Tag Archives: Percy Penguin

Thursday 28th June 2012 – ONE OF THE REASONS …

… and there are many of them, to be sure, as to why I keep a blog is that I can refer back to it and find out when I did something.

I forget all too easily these days what I’ve been up to and when I was up to it – and just remember, before you start laughing, that you will be as old as me too one of these days too.

So I looked back and found that it was exactly a week ago today that I planted the courgette, cucumber, gherkin etc seeds, and sowed some lettuce seed in pots.

And while I was sorting out the herb buckets (those nice heaps of oregano and tarragon have gone – cut down now and hanging up to dry in my attic) I happened to notice that the lettuce were growing.

Blimey! That was quick!

So they had a really good watering, and they need it too in this heat.

And so, out of curiosity, I went to look at the beds where I had planted the courgette etc seeds.

And guess what?

Absolutely! They are rearing their pretty little heads too.

There’s even some beetroot from what I planted a week earlier, but the carrots are once again doing nothing at all.

Anyway, it seems to be all go in the garden again.

I didn’t manage an early start today, unfortunately. It was so hot that at 03:00 I was still up and about and I would probably still be flat out on my back right now if a hornet hadn’t come in at about 08:45 and chased me around the bedroom.

Still, makes a change from Percy Penguin, who doesn’t feature in these pages half as much as she deserves, chasing me around the bedroom.

This afternoon I started to draw up the plans for the next stage of construction work, and began to make a list of the bits that I need. Right on cue, Rosemary rang me up and asked if I would be interested in going to the Brico Depot in Montlucon.

Seeing as how it won’t be very easy getting all of this wood onto Caliburn’s roof rack all on my own, and it’s no skin off my nose whether I go tomorrow or Saturday.

And when I heard that half a day’s gardening was the reward on offer, then that was it, mercenary that I am. It’s a good job I emptied out Caliburn yesterday, wasn’t it?

In between the surveying I dragged out the tabletop washing machine and did a load of washing seeing as I had a pile to do, it was gorgeous and warm, and the water temperature in the home-made 12-volt immersion heater that I use as a dump load for the surplus solar energy was at 60.5°C.

To finish off the day I treated myself to yet another solar shower seeing the temperature of the water in the black plastic solar hearing box had reached 41.5°C. And that was gorgeous too

It’s all go here right now, isn’t it?

    

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Saturday 21st April 2012 – I’ve been slowly …

… organising myself today. And I mean “slowly” as well. But who knows? I might even manage to do it too.

First piece of good news came in the post. If you remember, I bought myself a really good mobile phone in Canada in September. But when I came to use it in February, it wouidn’t power up, no matter what I did to it. Anyway, to cut a long story short … “hooray” – ed … I noticed last Saturday that one of the guys at the football had exactly the same phone. So I accordingly took mine down on Sunday and we tried his battery in my phone – and it worked fine.

So thinking “battery”, I ordered a new charger off the internet. Anyway, the charger arrived this morning so I plugged it into the phone and sure enough, it powered itself up.

Putting some credit on the UK phone that Percy Penguim gave me in December – the one with the UK SIM card in it – that’s not proving to be so easy. I can top it up from overseas using a credit card, sure enough, but when it comes to “please enter the numbers of your postcode” it all goes off the rails. “You have made a mistake” says the recorded message. But ohhh no I haven’t. Well, Perhaps I have. But it’s not the mistake that they are thinking of – the mistake I made was using a SIM card from O2 – a poxy introspective xenophobic British company that totally fails to consider the possibility that someone with a foreign postcode might want to use its service.

No wonder Britain has come off the rails, when it can’t cope with “overseas”.

