she replied that she hadn’t wanted to bother me. “It’s not a case of that” I replied and went off into the kitchen to measure the unit where the fridge was fitted. It was so complicated that I was convinced that I was doing it incorrectly but just then Terry turned up, so I left it all to him.

07:47 was when I finally stirred, and I needn’t have bothered because one look out of the window told me everything. We really ARE back in winter. Cold, wet, grey and miserable.

But that’s enough about me – let’s talk about the weather too.

We had the usual morning performances and then, seeing as it was Sunday, I did nothing at all for the rest of the morning except some stuff on the laptop for my own amusement. It’s good to have that one day per week when you can do nothing and not feel guilty about it.

This afternoon, I had a choice of entertainment. US Granville’s 3rd XI were at home at the Cité des Sports whereas at the same time Aberystwyth Town were playing Newtown in the other Welsh Cup semi-final. I looked out of the window, made my butties and settled down on the sofa in front of the television.

This was a much better match than last night. Aberystwyth Town were the better team and won 2-1 against a Newtown team that battled away competitively without much success. And Aberystwyth’s opening goal was a peach. A breakaway down the wing, a pinpoint cross into the penalty area and a bullet header from the centre-forward right into the corner of the net. A proper 1970s striker’s goal that will be viewed time and time again on the internet media.

Once the match was over I did go for a walk despite the weather. It’s the Ideal Home Exhibition in town and I wanted to see what was going on. But as I expected, it was a complete and utter waste of time. Full of these airy-fairy luxury items and nothing whatever that would fit my budget.

Even worse, there was nothing – nothing whatever that inspired me or gave me any ideas. And that in itself is a tragedy from my point of view. Most things that I see usually get me thinking about how I can either use it or improve on it, but not here.

There wasn’t even any hospitality coffee on offer. Not a thing. And so I gave it up as a bad job and came home.

And, ashamed as I am to admit it, I crashed out for an hour too. Things aren’t going too well for me right now, are they?

Tonight’s pizza was another excellent one, and then I braved the rain for yet another walk this evening – this time, around the headland. Cold wet and miserable, and the weather was even worse.

Now I’m trying to warm up before going to bed. I’m really fed up of this weather.

Saturday 7th April 2018 – SO THAT WAS …

… Summer then.

This morning we were back with the grey, miserable, depressing overcast weather that was threatening rain again.

I leapt from my bed with a spring in my step at the sound of the first alarm … "QUITE" – ed … and then went through the usual morning ritual followed by a shower and a turn of the washing machine. I need to have everything up-to-date here before I go.

The shops were pretty boring and I didn’t buy all that much – hardly surprising when I’m not going to be here for 10 days. LIDL was quite boring, except for the enormous queue at the one till that was open, but there were a couple of DVDs in NOZ that attracted my attention. Les Grandes Vacances starring Louis de Funès who, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall, is my favourite French comedian, and also “Le Brigand Bien-Aimé”, or to give it its English title, The True Story of Jesse James – but unfortunately the 1950s remake, not the original, classic 1939 version.

There was also a nice imitation-copper tray too. Very heavy. Just the job for putting on the table to keep the condiments and so on handy whenever I carry out the additions to the kitchen.

It was exciting at LeClerc though. Some woman was insisting that they weighed her fruit and vegetables BEFORE she put them in the bag, despite the fact that the scales there are set to minus 0.5 grammes to take into account the weight of the bag. Just how petty can anyone be?

Back here, I had a coffee and a tidy up (just a little one) before lunch and then, seeing as I can now pick up 5-Live with the new hi-fi (with which I am almost as impressed as I was with my galvanised steel dustbin) I listened to the football on the radio.

As that finished, it was time for me to set off to the Stade Louis Dior and this evening’s football. US Granville’s 1st XI were playing Stade Briochin, the team from down the coast at St Brieuc.

And true to form, as the teams lined up for the kick-off, we had the downpour. 535 brave spectators witnessed a rather depressing football match.

