Tag Archives: lie in

Sunday 28th August 2011 – It was Sunday today

And so following the principle of “on the seventh day”, I had a nice long lie-in and for most of the day I haven’t done a tap.

This morning I’ve managed to finish a book that I’ve been reading and then I went to track down some more stuff that I need to take with me to Canada. I want to have my packing finished by tomorrow afternoon.

This afternoon I transcribed the rest of my notes from Canada 2010. You might remember that the dictaphone that I had broke down in the USA. That one recorded on either 1.2 or 2.4 ips but I have an ancient one here that records on 1.8 ips and so I’ve managed to transcribe the notes from that, even though I do sound rather like Donald Duck on it.

I’ve recorded a few more CDs to take with me – some Help Yourself, some Lindisfarne and finally (because I won’t be doing any more) Live in the City of Light by Simple Minds.

None of these were difficult choices. Help Yourself I first encountered on Man’s “All Good Clean Fun” Tour and Help Yourself’s subsequent classic
Good Clean Fun has passed our way and gone
But we’re glad that we have met someone
With a little bit of funk and soul
Man we’re glad we know you!
And not only that, if you are fed up of lead guitar solos where the guitarist plays a million notes so quickly that you can’t hear what he’s playing, then have a listen to the lead guitar solo on “Reaffirmation”. THAT‘s how you play a guitar solo.

Lindisfarne were of course the first serious group I ever saw live, Christmas 1971 at “Up the Junction” in Crewe. I was 17, my girlfriend at the time was nearly 15 and as it was a private members’ club, we borrowed the membership cards of my sister and her husband to get in. That was the night that the rest of the band left Jacka on the stage to play the harmonica solo in “We Can Swing Together” while they dashed off to the pub across the road. At 10:30 the club locked its doors as it was required to do by law, and when the band came back 2 minutes later they couldn’t get back in. They had to bang on the door for 15 minutes before someone would let them back in and poor Jacka was exhausted – the longest gobiron solo in the history of the planet.

As for Live in the City of Light, I had to go to Germany for a week and my car was in the garage so I was obliged to borrow one of a colleague. I didn’t have half my stuff with me, and the only music in the car was “Live in the City of Light”. If it had been most albums, it would have bored me to tears after a day, but not that. In fact it’s never been off my playlist ever since.

So that’s about 50 albums recorded. No matter what happens, I’m not going to be short of music in Canada.

-2

Thursday 25th August 2011 – Well, what a day!

And I had so much to do as well and I’ve ended up not doing very much.

Working unti 04:30 was one thing but another thing was being dragged out of the bed almost at the crack of dawn (well, 9:50, anyway) by the phone. Of all people, it wss the bank. Could I go down there?

That was eerie but what followed was certainly different. It appears that there has been some confusion at the bank, a sum of money hadn’t been paid, and a girl due to fly out to Canada on Saturday didn’t have any of the paperwork necessary. And so until about 12:45 I was engaged in negotiations down in Pionsat and then out at St Maurice pres Pionsat, which despite its name is nowhere near Pionsat.

Back at the ranch, I then had to make a few telephone calls to Canada, and thanks to Katherine for giving me some help as to who to call. All in all, I was involved in this for hours.

Having said that, though, I was flattered that the bank had called me in to help. It’s definitely a sign of progress.

And what else? I now have some web pages in French for my business web site, thanks to Marianne who made a few corrections to my text, I’ve almost finished this battery box idea thing, I’ve a proof of no-claims bonus for my Canadian car insurance, I’ve my train tickets, I’ve booked a motel in Montreal for the first night, I’ve rented some storage space in Montreal – ooooh, lots of things.

What with the late finish, the early start and all of the excitement I’m whacked so I’m off to bed. To listen to the wind in the trees as a strong wind has started up. It’s a beautiful breeze blowing through here.

-2

Monday 22nd August 2011 – It was 09:30 …

… this morning when I was burned out of bed by the heat. It’s quite astonishing just now, all of this. It was only a week or so ago that I was complaining about the cold weather.

Anyway, I’ve finished the web pages for the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry and they are on line. And well-worth a read too because I managed to blag my way in to see the world’s most controversial railway engine. But that’s all the web site stuff that I’m doing now until I go back next week – is it really only a week away?

