Tag Archives: baguette

Wednesday 2nd August 2017 – I HAD A …

… slightly better day today.

Probably due to the good sleep that I had last night – out like a light and that was how I stayed. And it was something of a struggle to heave myself out of the stinking pit (the bed, I mean).

A good shower and a change of clothes made me feel like a new man (pretty fed up of the old one) too.

What with the weather (torrential downpour for most of the day) all that I’ve managed to do is to struggle through the floods for the baguette. No possibility of going to sit on the wall with my butties at lunchtime.

So I hope that it’s better tomorrow – I need some things from town.

Tea was more aubergine and kidney bean whatsit – the longer it sits the better it tastes which can’t be bad. Just one more lot left for tomorrow.

Despite the weather I’ll be off for a walk in a bit. To stretch the legs and to see the outside. It’ll do me good to go out and about, even if it is into a rainstorm I suppose.

Hopefully it will be another good night like last night, and then a good walk into town should do me good.

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Monday 31st July 2017 – THAT WAS A NICE …

… tea tonight. Another aubergine and kidney bean whatsit, with enough left over to last the rest of the week.

And it would have been even nicer had I remembered the olives. And the peanuts. Ahhh well!

But it wouldn’t have made much of a difference because I couldn’t find a small aubergine at the weekend. The one that I bought was the smallest in the shop, but “small” in this case is purely relative. In any other place it would have been “enormous”.

It all makes up for my extremely bad night. Still awake and kicking at 03:30 this morning, and although I do remember stretching out to switch off the alarm at 07:00 I remember nothing else until the repeater at 07:15. And then it was a slow crawl out of bed.

But I’d been on my travels though. And it involved a flock of sheep, some of which were wandering around freely and others in a tightly-grouped flock. One of the sheep in this flock was quite a vicious sheep but the shepherd replied that he was a good defender of the others and so they kept him with the flock for precisely that purpose. Any monkey business and the vicious sheep would sort it all out.

Down at the magasin de presse I solved the issue of the water sprayer from yesterday. Yes – if you want to know the answer to a question, you have to ask the question, don’t you?

Once every year there’s an open-air mass on the quayside and all of the cliffs around here are good vantage points for the crowd to congregate.

And then a priest blesses some water which is taken by a ship to a point just off the headland which is significant as being the site of a marine tragedy when a lifeboat was lost in a storm.

The Holy Water is then ceremonially jettisoned into the sea at the site of the tragedy and boats sail by through the spray hoping that they too might be blessed.

Lunch on the wall again, watching Grima come a-dieseling in.

And doing a couple of laps of the harbour because some stern trawler had pinched her spec underneath the crane and had to be moved, otherwise she would not have been able to unload her cargo of scrap.

45 years of age, and looking every day of it.

But there was some excitement up there at lunchtime. A big family-size car with Dutch plates pulled up and a large family disgorged itself to take a photo.

After much hoo-ing and haa-ing they decided that a selfie wouldn’t work so they looked around for a suitable volunteer. And there I was tucking into my hummus salad butty.

The matriarch came over to me and asked in very faltering French if I would oblige – so I replied that I would – in very good Dutch – something that took her completely by surprise.

I was going for a walk tonight but I was distracted. There’s been an “issue” at the tyre place in Canada, and as a result I ended up being on the phone across the Atlantic for half an hour instead. It was nice to talk to people over there, even if the circumstances could be better.

And, despite my bad night, I’ve managed to avoid not crashing out today. But this won’t last. An early night is beckoning, I reckon.

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Thursday 27th July 2017 – AFTER YESTERDAY’S …

… exertions, I slept like a log. And woke up in the fireplace too – but you’ve heard that one before.

I’d been on my travels too – but I’ll spare you all the gory details as you are probably eating your tea just now.

I’m still aching in the shoulders, although it’s eased off a little. The pain will all go away probably the night before Terry rings me up to sand down the plasterboard in the second bedroom. That’s what usually happens.

Just the usual things happened today – a walk down for the baguette – a sit up on the wall in the windy sunlight at lunchtime. But for much of the afternoon I’ve been taking it easy.

This morning I finished off uncombining the blog entries for my trip to Brussels over Christmas and New Year of 2011/2012 to see Marianne and sped through until 24th April when I shuddered to a halt.

The period from then until the end of May 2012 is, to put it bluntly, a total mess and this is going to take some untangling.