Stade Briochin are second in the table and are challenging for promotion to the National League. And it was easy to see why. I’ve mentioned in the past that US Granville’s attack can be pretty aimless at times, especially when their centre-forward doesn’t feel much like it, and that was the case today. I’ve never seen then so ineffectual up front.

As for Stade Briochin, they were much more focused and dynamic, and played with a system, a shape and a plan. They scored two goals with some very good play and could have had even more had the Granville ‘keeper not been on top form.

Granville improved in the final quarter of an hour after a couple of substitutions but still didn’t seriously threaten the Stade Briochin goal and they are probably still out there now trying to launch an attack on the empty net.

And surprise, surprise. As soon as the referee blew for full-time the rain stopped and my trudge home was rather damp but dry.

Tea was out of a tin as is usual on a Saturday when I’m late home. Rice and veg with a tin of those champignons à la grecque. Not my favourite meal but at least it’s different and adds some variety to my diet.

It was very kind of the FAW to hold up the kick-off of tonight’s Welsh Cup semi-final until I was back home. And so thanks to the internet and my new television I was able to watch Connah’s Quay Nomads totally demolish some clueless rabble in blue that pretended to be Bangor City.

With Lord Lucan and Martin Bormann in central defence and a debut appearance for The Invisible Man at left-back, who had to be just about the worst defender that I have ever seen at this level of football, the Nomads rattled in 6 quick-fire goals and could have had half a dozen more except for a brave display by Matthew Hall in the Bangor goal.

Bangor’s reply – a penalty – was nothing more than some soft consideration or consolation for what had been the worst performance that I had ever seen.

I’ve mentioned in the past that Bangor’s inconsistency is costing them dear. Last week they took on TNS, who had just been crowned League Champions, and beat them 1-0. And earlier in the season they had beaten TNS 5-2. And then they go and turn out an embarrassing, humiliating performance like this?

So on that note, I’m storming off to bed. It’s been a bad day for the football.

Friday 6th April 2018 – TODAY …

… the burst of enthusiasm that I had had yesterday deserted me again and we had another quite lethargic day.

What didn’t help matters was that the battery in the phone went flat during the night and so I didn’t have the usual alarm call. It was … errr … some time later that I resurrected myself from the dead. But I’d been on my travels too, in a farm connected to that chocolate factory where I was the other night.

But I don’t know whether or not I mentioned it last night but the temperature dramatically warmed up in the afternoon, to such an extent that I didn’t put the heating on in the bedroom last night. And while I could feel the chill, it wasn’t too unpleasant.

With the late start and even later breakfast it disrupted my plan somewhet and it was another day when I just couldn’t get myself going. I ended up accomplishing nothing at all.

Outside this afternoon it was really delicious – 15°C (warmer than in the building) and it’s been a long time since we’ve had that temperature. There were crowds of people out enjoying the weather. I bumped into my neighbour and we had a good chat for 10 minutes.

It’s worth recording too that despite the lethargy I didn’t crash out this afternoon. Makes me wonder if my early starts are what are seeing me off.

Seeing as I’m starting to run out of space in the freezer I rescued the white bap that was in there and had burger and baked potatoes. That was delicious too.

And then, the evening stroll around the walls – in daylight. The first time for many, many months. But SHOCK HORROR the public bins were full to overflowing. I had to put my rubbish in Caliburn until I can find another one tomorrow somewhere.

Now I’ll make sure that the phone goes on charge tonight. It’s shopping tomorrow and I don’t want to be late. But I don’t need much seeing as I’ll be on my travels in the week.

And that reminds me – I’d better start to pack, hadn’t I?

Thursday 5th April 2018 – THAT WAS A …

… better day today. I felt much more like it and managed to accomplish a lot of the things that I should have done yesterday.

And for a change we had a different kind of night. Flat out almost as soon as my head touched the pillow, and then wide awake at 04:10. It’s either one thing or the other right now, and it’s certainly not the other, I can tell you that.

