Tag Archives: baguette

Monday 3rd July 2017 – IF THE CURRY …

… that I made tonight tastes any better in 3 days time than it did tonight, it will be something worth eating!

Onions fried to perfection (I love my new wok) with garlic, mushrooms and chick peas. All fried up with cumin, coriander and paprika. Add a tin of mixed vegetables, boulhgour, peanuts and gravy browning, and there you are. Delicious! I was really impressed with that!

But apart from that, it’s been a very mixed day today. Lots of good things and a few things not so good.

We started off with a really good sleep. I remember nothing whatever until the alarm went off. Dead to the world, I was.

After breakfast, I sat down for five minutes to relax and drifted right away with the fairies for a good 45 minutes again – the first of MANY such departures during the day.

And impressive departures they were too. Not a subconscious dozing but a proper full-blooded sleep. I’m clearly sickening for something again.

But I did manage the baguette and in between the waves of sleep I cracked on with the blog. I was doing really well too until I suddenly hit “the wall”. I don’t mean the kind of physical tiredness wall thing, but a much more substantial thing than that.

Yes, I can’t think why but for some reason, I’d lost a huge stack of photos from June 2012. 37 for a summer month just didn’t seem right to me.

Luckily I have all of my external hard drives here and so after sifting through ever so many of them I did actually find the one with the back-up images. Took me ages to do it, mind you – you have no idea how many images that I have, and how many external drives that I have either – but there they were.

That took me to lunch when I went and sat on my wall overlooking the harbour. And as it was such a nice day – not too hot and not too windy – I sat out there for quite a while admiring the fishing boats coming in to unload their catch. Plenty of them too!

This afternoon I attacked the issue that I mentioned briefly yesterday. Not much hope from my insurers – “we’ll let you have our reply within 15 working days” – thanks very much – so I sent off a delaying letter to the Tax Office to give them something to think about meantime.

And then I turned my attention to my journey in August. Eat your hearts out, you British rail travellers. From Here to Eterni … errr … Brussels – 650 kms of which half is done on a new Multiple Unit and the other half on a TGV – costs me just €73:00!

Three nights in the Hotel Midi-Zuid – the one near the station where I stayed with Hannah in March. Excellent value for money and a sale on so I’m there for €150. How about that?

And then three nights in the Hotel Bon Accueil – the cathouse at the back of the bus station in the centre of Montreal near the Berri-UQAM metro station where I stayed last year. That’s setting me back €180 which, for the centre of Montreal is a steal.

I’ve declined the Comfort Inn at the end of the runway at Dorval. Much as I love the hotel and the atmosphere of standing waiting for the bus 202 at the side of the motorway, I have to be practical these days with my health.

One thing that I have decided to do however, so as to still have my fix on the bus 202 is to catch it at Ducollege metro station like I used to do, but do the entire route to see where it goes after the airport hotels.

So now I’m going to try for another early night. And if it’s as good as the last one I shan’t complain at all.

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Sunday 2nd July 2017 – I MIGHT HAVE SOLVED …

… one of the issues with this oven.

And it’s so simple that I could kick myself.

You may remember now that for the last two weeks I’ve been cooking other things in the oven – a pie two weeks ago and a rice pudding last week. But the tray at the bottom hasn’t been strong enough to support the casserole dish that I’ve been using and we’ve nearly had a couple of accidents.

So if it’s not there to use as another baking shelf, then what’s it for? If in doubt, take it out!

And so I did – and in 20 minutes (instead of the usual half an hour) my pizza wasn’t just cooked but overcooked.

So you learn something new every day. The trouble that I have though is that each time that I learn something new, it pushes something old out.

So how was my night last night? I’m sure that you want to know because, for the first time that I’ve been here, I have a curtain in the bedroom and it was nice and dark.

I was asleep early enough and with no alarm I was hoping for a decent lie in too. But after a while tossing and turning in the new dark, I hauled myself out of bed to find that it was a mere 06:50. Even earlier than the alarm.

Mind you, I’d been on my travels though. I was out shopping – shopping for shoes as it happens (and this is something that I need to do before I go to Canada) and ended up at a cheap market type of place (not where I’m likely to find what I want). However I did find a pair of shoes that I liked and as I went to pay for them I noticed something else that I liked too (and I can’t remember now what it was) so I picked that up too. On my way to the cash desk I noticed a third thing – and I immediatle recognised this as the power pack for my laptop (which it isn’t, but never mind) and which was just €4:99. So I asked the girl about it to make sure and she confirmed it so I added that to the pile too. She made some kind of remark – something like “you’re certainly finding some good stuff here!” and I thought that I was too, a power pack at just €4:99.

After breakfast and a little repose for half an hour I cracked on with the blog. I’ve had a really good day and reached early June 2012 (I’ve left off May though because this needs a good clear out seeing as it’s the period when I was in Canada.