The web pages took me nicely to lunch and I actually managed to find a decent tomato in the megacloche. How nice that was as well. Afterwards I was back up the ladder again. It’s now right into the apex of the roof – I can see over the roof line – and sfter today’s exertions there’s not all that much more to do up there. I’m out tomorrow afternoon so I’ll finish it off on Wednesday.

A short while after working in the garden I went for my solar shower. And a max temperature of an astonishing 60.5°:C was recorded. But don’t get carried away by that – I forgot to fill it yesterday and so the temperature sender was reading the air temperature. 41°C was much more like it.

Tonmorrow I have to go to the mairie at Pionsat for some stuff for Radio Anglais. And then, I have to pick up another oil tank. This will be the “before” for the used cooking oil. I’ll also make up the leads for the batteries over in Canada.

-2

Sunday 31st July 2011 – While I was having breakfast …

… I was watching the Sherlock Holmes film the Golden Pince-Nez and in it is the immortal line, something like “he’s still in bed. If the weather is really bad he stays in bed until midday”. And that really started my day quite badly because it was the easily the most beautiful day for quite some time and and for reasons that I really do not know, it was 12:22 when I woke up.

No – what happened there I have no idea at all.

Anyway, after breakfast, instead of living in the middle of all kinds of boxes and so on, I revised the media corner and made a pile of impromptu shelves out of old bits of wood and some wine boxes, and now all of the CDs, videos and DVDs are neatly piled up properly where I can see them and where I won’t trip over them. There’s still a long way to go before this place here looks presentable, what with everything I brought back from Brussels, but at least it’s a start. You can’t say I didn’t work at all this afternoon.

This evening, just by way of a change, I went out socialising, and that’s not something that happens every day. I was invited to a barbecue by Isolde – the girl for whom we did a furniture removal last year. She was entertaining and there were loads of people there, including a huge pile of kids which was nice.

I spent most of the time chatting to Karl, Lou, Jean and Elizabeth – after all, it’s really nice to see them.

But as dusk descended on Espinasse I started to feel homesick like I usually do – I don’t do crowds as you know – and so in the best traditions of the News of the Screws, I “made my excuses and left”.

And I’m glad that I left before it went dark because it gave me an opportunity to photograph the sunset and tonight it was absolutely beautiful. It’s not very often that I really catch it exactly at the right moment seeing that I can’t actually see it from my house.

Tomorrow, if I remember to wake up, I’ll do a load of washing if the weather is as nice as it was today. It really was a glorious day.

-3

Friday 29th July 2011 – AFTER THE EXERTIONS OF YESTERDAY …

… it will come as no surprise for you to learn that this morning I was up at … errr … 06:48.

However, that was to go for a gypsy’s. No way I was staying up at that time of the morning. 09:30 was a much more realistic time to haul myself out of my stinking pit.

After breakfast I was back on the computer with the website – to see how far I can get with that today.

Later I was outside working on the wiring in the barn – there were a few things I needed to do like install some crocodile clips for charging spare batteries and the like. And once I had accomplished that, I set too and emptied, cleaned and tidied Caliburn.

After that, I came up here for an early finish and watched a film. And I’m annoyed with myself now!

That’s because when I was emptying out the apartment in Brussels earlier this year I threw away a huge pile of videotapes with loads of good stuff on them, on the grounds that they were recorded in Long Play.

But remember that 12-volt TV/video player that I bought at that brocante a while back? I’ve just discovered this evening that it plays Long Play tapes.

Hardly any surprise that I’m upset!

-7

Sunday 17th July 2011 – NEXT MORNING …

… after a good lie-in (well, it IS Sunday!) and a leisurely breakfast, I drove round to Marianne’s for lunch, which was very nice of her to invite me.

It was heavily overcast today just by way of a change, but it was reasonably warm and so in the afternoon after lunch we went for a walk in the Bois de la Cambre down the road.

It’s been a couple of years at least since I have been for a good perambulation in the park and there have been some considerable changes here in that time. They seem to have been spending their money quite considerably.

But the most important change is over here.

The old pie hut on the island that burnt down a while ago has now been completely rebuild and is now a magnificent chalet – the Chateau Robinson – doubtless named for Robinson Crusoe.

Access out there is by a boat, which you can see mooed up to the quay just to the right of centre. It costs €1:00 to take the boat out there, and the return trip is free, which is just as well given the price of the coffee out there.

I would very much like to say that I took my coffee this afternoon with Price Laurent of the Belgians, and I bet that you are thinking that I’m joking too.