But I did go back to sleep again at some point for it was a struggle to resurface when the alarm went off. And then we had the usual morning ritual followed by a shower and a change of clothes. After all, it is Thursday.

Before I left for the shops I attacked the backlog of work, and I’ve now booked my rail ticket to Leuven and my accommodation there. But not a return ticket though. Idly surfing the internet like you do … "like YOU do, you mean" – ed … I found a three-day mini-break in Oostende (I like Oostende as you know) for just €110 plus local taxes. I need a break, and so that will do nicely, thank you.

On the way to the shops I called at the Bank. My rent here is being increased by the cost of living index – all of €3:74 per month, so I need to amend the standing order. And at the station to pick up my rail ticket, I had to help an old man (like I’m really young, of course) wrestle with the ticket machine. It’s not easy if you don’t know what you are doing.

Nothing of much excitement at LIDL although I did forget the Agave Syrup. I even had my hand on it at one point but was distracted and that was that.

On the way back I had to call at the Estate Agent. With the rent being increased, there is €0:34 to pay for the period at the end of April. But they didn’t have a till or a cash box and I didn’t have the correct money, so I’ll have to go there another time with the right amount.

Once I’d had my coffee, I set to work.

10 kiwis, one banana; half a cup of desiccated coconut, one carton of coconut cream and a couple of tablespoons of honey (in the absence of Agave Syrup) all chucked into the whizzer and it created half a litre of kiwi mixture.

It’s now busy freezing in the freezer and tomorrow I’ll pass it through the sorbet maker to aerate it. And then it should be done. But I hope that the honey works. Agave Syrup is used for this as it keeps the molecules separate and doesn’t freeze the food in a big solid block.

But then, that’s what the aerator does.

After lunch I went for my afternoon walk, as it really was a beautiful afternoon.

And technology seems to be catching up with me right now. Parked on the car park of the college this afternoon was a car powered by hydrogen – a mere 20 years after my Open University thesis on the use of hydrogen for motor fuel.

But we saw that when I lived on the farm – what I was doing back in the 90s becoming mainstream 10 or 15 years later.

It’s not the only thing that is catching up either.

We saw the works for the fibre-optic cable and saw them building the new compound for the next phase. And here they are, now attacking the rue du Port as predicted.

Queues a mile long, seeing as it was school chucking-out time, but not that that’s ever going to bother them, is it?

I mentioned that there are four buildings here that formed part of the barracks. One is now the College, the second is the Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs and contains the public rooms, and the other two are being converted into apartments (I live in one of them).

The last one is already part-occupied, and I see that they have now started on work on the final section of it.

I tried to buy an apartment in there, but no-one ever returned my phone calls. And people complain about a recession, don’t they?

But being of a small mind, I had to laugh at the name of the company that is currently working in there.

Mind you, anyone who knows anything about the “Carry On” films, and in particular Carry on Don’t Lose Your Head will understand exactly what is humorous about the name.

But I digress. I came back in for a coffee.

I’m not sure what happened to the afternoon after that. Next thing that I knew, it was 18:45. I must have been stark out for a good 90 minutes or so. This is really getting to me, isn’t it, this ill-health? I shall have to pull myself together somehow.

But I still managed to find the energy to make my aubergine and kidney-bean whatsit. And the helping that I had tonight (there are four others for the freezer) was delicious. I really enjoyed that.

It was a beautiful evening when I went for my walk, and I bumped into an old lady out for a perambulation being followed around by a dog and several cats, one of which is my long-haired black cat.

It turns out that the cat is indeed hers, and she is called Minette (the cat, not the woman). We had quite a lengthy chat but Minette kept her distance. I suppose that the smell of Gribouille, who once more let me pick him up for a stroke, had made her rather jealous.

But it was weird to see this little procession down and around the streets of the Medieval town

So I’ll have a drink and a little relax and then I’ll go to bed. I have my carrot soup to make tomorrow, I reckon.

Wednesday 4th April 2018 – I’VE BEEN HAVING

… a very bad day today.

