Tag Archives: les guis

Sunday 20th March 2011 – There can be no better example …

… of the phrase “what goes around comes around” than what happened this afternoon at Chanat.

You may remember from yesterday evening that Pionsat’s 3rd XI won the game by a penalty which although a clear foul, happened (at least by my reckoning) about 3 yards outside the area.

Today, Pionsat’s 1st XI lost the game by a penalty which was even more dubious and despite the best efforts of Francois in goal.

Handball indeed it was, and inside the area too. But the ball was kicked in at the Pionsat player from point-blank range, hit his boot, ricocheted up to his hand and then away. There was no question of anyone “playing the ball with the hand or arm” as provided by the law, and no question of “depriving the attacking team of an advantage” as provided by another law – the ball was nowhere near goal and nowhere near another Chanat player. It was such an obvious “ball to hand” incident that no-one on the Chanat side (and believe me, it was a hotly-contested affair) made any appeal at all and they were just as bewildered as the Pionsat players and everyone in the crowd (and it was at Chanat too and there was a large crowd in attendance).

If you are going to give a penalty for that, then all of the leaning ins, the holding backs, the holding downs, the feet up by the keepers – all of these are penalties too and you may as well give up playing football and let the 11 players take a penalty kick each in order to decide the outcome.

Even Franck, the stoic and silent Pionsat trainer who managed to be the only one in the stadium to keep his cool during the famous “St Gervais foul” last April, had more than just a few words with the referee after the final whistle.

But it was a gorgeous day with over 260 amp-hours of solar energy (the best of the year so far and I even ran the fridge) and the drive out to Chanat, situated in the hills right behind Cebazat, was superb. What a day for going out.

But it didn’t look like that this morning. I forgot to switch the alarm off and so despite going to bed again at 04:00 I was wide awake at 08:00. And then after drifting back to sleep again Liz rang me at 11:00. Mind you, it’s a good job that she did because heaven alone knows what time I would have woken up otherwise.

But that was my first Sunday at home since mid-January. And nice it was too. So back to work tomorrow.

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Friday 19th March 2011 – I didn’t get my early night last night after all.

I was just on the point of going to bed when someone who I hadn’t spoken to for a while came on line. We had quite a bit to talk about and what with one thing and another it was almost 04:00 when I went to bed.

And so I crawled out of my pit at 08:00 feeling like death, and went to Montlucon. It was a big mistake to get my windows fron Lapeyre. I need an empty van for when I go back to Brussels, and while we got these windows in, getting them out on my own without breaking them – that will be something else.

It was gardening day at LIDL and so I have 6 more fruit trees for the Liz Ayers Memorial Orchard, a pile of seeds, and some onion sets, seed potatoes and seed shallots. I shan’t abandon the garden entirely this year. At Noz I spent a fortune, mostly on DVDs and I now have 5 or the 6 Don Camillo films, starring Fernandel. I really enjoyed the books when I was at school and I saw one of the films once and that was just as good.

At Brico Depot I set a new world record by buying nothing at all, but I was in tears nevertheless. Door Strips in Brico in Belgium €10.73 – same one in Brico Depot here €3:49. White Spirit there €3:89 – here €2:09. And it was all like that. I don’t know how they can get away with it in Belgium, I really don’t.

But I’ve made a conscious decision that now that I’m a little more financially sound, first thing that I’m going to be doing is to improve my diet. And to that end I bought a few things that I wouldn’t normally buy such as half a kilo of grapes (which I munched on the way home) and a little packet of sugar-free sweets.

I didn’t go swimming – I was too early and in any case I was whacked. So back here to crash out for a couple of hours. And it was a mistake to eat the grapes and the sugar-free sweets so quickly as I was in … errr … some discomfort for a while.

I went to the footy too this evening. Pionsat’s 3rd XI playing the league leaders so you would normally expect a hammering, but the 2nd XI have no game tomorrow and so there were several … errr … discrete changes to the team line-up, And although they had yet another makeshift goalkeeper (who did really well and I was surprised by that) they had a 2nd XI centre-half playing and it was amazing how much it stiffened the defence.

Pionsat actually won 2-1, with two disputed goals. One was scored by three players cantering off down the pitch while everyone else was waiting for the offside flag. I was in no position to judge but one of their spectators thought that the ref got it right.

I’ve been saying all along that there isn’t much wrong with Pionsat’s 3rd XI that a real goalie and a couple of decent players in key positions can’t put right, and it was proved right tonight.

p>Pionsat’s second goal was a penalty – a clear foul, no mistake about that, but as to whether it was in the area, all I can say is that I was almost level with the area and the Bromont players had some of my sympathy. After that, the match became a little naughty and we had a running feud down each touchline for a while.

Still Bromont should have buried the game and they only have themselves to blame for losing it. Clean through on goal three or four times and one shot round the post, one off the bar, and two straight at Stephane (and didn’t he do well to hang on to them with forwards charging in and he’s never played a real match in goal before?)