Just another 202 entrie to do now and it will be up-to-date – a far cry from the well-over 350 that there were when I restarted this. When i’s done I can continue with the updating of the earlier stuff – which is likewise proceeding apace.

I had the baguette for lunch but ate in here because it was grey and miserable outside.

This afternoon I had a … errr … little repose – the strain of being awake so early is telling on me, and then I did the last of the washing. Now it’s all up-to-date for the next fortnight and that’s fine by me. I pushed on with a little more of the blog too.

So with the pizza out of the way, it’s another early night in the dark again tonight. Tomorrow I have a lot to do. Like booking some more stuff for my trip to Canada and deaing with an item of correspondence that has reared its ugly head.

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Saturday 1st July 2017 – I NOW HAVE …

… not only a washing machine but an installed washing machine and a working washing machine too.

And also a pile of clean clothes.

Terry and Liz came round this morning and Terry helped me carry it up the stairs into here. We plugged it in and connected up the water, and Robert is your father’s brother.

Last night was a better night. Still not as good as I would like but an improvement on just recently. And it must have been good too because I was away with the fairies for quite a while.

I was living in a commune type of place with loads of people whom I knew – it was round about the station approach in Sandbach somewhere. And at bedtime we all clambered into a variety of big beds – half a dozen or so to each bed. I was lucky in that in my bed everyone else was a female, including Miss Norgain, the lesbian headmistress of Crewe Girls Grammar School. This all worked fine until one of my bed mates started to become very … err … frisky. Not that I minded of course, but I did wonder what Miss Norgain would have to say about it.
Later on, I was taking the short cut into Crewe. For those of you who don’t know the approach into Crewe from the south, it’s rather tortuous around the Gresty area but there is a shortcut down an ancient bridleway that passes under the railway lines by a bridge known locally as “the mucky bridge” for reasons that are self-evident to anyone who tries to take that lane in the wet. So off I went, but instead of being the lane that I have used on many occasions, it became that mountain pass over which we have climbed or skied on many a nocturnal ramble and which regular readers of this rubbish will recall. But halfway down there my way was blocked by a huge shiny metal fence that had been erected right across the pathway. There was a house and office right by the gate and so I enquired. I had to waith in there until the other two or three customers ahead of me were dealt with and had left the room and then I enquired of the woman there to find out what was going on. She replied that they had bought all of the land and had fenced it off, as was their right now that they owned it. I explained that you can’t simply close or fence off a public footpath – a whole process needs to be undertaken and consent is rarely given, but she told me to take it up with the council. I wasn’t allowed to phone but a young girl was, so she relayed the message for me. It had been 20 years since I’d been to Crewe and things hadn’t changed there. The solicitor of Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council (with whom I had many a tangle back in the old days) was doing his best to fob off this girl with meaningless statements and so I told her to tell him that it was Mr Hall who was enquiring. And so she did. You could actually hear the conversation come to a dead stop – if you want to know the meaning of a “pregnant pause” there wouldn’t be any better way of describing it than this – and after about 10 seconds I could hear an “ohhh – Mr Hall. I remember him!” which of course, he most certainly would.

After breakfast I carried on updating the blog and then went out for my baguette. My return saw me start to arrange things around ready for the washing machine, and I’ve still no idea where I’m going to put everything.

We had the machine installed quite rapidly and then drilled holes in the granite to fit the supports for the curtain rails – Terry had remembered to bring his big drill.

As a reward I took everyone off to the bar in the square down the road for a coffee and we stayed there to chat.

The subject of lunch came up, so I nipped to the magasin de presse next door to the bar for another baguette and we came back to make a huge salad. Good job that I bought that sweetcorn yesterday, wasn’t it?

To walk off our lunch we went for a good long stroll around the city walls and then they went home. A job well done.

Standing for a while in the damp hadn’t done the washing machine too much good so I ended up dismantling it and giving it a really good clean as best as I could. And then I set it to work.

I’d been warned about the noise that it makes, which may well be worn bearings, so they reckon. But it made no noise that would cause me any concern. Mind you, I reckon that the bits of metal, screwdriver bits, coins and washers that I retrieved from the innards might be some kind of explanation for all of that.

And so what if it only works on one programme? How many do you need when you are a man?

For tea, I finished off the rest of the salad with a veggie burger and now I’m ready for anything.

Probably bed.

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Thursday 29th June 2017 – I’VE JUST DROPPED …

… half of my tea all over the floor.

Well, half of the curry anyway. So never mind – I have a couple of small tins of mushrooms and so one of them went into what was left and it didn’t end up too bad.

Mind you – I’m not surprised that that happened. I’ve been half-asleep all afternoon what with one thing and another.

Sleeping on the sofa might be comfortable, but it’s regrettably not as comfortable as my big new bed and while Rosemary said that she had the best sleep that she’s had for ages (so much so that she’s going to buy a new bed as soon as she returns home) I was tossing and turning for much of the night.