Not due to ill-health I hasten to add, but I’ve been overtaken by some kind of lethargy and inability to concentrate.

What didn’t help matters was the dreadful night that I had had. it was rather late and that doesn’t help, and then I couldn’t go to sleep. I was drifting in and out of some kind of absence watching the clock slowly tick round and round and I remember 01:41 being there somewhere.

Getting up at 06:30 was quite miserable and then I couldn’t tear myself off the sofa for breakfast until gone 08:00 and that’s not like me. And I also missed my morning coffee break.

Lunch was quite late too and that’s a surprise. You always know that there’s something going on if I miss out on my food.

And despite everything I did manage to go for a walk this afternoon around the headland, even though I was rather unsteady on my feet. So there’s clearly something up.

And that wasn’t all that was up either. As you can see, the big crane is back on the quayside.

I’m not sure why, because the work there is finished, and I couldn’t see anything there at all. I’ll have to go for a wander down there later this week to see what gives, if I feel any better.

I had so much to do this afternoon, like make some kiwi sorbet and an aubergine whatsit, but I just couldn’t find the energy or the motivation. Luckily I had a pepper left over and some stuffing left from yesterday otherwise I might not have had anything for tea.

We managed the walk again this evening, but that’s all that I’m doing. I reckon that I might be sickening for something again and that’s bad news, for I’m on my travels to Leuven on Wednesday.

That is, if I can summon up whatever it takes to book my journey and my hotel.

Tuesday 3rd April 2018 – I HAVE BEEN …

… out to visit an apartment today.

Not that I have all that much intention of buying anything, but when you see a one-bedroom duplex apartment with sea view and private parking for just €70,000, you have to go to look (at least, one of us does) otherwise I shall always be wondering about it.

It was on the edge of St Pair sur Mer so I met Liz in the town and we met up with the estate agent who took us on a scenic tour of the town until we found it.

And much to my surprise, it wasn’t as much of a ruin as some that I had seen at much more of a price. But it was small and inconvenient and there was no way that the accommodation could be rearranged to make a decent kitchen and fit the washing machine in. And so I politely declined.

Back at the Estate Agent’s office, we found that the Estate Agent had locked himself out so we left him to it and went for a coffee at the bar on the corner where we encountered France’s entry in the “World’s Worst Waiter” competition.

The coffee was followed by a walk along the beach in and amongst the groups of schoolkids having their “classes découvertes”.

And there’s a lot more to St Pair-sur-Mer as I discovered as we walked along the beach. Although I’ve been here on many occasions this is the first time that I’ve walked along the beach, and I never knew that there was a river here.

Yes, I may be none-the-wiser but I’m certainly learning a lot.

And having made a conscious decision earlier today to take all of the old cardboard boxes to the dechetterie on the way back, I promptly forgot, and had to turn around halfway home to go back.

This morning it was a struggle to leave my bed at 06:30 and I failed to beat the second alarm. So a slow steady morning during which I caught up with some of the weekend’s undone work and assembled my new chair (which doesn’t seem to be as comfortable as it was in the shop). But then again what do you expect for €36:00?

Tea was stuffed peppers (with too much hot spice in the stuffing) and spicy rice, followed by my walk during which I was waylaid by the long-haired black cat.

So I need to organise myself so much better tomorrow. I have a lot to do and it won’t ever be done at the rate at which I seem to be working right now.

Monday 2nd April 2018 – 08:35 …

…. that’s a much more respectable time to wake up on a Bank Holiday, isn’t it?

And I’d been on my travels too. In an old Ford Cortina mk III in dark bronze with a white vunyl roof, the same colour that TNY should be had someone not painted it a horrible chocolate brown colour. I’d been taxiing in it, picking up passengers where I shouldn’t, in an underground car park (and we’ve been here on previous voyages too) out of my licensed area. I’d done two or three trips and on the return from the last one there was a proper licensed taxi waiting, so I was glad that I had been able to do at least those without being caught. But then I had to take the car for its taxi test and with the scuttle under the windscreen having rotted away, I was wondering how I could disguise it so that the tester wouldn’t notice. But back home, Nerina had returned to live with me and so I’d been out shopping and what I had done was to buy the same products as usual but twice as much. And that made me wonder if that was the correct decision, and what would she say about it, and what if she had also been out shopping and bought a load of stuff?