The pages that I wrote for my voyage are somewhat hit-and-miss. I hadn’t developed a real technique at that time. I spent much of the afternoon having a basic look at them, having a think, and having a distraction or two (and much to my surprise I didn’t actually crash out today).

But the net result of all of that is that I now think that I know how I’m going to do it – and it will be a lesson for subsequent years (although things have improved a great deal since 2012).

So now I’m going for a long walk. I had a letter in the post that needs a reply, and it’s only from the Estate Agents down the hill, so I reckon that it would be a good idea to take it down there tonight.

It will be exhausting, but it will probably do me some good.

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Wednesday 26th July 2017 – OWWW!

That hurts!

And in places where I didn’t even have places too.

The early evening snooze that I had didn’t interfere with my sleeping last night because I had a reasonably-early night and was asleep until the alarm went off.

I’d even been on my travels too, and who should appear but Zero. She who occasionally accompanies me on the odd night-time ramble here and there every now and again. Last night she was showing off her new tractor. She was impressed with a couple of features, such as the handbrake that sprung back out of the way after you had released it so far, and foot pedals that slid into place when you sat in the seat. I told her to be careful about the handbrake, and in my day it was the seat that moved, not the controls. But anyway she went off whizzing around in it to show off, and I hoped that she would come back to continue our chat. But then I had to travel off down some dirt track, and this had become part of a housing estate. But the rest of the area was quite overgrown and natural and had been declared a zone of Special Scientific Interest so we had to be very careful what we did and we could only park in certain areas.

But I couldn’t get out of bed this morning. I was aching everywhere. But where I’l aching most is in the muscles that go across the top of the chest and into the shoulders. Just the muscles that you use when you are sanding down filler. And I’m still aching even now.

It’s a good job that it was raining outside as I was in no fit state to go and sit on my wall. It was even a struggle down to pick up the baguette. And I spent much of the day drifting in and out of sleep. That’s how tired I’ve been.

However, I’m not going to let it interrupt my plans. I’ve no intention of “taking it easy” because that’s no quality of life. I’ll keep on going just as I always have for as long as I can, and if I have to pay the penalty over the following day or two, then that’s just part of the deal.

So right now, I’ll go for a little walk again and see what I can manage. No matter what I do, I have to keep moving.

And in the communal rooms across the Place, there’s a rock band that rehearses every week at this time. They aren’t much good but they are bashing out all the numbers that we used to play in “Jack the Ripper” and “Orient Express” in the early 1970s. I shall have to go and have a look at them one evening.

POSTSCRIPT
They were still playing when I went out fr my walk so I went for a quick butchers. Four guys in their 40s or so and a girl singer in her late 20s. Not very well-rehearsed, the drummer is too wooden and the lead guitarist isn’t as good as he thinks he is. As for the others, well, credit for them to being out there doing it.

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Sunday 23rd July 2017 – THAT WAS A LOVELY …

… pizza tonight.

And it would have been even lovelier had Brain of Britain taken out the baking tray from the bottom of the oven. D’ohhhh!

So having had a coffee last night far later than is good for me, it was about 01:20 when I crawled off to bed last night. And despite waking up at 07:45, I thought that there was little chance of that, so I turned over again.

I reckon that 08:50 is as good a time as any to leave my stinking pit on a Sunday. But that meant a hurried scramble down to the magasin de presse for my baguette before the grockles cleared out the supply.

And, sad as it is to say, I have been “observed”.

My usual spec on the wall at lunch was once more occupied by grockles so I had to sit elsewhere next to a mother and young daughter grockle group a little farther down. And some woman walking her dog came over to me “what’s up? Have the tourists pinched your usual place?”

Yes, I’ve been well and truly fingered, haven’t I?

And I wasn’t alone either – and I don’t mean grockles and women with dogs.

Sitting there minding my own business when along came a young tabby-and-white tomcat. He went around the various groups of people scrounging food, and came over to me to see what I had. Of course I had nothing for him, but he let me pick him up and give him a stroke.

Very relaxing, stroking a cat. It’s good for the stress.

So as well as crashing out for half an hour this afternoon, I’ve been on the blog again. A few more pages unravelled, but one that didn’t even merit a placeholder back in December 2011 has now evolved to almost 1700 words.

There have been a few like that too, haven’t there? I wonder what was so important back in 2011 and 2012 when I never found the time to go back and write up pages like this.

And I’ve had another little play with a computer program.

Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that I am a big user of Paint Shop Pro. The first serious computer program that I ever bought in 1996 and it’s served me faithfully for all kinds of image editing ever since – until I … errr … mislaid the disc.

I’ve turned my attic at Les Guis upside down on numerous occasions trying to find it, but to no avail whatever.

Anyway, to cut a long story short … "thank goodness" – ed … on eBay the other week was a copy of PSP 8.1 – a major upgrade with many more useful features than my old PSP 7 that has done me almost 20 years service.

The price was far less that what I paid back in 1996 too and so I mentioned it to Terry and he duly obliged.

So that’s me now with about 4 years of work to catch up. I hope that I can remember how to use it!

I’ll make a start when I come back from my walk. It’s actually stopped raining for once.

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Wednesday 19th July 2017 – THIS WALKING IDEA …

… is supposed to make me sleep better at night.

And it worked for the first couple of nights, but last night I dunno what happened because I was still sitting up here working at 01:45 and even when I did go to bed I couldn’t sleep (note to self – check Fitbit next time that I charge it up)

So a very tired me staggered out of bed this morning … errr … somewhat after the alarm had gone off.

Grey, miserable and windy. But that’s enough about me – let’s talk about the weather. And I didn’t feel much like going out for my baguette this morning. But I was early too, which makes a change.

Lunch on the wall, with no lizards and mice to keep me company, a little … errr … repose this afternoon, and another helping of lentil and mushroom curry for tea.

And the blog.

Having spent some time last night (or, rather, early this morning) untangling my visit to the UK in early June 2011, I started the assault on the pages.

I’m halfway through at the morning, having dealt with pages like this one that never even had a place-holder before. The next half a dozen have been done too.

It’s amazing the things that I have forgotten, and the things that never made it onto the blog. it’s high time that I caught up with it.

And remember the other day when I mentioned my mammoth expenditure?

The first part of it has come today. But of course it’s the part that doesn’t work without the other bit, so you’ll have to wait a little longer to see what it is.

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Monday 17th July 2017 – LAST NIGHT …

… I had 5 hours 38 minutes of restful sleep and 1 hour 14 minutes of restless sleep. I can see that I’m going to become pretty annoying with this Fitbit thing.

But don’t worry – it only synchronises the data when I charge it up off the laptop. That’s about once every three or four days, I reckon. And if I charge it up off a plug then it will be even less frequent than that.

But it must have been the restless bit when I was away with the fairies. And just for a change last night, with something that doesn’t happen very often at all, I was an observer in this one.

For some reason the star of last night’s show was a woman. She needed to be somewhere at 08:15 and it was now 07:55 so she reckoned that she had a couple more minutes to loiter around before she needed to leave. But just as she was about to go her husband shouted down from his window that he would take her if she could wait a couple more minutes. It turned out that her husband was a medical man of some description and in taking her he was leaving a couple of patients unsupervised. While he was away something went wrong and he was hauled up before the GMC. It was held that as the nature of his wife’s voyage was something medical, he was not wrong to attend to her, but in abandoning his other patients for that period he was guilty of a lack of good judgement.

The alarm awoke me and after breakfast I went and had a shave and a shower (and to charge up the Fitbit off the laptop – hence the data – while I was in there). And I nipped down to the magasin de presse quite early for the baguette – before the crowds arrived.

Lunch was of course on my wall, and I saw the Grima come dieseling in. I was going to take a photo but I found that I had left my phone behind. But it was nice up there in the sun – I really enjoyed it.

For tea I put a mug full of lentils in the slow cooker at 17:00 and by 19:30 they wee done to a turn. With the left-over mushrooms I made another mega-curry with enough for three more days.

Good news on the blog front. I’ve now caught up with where I wanted to be. I have however lost 48 entries somewhere that don’t fall in the “unclassifieds” and don’t fall in the “updated” either. I’m intrigued to know what is the issue with them.

But what I’ve done is to start at the beginning – july 2009 – and go through looking for missed days – days which have been conjoined into others. I’ve already found eight or none that I have missed and which now have pages of their own.

Two pages in particular from my 2010 visit to Canada – this one and this one – have taken me all afternoon and quite rightly so.

They were immense and it gave me an opportunity to put into practice the idea about which I told you yesterday – to write up my daily adventures in North America on the blog rather than on the website – although I might do that as well in due course.