The alarm was programmed to go off at 06:00 and I was up and about long before then. But women take their time of course and it was 06:55 before we hit the road. Rosemary has a long way yet to go and not much time to do it either, and this wasn’t really the time to be hanging about.

I led her out to the edge of town and from there she was off on her own. I stopped to pick up a baguette and then came back for breakfast.

For most of the morning I was working on the blog. I’m into March 2012 right now, and the modernisations to the earlier modernisations are proceeding apace too. But the more that I do, the harder it’s going to become because I’ve been doing the easy stuff first.

After lunch on my wall, I went into town again. The Bank had told me that my bank cards are ready to be picked up and so I went to fetch them. I need them for shopping tomorrow.

I went to look at the Marité (she’s back) and to make a few enquiries about potential voyages. The girl at the reception desk didn’t know too much about the voyages so she referred me to the website.

One thing is for sure, though. And that is that they don’t go to anywhere exciting. I was hoping for a trip to the Roaring Forties and maybe a lap o two around Cape Horn. But I’m told that I would be lucky if I had a trip around the bay here.

Somehow it’s not the same.

One thing that did catch my eye on the quayside was a huge pile of scrap metal. All old cookers, fridges, a few engines and – an Iveco lorry that had been cut into bits.

The writing on the fridges was in English – and then I noticed that the lorry was a right-hand drive vehicle. So this pile of scrap has come in from a British possession somewhere, and I seemed to have missed the ship that brought it in.

That is, unless it was the load brought in by the Whatsit the other week and has yet to be moved.

Armed with the bank cards – and a citron sorbet fom the ice-cream shop I walked back up here for a rest – and, as I said earlier, a kind-of drift in between sleeping and waking.

And then I dropped my curry.

So a good sleep tonight (I hope) back in my bed and then shopping tomorrow. Now that I have access to my cash I’m going to buy a little hi-fi. I know that I said that I wouldn’t spend very much before I went to Canada, but I’m missing my music.

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Tuesday 27th June 2017 – THIS NEW WOK …

… is absolutely superb. The genoux d’abeille as they say around here

This evening I cooked a mega curry, with onions, garlic, green peppers, chick pies, a tin of mixed vegetables and spices (and the ground coriander that I bought at the weekend added a new zip to my cooking).

And not only was the meat excellent (and there’s enough for three more days so it will become even better) the new wok handled it splendidly.

In the past, ‘ve had new saucpans and new woks and the like, and they may have started well but their performance (and the non-stick coating) has always fallen off after a while. But I have a good presntiment about this one. I’ve never had anything that seemed to be as good as thins.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that I’m almost as impressed with it as I am with my galvanised steel dustbin.

I was flat out this morning when the alarm went off and it was something of a disorganised stagger into the bathroom. But sticking my head under the cold tap restored my sanity (such as it is) and I was able to attack breakfast in a reasonable state of mind.

A trip to pick up my baguette was the highlight of my day beacuse that’s the only time that I’ve set foot off the premises. I was intending to go out and sit on the wall above the harbour to have lunch, but it started to rain at about midday – the first rain that we have had since I can’t remember when.

And apart from a crash-out at about 16:00, I’ve spent the rest of the day on the blog, ipdating it. I’m well into February 2012 right now, but I’ll shortly be running aground as there is a spell of 6 weeks at the end of April where a whole raft of work needs to be done before I can prepare anything. This might be another period to skip and to add to the waiting list, along with a few other periods that are far too complicated to handle “off the hoof”.

Just 250 pages that need to be brought up to date before the hard work begins.

But it won’t be done tomorrow as I have a mammoth cleaning session to perform. My calm, tranquil quiet life is about to undergo a major upheaval.

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Saturday 24th June 2017 – I WAS UP …

… a good 10 minutes before the alarm this morning. And had I been bothered to leave my stinking pit, I could have been up a good hour before it too.

I’d been on my travels too, not sure where, but I ended up dating one of the nurses (I wish that I could remember which one) who had treated me while I had been in hospital. She was considerably younger than me (well, let’s face it – almost everyone in the world is these days!) and this excited a great deal of comment from all sorts of people.

Which of course just goes to show – I can still chase after the women, even if I can’t remember why.

We had the usual trip for the baguette and the lunchtime sitting-on-the-wall-overlooking-the-harbour too. The weather wasn’t quite as warm as it has been, but still too hot to be out there for long. And the tide is now almost fully-out which means that we aren’t going to be having any ships passing by for a while.

Even the Marité is conspicuous by her absence. She seems to have departed into the ether – Ships That Pass In The Night and all of that.

Tea was another attack on the European Tinned Food Mountain and with the addition of a few herbs and spices it was quite tasty. Just goes to show the difference that a few simple things can make.

So what have I been doing today then?

Some tidying up. Not much, but if I do a little every day (or nearly every day) it will slowly all go together nicely. And some cleaning too. I need to make an effort.

