Tag Archives: les guis

Monday 27th October 2014 – RED SKY AT NIGHT …

sunset auzances creuse birdwatching ornithological centre st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome france… means that Auzances is on fire.

Yes, on the way back home this evening as the sun was setting, I stopped off at my favourite haunt, the St Gervais Ornithological Centre to take one or two photos. The sun setting below the horizon in the clouds in the general direction of Auzances was particularly impressive.

birdwatching ornithological centre st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceThe view in the opposite direction, while not being quite as spectacular, was nevertheless quite impressive in its own right.

Here, with the evening drawing on and the damp mist slowly rising out of the fields, the Puy de Dome looks as if it is slowly disappearing from view behind a kind of diaphanous veil. It gives a completely different aspect to this view, of which you have seen dozens of examples over the years.

This morning we went to record the Radio Anglais programmes at Marcillat-en-Cembraille for Radio Tartasse. We had a few technical issues but they were resolved by simply returning to the very first version of the studio’s computer program. This new upgrade has caused nothing but problems.

We went from there to Clermont-Ferrand and the Auchan where I did a big pile of shopping. I’d run out of oats for my muesli and lentils for my curries, and so I needed to stock up. I also took advantage of the proximity of the Auchan to the recording studios at Gerzat to do a mega-shop.

The radio session at Gerzat went surprisigly well – in fact four programmes of 15 minutes each took just 1 hour and 5 minutes to record in total. It’s never happened like this before and I wish that it had happened like this that time just before I went to Canada.

Afterwards, we celebrated by going for coffee at Menetrol and doing a lap around the Carrefour there to buy the things that I had forgotten.

And after dropping Liz off, I came home via the birdwatching site at St Gervais d’Auvergne.

Tonihgt, I’ve enrolled in another Higher Education course. The University of Birmingham, in its Future Learn Programme is offering a course in the Development of Aviation in World War I and there was a free place even though the course started a week ago. This kind of thing is right up my Alley as you know and I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

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Sunday 26th October 2014 – GRRRRRR!

Yes, I asked last night at the footy where the 2nd XI would be playing today. “St Maurice” was the answer, “but don’t forget that the kick-off is at 13:00”. So at 12:50, there I was at the football ground at St maurice, and I was there all on my own.

At 14:00 someone finally turned up, and it was then that I discovered that the kick-off was actually 15:00. It seems that I had been misinformed. But it wasn’t necessarily a waste of time, for I had brought my laptop with me. So I had sat in Caliburn and done another radio programme while I was waiting.

Pionsat’s 2nd XI lost 3-1, which was no surprise seeing as how they only had 8 players there. Nevertheless, at one stage they were 1-0 up. What changed the match was one of the outfield players being injured just before half time and so in the second half he went in goal and the keeper ended up playing up front (and he was the one who scored the goal, strange as it might seem).

But there was something good that came out of the doom and gloom nevertheless – and that was with Didier (the right-winger) and Vincent (the centre-forward) playong together as a completely impromptu central defensive pairing. And until they tired late in the game (which was hardlly surprising given the circumstances) they never put a foot wrong for 80 minutes and no-one was ever going to get past them. It was a revelation as far as I was concerned and they can both take a bow for their performance.

This morning though I finished off the rdio programmes that we will be presenting tomorrow morning and then after the footy I went round to Liz and Terry’s for rehearsals. Liz had made a vegetable crumble and while it might sound rather bizarre, it tasted really good. That’s something else that I will be adding to my repertoire when (if ever) I work on my kitchen.

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Saturday 25th October 2014 – A GAME OF TWO HALVES

I’ve just come back from the footy at Pionsat where the home side has been defeated by one of the teams from the suburbs of Clermont Ferrand, Clermont Biblioteque.

And if ever there was a game of two halves, then this was it, that’s to be sure. Clermont were a big, quick, powerful team and they were sprinting through FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s makeshift defence almost at will.