Now I’m going to go for a 10-minute stroll. I’ve done this the last couple of nights as the Fitbit is telling me that I’m not having anything like enough exercise and that I’m sitting around far too much.

Sentiments with which I concur wholeheartedly.

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Sunday 16th July 2017 – ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!

The best yet!

Now that I have finally worked out how to do it, I shall be doing it again and again.

Quite simplt, take out the bottom tray, move the cooking shelf down one notch, and there I had the most beautiful pizza yet, done to a turn just a couple of minutes longer than recommended.

I’m well-impressed with that!

I had a good night’s sleep too, and was off on a considerable number of travels too during the night. And I’ll tell you all about them once I download them off the dictaphone, because I forgot to do that this morning.

D’ohhhh!

So watch this space.

But 07:30 when my feet touched the floor. Best lie-in for a while that was. And a slow and steady start to the day.

But not for long. I had to dash outside for my baguette quite early today.

brocante granville manche normandy franceIt was brocante day today in the old town and I expected it to be heaving.

And I wasn’t wrong either. Crowds in the magasin de presse as well, to such an extent that there was a young boy serving there too.
“Are you the proprietor’s son?” I asked
“Yes I am” he replied
“Tough luck!” I said.

The place was heaving, as I said, and there were dozens, if not hundreds, of stalls there. And the one thing that they had was that their stuff was shockingly overpriced.

Some people had totally taken leave of their senses. A portable radio-CD player that would have done a little job in here – they wanted €30:00.
They can forget that!

l'ile aux fous brocante granville manche normandy franceBut if ever you wanted proof that the Brexit had been long-anticipated by the French, this book will prove it.

It’s all about an island nation that abandons its free ride in its biggest market for exported goods in order to save £350 million per week, and then finds that it has to pay four times as much in customs duties because it hadn’t thought about that.

It’s called l’Ile aux Fous – the Island of the Insane.

Up on my wall at lunchtime it was cloudy, and although I was alone there, the lawn was littered with piles of cars that had been abandoned – I refuse to say “parked” – there.

Apart from that, I’ve been on the blog again and I’ve reached early August 2013. Still 70 unclassified pages to go, but about 70 pages somewhere (and I’m not sure where) that need amending. And then I can start on the conjoined ones.

And I’ve had another plan too.

I’m going to rework the Canada pages so that the travelog is included in here and the web pages shall be for the merged voyages.

What I mean by that is that if you take, for example, my drive up the North Shore of the St Lawrence, that’s a merged page of about six (shortly to become seven) trips.

Keep those as a travel guide and keep the non-travel info on the blog.

But that’s a long way off yet.

And I’ve spent a lot of money today Much more than I’ve spent just recently too. But it’s an expense that needed to be made.

I’ll tell you all about it in a week or so’s time..

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Saturday 15th July 2017 – OUCH! THAT HURT!

And I’m not talking about cutting my finger open with the sharp vegetable knife when I picked up the cutlery out of the drainer either. It was much more painful than that!

So last night was another restless night. Especially so seeing as how I was off on my travels again.

There was a war on, and of course the UK was very susceptible to a blockade. However there was no rationing and people were going about as it it all was of no consequence, something that struck me as being a great matter of concern.
And then I was with my mother (but whoever it was wasn’t my mother, thank heavens) and it involved something to do with Mark III Cortinas. She drove away and I was left holding a bonnet from the aforementioned – a light blue one. I was trying the blots with my fingers to make sure that they were loose enough without disturbing the settings. A couple of women in a cafe made some ribald remark about me being with a “much older” woman so I went over to say “hello”. Their tune soon changed when they saw me come over because they recognised me, and they realised that the “much older” woman had been my mother.
While I was in the queue here a whole group of people came to the counter and it was all people whom I recognised from from a difficult period of my life. They were all pleased and enthusiastic to see me but I wasn’t at all pleased to see them. They crowded around me and asked me how I was and I was really uncomfortable in all of this. We discussed work and they found out that I had given over a good job to go driving taxis – but at leat “it was my own taxi, and not someone else’s”.

I’ve no idea where all of these people have come from – people whom I met in the early 80s in a couple of unpleasant encounters and whom I wish never to see again. I can’t think whatever it might have been to trigger all of that off.

After breakfast and a shower, shave and clean clothes, Caliburn got his motor running and headed off down the highway in the general direction of the shops.

LIDL came up with nothing special and neither did NOZ, the rubbish shop. But at least they had a few more of these hexagonal herb and spice jars. I get through tons of turmeric here so I stocked up with two containers of that together with a couple more of different types.