I had a phone call too from the maintenance people about the fridge. So I told them that it was now back working again so they hung up. And now it’s stopped again, hasn’t it?

I’ve also had a very unwelcome letter from the Treasury of that hospital in Verdun. It seems that once again my insurers are dragging their heels about paying (which they usually do) and I’ve been lumbered yet again. I’ll need to sort them out properly in early course.

Ingrid was on the phone too and we had a lengthy chat. Her health issues are finally moving, although in which direction it’s hard to tell. She’ll know more in early course. But it’s a good job that she rang, because I was … errr … resting at the time.

But most of the day has been organising the blog. I’ve finished November, done a few of December, skipped the rest because there’s a lot in there that needs editing, and now I’m well into January 2012. Only 289 entries to go before this cycle of amendments is completed. And then I’ll need to go back over it again to bring the earlier entries up to the current standard as well as tackling some of the more complicated entries.

In that vein, we are going pretty well too. I’ve done some more ad-hoc editing, removing unwanted tags, editing a couple of others, merging one or two as well and it’s not been taking me as long as I thought, especially as I’ve found a quick way of doing it.

So now I’m having a relax before bed-time. And I reckon that I deserve it too. It’s hard work, this sitting around doing not very much.

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Tuesday 20th June 2017 – I’M GLAD …

… that I bought that fan blower yesterday.

It went on at about 07:30 after breakfast and it’s still going around even now as we speak. And I’m not surprised as we’re having another scorching day.

It took ages to go to sleep in the heat last night, and I was flat out until the alarm went off. But I’d been on a few travels too, including one where I was back at the farm at Les Guis (although it wasn’t that particular building) with the rain pouring in through the roof every time that it rained.. I’d had to take a party of tourists around to show them the sights, but there aren’t any sights round there so it was something of a rather pointless ramble. We ended up eventually at the cross-roads on the hill where the road from Le Quartier to Ars-les-Favets crosses the road from Virlet to Montaigut-en-Combrailles, looking down on everywhere and not knowing where to go to next.

After breakfast I had a relax, and then hit the streets for town. In the heat.

marité goelette granville manche normandy franceFirst stop was to see that big sailing ship that we noticed in the harbour on our return from Leuven. She’s called the Marité and is a three-masted goelette built in the early 1920s. She actually took part in the Grand Banks fisheries off Newfoundland until 1929 and then around the various fishing areas of the North Atlantic until the 1960s when it took to general tramping.

Having already been saved a couple of times from scrapping, she was put up for sale in 1999 when she was bought for preservation. The restoration finished in 2009 and here we are.

it’s possible to go for a sail on her, and I shall be looking out for the trips.

But as an aside, she’s a ship of just over 200 tonnes, which you light think is pretty small for braving a North Atlantic winter. But that’s four times bigger than Columbus’s Santa Maria, and hos other two ships, the Nina and the Pinta, were smaller still.

At the bank, yes, my accounts are transferred over. And they gave me the cheque book. But where are the cards? “Ohh dear” blushed my conseilleuse and dashed off to do some hasty manipulations. “They’ll be here next week” she said two minutes later.

Forgotten to request them, have we?

I picked up some spuds and a baguette, and bumped into someone with whom I’d been having a good chat at the Marité.

Back here, I had Rosemary on the ‘phone. She’s had a bit of a disaster back home in the UK and I do feel sorry for her. WHat with her health and all of that, this is the last thing that she needs.

Lunch on the wall overlooking the harbour didn’t last too long. It was far too hot to stay out there very long. I came back here and … errr … went away with the fairies for all of three hours. Astonishing! I even ended up going on a skiing trip around the promontory here in the deep snow with Hannah and her friend.

And the pie?

Delicious. That worked well. And with a dollop of mash, peas, carrots (cooked in the steam cooker which I have now resurrected from the grave) and gravy it was even better.

I shall have to do this again.

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Monday 19th June 2017 – PHWOARRR!!!

record temperature granville manche normandy franceWhat a scorcher!

Never mind the time (which is wrong of course) just look at the temperature at 14:30 this afternoon! It was bad enough outside, but look at what it was doing in Caliburn!

This morning was bad enough. 25°C outside and 23°C in here at 07:55 (that’s 06:55 for those of you living in The Land That Time Forgot) and it just got hotter and hotter. After breakfast, and going for my baguette it became far too hot to concentrate and I didn’t accomplish very much.

vegan lentil and tofu pie granville manche normandy franceBut you can see my vegan lentil and tofu pie though. It had cooled off (well, sort-of) during the night so I pulled it out of the oven. With some cling-film over the top, it’s now gone into the fridge as I made some space in there

It doesn’t look very successful, so I hope that it tastes better than it looks. With some mashed spuds, peas and carrots, it might be okay. You never know. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. But I have to learn sometime and the easiest way to learn is by experience.

sailing boats granville manche normandy franceDown on my wall at lunchtime, I was able to admire the marine traffic entering and leaving the port while I was there eating my butty and reading my book. This kind of thing caught my eye, because it looks as if it might have sailed right out of a late 19th-Century painting.