But now I’ve had a doze this afternoon, it’s 04:00 and I can’t sleep at all. Crazy.

Friday 18th March 2011 – I’m having another early night tonight.

Yes, I can’t last the pace these days.

I was awake again long before the alarm clock, and I was up, dressed, breakfasted and out working by 09:00. Caliburn is now emptied completely and everything is stacked in the lean-to. Some of those boxes were heavy and it wasn’t half a struggle as well. But there’s plenty of room in there ready for more stuff.

Once that had been done I had to pick up a pile of stuff that had fallen all over the floor in where the living room will be (so that’s what the crash was when I was in bed) and then I brought all of the clothes up here. And that wasn’t easy either.

I had a rest for a few hours after that and did more work on my web site. It won’t be long before the Trans-Labrador Highway pages go on line.

Finally I started to tidy up in the barn so that I can start to move the stuff that came from Brussels in February. You may recall that I had to come back twice and each time I brought a load of stuff back. I need to get that ready as soon as possible so that I can rescue the stuff round at Terry and Liz’s. And then go back to Brussels for the Minerva and some more stuff.

But it’s wearing me out, all of this. I dunno how many consecutive early nights this will be but I’m sure that it will be a record.

Thursday 17th March 2011 – It all depends on if you are an optimist or a pessimist …

…as to whether you would say that Caliburn is half-empty or half-full. And so seeing as I am in the process of unloading him, I’ll say that he is half-empty.

So after my incredibly early start this morning, I managed to get the Ford Cortina 2000E estate off the trailer and parked up at the side of the lane. That was quite interesting too but I took the HT lead off to make sure that the engine didn’t fire up while I was bumping it off the trailer with the starter. We’ve had enough issues with unexpected firings-up of engines while manoeuvring around tight corners on the starter motor just recently – we don’t want any more.

And once I started up the engine it promptly ran out of fuel. But some nice clean new petrol doesn’t half make it run easier.

Once the 2000E was safely parked up I dismantled the room in which I lived for 2 years – the little lean-to. The fitted bed and shelves have all gone and once it was empty it had a good brush and a clean.

After lunch I had to go into Pionsat for a few things and on my return I started on the emptying of Caliburn. The boxes will be stacked in the little lean-to that I have just cleaned and which will eventually be transformed into the office.

Next plan once I’ve emptied Caliburn is to sort out the barn, tow the old caravan body outside and burn it (I was going to keep it but I need the space now) and put the furniture from the Brussels apartment in there until I can move it into the house.

I’m going to have my work cut out.

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Wednesday 16th March 2011 – Ohhh ‘eck

Errr .. yes, It’s almost 06:00 and I’ve been awake for a couple of hours.

What usually happens is that when I come back from a long drive I go for a kip for an hour or two in the early afternoon but today I wasn’t feeling tired. That’s a surprise because I didn’t have much of a sleep by the roadside last night. The dawn woke me up and I was back here by 08:30.

And so I pottered around for a bit doing not very much at all. At about 16:00 I went out to Caliburn and emptied the cab, and gave it a good brush, a sweep-out and a tidy up.

Back up here round about 18:00 that was when I started to feel a little tired. And so I reckoned I would have a couple of hours on the divan before tea. And that was that.

In other news, I see that the UK is up to its old tricks. The police are called to a local park by a local councillor for a most heinous crime – a couple of little girls are …….. wait for it …… picking the flowers.

Clearly the local councillor is too afraid to go to speak to the girls himself, the hero, and so two coppers come along, spend 20 minutes watching the kids picking the flowers, and then go over and caution them and their parents. Heavy stuff, hey? Whatever would the Kray Twins have said?

And so that’s two coppers hiding behind bushes watching little girls for 20 minutes (Garry Glitter got 18 months in prison for doing that) becuse a Councillor is too afraid to carry out his civic duties, and all the while crime is rampant on the streets of Poole in Dorset.

You can’t make up a story like this, can you?

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Tuesday 1st March 2011 – AND NOW I’M NOT!

I’m back on the road again heading to Brussels. I’ve had a hectic few days just recently and it isn’t going to stop either any time soon.

This morning I woke up in the cold to a typical Combraille-type hanging cloud (isn’t it good to be home?) and after a somewhat late start I emptied Caliburn of everything that I had taken down to the farm. It’s all stacked in the barn now and I’ll tidy it up in due course. Following a doze for an hour or so, I went to this CREFAD meeting at St Gervais where I was one of the guest speakers.

I met a new English couple there and their daughter. They haven’t long been in the Auverne, having moved from near Haltwhistle. What attracted them to the area was that it looked “just like home” and I can echo that. “I wanted a stone house” said the wife. “I’m a true border reiver and stone doesn’t burn”.