But astonishing news on the travel front. I had planned to go to the airport from Montlucon, meaning a change at Bourges, another at Vierzon, then trying to cross Paris on the Metro and then taking another train from another station in Paris. And how I hate that journey too. But for just €20 more, I can take a train from Riom to Lyon, and then the TGV direct from Lyon to the airport. No struggling across Paris, no lugging heavy suitcases about up and down stairs, no fighting with Paris commuters. And the TGV is soooooo much more comfortable as well. Even better – my return flight lands at 06:12 in the morning and there’s a return train journey following exactly the same route, at 08:52. That gives me time to find my baggage, find the station, have a coffee and breakfast and I’ll be home by 14:00 all nicely relaxed.

At my destination in Montreal though, there was a slight hitch. The hotel that I’ve been using has been under repair and refurbishment for years and so prices have been ridiculously low. And it’s also in the part of the city where I need to be, for all kinds of good reasons too. But when I went to book it just now, it’s clear that the extensive renovations are now finished as the prices have gone through the roof.

Anyway, there’s one of these chain hotels not too far from the airport, and they have a special offer on right now. Furthermore, three of my most favourite shops are only just round the corner, within walking distance in fact if I fancy walking. So that’s that sorted out too.

At the football, there are no matches at Pionsat this weekend and so I saw Marcillat play Ygrande. A totally astonishing 3-3 draw – astonishing because Ygrande scored one of their goals and from the kickoff Marcillat roared straight up the pitch and scored themselves. And blow me down if 10 minutes later we had exactly the same thing again – a carbon copy. BUt the highlight of the match was the referee. I’ve never ever seen a game so well-refereed as this one tonight. So much so that I went over to the ref after the match and told him so. Credit where credit is due.

Tomorrow I’m cutting my hair, and then I’m packing. Strawberry Moose is already packing his bags and is quite looking forward to the journey.

And so am I

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Friday 6th April 2012- I’ve had another day of being indoors

Yes, I’ve been hard at it today.

And I’ve been working as well. I mentioned briefly last night that I needed to look around for another subject to discuss on the radio for when we finish “speeding convictions” and as chance would have it the Postie brought me one of these little magazines that the bank sends me every so often.

This month there was tons of stuff in it, and there was also another little magazine that comes out every few months as a supplement, entitled “Family Matters”. And by ‘eck wasn’t there some good stuff in there too?

They did one a year ago which was “40 typical situations in France – true or false?” I copied those out and embellished them quite considerably, but I noticed in this magazine today that there were several readers’ questions. I’ve selected a couple of those and added them to the list of qestions – by the looks of things I can keep that going for ever if it keeps on like this.

But there were two subjects in there concerning important matters of everyday life in France that are treated quite differently from in the UK. So what I’ve done today is to dash off a quick 31kb of information about one of them. That took most of the day and there’s more to add as well. We normally do about 3 or 4 kb of information per programme so that’s about 8 programmes, plus whatever else I can haven’t added in yet. That should all keep the ball rolling for while I’m away and also for when I come back too for the first month. I’ve also made a start on the additional information for the recording session when I come back.

Then, of course, there’s the second topic. I won’t do that right now though – I’m going to have a rest for a bit once I’ve finished what’s on hand. I deserve it.

But I tell you what – sitting here with a pile of papers, extracting relevant information, turning it into a play for two actors – we were discussing on a “social network” the other day the benefits that we gained from studying with the Open University. I wouldn’t have been able to do too much of this preparation for the radio without having had the kind of preparation that I was taught at the University, that’s for sure.

And another small matter that is worthy of note – all the paperwork that I receive is in legalese French. I have to translate it all into vernacular English in my head while I’m doing it. I just thought that I would mention that.

And that’s not all I did today either. Liz rang me up and asked me to run an errand round to some clients of Terry’s who live nearby. Then Percy Penguin (who doesn’t feature half as much in these pages as she might) rang up for a chat, and then Dave from Hexham rang up with further information from yesterday and to give me a job of work to do for Sunday.

And to think that I came to live here for a rest! Still, it keeps me out of mischief.   

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Thursday 15th December 2011 – A WISE DECISION …

… staying here.

Not the least of reasons being that I’m warm and comfortable and at a reasonable price too.

It means that I can load up Caliburn a lot earlier than I would otherwise have done. And so I’m not rushing around panicking at the last moment like I always seem to do.