I had the fig roll for breakfast with the usual porridge, fruit puree, juice and coffee. And delicious it was too. That was a good plan in the absence of any hot cross buns. And then with it being Bank Holiday I had a really good relax and didn’t do too much at all except eat my vegan Easter Egg (thanks, Jenny).

I managed a trip out for a walk in the afternoon in the wild weather, along with the crowds who were bravely battling the elements. I’m fed up of all of this, that’s for sure.

But this evening, I was out socialising. So I had a good shower and clean-up before I went. My neighbours were back from Vietnam and were planning to exhibit their photos we I went round. There were about a dozen of us all told. We started at 19:00 and I left at 22:30 (three and a half hours of socialising is a record for me and I wasn’t the first to leave either).

There had been that much talking that we hadn’t even started the photos. But it does me good to get out and about and meet people instead of living in splendid isolation in my little apartment. People keep on telling me that I ought to get out more often.

So tomorrow the routine starts again. Up at 06:30. I’m not sure that I feel much like it but I shall do my best.

Sunday 1st April 2018 – WHAT THE …

… heck am I doing wide awake at 06:35 on a Sunday morning? And a Bank Holiday too? That’s the biggest April Fool’s joke around now, isn’t it?

But by 07:15 I couldn’t stand it any more and I was up and out of bed going through the usual morning ritual.

With it being a Bank Holiday and in the absence of any Hot Cross Buns I had bought some fig rolls from LeClerc and while they aren’t a patch on Hot Cross Buns, they are the best thing that I can find and the one that I had with my breakfast (and there’s another one for tomorrow) was delicious with the raspberry jam.

And of course, being a Bank Holiday, I didn’t do very much at all, although I have been thinking – and that’s a novelty in itself, isn’t it? I might rearrange the layout in here a little and see if it makes it a little more intimate. I feel like a change.

After lunch in the bright sunlight I headed for the Cité des Sports again. But I didn’t get very far before I was waylaid by the scenery.

Remember the other day when I posted a photo of the shed that they had built out of old shipping containers for the works for replacing the lock gates? It seems that they have now started to dismantle it

The roof has now gone, and I imagine that the rest will soon follow it.

At the Cité des Sports this afternoon we had US Granville 3rd XI’s match against the uS Ducey 2nd XI. And being dressed for winter I was sweating by the time that I arrived, and had to divest myself of several layers.

But I’m not fooled by these false dawns as you know. Long before half time I had been obliged to put all of the layers back on and then some. And we had the rain to contend with too.

As for the match itself, I was almost on the point of saying what a dour midfield grind this was. Neither side had any attacking instinct whatsoever and added to that, Ducey had a couple of … errr … older centre-backs who had clearly been around the block a few times and knew the ropes.

But all of that changed with about 30 seconds to go. In one of their rare forays into the Ducey penalty area there was a lay-off to the Granville n°11 (who had up to that point been conspicuous by his absence) who blasted it past the US Ducey keeper into the net.

And badger me if 30 seconds into stoppage time we didn’t have a carbon-copy goal. 2-0 the score was, and up until 30 seconds to the end of regular time I reckoned that they wouldn’t even score one if they were to play all night.

But one moment that stands out in this game was the Ducey substitute – a young boy who came on to play in attack and when he was loudly criticised by his captain for some thoughtless pley, he stamped his feet and stormed off the pitch.

In view of the change in the weather eschewed the long walk home via the coast and came back the usual way. I was cold, fed-up and wet … "nothing new there" – ed.

Tonight’s pizza was cooked to perfection, it really was. And only a short walk – just enough to pass the 100% mark again.

Tomorrow is another Bank Holiday, and I have a fig roll and a vegan Easter Egg. I shall make the most of both of them.