At Centrakor I went a little berserk. They were selling cigarette lighter socket twin-USB adaptors for just €1:99. I need one of those for Strider over in Canada so I picked one up.

But they also had some of those portable battery packs for powering your mobile phone or other hand-held appliance – a 2600 mAh set-up and just €3.99. That’s half what I have seen them elsewhere at their cheapest, and that’s without postage and packing too of course!

LeClerc was just the usual banal stuff, but I REALLY went mad in Intersport.

The trainers that I bought at Sports Direct in Leuven last October have fallen apart. So I only paid €20 for them, I know, but they’ve been letting in water for quite a while and now the soles are falling off.

Intersport was having a sale so went to have a look around, and came away with a pair of Salomon Goretex trainer-style hiking boots. They should have been … gulp … €119 but they were reduced by 30% in the sale and they were so comfortable.

I hope that they last a darn sight longer than these ones that I’ve just chucked in the bin.

And that’s not all either.

My rain jacket is falling to pieces. It has a couple of holes in it (never good for a rainjacket – holes in it) and it’s looking well the worse for wear. I have another one but that is one of those bright yellow rubberised ones that is uncomfortable, bulky and sweaty.

Today though, reduced to just €24:95 was a proper McKinley breathable Aquamax. And in my size too, which was unusual.

And last, but by no means least – I’ve been talking for a while about buying a Fitbit – one of these that tells you your heartbeat, how far you’ve walked, how many calories you’ve burnt and all of that stuff. But when I’ve seen the price, it’s put me off.

But a new model has been launched and Intersport was clearing out the remains of the previous one. Nothing wrong with them at all – there’s just a new design – and they were reduced to just €50:00.

Yes, I’m making ready for my holidays, aren’t I?

All I need now is a new suitcase and a new camera.

But this Fitbit – “always ready when you are” it proudly announces on the packet. So I went to wear it … and the battery was flat! What kind of misleading publicity is that?

Back home, the whole town was heaving with grockles as predicted. Even coming home the back way I was stuck for ages. And it’s a good job that we have our own private parking here because the public car park was jam-packed, with grockles dragging off suitcases all over the old town.

Early for my baguette tomorrow, I reckon.

Fighting off the waves of sommeil this afternoon, I was on the blog again. Not reducing the “unclassifieds” but untangling a few bits and pieces from when I returned from the Ile d’Yeu until going back to Brussels.

I’ve put that bit off for a while, but a close look at it revealed that it was fairly straighforward to untangle so here I am. Well on my way to finalising that little lot.

Tea tonight was more mashed potato, frozen veg and burger. And I fried a little onion and garlic with my burger too and it was delicious.

I really do appreciate living here in my little apartment.

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Monday 10th July 2017 – AND AS FOR TODAY …

… this was one of the quietest days yet;

I was up and about as soon as the alarm went off, down to the magasin de presse for my baguette, and sitting on the wall at lunchtime with my butties.

Thrilling, isn’t it?

I’ve spent a lot of time doing hair washing too.

Not mine, I hasten to add, and not Randy Raquel’s either before you ask, Rhys. But it was something that I’ve been meaning to do for a couple of weeks now and each time something has come up to prevent me. This morning I was finally able to accomplish it.

For the rest of the day, I’ve been on the blog (that’s with an “L”, Rhys)

With something like a new record, I’ve done 23 pages today. My “7 pages per day” target being well-exceeded.

It’s quite interesting to read just how much I was being frustrated over the lean-to. The period that I’ve been doing covers my return from Canada in October 2011 and making a start on rebuilding the lean-to that collapsed in 2002.

I’m at the stage now, end of September 2012, where I finished it all amidst frustrations, cancelled holidays, bad weather, interruptions of all kinds. And personally, I reckon that I did pretty well.

I’d never touched a stone wall before October 2011 but by the time that the end of September 2012 came round, I’d not only completely rebuilt a stone building but I’d roofed it too – and all on my own.

How proud was I of that?

Tea tonight was something that I haven’t done in ages. I made myself a huge wok full of aubergine and kidney-bean whatsit. And it was totally delicious. Enough for another three nights too.

But when I buy my freezer later this year, I’ll be making stuff like this and then freezing it so I can rotate the diet around. That’s what I did when I lived in Expo – and it was bags of Aubergine and kidney-bean, chick pea and mushroom, lentil and green pepper.