Having picked up the scaffolding yesterday I can run off to Manchester today, do a trip around Trafford Park for Screwfix and Toolstation for more stuff. Including a 35-litre plastic water tank.

As you might remember, the metal drum for my home-made immersion heater melted through while I was in Canada in the autumn. I’ve decided to build the next one with a plastic container. This is a cold-water container, it’s true, but I’m hoping that it will withstand a regular 60-70°C heat without too many problems.

I’d love to find a copper container somewhere, but I’m not sure how I’m going to do that. Eventually though, I’ll be lucky enough to find a good 50-litre copper immersion heater, and I can then make a new mounting plate for the element.

Later on, I went round to rescue Percy Penguin from work, and enticed her back to my lair to see where I was staying. She doesn’t live too far away from here. I had thought about taking her out for a meal, but when I asked her if she fancied some coq au vin, she got into the back of Caliburn.

But tomorrow I’m back on the road. I’ve a long way to travel and a lot of things to do.

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Sunday 27th November 2011 – I WAS A BIT PUT OUT TODAY.

But before I tell you about that, let me first tell you the good news.

Although it was late when I went to bed, I managed to sleep for 6 hours or so. And after breakfast, I finished off the scripts for the radio programmes that we will be recording this week for Radio Anglais

I had to rush though as Pionsat St Hilaire’s 3rd XI were playing away at Combronde at 13:00 but just as I was stepping out of the door to go, Percy Penguin chose that moment to ring me.
“You fell on your head? It might knock some sense into you”.
It’s nice to have friends, isn’t it?

And so at Combronde, 5 minutes late and the place all deserted. There was no-one around at all. So what’s going on here?

col de ceyssat puy de dome franceAnyway, that was an hour and a half and 75 kilometres wasted. There was clearly no point in staying on here so I fuelled up and went off to Ceyssat for the 1st XI match instead.

That long drive took me round by the Puy de Dome – right past the foot of it, and it was remarkable to notice the change in the weather. From my humble abode to round about St Bonnet it was grey miserable and overcast.

But south of there we had glorious sunshine. The Puy de Dome (and you pass within about 200 metres of it) was especially nice. But once over the Col de Ceyssat I drove straight into a fog and that was that.

I met Bernard the club president. he said that the 3rd XI match was cancelled, and so I berated him for not sending me a text – after all, I told him last night that I would be going. It’s a couple of times now that they have done this on me and I’m becoming rather fed up.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire football club de foot olby ceyssat puy de dome franceBut the actual match cheered me up considerably.

Olby-Ceyssay were a pretty poor side and FC Pionsat St Hilaire had no trouble whatever in demolishing them 4-0, hardly breaking sweat in doing so.

it’s a shame that they can’t play like that every week.

From there I went on round to Liz and Terry’s where we rehearsed our radio programmes – we’re recording next week.

Liz had baked potato pie and rice pudding for afters, and she even made up a doggy bag and a lump of fruitcake for me to take home. It’s that kind of thing that makes it worth-while having good friends, and helps me to forget all of the worries and disagreements.

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Sunday 6th November 2011 – WE HAD MORE …

… football today of course.

Mind you, we nearly didn’t. If Percy Penguin hadn’t sent me a text message I probably would be still in bed asleep right now.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire football club de foot biollet st maurice pres pionsat puy de dome franceAfter a hurried breakfast I shot off to St Maurice près Pionsat to watch the fist half of the 3rd XI’s match which kicks off at 13:00. I couldn’t stay long – only for the first half in fact, as I needed to be off to catch the 1st XI’s match that kicked off at 15:00

It was 1-0 in FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s favour when I left, but it turns out that they ended up by losing lost 2-1. and that makes me wonder what happened in the match because they were well ahead in the game from what I saw.

But then it’s always going to be difficult for the 3rd XI without a recognised goalkeeper and I wish that the club would make more effort to find one for them.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire football club de foot biollet st maurice pres pionsat puy de dome france But Pionsat’s goal was a pearler – another absolute screamer from Xavier, 20 yards out.