Sailing boats are classed according to their masts and rigging, so you have schooners, barques, barquentines, yawls, all of these kinds of things. And I have no idea of which is which and I can’t tell the difference anyway, but there you go.

But the heat was intense. I couldn’t stay out there for very long and so I was obliged to retreat. And this was when I saw the temperature.

As a consequence I braved the oppressive heat of Caliburn and went out of town as far as the LeClerc. I’d seen that they had fans on offer and at €19:99 I bought the biggest one that they had. That cooled me down somewhat and I feel much more like it. It still didn’t stop me having a little repose though.

So now the curry is finished, it’s pie for tea tomorrow. If I don’t blog tomorrow night, you’ll know that it didn’t do me any good.

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Sunday 18th June 2017 – LIZ CAME ROUND …

… while I was busy chatting to Krys (with whom I haven’t spoken for quite a while) so sorry if cut you off, Krys.

With Sunday being a day of rest and a cause for a lie-in, I was determined not to leave my stinking pit when I awoke. But finding it impossible to stay in bed any longer, I arose to find that it was … errrr … 06:55. Quite.

So after an early breakfast and a bit of a relax, I headed off to the magasin de presse for my baguette – and he was closed.

But no worries – down the hill to the boulangerie opposite the casino – and closed for holidays.

I ended up in the early morning heat (and believe me, it was hot) tramping around the town until I found a boulangerie that was open. And I’m glad that I found that one because the bread proved to be delicious.

Back up the hill I staggered (I was exhausted and boiling hot by now) and came back to do the rest of the tidying up and have a nice good shower to see me right for the rest of the year. And a chat to Krys of course and another one of my friends – the one who has been described on these pages on various occasions as “The One That Got Away”.

Liz and I had a coffee and put the world to rights, and then made our butties (I’d bought two baguettes). Once that was organised we headed off into the sun and found a spot right down at the end of the promontory by the lighthouse where was had lunch. Liz produced some sliced pineapple for pudding.

Later on after a few hours in the sun we found a cafe on the roof of the aquatic museum near here – and there was a splendid view over the harbour from up there. And much to my delight a close inspection of Liz’s ice cream disclosed that it was in fact a vegan sorbet. Now I really am in my elephant!

Liz went off home and I came back here and … errr … closed my eyes for a little. Well, it really was hot.

Pizza tonight was delicious, but as for the pie that I baked, I don’t make mistakes, I just learn a lot of lessons, such as the fact that I have bought the wrong pastry for a start. The lentils were nice though – done all day in the slow cooker, but the mix was far too wet and there was far too much of it (a pile went in the freezer for another time).

After I’ve finished the curry tomorrow, I’ll start o the pie on Tuesday. If it ends up in the bin, don’t be surprised. You have to pay to learn.

And I’ve made it into November 2011 with my blog revision. By my calculations, only another 300 – 350 entries to go. But the further I go, the more difficult it becomes and there’s a pile of stuff that is going to need some complicated unravelling

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Saturday 17th June 2017 – THIS VACUUM CLEANER …

… that I bought yesterday isn’t half the genoux de l’abeille as they might say around here.

It might be only small, and it might be only cheap but it has the kind of suction for which a Conservative MP would pay good money in a back street massage parlour in Soho.

Yes, I’ve been cleaning and tidying up – well, sort-of_ish anyway. Because I had a brainwave. Self-motivation is not my strongest point, as you all know, and seeing as how Liz is on her own right now, Terry having gone back to The Land That Time Forgot to sort out the health issues of his mother and his daughter, I’ve invited her round for lunch tomorrow.

That means that I shall have to have the place looking at least presentable by the time that she comes round, and that’s not a bad idea at all. And so I made a sort-of start.

If I do another hour or two tomorrow morning it won’t be too bad I suppose. But I do like this vacuum cleaner. In fact, you can say that I’m almost as impressed with it as I am with my galvanised steel dustbin.

The tidying up involved putting away a pile of papers too (and there’s still more to go) and also sorting out my Canadian travel bag. For those of you who are not regular readers of this rubbish, I have a small bag with all of my 120-volt equipment in it – such as an AA – AAA battery charger, a couple of leads for electrical appliances, and all of the ‘phone stuff.

And it’s a good job that I did too because the data/charging cable for the North American phone doesn’t work (I remember that I had this problem last year) and I broke the car charger. And so I am in difficulty here. I shall have to think of a cunning plan.

Another thing that Bane of Britain seems to have done is to mix up the clean clothes that he washed the other day with the dirty clothes that he’s been wearing ever since. And that’s fraught with danger, isn’t it?

We had another struggle to leave the stinking pit this morning, although I was early down at the magasin de presse for my baguette. And with the boss not being there, I ended up with a rather miserable baguette too.