Sometimes I’d do a potato curry, and of course I’d rotate the ingredients around too. And pies! I can do pies too, as we know. Every night would be a different meal instead of the same thing consecutively (not that I’m complaining too much, of course).

I can’t wait for a return those good old days.

But one thing that I have learnt is that the vegetable steamer is no good for cooking pasta. At least not in the 20 minutes that I allowed it. I had to finish it off in the saucepan;

That’s something else that I shall need to investigate

So tomorrow I’ll find myself in October 2012. Winter 2012 will be approaching and I have just 130 pages to go and a couple of personal tragedies to handle before it’s all brought up to date.

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Sunday 9th July 2017 – GRIBOUILLE …

gribouille place d'armes granville manche normandy france… is one very unhappy moggy this morning. And who can blame him?

He went out at first light for his usual early-morning constitutional, but upon his return home for breakfast, started to scratch. And scratch. And scratch. So cue the flea-powder.

Consequently when I went out for my baguette this morning, there he was sitting sulking on the path outside his home, having abandoned his perch on the windowsill in a fit of pique.

He wasn’t the only one having a fit of pique this morning either. Having made a point of having a late-ish night last night in preparation for a major lie-in for a change, I was up and about at … errr … 06:40. And it wasn’t with fleas either.

But the early start meant an early breakfast, and it also meant an early start on the blog. And with great effect too, because not only have I finished the modernisation to the modernisation, I’ve started on the modernisation to the modernisation to the modernisation.

Yes, it seems that even recently, I’ve not been keeping to the standards that I intended to set.

And the bringing up to date of the pre-July 2013 stuff is proceeding apace. I’d done three entries before I went out for my baguette and all in all today, I’ve done … errrr … 20 or so.

Including a couple of rather lengthy entries. Not as long as the marathon entry that I amended yesterday, but nevertheless, enough to keep me out of mischief for a while. I’m now well into September 2012.

peugeot 403 granville manche normandy franceI enjoyed my trip out for the baguette this morning. It gave me a chance to see who and what was about on the streets.

Such as this gorgeous Peugeot 403. You used to see these by the thousand all over the streets of France and even now there are still plenty about being used as everyday drivers.

Well over a million of these were built between 1955 and 1966, replacing my beloved Peugeot 203, and so well-made were they that they seem to have long-outlived the “Farina” 404 that replaced them.

Back here and pressing onrelentlessly with the blog, I did manage to pause for lunch.

boats in harbour granville manche normandy franceThat was taken once again up on the wall overlooking the harbour. And what a busy harbour it was too today.

Pluto had left on the morning tide and by the time that you read this she will probably be in her next port of call, which will be Whitstable in Kent.

But there were plenty of other ships floating around out there making the most of the beautiful weather. Grockles clearly out in force.

As for me, I came back in here to escape the heat and have a little … errr … relax before cracking on again.

Tonight’s pizza was the best yet. Still took too long to cook, but delicious all the same. It would be nice to have the perfect oven that does exactly what I want but I need to be realistic and admit that that is never going to happen.

And so we’ll have an early night tonight. And a good sleep too, I hope.

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Saturday 8th July 2017 – WE HAVE ANOTHER …

pluto IMO 8415665 granville manche normandy france… Ship of the Day today.

A regular feature when we are up and down the various waterways of the Northern Hemisphere, but it doesn’t happen quite so often here.

Well, at least, not as often as I would like it to.

It must have been a very high tide today because it brought into harbour the Pluto. She’s a bulk carrier of 1762 tonnes and was built as far back as 1984 – which is an impressive age for an ocean-going ship.

She’s come to Granville from Felixstowe, via London and Ramsgate.

tourists blocking roads old town granville manche normandy franceWe’re also having issues with grockles, as exclusively forecast on these pages only yesterday.

The holiday season has started and even at 09:30 this morning as I was on my way for my baguette the streets of the old town were littered with them, blocking the roads as they heave piles of suitcases out of the boot and into the little cottages that they have rented for the season.

And loads of caravanettes parkeed everywhere too. When I went for my butty on the wall overlooking the harbour, there was even one parked up on the lawn.

Still, it’s my choice to come here. I shall just have to put up with it.

Other issues have reared their ugly head too.

Photos that I’ve been taking with the Nikon have been coming out horribly over-exposed and everything that I’ve done this last few weeks has been ruined (these photos here are taken with the phone cam).