4-0 up at half-time without even breaking sweat, although I do have to say that a penalty that they were awarded was not ever in a million years a penalty – the keeper clearly pushed the ball away from the Clermont player and that latter fell over the outstretched keeper’s leg after the ball had gone. Not only that, the fourth goal was the last kick of the first half and had the referee blown his whistle 2 seonds earlier this goal wouldn’t have counted anyway.

When Clermont scored their 5th goal straight from the kick-off, all sorts of horror stories were running through my head. And then a most astonishing thing happened.

Nico found the ball in plenty of space about 30 yards out, looked up to see the keeper about 15 yards off his line, and lobbed the ball right over him into the net.

10 minutes later, Pionsat won a corner and the ball broke out to blond Frederic who was about 25 yards out on the left-hand side of the penalty area. He launched it low and hard back into the area and, unbelievably, it sailed right through the crowds and into the far corner of the net.

If that wasn’t enough, about 10 minutes after that, Anthony lobbed a beautiful ball over the defence into space and Nico, beating the offside trap cleverly, beat the keeper comrotably to score a third.

Clermont launched a couple of huge waves of attack and only some desperate defending by Pionsat kept them out. And if they had defended like that earlier in the game they wouldn’t have been in all of these problems. It really was magnificent stuff.

The match ended with FC Pionsat St Hilaire back on the attack, camped in the opposition half trying to claw their way back into the game. It was a shame that a couple of Clermont’s early goals had counted.

Apart from that, I’ve been radioing today – writing a couple of programmes and a rock show for Radio Anglais in my comfortable abode up here. And I crashed out for a couple of hours too – I can’t think why. It’s not as if I’ve been overworking just now.

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Friday 24th October 2014 – THE DEED IS DONE.

Yes, William Shakespeare would have something to say about this place now. There’s nothing in here now that shouldn’t be in here (mind you, I bet that there is). It’s all been moved out and there is now plenty of room to move about. The next day that I have plenty of power, I might even vacuum the place with that 500-watt vacuum cleaner that I bought in the spring.

You wouldn’t recognise the old place now.

I have radio stuff to do this weekend and we are recording on Monday, but seeing as how the paper collection isn’t until Wednesday, I reckon that on Tuesday I’ll do as much as I can to collect as much waste paper as possible from around the place. That should make quite a difference.

And when that’s done, I’m going to have a go at clearing up some of the outside.

And the weather is definitely becoming colder. In the lean-to last night the temperature dropped down to 12.9°C. In here, it fell to 17.1°C and that’s a sign of things to come, isn’t it?

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Thursday 23rd October 2014 – AT LAST …

… it looks as if there has been some progress in here. For a start, the desk is completely cleared and there’s nothing on there except what should be on there.

Everywhere else in the attic has been atended to now and so by the time I finished this evening, all that remains is to take out everything that needs to be moved. And then I’m hoping to see some difference in here because, to be honest, as I have been saying for the last week, ther doesn’t look much difference (except on the desk as I metioned yesterday).

And, as you might expect, I’ve been finding stuff that I’ve long since given up for lost although there are a few things that I know should be up here and I’ve yet to discover

Mind you, I didn’t feel much like it this morning. i’m still being troubled by a mouse or something in the roof and for a couple of hours it was scratching away, keeping me awake when I was trying to gt off to sleep. That was really annoying.

I also had one of these vague telephone conversations with one of the radio companies that broadcasts Radio Anglais. It’s always difficult dealing with this particular radio station, for a whole variety of reasons, and today was no exception.

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Wednesday 22nd October 2014 – BRRRR!

It looks as if winter has arrived here. Last night the temperature outside dropped to 3.7°C outside, the coldest that it’s been in this latter part of the year. No wonder I didn’t feel much like getting up this morning.

So I had another leisurely morning on the internet and then carried on attacking the attic here. And by the end of the afternoon I finally managed to make a good start on the pile of rubbish that is the desk. I’ve been piling stuff up on there since I din’t know when and this is the one place that I really need to tackle.

We’ll see how it develops.

Rosemary rang up again as there has been another change of plan at her house and she needed to chat about a new project there.