But far from it in fact.

Although he wasn’t acually sitting at my table, he was close enough – and he wasn’t surrounded by armed policemen and crowds of bodyguards either. Just out en famille for his Sunday afternoon cuppa.

Mind you, I bet that the two or three people at nearby tables who stood up discreetly to leave just as he was leaving “had some interest” in the matter.

Then Marianne came back with me to the flat, I dismantled the bed in Caliburn and Marianne helped me load the heavy stuff that was remaining.

We had a really long chat and what with it being Sunday we went out for pizza, seeing as how she had given me a useful hand. However we were sidetracked by a new restaurant advertising, would you believe, a Vegan section. And I had the most magnificent penne al arabiatta that I have ever eaten.

Dropping her off, I was back on the road. The plan was to head home as rapidly as I could and go as far as I could before stopping for the night somewhere, but I was rather side-tracked.

I’d noticed once or twice over the course of the years that the Rue de la Loi in Brussels looks magnificent at night with all of the street lights and vehicles that flood the street.

One of the things that I had wanted to do was to take a few photos of the place before I left. So off I went, and took about half a dozen. Here’s one of them to titivate your palette

Having done that, Caliburn and I bounced happily all the way to near Auxerre where I crashed out for the night at some silly time of the early morning.

And wasn’t that uncomfortable? It seems that Bane of Britain had forgotten that he’d left his sleeping bag and pillow back at the apartment.

GRRRRRRRR!

Wednesday 13th July 2011 – I’m having a change of plan …

… for tomorrow – and it’s just as well. I woke up this morning, once more before the alarms went off, but there was no way that I was going to get up. I could hear the rain thrashing down on my roof and it wasn’t a day for working outside. That’s another day lost of course but it can’t be helped. I went back to bed for an hour.

When I finally crawled out of the stinking pit I began to tidy up in here looking for the data head – but even though I even went as far as to move the bed settee, no luck. I wonder where that has gone. Just typical.

After lunch I went to the bank to pay some cash in and then to the funeral parlour to enquire after Damien. His funeral is at 15:00 on Friday and hence the change of plan – I’ll have to miss the Friday in Brussels and go once the funeral is ended. I can’t not go to see Damien off. I’ll just hope that I’ll have time to go to the bank before I pick up Marianne. I can book my flight tickets another time.

Back here I carried on doing a little tidying but at about 17:00 the rain stopped. That was the cue to go outside.

The framework on the barn is now finished and I have one of the solar panels in place. It’s not quite fastened up but it’s certainly there. And that took me until 20:30 and I bet you can’t remember when was the last time I’d worked so late. I know I can’t.

Anyway, tomorrow I’m going to get one of the panels off the roof of the Luton Transit and put it on the end of the barn. That will be two banks of two (one on the barn wall, one on the Transit roof) and while I’m away I can see how well the performances relate.

I’m hoping to have at least half as much again off the ones on the end of the barn.

-1

Sunday 26th June 2011 – Just so as to show …

… everyone what today was like here, I’ve posted a pic of the temperatures that we had today.

The maximum temperature outside was 33 °C today and at 17:36 this evening it was still over 31°C. In the heat exchanger the temperature reached an impressive 63.7°C and the water in the solar water heater, the black plastic storage container with an old caravan window over the top was 42°C.

That was the cue for a beautifully warm solar shower and I didn’t miss out. It really was nice.

And so this morning Marianne forgot to ring me about this meeting at La Cellette but I was wide awake having had a severe attack of cramp in bed and so I made it in time. And with about 10 officials, one representative of the press and one photographer, they had a grand total of 0 visitors for the two hours that this meeting was on. Ahhh well ….

Marianne invited me to lunch which was nice of her and we had quite a chat afterwards, and back here seeing as it was such a nice day and with wind too, I did a huge pile of washing – something that I haven’t done for a while.

We followed that with the solar shower and that was really it. It’s Sunday, my day of rest, and so I’m not going to be working too hard today.

-7

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.

Afterwards 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.

There’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.

So 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

Wednesday 22nd June 2011 – I’m not going to be here much longer

I’ve already crashed out twice this evening and so I’ll be going to bed before I do it a third time.