He’s big and rather ponderous, just like a lower-league centre forward should be, but sometimes he pulls something out that is so unexpected.

And he can be like that when he’s playing football too.

He has probably the most powerful shot of any footballer I have ever seen, and like this one today, many a goalkeeper has put both hands on the ball but it hasn’t done the slightest bit of good.

If there hadn’t been a net in that goal, the ball would have probably made it all the way to the Atlantic without bouncing.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire football club de foot es malauzat puy de dome franceFrom there I had to drive like hell through the back lanes to the suburbs of Riom to watch FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 1st XI in the match against E S Malauzat. And that was a hard-fought game that turned out to be very bad-tempered, and what made me happy in one sense was that most of the physical stuff was being dished out for a change by Pionsat.

Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that I’ve criticised the team time and time again for being something of a lightweight side, easily hustled off the ball, but they were nothing like that today.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire football club de foot es malauzat puy de dome francePionsat’s rather physical tactics were having the effect of making the opposing players become all wound up and the opposing specattors were baying at the ref to do something about Pionsat’s physical (but reasonably legitimmate) tactics, but it all made absolutely no difference as Pionsat won 2-1

Pionsat’s goals were two of the best goals that I have ever seen at this level of football. The one scored by Jerome was particularly outstanding.

This was what I called a good day out

And so back home in the miserable depressing rain to find out that it has been miserable and depressing here all day and there’s been almost no solar energy today.

It’s still raining now – misty and foggy outside and it’s probably going to stay like this until next summer I reckon. But it’s not important because if it is still raining tomorrow I can finish off the steps and I’ve also bought the boards to make the worktops in the washroom bit.

I also need to work out where I’m going to put the front door. That has come with its frame and so I reckon that it will be easier to fit it before it’s glazed as the door will be lighter and so easy to manipulate. I can then take the door out of the frame and have it glazed.   

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Sunday 9th October 2011 – I HAD A …

car in ditch st gervais d'auvergne puy de dome france… nightmare drive out to the footy today. I was hammering Caliburn on through the bends when twice the front end broke right away and I was all over the road and almost off it. I had a look at the tyres and although the front are quite worn they weren’t bald by any means but it didn’t half slow me down after that.

But a short way further on I found someone else who had been taken unawares and I came to the conclusion that the road must have been awash with diesel for some reason or other.

Mind you, I was lucky to be up in time for the footy and if Percy Penguin hadn’t have phoned me at 11:30 I would probably still be in bed now. That was because I was chasing a rodent around my attic at some silly time of the morning. God knows how the thing got in but I can see me having to check the defences again to see if there’s a mouse hole anywhere.

football club fc pionsat st hilaire st angel puy de dome france>Braving the rain (all 18 mm of it) and the hanging clouds that gave me hardly a moment of solar energy, I went off the St Angel to see the 3rd XI play – or at least, the 1st half of the match.

And what a transformation they were from last year. 1-0 up when I left, and they could have had a bagful with a little more luck.

The match at St Angel was so interesting that I ought to have stayed and if it wasn’t for the fact that I am now the official press reporter for the 1st XI so it seems, I would have done too for they won at a canter, 3-0
 

football club fc pionsat st hilaire royat puy de dome franceMeanwhile, the 1st XI went down 3-2 to a pretty mediocre Royat side. For once the Pionsat defence was mostly tight and in the right place at the right time for once, except in the left-back position and with a good left-sided defender on the bench, that was the only substitution that the trainer didn’t make.

For once though, the attack misfired and it was a log, hard game. It was only a couple of high “route one” balls into the box that gave them the two goals.

And so back here in the rain again and ready for tomorrow and starting work again.

But I still can’t get over this weird (lack of) substitution at left back. Franck the trainer has been making a few bizarre decisions lately.


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Friday 26th August 2011 – I was up early again this morning …

… at about 08:30 in fact, even though it wasn’t until 04:30 that I went to bed.