And then, I had a quiet night, although for some reason I found it difficult to get off to sleep and I was still awake at 03:00. I need to do something about this;

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Tuesday 21st October 2014 – NO ONE CAME …

… from miles around … errrr, yes, no-one came to visit me today which was just as well.

After something of an easy morning during which I did some work on the web site, I carried on with the tidying up in here. Still not much difference in how it looks, I suppose, but I have to keep on going.

And Rosemary rang me for a chat this evening. She has the builders in at her place so she was telling me how things were going, and she was interested to hear where I’ve got up to with the tidying up.

And that, dear reader, is that.

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Monday 20th October 2014 – I’VE HAD SOME MORE …

… unexpected visitors today. I happened to glance out of the window this afternoon and there was an old woman and three kids, two aged about 8 and a girl aged about 13 or 14, staring at the house. Further enquiried revealed that the old lady used to live here years ago and she just happened to be passing.

She insisted on a guided tour, which was quite embarrassing given the state that the place is in, but I suppose that I couldn’t turn her down, and she went off quite happy. She says that she might have some photos of the house from 60 years ago, and she’ll let me have copies if she finds them.

It disrupted my afternoon considerably, but I know that had I turned up like this at somewhere where I had lived 60 years ago, I would have hated to have been turned away.

But I do wonder who is going to be the next person to turn up here.

This morning I was up and about comparatively early and after breakfast I dealt with a pile of paperwork and put a load of web pages on line. You can now quite happily follow my journey around the Saguenay.

I also wrote a couple of letters that needed doing. And after a good hour or so’s work, I finally have a working printer here. I’m not sure how long it will keep going because, as regular readers of this rubbish will remember, I get through printers here about every 3 months and I’ve no idea why.

I also loaded up Caliburn with all of the clothes that I’ve sorted out. I needed to go to the Post Office of course to post the letters so on the way back I went to the dechetterie in PIonsat to drop them off seeing as how they have a clothing skip there. I also picked up a couple of rolls of yellow sacks as there’s a waste paper collection in Pionsat next Wedneday.

Back here I attacked the waste paper mountain until I was interrupted, and once my visitors had left I carried on again until knocking off time.

You still can’t see much of a difference in here unfortunately, but I must be on the right lines somewhere with all of this stuff that’s being binned.

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Sunday 19th October 2014 – SUNDAY IS A DAY OF REST OF COURSE …

… and so I was in no hurry to leave my comfy, clean bed. In fact I was on my travels. I was in Stoke on Trent at the home of someone whom I knew, and he, Zero who was also there and I were discussing the stuff that I was taking with me to Canada. I had three or four bottles in my suitcase, each with liquid inside them and I passed them to my friend so that he could see how heavy they were – much heavier than they seemed. While some of the stuff was useful, I couldn’t understand why I was taking two bottled of water with me when I could obtain water over there.

So this morning I carried on with some more radio stuff after breakfast, and after lunch I went to Villosanges to watch Pionsat’s 1st XI play the Chimps.

Pionsat needed to win this game but with just 11 players out on the field, no recognised goalkeeper (here we go again) and no substitutes, it as an uphill struggle. Once Cedric was carried off with torn ligaments after half an hour, the team just folded up and were easily beaten by a team that they should have had dead and buried. It’s a sad reflection of the club that this sort of thing still happens. I’ve no idea what is going on out there right now.

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Saturday 18th October 2014 – GUESS WHAT …

… I’ve been doing this morning!

You’re right.

It was a bright, breezy morning with not a cloud in the sky and so straight after breakfast I went into Pionsat with the cover off the bed-settee. An hour later I was back, with the cleanest bed settee cover that I have ever had. That 18kg machine at the Intermarché works a treat, especially at €8:00 a time including soap.

Of course, you have to wait on the car park while the machine is working and you would be amazed at the number of people who go into the Intermarche in just that time. It’s quite a little goldmine there, especially as the woman who owns it has really done her research, with the amount of British and Dutch produce that’s on sale there.