Lunchtime saw me up on the cliff above the harbour with my butties and book. It was another beautiful afternoon. I was up there for quite a while too in the glorious weather, but was eventually burnt out of my position so I came back here instead.

Tea was more of the curry stuff, but I’ve also prepared a tofu marinade. Tofu is pretty tasteless so it needs to be soaked in stuff. Mine was cooked with garlic, onions, pepper and curry powder (I wish that I had remembered to buy some sage and rosemary) and it’ll sit in that until tomorrow evening. I’ll cook a handful of lentils in the slow cooker too tomorrow morning and that will be the filling for the pie that I’m going to make. I’ll be having the oven on for the pizza, and so I can bake the pie at the same time.

I hope that it will be nice.

Ohhh – and Rhys – talking of cunning plans, if you are on your trips around the Dollar Stores, keep your eyes open for a data cable and a car charger for a Samsung T746.

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Thursday 15th June 2017 – I BEAT …

… David Bowie into the bathroom by 35 seconds this morning (I know – I counted them) and so by the time he started to croon “Wake Up Little Sleepy Head” I was already riding the porcelain horse.

Breakfast saw me demolish the last of the muesli (I had some supplies and so I made some more) and by 07:35 I was sitting on the sofa with the laptop on my knee.

This morning I spent part of the time dealing with correspondence. It’s backing up rather, and I had a rude reminder from someone about a form that I needed to fill in relating to Caliburn’s accident. And so I did that, bunged it all in some of those prepaid envelopes (I bought a supply of those) and posted it all in the post box opposite the magasin de presse – the newspaper shop where I buy my baguette.

Lunchtime was spent sitting on the clifftop overlooking the harbour entrance. It was cooler today and slightly windier so I stayed out there with my book for quite a while. In fact, it was after 15:00 when I came back here. And seeing how nice and comfortable I had been, I … errrr … closed my eyes for a while – in fact a darn while longer than I expected.

Tea was a mega-curry night. Onions and garlic fried in a saucepan, with a tin of mixed vegetable, a tin of mushrooms, a pile of peanuts, s bucket-load of bulghour and a selection of spices. Add to that a gallon of gravy browning and we had a meal fit for a King. Four Kings in fact, because there’s enough for three more days so that’s sealed in the vacuum jars in the fridge.

And apart from that, what else have I been up to?

Well, you know this 3D animation program that I’m messing around with? It’s quite good but its models are not transferable over to other 3D sites (but then it’s free, and not a couple of thousand quid so that’s understandable) and models from other sites are not transferable to it. But there is a program for building models and props from design primitives, and the finished products may be exported into *.cr2 format.

This program is likewise free and I downloaded it years ago, but it was so complicated that I abandoned it after several weeks of going nowhere. Its controls do not correspond in any way whatever with normal mouse controls and keyboard short-cuts and has no logical sense whatsoever (for example – to “Ring” the edges of the polygons that make up the design primitives, its CNTRL + … errr … K. What’s the logic behind that?).

Anyway, during one of my lengthy searches on the internet, I came across a series of no less than 24 videos that give a basic introduction to the program. And as the narrator freely states “this is only a basic introduction – there’s much more that you can find out about it elsewhere”. Yes, 24 videos as a “basic introduction”!

And so I’ve been gallantly working my way through them all. 8 videos so far, and I’m still on “control manoeuvres” – we haven’t actually done anything yet.

I have a feeling that this is going to be yet another long hard slog.

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Tuesday 13th June 2017 – SO HAVING SLEPT …

… the Sleep Of The Dead until all of about 05:00, I was quickly up and about and under the shower for a good soaking. And having finally attacked the half-baguette and the jam that I had bought the other day, I was ready for anything.

Yes, quite!

Packing was exciting. I’m sure that I’m taking back more than I went out with, not including the two pairs of trousers. And so ramming it into the rucksack and the shopping bag was … errr … exciting. I wish that I had brought a larger bag with me now.

I was out early to the station because there’s a supermarket at the back where I was going to buy some lunch stuff (no tomatoes unfortunately because Bane of Britain seems to have forgotten to bring the sharp knife that lives in his rucksack pocket) but the presence of an express direct to Brussels-Midi on the platform prompted me to change my mind, and I legged it up the stairs mucho-el-rapido.

Early in Brussels, I went to see if I could change my TGV ticket for one on the earlier train. For some reason, the SNCF on-line booking doesn’t recognise the 10:13 TGV and instead books me on the 11:13. That just gives me an hour or so to perform the Traversée de Paris and that’s pretty tight, especially when I don’t have Bourvil to carry my suitcases for me.

Luckily there was a place on the earlier train. One day there won’t be, and that will be the day that there will be perturbations on the Metro or the TGV will run late.

There was still a few minutes to spare so I popped to the Carrefour on the station and bought a baguette, a couple of pears and a bottle of water. It’s going to be a long, hot day.