Mind you, no-one could sleep with the amount of raid that was cascading down, and the noise that it was making. By the time that I had made my coffee, I reckoned that it was about 8 hours since I had taken the stats, and in that time 27.2mm of rain had fallen. And by the end of the day, we had had over 37mm all told. It never stopped raining and it was as grey as any November or February day that you might mention.

No possibility of working outside and so I started to collect together the tools that I’m taking to Canada. That led to something of a (very insignificant) tidying up on the first floor, and then a much-more-important tidying up up here and finding bits of paper.

But we did have a tragedy though. Do you remember the other week about the impressive media wall that I had built? Well, while I was sitting here drinking a coffee, the whole lot crashed to the floor and there were video cassettes and DVDs all over the place. Talk about chaos.

media corner attic les guis virlet puy de dome franceThis afternoon was spent therefore cleaning a load of old bricks, finding lengths of wood and then making some shelves.

You can see them in the photo – a nice cantilever arrangement at the top as well. That all works quite well and I hope that it lasts until I’ve finished the ground floor of the house and settled in, whenever that might be.

I was also interrupted – and very welcome interruptions they were too – by a series of phone calls. Dave from Hexham rang me and we talked about all kinds of things, including that he plans to come down here later this year and teach me plumbing. That ought to be exciting but I think that he’ll be plumbing the depths a little just there. I’ll definitely be out of my depth anyway.

Also ringing up for a chat were Bill and Percy Penguin. And that was nice too – I like talking as you know, and of course Percy Penguin isn’t mentioned in these pages half as often as she deserves to be.

I’ve also started copying some CDs to take with me to play in the hire car. I’ve done three just now, and having read this blog quite often just recently I bet that you can guess what they are.

Yes, Colosseum Live, Made In Japan and Liege And Lief. Say no more. It just happens that I’m listening to Made in Japan right now.

And it’s still raining as well.

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Tuesday 12th July 2011 – I’m off to bed …

… in a minute. I’m whacked.

Yes, 08:30 starts are all very well but not if you were still up at 04:15 repairing a rain gauge. And then I was having a most weird and interesting dream featuring Percy Penguin and something to do with the postcode of where she works. No wonder that I woke up bolt upright before the alarm went off, given the most unlikely nature of what I was dreaming.

After computing for a while I went round to Jean Lauvergne’s for 13:00 to do his photography for him. And what an interesting afternoon that was – no wonder I’m whacked.

chateau d'anglard le quartier puy de dome franceWe went to Le Quartier for a good nosey and inter alia uncovered the source of the River Boron, visited the local presbytery and did some informal archaeology at the Chateau d’Anglard.

From there we visited the mills of the Boron, went to see a ford where there used to be a sawmill that was water-powered, and then went to look at this Roman spring that fed water to Neris les Bains, 25 kms away. But that was a disappointment – Jean couldn’t remember where it was, after all that!

Back at Jean’s house, he allowed me to peruse his extensive library of documents, books and press cuttings. And then I cam home through the hailstorm in time to watch the Storm of the Decade through my attic windows.

Who knows? I might even be able to have a whole day carry on with my solar framework tomorrow.

damien fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire puy de dome franceBut on another, sadder note, if you have been following the pages for the Pionsat Football Club, you will have noticed that I make considerable reference to Damien. He played for the 3rd XI and when they were short of a goalkeeper he bravely volunteered to go between the posts and stayed there for a whole season. What he lacked in skill he made up in courage.

Last season he took up refereeing and while he maybe made many decisions that I had seen from a different viewpoint, he was never lacking in willingness to go out there and do it. In fact, he was always the first to volunteer for anything and you could always rely on him. There was always something amusing and exciting happening wherever he was.

Yesterday evening he went out for a bike ride and when he came home he told his mother that he was tired and would go to sit down for 10 minutes. At that moment he had a severe heart attack and died on the spot.