I blame last night myself. With it being the shortest night I stayed awake to welcome in the dawn and so it was 05:30 when I went to bed. Up at 11:00 and then another day working up here. All the correspondence is now up to date except one quote for someone that I need to do tomorrow, and I had to spend a while on the phone sorting that out too. But now I know what I need.

I’ve also been researching and I’ve had loads of help from Canadian politicians again. Seems like they are a nice friendly bunch of people.

But the shortest night already. Where did all of the first half of the year go? It seemed like only yesterday that I was complaining about the short days. we’ll be back amongst them before we know where we are.

-4

Tuesday 21st June 2011 – You might be forgiven …

… for thinking that I haven’t done a tap today.

And in fact, I’ve hardly set my foot outside the door at all. What with one thing and another I’ve been really busy up here today.

I had another … errrr … late-ish morning (I’ve not recovered from the other day yet) and then did some work on my website until the battery went flat. Once I switched the inverter on, I then set about dealing with my mailbox. Dozens of useless mails have gone into the bin, and I’ve created loads of directories into which I’ve filed tons of stuff. Once I work out how to configure a mail server I’ll download a pile of these obsolete directories onto my computer and then delete them from my web site.

With a nice streamlined mailbox I then attacked a load of outstanding correspondence and that’s all en route. But there’s tons of stuff that I haven’t done and I’ll be here tomorrow as well getting all of that up to date.

I was “summoned to attend” the opening of an art gallery in Pionsat at 16:30 as Marianne from the Parish magazine needed a report and some photos and she was otherwise engaged elsewhere.

I bumped into Francois who was wandering around the village with a lady-friend and we went for a coffee and a chat.

And it seems that my little hint to the local newspaper about the closure of Radio Arverne’s Loubeyrat antenna has been picked up and they have decided to run with it, and in spades too.

Back here I carried on with the mail (missing tea, unfortunately) and I’m now on the verge of appointing accountants and creating a limited company for my little wind farm.

There’s also the possibility of some kind of consultancy on the horizon too – it seems that there’s a company in Canada that specialises in this kind of thing and it will save me endless hours and endless amounts of cash tracking down a suitable wind turbine supplier if they already have the contacts.

I’ve also made an astonishing discovery too on the Maplin website. How about this little thing? Never mind the negative reviews, posted by people who don’t seem to understand the principle of wind turbines, this will be a fascinating little gadget to have on the side of the house here, and if I make it detachable, it will be good for use at shows and also for sticking on the side of Caliburn whenever we are parked up at the seaside. That’s an excellent price too, and even as we speak there’s one winging its way to my new mailbox in Stoke on Trent. I’ll have to have a play with that.

And so tomorrow I’ll be up here again carrying on with the correspondence. And quite right too – there’s tons of it to do.

-4

Monday 20th June 2011 – I didn’t get my early night last night.

I had a diversion from my plans.

You might remember that I am now the proud owner of some Transatlantic real estate – an acre and a half at Mars Hill Road in New Brunswick, Canada, right next door to one of the biggest wind farms in the USA. And you might gather that I have plans for this land – to erect a couple of wind turbines and have my own little windfarm on it.

Startling news came in last night, that the Canadian Government has bought the power output of the American windfarm.

Now there’s only one way that they can run a cable from the Mars Hill wind farm over to Canada, and that’s via my land. And if all of the cabling is in place, it will save me a fortune when I build my own wind farm. I might be sitting on a gold mine here.

And so with all of the excitement I didn’t get to sleep until I dunno what time, and so I missed a lot of the morning. There was still enough time to do some tidying up up here though, and after lunch I set about the garden. I can now get down to the vegetable plots in their raised beds without getting myself stung, pricked or thorned, and I’ve started to saw up the tree that has collapsed all across the garden. What a mess that was.

A solar shower followed by a quick shopping expedition to St Eloy-les-Mines seeing as how I was in no fit state to go on Saturday, and then the Anglo-French group meeting and then that was the end of one of the nicest sunny days of the year.

But it’s not all sun though – I seem to have acquired a wasps’ nest right by the bedroom window. That’s inconvenient.

-4

Saturday 18th June 2011 – YOU MAY REMEMBER …

… that I had a working day of 32 hours and 30 minutes yesterday bringing my Brian James Trailer and this Takeuchi mini-digger back from the UK, and it was late when I finally made it home. It goes without saying therefor that Saturday morning didn’t exist and it was 13:00 when I finally woke up. And it will be no surprise to anyone that I have done … errr … almost badger all today.