I’ve tried it with another lens, and it seems to be that my 17-105 “standard” lens has handed in its notice. At least, I think so. It’s been on its last legs for quite a while so it looks as if I shall have to replace it.

It’s something that I shall have to do quite quickly, because if the new lens doesn’t fix the issue, I’ll need a new camera body, and I’ll need it quickly. I go away in 5 weeks time.

Having had another decent sleep, I was off on my travels during the night – alone, unfortunately. I went to a motorcycle shop to discuss the kind of bike that I need – something like a 175cc “all weather” motorbike that’s good for around town but can keep up with the traffic on the motorway – when I was distracted. On the shelf in a dirty plastic bag was a single-cylinder barrel, cylinder head and very rusty piston of a DBD34 – a 500cc BSA “Gold Star” high compression racing motorcycle of the 1940s and 1950s. But “ohh no it wasn’t” said the guy in the shop – it’s off a Triumph. But Triumph haven’t made a single-cylinder bike over 350cc since Edward Turner joined them in the mid-30s and you could tell by the shape of the barrel and piston exactly what it was (and if I can do that on a nocturnal ramble then I’m clearly pleased with myself).

The alarm awoke me at 07:00 (and again at … errr … 07:15) as a cue to start the day.

It’s been another day on th blog, and another day working just three or four lengthy pages, including this page with 1200 words, which had just 170 when I left it back in August 2012. That kept me out of mischief all afternoon.

Tomorrow is a Day of Rest with no alarm, seeing as it’s Sunday. And I’ll need it too I recko, seeing as how I’ve managed to keep going all day without a little … errr … pause for reflection.

So watch me wake up at something silly like 06:30.

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Thursday 6th July 2017 – I DIDN’T FORGET …

… to have my 17:00 melon this evening. Which was just as well, because it went down a treat. And in this heat, it was beautiful.

It was hot even when I awoke this morning, and as I was sitting doing nothing very much just after breakfast I could see the temperature on the thermometer rise and rise.

I’d had a bad night last night though. Took ages to go to sleep, and woke up in the middle of the night feeling really uncomfortable. It took ages to go back off to sleep again, but when I did, I was away with the fairies.

It was the turn of the person who has been described in this rubbish on many previous occasions as “The One That Got Away” to accompany me on my travels. And she didn’t get away last night – not ‘arf she didn’t! I was back in Crewe (heaven alone knows why!) and going to Hunter’s Lodge – along a road that bore absolutely no resemblance to the road to there, which wasn’t a problem because Hunters Lodge wasn’t anything like it is either. Anyway, there I fell in with the aforementioned and ended up commuting to work across the Channel every day.

So I was flat out when the alarm went off. And … errr … flat out when the reminder went off too. But then again, if you were in an amorous clinch with The One That Got Away during a nocturnal ramble, you wouldn’t want to wake up either.

At 09:15, I went for my little walk into town. Down the hill, down the ramp, and, something that I hadn’t yet done, a good stroll around the harbour. Lots of boats and quite a bit of activity too, and I fell in with a fisherman who told me about all of the fish that one catches here. Mind you, he wasn’t doing so well. In fact, he was doing pretty badly.

And it was around here that I fell in with one of my co-habitees. She had gone for a walk too. And so we chatted for quite a while about nothing in particular, and I went about my business.

That involved a trip to the bank. And sure enough, the payments that I wanted to check had been made, which is good news. The bad news is that my accounts from Pionsat STILL haven’t been transferred over.

This is … errr … unsettling me somewhat. When I go shopping tomorrow I shall go to see if I can find a pickaxe handle anywhere. Giving someone a message by tapping it into their thick skulls in Morse Code with a pickaxe handle usually works wonders.

Back here, thoroughly exhausted and boiling hot by 11:05. That was a nice walk.

And then I spent the rest of the day on the blog. I’ve done tons of it too, although much of my time was spent on just one particular day – another one of these ones that I briefly sketched out and then moved on.

Lunch on my little wall, a little doze in the afternoon too. I’m getting into something of a routine – and isn’t that uncomfortable?

Last of the curry for tea tonight. I shall have to be more adventurous tomorrow.

But with the shops, let’s see what’s on offer.

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Wednesday 5th July 2017 – I FORGOT …

… to eat my 17:00 slice of melon!

Not having a very good time of it right now, am I? But at least I remembered to close the fridge door and to turn ff the tap. You can’t have everything I suppose.