30 years old is no age for a person to pass away, especially under those circumstances. He is going to be a very hard person to replace at the football club this coming season.

Sleep well, Damien.

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

alston moor nenthead cumbria ul… 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.

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Friday 3rd June 2011 – TODAY WAS SOMETHING …

… like a bad start

A blasted tractor wanted to get into the field across the entrance to which I was parked. First time for 50 years I reckoned, judging by the looks of the gate and the track down there, and it had to be today of course

And so I removed myself to another spec and set about tidying up Caliburn.

However I was interrupted by a phone call, and what a pleasant surprise this was.

Back 100 years ago when I had my taxis there was a girl who used to work for me on Saturdays answering the phone and so on to earn some pocket money. She used to draw the images for me for the humorous remarks that I made.

After I sold up, we kept in touch for a short while but then we lost touch with each other. Anyway, to cut a long story short … "hooray" – ed … these Social Networks have a lot to answer for and she has tracked me down.

She’s now working as the Financial Controller for a Renewable Energy Company in Newcastle-under-Lyme and she reckons that it might be a profitable encounter for all of us if we (me, she and her boss) were to meet up sometime for a chat.

Apart from that, it would be so nice to meet her again after all these years, and I am really looking forward to that of course.

I could do with a few profitable encounters, the way things are right now. It’s been a long time since I had any … "last night?" – ed … and so we are all going for coffee next Thursday afternoon

I’ve also been house-hunting for Percy Penguin this afternoon and it’s just like Belgium here
“Didn’t you see anything suitable in our window?”
“Well, if I saw anything interesting in your window there wouldn’t be any point at all in you working here, would there?

And with an attitude like that you may as well p155 off home because you won’t be in business for long”.

It seems that even with a substantial amount of cash at stake, there are still far too many people who cant be asked to stop talking and stop drinking coffee to deal with any customers.

No wonder the UK is going broke.

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Thursday 2nd June 2011 – I FOUND A …

caliburn overnight parking poplar motors lymm cheshire uk… lovely place to kip last night. A bit of old abandoned road near the Poplar Motors Cafe near Lymm on the edge of the M6.

Another one of those places that is totally deserted at night but when you wake up in the morning it’s swamped out with car-sharers.

And I had quite an early start this morning. Thanks for the text, Percy Penguin

With my early start it wasn’t long before I ended up on Trafford Park at Screwfix and Toolstation – my catalogues are out of date and need replacing.

And then round to Maccess – the auto-spars wholesalers – for some car bits (I still have my trade card for there from when I had my taxis).

Maccess has gone right downhill but I managed to spend £220 there all the same, including the new brake pads that I need for Caliburn (the guy at the MoT station said that they were down).

From there I sped along the M62 to St Helens to my storage unit. I’ve emptied that out and closed it down now.

A quick nip across the yard to Elite Workwear to order some more shirts with logos as the ones I have are getting a little shabby and I need some new stuff. It’s a reasonable quality, reasonable price and stops me worrying about what I’m going to be wearing.

Next stop was IKEA at Burtonwood but there was nothing really of interest there and so I went to the B&Q Superstore at Ashton-in-Makerfield for Caliburn’s suspended floor.

Here I really struck it lucky.

It seems that there was a salesman there from the B&Q Trade Counter working on a commission basis and short of his targets for trade customers. And the advantage of having corporate clothing and the like is that I actually look like a tradesman (which is, after all, the aim of it).

He asked for two proofs of identity which of course I don’t have, but one of the advantages of having a fully-signwritten van like Caliburn is that it looks kosher, no matter what the reality might or might not be, and that was the aim of that as well.

For the second piece of identity, which needed to be proof of a business address, did I not have in Caliburn the lease of my 1 cubic metre of mailbox in Stoke on Trent that I signed yesterday?

And so with a salesman desperately seeking a target figure and willing to turn something of a blind eye to the finer points of the paperwork, I now have a B&Q Trade Card, and you can’t knock that.

Especially as one of the reasons that I am here is to buy 5 glazed interior doors like the one into my little attic (that came from B&Q a few years ago).