TGV Brussels mdid paris gare du nord franceThe train pulled in a couple of minutes early and much to my surprise the door to my carriage was exactly where I was standing, so I was second on board.

And heaving – there wasn’t room to swing a cat, and the poor moggy that was in the carry-basket of the person in front of me had to stay cooped up.

We did have a moment of excitement though, when my baguette slid off the overhead rail and almost fell down the cleavage of the woman in front. She stuck it back on the rack, and bent it too for good measure.

But what’s all this about cleavages just now?

It didn’t take long to cross Paris on the metro, which it never does when you allow plenty of time, and it gave me a good opportunity to go for a little exploration.

There’s a bus from Paris-Montparnasse directly to Charles de Gaulle airport, so I tracked that down and made “certain enquiries”, and the SNCF also has a suitcase collection and delivery service, and that can be extremely advantageous as my health declines. I made “certain enquiries” about that, too.

BB class 15000 507235 SNCF gare paris montparnasse vaugirard franceMy luck was in over at our side of the railway station. Here parked up at of the terminus platforms was a nez cassé, or “broken nose”.

These are the typical French SNCF electric locomotives built in the 1970s as part of the modernisation plans of the SNCF. They took the French railways to a new level, tanking along at a good 100 miles per hour without even drawing breath and despite being supplanted by the TGVs and being over 40 years old, most of them are still in service.

But it’s rare to find them over here. Their usual stamping ground is in the North-East of the country. That’s why I was so surprised to see one.

multiple unit paris montparnasse vaugirard railway station granville manche normandy franceNothing over 40 years old about our conveyance to Granville though. Not even 40 months old, these things.

It was totally heaving too, at least as far as Avranches, and for some reason I couldn’t make myself comfortable which is a change. And I was drifting in and out of sleep all the way up here. I’m not as young as I was. I didn’t do any work of any description, which is not like me as you all know.

But I was glad for the bottle of water because it really was a hot afternoon in the crowded train.

Bang on time we arrived, and so nice was the afternoon that instead of waiting for the bus, I set off to walk home.

sailing ship schooner in harbour granville manche normandy franceClimbing the hill out of town was a struggle so I stopped for five minutes or so to admire the view. And this gorgeous sailing boat is in here today.

No idea of her name, but she seems to be registered in Granville so I shall have to make some further enquiries. But what wouldn’t I give for a lap around the bay in her?

And this reminds me of the story of the sea captain who bought the land at the bottom of a shallow bay in order to create a colony. But while only a mere handful of people expressed an interest, no-one would board his ship.

They all thought that his barque was worse than his bight.

Back here, I crashed out for a while and then made a quick tea out of tins. I wasn’t going to hang about because I really was tired. It took a lot out of me, these three days.

But at least on the train I can do it in three days. Not a chance of that if I were to drive. And it cost me just €195 for the trip. Diesel would have cost me €160, and then we have the autoroute tolls, a hotel each way at the mid-point and all of the stress.

No, going on the train is the way to go without a doubt.

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Sunday 11th June 2017 – THERE’S SOMETHING TO BE SAID …

… for this internal alarm clock thing that we are supposed to have. Here I was, due to get out of bed at 07:00 (and on a Sunday too!) and to be on the safe side I’d even set two alarms, and yet there I was, sitting bolt-upright in bed at 06:00 precisely.

Of course, that didn’t last too long and I was soon back under the covers until firstly David Bowie and secondly Billy Cotton did the business.

30 seconds under the shower was more-than-enough and then we had this urine performance thingy. And that’s a real performance when I can’t make the machine work. In the end, I had to empty away a half-bottle of tomato sauce and use that … "the bottle, not the sauce" – ed. That is really taking the p155.

I’d allowed myself an hour to walk to the station and so 20 minutes later, in the bright early morning sunshine, there I was. I’d even had time to stop to buy a baguette to eat with my couscous for lunch. I’m nothing if not prepared (although I do realise that I have forgotten my sponge bag, and I’ll probably realise that there are a few other things that I have forgotten by the time that we arrive in Leuven).

multiple unit SNCF gare de granville manche normandy franceMY ticket from Granville to Paris for a journey of over three-hours costs me just €20:00 (eat your heart out, you Brits!) and this is the train that I take.

Probably not a year old, they are magnificent and I really enjoy the journey. But typing of a train as it’s clattering over the joints in the track is bollyd dficicltue, I’ll tell you.

Pulled into Paris bang on time (eat your heart … ditto) and the direct Metro to the Gare du Nord was open this time. Mind you, it was a hell of a hike to Line 4 and I don’t fancy that in August with Strawberry Moose in his suitcase.

And it was heaving too – and on a Sunday. Like sardines we were. But 40 minutes saw us at the Gare du Nord. I went outside to eat my baguette and couscous. And it was steaming out there too. It’s a long time since I’ve felt it so warm.

And while I was out there I was harassed by a couple of beggars and amused myself watching a pirate taxi driver try his best to tempt gullible tourists into his car. But I was impressed that the savoir-faire of tourists in the town has improved somewhat.