But I did manage to find the time – and the energy – this afternoon emptying Caliburn and then reloading him with everything that I need for this exhibition that I’m doing tomorrow round at Francois’ place at Barrot.

Meanwhile, here at home we seem to have had something of a disaster. I can’t find anything in the garden as plants and weeds have overgrown everything, and a tree has fallen down and flattened half my crops. That’s not good news at all.

And in other sad news, I learnt today that Caroline’s cat Bigsy has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Bigsy was 17 and yet had been in excellent health up until quite recently. But she had rapidly deteriorated this last few weeks and when I saw her the other day she was really poorly and it was only a matter of time. But at least she went in her own time and her own place, amongst friends.

Wednesday 8th June 2011 – HAVING LEFT DAVE’S …

… last night at … errr … 05:30 this morning in broad daylight, I found a suitable place to park up.

We’re on top on a mountain on the Alston Moor somewhere not too far away from Nenthead.

And when I finally awoke … errr … this afternoon, I had some fun with some locals who were admiring Caliburn’s signwriting with consternation.
“Good place for a dozen wind turbines, isn’t it?”

The speed at which they climbed into their car and shot off, presumably to launch another NIMBY campaign against wind farms, was impressive to say the least.

Say what you like about these NIMBY environmentalists. They couldn’t care less about more nuclear powers stations being built, as long as they are in someone else’s back yard.

Having had a quick coffee, I drove for ages (and it was ages too) through all of the horse-drawn caravans littering the road between Middleton and Kirkby Lonsdale.

You have no idea – or maybe you can guess – how much I hate these after having to negotiate an endless stream of them on some of the narrowest and most winding A-roads in the country.

Horses out of control “driven” by drivers who don’t have a clue. They need tests and drivers’ licences – they need road tax and a minimum speed limit.

And – even more importantly – they need to keep a substantial distance between themselves and the one o front instead of bunching up in impassable lines of 10 and 12 outfits

Failing that, they can p155 off into a field and get out of everyone’s feet. There are plenty of bridlepaths and cartways where they can mill about at their leisure out of everyone else’s way.

I finally arrived in Middlewich just about in time to rescue Percy Penguin from work and give her my fullest attention. But it was touch and go, I’ll tell you.

Now I’m on Sandbach Services and I’m sodding off in a minute to find a place to sleep. Its [gulp] 02:31 and I have a lot to do tomorrow.

-1

Sunday 29th May 2011 – What a beautiful day!

Yes, definitely a leading candidate for the nicest day of the year so far. And I spent the morning sleeping – after all, it is Sunday. And if I hadn’t had to have gone for a ride on the porcelain horse I might still be there now.

But then again I might not, for Percy Penguin rang me for a chat this morning. She says that she’s missing me and so I told her to improve her aim.

And so after breakfast and a little relax it was off to the footy. Marcillat’s 2nd XI are pretty awful and they kept Commentry out until about 60 minutes into the game when they completely folded up and lost 4-0.

That led to a quick thrash down the road to Pionsat just in time for the match against Manzat. Mind you, the start was delayed while the referee checked the names, identities and shirt numbers of the Manzat team, all 14 of whom seemed to be called Mohammed.

I counted 5 players who were obliged by the referee to change shirts, and why they were wearing the incorrect shirts I shall leave it up to you to work out. I’m far too cynical to be objective.

What else was strange about this match was even though it was the last match of the season and despite that fact that no other side was playing, Pionsat could only muster 12 players, none of whom was a goalkeeper and Christophe ended up taking the gloves

Not that he had much to do – he didn’t have one save to make and the only shot that beat him was a shot that would have beaten most other goalkeepers. No-one can be disappointed by that goal

Apart from a slight wobble on the hour mark, Pionsat were never under any pressure and ran out 3-1 winners, with 2 of the nicest goals I have seen for ages. They were slicing through the Manzat defence like a hot knife through butter.

In the end the Manzat goalkeeper, who had been screaming at his defence throughout the match, stormed off in disgust and while I don’t agree with him doing that, I did have some sympathy with him.

This evening I had a shower seeing as the water was at 41 °C and at 21:30 I was outside eating a pizza, so nice was the weather.

Tomorrow of course I’m packing ready to leave. I’m on the road late Monday night to do a few hours before bedtime. I hate trying to drive through the daytime.

-3

EPIC HALL

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