Saturday 31st March 2018 – YOU MISSED …

… an exciting football match this evening.

US Granville were playing CS Villedieu – a team one Division below them – in the Normandy Cup, and ran out 5-1 winners.

You might think that this indicates that CS Villedieu were on the receiving end of a right spannering, but nothing could be further from the truth. The scoreline is extremely unfair to them.

The game hinged on a two-minute spell after about an hour. Up until then the teams had been very evenly matched and although Granville were 1-0 up thanks to a goal after about 15 minutes, the lead was by no means whatever a comfortable one.

But then CS Villedieu broke away upfield with some nice play and had a shot on goal that beat absolutely everyone, including the US Granville keeper, but flashed about half a millimetre wide of the post. Had they scored, it would have been no more than they deserved.

However, from the goal-kick, Granville roared upfield and won a corner. And the Granville centre-forward had a free header into the net.

From the restart, the US Granville midfielder intercepted the ball, played it upfield and with some neat passing play from the forwards, the n°10 (I think) found himself in a one-on-one with the Villedieu keeper and made no mistake.

So within 60 seconds of what should have been 1-1, CS Villedieu found themselves 3-0 down.

After that, things went from bad to worse for Villedieu. They were still playing some nice football and even pulled back a goal, but every time Granville had the ball up front they looked dangerous. As well as 2 more goals, we had two point-blank saves from the keeper and a resounding, thunderous volley that came back off the foot of the post.

5-1 it was. 2-1 would have been a fairer result but it could so easily have been 7 or 8 for Granville.

And I’ll tell you something else that I missed too. And I’m as malade as a perroquet about it, as they say around here.

There’s been a dash-cam in Caliburn for several years and it’s never ever recorded anything interesting. And yet today, there we were at the roundabout near LeClerc and a motorist a few cars in front of me stops to give way. A tourist behind (yes, it’s grockle-time again), too busy admiring a seagull, runs slap bang into the rear of him. Ad here I am with the dash-cam running!

Or, at least, I thought I was. But it turns out that the SD card filled up about 100 yards beforehand and so had switched off. How upset am I?

With having had a late night last night I didn’t have much sleep . And although I’d been on my travels, all memory of it disappeared in the time that it took to reach for the dictaphone.

We had the usual morning ritual followed by a shower and a general clean-up, and then it was shopping-time.

LIDL and NOZ came up with nothing much of any excitement, and I went to Mr Bricolage for some PTFE lubricant for the machine heads of the bass guitar.

We then had the accident, and as I was pulling onto the car park at LeClerc, I almost collided with Liz and Terry coming in the opposite direction. So we went for a coffee, that passed into lunch, and I’m very grateful to Terry for hosting me.

Nothing much of any excitement in there either, but I do now have an office chair (even though I don’t have an office as yet – but I will in early course) and that was quite by accident.

With all of the time that it took for chatting and so on, it was just coming up to 14:00 when I was driving past BUT and they were reopening after lunch. And there was a big sign outside – “Clearance Sale – Massive reductions – Free Installation on Fitted Kitchens”.

So I went in to see about a kitchen for here because I hate what I have and I want something much better than this. However, it won’t be happening from BUT. The “free installation” only applies to purchases of over €2500 and I’m looking to spend a tenth of that.

But I had a look at the office chairs and there was one that was quite comfortable and quite robust. Not quite like the one that I had in Brussels that I could (and did on many occasions) curl up and go to sleep in, but it was €79:99 – which is cheap in itself – reduced by 50%! And they had run out of stock so after much discussion they let me have the display one for €36:00. I’ll go for that.

This evening I had a brisk walk out to the Cité des Sports in the rain and howling gale for the football and because I’d brought a flask, the Hall and bar were open. Isn’t that typical?

And on the way back I grabbed a portion of chips for tea. It’s good to catch up with old habits.

Tomorrow is of course a Bank Holiday and a Sunday, so I’m going for two lie-ins.

And why not?

EPIC HALL

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