I even ended up talking to Marianne, whom I haven’t seen since February. She was there doing her shopping too.

This afternoon I started work on the radio programmes for the next month and then later on tonight went back to Pionsat to watch FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 2nd XI play Montfermy.

That was an exciting match too, with a couple of new players this season including a real goalkeeper who had a good game. Pionsat won 2-0 without really breaking sweat. Kevin scored the first following a good ball across the defence that beat the offside trap, and a short corner from Vincent to Matthieu caught the entire Montfermy team asleep and Matthieu had a simple volley into the net.

FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 2nd XI are now top of the table for the moment, and well-worth it too because they really did look like it tonight, and about time too.

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Friday 17th October 2014 – IT’S ALL EXCITEMENT HERE.

Yes, it’s all happening here at Pionsat.

intermarche launderette pionsat puy de dome franceI went a’shopping this afternoon at Pionsat on my way home, and look what I found in a lean-to on the car park at the Intermarché.

Yes, Pionsat now has its own launderette. Not much of a one, that’s for sure, but a launderette just the same. And not only that, there’s a 18kg machine here. That’s good news for me because I haven’t washed the cover on my bed settee in the five years that I’ve had it because I’ve not found a machine big enough to take it since the launderette in Montlucon closed down all those years ago.

And so on the next fine day that we have when I’m at home, guess what I’ll be doing?

And so I did say “on my way home”. That’s because I’ve been out and about this morning. Terry rang me up to ask if I could help him cut some wood.

gorges de la sioule st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceIt was a warm morning today, and with all of the dampness that we’ve had these last few days, it wasn’t difficult to guess where the Gorge de la Sioule is. There is the mist gradually rising up out of the Gorge and dissipating into the atmosphere.

It certainly makes a good photograph, especially in the early morning.

birdwatching centre ornithologique st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome franceThe photo was taken from the birdwatching centre at St Gervais d’Auvergne, and I wasn’t alone here either. There was a pile of other photographers here admiring the view, although I’m not quite sure what it was that was of such an interest to them.

Still, chacun à son gout as they say around here.

Terry and I chopped up a good pile of wood this morning and Liz made a good lunch for us. Then they went off to the dentist and I came home, via the Intermarché at Pionsat.

Back here, I carried on with the tidying up and despite all that I’ve been doing, I can’t see any improvement, and I can’t see any empty space either. I don’t know why this should be, but there we are.

I’ll just have to keep on at it until something happens or that I die of boredom.

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Thursday 16th October 2014 – THIS WAS ANOTHER MORNING …

… when it was difficult to haul myself out of the stinking pit. I’m not doing too well at this.

After breakfast, I started on some work for the radio programmes and prepared a live concert for the rock programmes for Radio Anglais. This concert is not so easy to prepare as it consists of live recordings from a variety of different concerts and I’ve had to edit them together to mke a seamless performance. We ended up being a good few minutes short and I found a studio track to fill the gap so I had to edit in some applause and links. The lengths that I have to go through for my listeners, but it’s worth it because it’s made quite a good concert and I’m impressed with the editing.

After lunch I attacked a huge pile of errant papers and most of them have ended up in the bin. I there was, however, some good stuff that would do quite nicely for the radio programmes so I’ve cut them out to save for later.

I’ve also been editing the kitchen equipment that is up here too. I can’t think why I have half of it up here as I don’t need anything like this much.

This evening I crashed out again for another half hour or so and then I had another go at the aubergine and kidney bean casserole. It’s nice not having to cook much when I have a pile of that.

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Wednesday 15th October 2014 – I WAS SOMEWHAT DISTRACTED …

…today and didn’t accomplish anything like what I intended to do.

It’s difficult to raise myself out of bed at the moment, particularly as it was another 04:00 night (or early morning) last night by the time that I had finished what I was doing. But after breakfast I made a start (or, rather, carried on) with some work that had been backing up for quite some time on the computer.