I really can’t emphasise this enough – a van isn’t simply a means of transporting goods and possessions around – it’s 15 square metres of mobile advertising space and if you are in any kind of business you should make the most if it.

I reckon that over half of whatever it is that I have done has come due to the £250 I spent in having Caliburn signwritten.

And so to Crewe – and it seems that my house in Gainsborough Road needs a total rewire as the cabling is falling to bits. No surprise there – I bought the house in 1981 and the only attention that the wiring has had since then has been the couple of extra sockets that I added.

Actually, it’s probably them that need replacement – I didn’t have a clue what I was doing in those days … “and today?” – ed.

The estate agents also tell me that they had to replace the carpets on the ground floor as they were all threadbare. “Not to worry” I replied. “They were there when I bought the place in 1981” – which brought the house down.

“Well, you’ve had your money’s worth there then” said the agent.

After shopping at the new Morrison’s at Crewe, next stop was to rescue Percy Penguin, who couldn’t get home after work, and give her some personal attention.

And that was that. Here I am on Sandbach Services with a new mega-fast high-speed interent connection, and free too, thanks to Roadchef Services and BT Openlink.

I’m off to bed in a minute, if I can think of somewhere handy to sleep.

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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.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire manzat puy de dome ligue football league franceThat 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.

fcpsh fc pionsat st hilaire manzat puy de dome ligue football league franceWhat 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

fcpshApart 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.

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Monday 9th May 2011 – I WAS CHASED …

… around the bedroom this morning.

And not by Percy Penguin (who doesn’t feature in these pages half as often as she deserves) either, but by a blasted hornet.

And at 07:3 too. Does it have no respect?

Yes, the blasted thing found its way in all right, but could it heck find its way out. And so it decided to awaken me. And by a few of the things that I said to it, you’ll understand the definition of “a rude awakening”.

So having had an early start, I was able to have a good crack at things in here and be out in the garden as early as 11:15. That’s not something that happens every day either.

I managed a really good day in there too and accomplished quite a lot. I even managed to have a little shower too – and it would have been a big one had the water not run out – Brain of Britain having forgotten to fill it the last time.

So a nice, reasonably-clean me headed off to the Anglo-French group.

Back here though, my blog host is down for maintenance. So you age going to have to wait until tomorrow to read this rubbish, aren’t you?

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Thursday 25th March 2010 – God it was hard this morning …

… but that’s enough about Percy Penguin, who doesn’t feature in these pages half as much as she ought to.

It was agony in bed last night with the muscles in my legs tightening up continually. It kept me awake for much of the night, as did the French Air Force, who decided on carrying out night-time manoeuvres … “personoeuvres please” – ed … until gone 02:30. Getting up for a gipsy’s at 06:00 was probably the most painful thing I have ever tried.

Going downstairs for breakfast was interesting too, and I was clearly in no fit state to go out working so I came back up here and did a load of outstanding work on the computer – much of which was the preparation for our radio broadcast next week. I managed a fair bit too – but that’s enough about … “you’ve already done that” – ed … and that’s got me thinking.

When I was in Brussels I used to do my computer work from 11:00 until 14:00 and then work on the apartment in the afternoon and evening. Pretty soon the clocks will go forward and we will have more daytime daylight  so bearing this in mind I could easily work from 10:00 until 12:00 up here on the computer and then work until maybe 19:00 or 19:30 outside. That would be much more useful.

By about 12:00 I felt a little better so I went outside and did another raised bed. That’s 5 in position. But the weather has changed. It was blowing a gale when I went outside, so much so that it’s lifted the cucumber and tomato seeds off the shelf in the greenhouse and spilled them all over the floor so I needed to replant them which was a pain.

Now the weather has really turned and it’s pouring with rain outside. I have mixed feelings about that. I love the hot weather but I’m getting low on water and also the plants that I have sown need the water. This is the sign if a true rural peasant, definitely a distinction from the vacancier.

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