The TGV was packed to the gunwhales and it was stinking hot in there too despite the air-conditioning. You can’t really open the windows at 220 mph I suppose. And we arrived at Brussels-Midi just in time for me to leg it onto the 15:55 to Eupen, with the guard very kindly holding the door open for me.

I’m now installed in my cosy little room with very thin walls and a loud television next door. And Bane of Britain has done it again – forgetting that it’s Sunday and so he can’t go shopping and now he has no coffee, no water, no nothing.

But after a brief repose (because it’s 32°C here believe it or not) I went for a walk and found a shop open and that helped.

The walk did even more to wear me out and when I arrived back I crashed out definitively until … errrr … 20:40 too. And I have so much to do.

But I did manage to find food and so that’s not too bad, and now I’m going to crash out again.

But this thing about three hours or so to Paris on the SNCF does remind me of the story about the Texan in Ireland, looking at the small size of the fields.
“Do you know” he exclaimed. “I can get into my car and it would take me three days to drive across my field back in Texas”
“I know just what you mean” said an Irishman
“Do you really????” asked the Texan incredulously
“Ohh yes” replied the Irishman. “I used to have a car like that myself”.

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Saturday 10th June 2017 – AND IF YOU THOUGHT …

… that yesterday was hot, then you should have been here today.

I slept right through to the alarm, and it was a struggle to leave my stinking pit, that’s for sure. And after breakfast, it was already so hot that I had all of the windows wide open in here. And I noticed that everyone else’s were opened too.

Fun times going down for the baguette. I met one of my neighbours coming back from town with a wheeled shopping basket thingy.
“You’re up early” I said.
“Been to the market” she replied. “Like to get it done early”.

In the newsagents “I’m not open until 09:00 tomorrow” he told me.
“That’s a shame” I replied. “I’ll be halfway to Paris by then”. Well, I won’t. Probably no more than about 4 or 5 miles or so down the line, but I won’t let a bit of poetic licence bother me.

On the way back, I noticed that the doors to the church were grand ouvert too. And just as I passed, the church organist struck up a couple of chords on the organ. It was just like something out of a Hammer Horror film – which is quite a good description from my neighbours’ point of view now that I’m living here.

It was round about here that I met my neighbour again, heading in the opposite direction. “I forgot my money” she explained. “I’ll have to go back and pay them as they all know me in town”.

Liz was next. “We’re going to Coutainville-Plage after lunch” she said. “Would you like to join us?”

So I made my butties, hit the streets, went round to the railway station to pick up my tickets for tomorrow (I’ve been caught out before by a non-working ticket machine) and went to the beach.

I found a secluded spot amongst the crowds, ate my butties in the glorious sunshine spread out on the sand on my blanket. I had a book with me too. It’s the story of the German U-boat offensive at the height of World War II – one month where the balance dramatically shifted to the Allies. It’s called Black May and, in the light of recent events, I would love to see a title more apposite than that.

Liz and Terry came along and we all relaxed in the sun watching two girls aged about 3 and 5 having loads of fun. Terry and Liz even went for a paddle.

windsurfing beach coudeville sur mer manche normandy franceI continued to read my book and to watch the people on the beach, including this guy struggling down to the water’s edge with what looked like a huge wing – presumably attempting to take off for the Iles de Chausey, or that’s what it looked like.

But in fact he was nothing more than one of these wind surfers, and he spent the next couple of hours, once he finally managed to launch his surf board, parading about just offshore.

We had a drink and then I came back here to finish off the rest of the pear sorbet. I have raspberry sorbet for when I come back.

Tea was out of a tin and now I’m relaxing ready for my trip tomorrow.

Leuven again. A nice change, isn’t it?

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Thursday 8th June 2017 – I DUNNO …

… what was going on this morning but there was a hell of a racket outside underneath my window.

children school trip place d'armes granville manche normandy franceWhen I went out for my baguette later, I found the reason why. There’s another school trip been decanted into the Old Town and they were assembling right underneath my window. 150 of the brats all told, noisy badgers.

And they were back at lunchtime to eat their butties too. SO I stayed indoors again, even though the wind has dropped down to more manageable proportions.

My living room by the way is the two windows on the first floor on the left of the photo.

I couldn’t get out of bed this morning – took me ages. And it wasn’t as if I’d had a late night last night either. But breakfast and a long hot shower and shave (and clean clothes) soon brought me round. But not that it did too much good because today was another day where I stayed in and did very little.

Tea was nice though. I took the oven chips out of the freezer a good hour before tea and switched the oven on for 15 minutes to warm up. The chips were … errr … reasonable.

So not having done much, I don’t feel as if I deserve to go to bed. But that’s where I’m going all the same. It’s shopping day tomorrow but I don’t need much as I’m not here for three days.

But then again, people say that I’m not all here all of the time, and who am I to argue with that?

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