Rosemary rang me up during the afternoon – she wants to take a rain-check on our shopping trip as she has the roofers round. Her roof was badly damaged in that hailstorm last year and she’s had an emergency tarpaulin over it since then. The insurance company’s roofers have been executing their clients in strict rotation, and they’ve now appeared at Rosemary’s. Naturally, after all this time, she doesn’t want to slow them up now that they’ve finally arrived.

I stopped work at about 19:00 (yes, I was rather carried away by what I was doing) when the battery went flat again in the laptop (there’ no doubt that this little Acer Aspire notebook and its 5 or 6 hours of battery life was a magnificent purchase) to watch a DVD, but crashed out in the middle and I’ve no idea why because it wasn’t as if I had been doing anything exhausting.

I made one of my huge aubergine and kidney-bean casseroles for tea – and as usual there’s enough left over for another three meals and that saves me having to cook for the next few days, which is always a useful idea.

After tea, it was back on the laptop again to carry on all of this sorting out of files. I’m not sure where all of this will finish but so far I’ve liberated about 10GB of space on the hard drive and many of the files are much easier to find now. If I carry on like this, I shan’t know myself.

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Tuesday 14th October 2014 – THIS JET LAG THING …

… is still affecting me and I’ve no idea why. Last night, it was 05:00 when I finally went to bed. And had Terry not telephoned me at about 10:30 to come round and pick up some things from here, I would probably still be in bed even now.

But anyway, seeing as I was up, I was up and I had a leisurely breakfast and watched a film on the DVD – Rio Bravo, one of my favourite Westerns and another one in which the actors are more intent on having a good time than they are on focusing on the script and the stage direction. Of course, it’s the kind of thing that only good actors can get away with.

This afternoon, the clearing up started and by the time that it went dark, I had no fewer than 10 bin-bags of clothes prepared for recycilng. And that’s not all either as there are three dustbins full of clothes in the barn plus a few items of clothes elsewhere. I can’t believe how much rubbish that I’ve actually managed to accumulate here – there’s even stuff that I remember buying in the UK before I met Nerina, and that’s 30-odd years ago. Still, it’s all ready now to be transported to the local clothes recycling bin.

Something else that I can’t believe is that despite all of this, there still doesn’t seem to be very much difference in the amount of space taken up in here. It’s as if nothing whatever has been moved or emptied. But then my tidying up is always like that. If it looks any different from before, it’s usually that it’s more untidy, with having to move all kinds of stuff around in order to get at what i’m looking for.

I rang up Rosemary as well in the evening. On Saturday I’m going to be taking all of these unwanted clothes to Montlucon and to do some shopping too, as it seems that I’ve run out of oats and things like that. Rosemary is always game for a wander around the shops so I invited her to accompany me, which makes a nice change.

And then I finished off the vegan lasagne that Liz had given me in a doggie-bag the other day. That was tea, and then I settled down to see what was happening in the big wild world.

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Monday 13th October 2014 – WE WERE RADIOING TODAY

Yes, it didn’t take me long to get back into the routine, did it?

And with a reasonably-early night I managed to be up and about by 10:15 too, without the benefit of the alarm. And that gave me an hour or so to do a few things around here first.

Many of you who read the rubbish that I write elsewhere will know that I have a thing about clouds and how they reflect the skyline underneath when passing over mountainous areas.

clouds reflecting skyline puy de sancy puy de dome franceThis was quite apparent today as you can see in this photo of the Puy de Sancy taken from my favourite little spec at the bird-watching site near St Gervais.

We’ve had a fair amount of rain just recently so the sky is quite humid. Here sure enough, the moisture has condensed where the air has had to rise up over the mountains and formed clouds that reflect almost exactly the skyline underneath.

We had more vegan lasagne for lunch and then went off to Gerzat to record the Radio Anglais sessions for Radio Arverne. And just for a change, everyone was ready and everything passed off without incident. We were in and out in just an hour and 10 minutes.

While we were there, the weather had changed and we were in the rain on the way back. Liz gave me a doggy bag of leftover vegan lasagne and ginger cake, and I came back here to plot my next move.

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