Once more it took me a while to go off to sleep. But when I did I was really away and didn’t feel a thing. Mind you, having been tossing and turning for a while I decided to arise, and it was only 06:45.

I’d been on my travels too, but I’ll spare you the details. You are probably eating your tea right now.

After breakfast and the baguette, I cracked on with the blog. And much of the morning was spent doing another mega-page that had only received the brief treatment in July 2012. You can see now why I said that this will become more and more difficult the closer I get to the end.

And closer to the end is right. Only 182 entries to go – about 5 or 6 weeks work I reckon – before the hard stuff begins.

Lunch was as usual on the wall overlooking the habour with my butties and my book, and I was there for nearly two hours. But it suddenly warmed up and the heat drove me in to the comfort and safety of the fan, and a little … errr … repose.

But the ‘phone snapped me out of my reverie. It was Ingrid wanting a chat. And I’m all in favour of chats, especially with people like Ingrid. 45 minutes we were on the phone together, and that’s where I lay the blame for overlooking the slice of melon.

Not that I’m complaining, of course.

Tea was the third instalment of the curry, and just as nice as the other two it was as well. One more to go and then I’ll have to think of something else. That shouldn’t be difficult.

So a quiet day today – but tomorrow I have to go for a walk into town. I hope that it isn’t too hot.

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Tuesday 4th July 2017 – I WONDERED …

… what the noise was that I could hear as I awoke this morning.

After a couple of minutes, having had my curiosity aroused to fever-pitch, I staggered out of bed into the bathroom to find that I had left the bathroom tap running all night. That’s going to be expensive, isn’t it? I have to pay for the water here.

That’s twice that I’ve left the tap running. And also twice that I’ve left the fridge door open. I would say that I’m slowly losing my mind, but as regular readers of this rubbish already know, that went years ago.

Early to bed last night might have been one thing – early to sleep was something else completely. But once I dropped off, I was gone for good until the alarm went off.

I was in Northampton during the night too – don’t ask me why because I reckon that in the whole of my life I haven’t been there half a dozen times. I was in charge of an urban rgeneration project which was so weird – I could grab the ground like you would grab the corners of a tablecloth, give it a shake, and the old Victorian buildings there would immediately disappear and a whole new 21st-Century brick and glass urban landscape would appear – to the horror of the local residents. Then I would shake it again, and they would disappear and the old Victorian stuff would reappear, to the horror of the Planning Committee. I did this a few times until the leader of the planners told me to stop messing about and be serious for once (as if that is ever likely to happen, really!).

Breakfast and then a shower and shave – must look my best. and then off for the baguette.

And the guy in the magasin de presse was having quite a whinge. His brother, who lives in South-West UK is coming over and has just been to collect his Euros. 25% less than what he received the last time he applied. I made a New Years Resolution about 5 or 6 years ago to keep politics out of this blog but sometimes I’m overwhelmed – overwhelmed by the total and utter stupidity of the people with whom I once – for a great many years – shared what is rapidly becoming an insignificant offshore island.

Another thing that I’ve done is bitten the bullet and bought another copy of Paint Shop Pro.

That’s been my graphics editing program for over 20 years but regular readers of this rubbish will recall that I … errr … mislaid it. I’ve hunted high and low for it for a couple of years with no luck and now that I’m here I don’t suppose that I’ll ever find it again.

Anyway, to cut a long story short … "hooray" – ed … there was a later version than mine on sale on eBay. I’d noticed a few shortcomings with the version that I had, and most of them seem to be resolved in this upgrade.

But then we had a problem – with changing bank accounts, my Paypal account is out of date. Luckily Terry was on line at that moment so he did the business for me. It’ll be nice to get back to some serious photo-editing again.

Lunch on the wall overlooking the harbour – and some people had pinched my comfy spec. I had to find another place to sit and that annoyed me. I was enjoying the company of the lizards there, just as the lizards doubtless enjoyed the crumbs that I dropped.

As for the tea, just as nice as yesterday.

The blog amending is coming along in leaps and bounds – quicker than I anticipated. Except when I run agound, that it.

Today I ran aground on a page that I had written in June 2012 about Chateau-sur-Cher. All of about 120 words in haste. and then forgot it. Today I decided that I would attack it with gusto and it’s ended up as almost 1200 words.

Still, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly, isn’t it? I’m now in July 2012. Only a few more months to go.

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