That of course brought back memories of my former connections with the border and Archie Fisher’s album Windward Away – “every time I think of you I see a border reiver”. That of course leads on to the story of the 9 year-old boy who knew how to make a marriage work – “you tell your wife that she is beautiful, even if she looks like a truck”. And of course from there we have “every time I think of you I see a Leyland Reiver”.

Once the meeting was over, I shot off straight back to Brussels. I didn’t make it all the way back (which is only to be expected seeing as how late it was when I left). I made it as far as St Florentin which is between Auxerre and Troyes, where I crashed out in the big lay-by there at the side of the road.

Monday 28th February 2011 – I’m back at home ;-)

Well, for less than 24 hours as it happens. I’m speaking at this doodah thingy tomorrow evening at 20:30.

And so this morning I loaded up Caliburn with all of the wood and shelving that I’ve had lying around in the garages for years. It’s all quite good stuff and suitable for various products. Also in Caliburn is a pile of vegetable oil for running the diesel Escort on, some leftover construction material (some of which needs to go back as it happens), a few bits and pieces, and my motorbike.

I bet you didn’t know that I have a motorbike. Most people would say that it isn’t very exciting but it’s certainly special. It’s a CZ125 of early 1980s vintage – the first of the “post-angular” series – but was one of six unassembled ones in crates that was “overlooked” in a CZ dealership that closed down. When the premises were cleared in 2000, they were discovered, built up and sold on eBay. I paid £395 for it. It’s done just about 150 miles since I’ve had it – the journey from Dover to Brussels and then a lap around the town.

Back in the flat we’ve hit a major problem. There’s water infiltration in the wall next to the front balcony and when we took off the radiator, half the plaster fell off as well. So we chiselled off the rest and we plan to plasterboard it with the hydrofuge stuff, having first sealed in the balcony and weatherproofed the walls.

And so I set off down here at 15:30, and was in my room at 00:15 and that includes stopping for tea in Auxerre. Caliburn seems to be in good form right now after his stay at the garage, although he’s more thirsty than before.

Tomorrow I’ll unload him, go to this meeting, and then head back to Brussels to see how the troops are doing. It’s over 5 weeks since we went there and everyone is quite fed up of the place but soon we will be back home permanently. And I shan’t be sorry.

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Wednesday 23rd February 2011 – We are back in Brussels again

Liz, yours truly, and also Caliburn who is much better and thanks everyone for the best wishes he was sent.

So yesterday I went back to my farm in the Ka (which I got to like much more than I did the first day I drove it) in order to hunt down some paperwork. It didn’t take me long to break in and once there I did some chilling out. Quite literally as it happened as the temperature was a mere 5.6°C in my attic. While we were away the temperature there had dropped to as low as -0.6°C which is hardly surprising as the temperature outside had dropped as far as -12.4°C on one occasion.

We then headed off to Riom for shopping and it was there that the garage rang to say that we could pick up Caliburn and so once we had sorted ourselves out we set off for here. On the way home the gorgeous sunny day slowly descended into a grey miserable wet evening and by the time we were climbing into the Ardennes at the back of Chalons sur Marne it was snowing heavily. Crossing over the Ardennes into Belgium was fraught, having to pick our way around abandoned lorries, sliding around roundabouts on the handbrake and so on. Poor Liz went about 50 miles with her eyes closed. It was not a journey that I would particularly like to do again unless I have to.

03:00 when we arrived back in Brussels after all of this, and Terry was waiting by the window for us. He’d heard about the weather and was rather anxious for our well-being which was quite nice of him.

But now, I’m off to bed to make up for what I’ve missed out on. I’m exhausted.

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Tuesday 22nd February 2011 – Poor Caliburn

Caliburn is not very well at the moment and is currently at the menders awaiting spare parts. And so Liz and I are still here and Terry is still there.

We started the morning by a quick breakfast and a quick search for stuff that we needed to take back to Brussels, and then we had to shoot off to Marcillat to record Radio Programme Number 1. But Caliburn was coughing and smoking a little too much and was not in the best of health so it was more of a leisurely drive.

After that, it was round to my place and to unload him of all the things that he had brought down from Brussels. While we were there, Radio Arverne asked us to come a little earlier to record the programmes for them – this meant dropping everything and shooting off to Gerzat. But Caliburn was a little worse by this time. Stopping for fuel for the return journey at the Carrefour just outside Riom and it was clear that we would be struggling to make anywhere, never mind Brussels, so it was off to the mender’s on the outskirts of Riom.

What is happening is that there’s a valve in the emissions circuit that controls the air intake and exhaust, and it has stuck closed. There’s insufficient air reaching the combustion chambers and so Caliburn is running far too rich and that is the reason for the unburnt fuel and sooty smoke. A new valve has been ordered and hopefully will arrive tomorrow. At the same time, Caliburn can have his (overdue) service and hopefully he’ll be feeling much better and normal service will resume.

Meantime, we have a hired Ford Ka to bring us back to here (it was cheaper than a taxi and of course there is no public transport around here since the railway line closed down 2 years ago) and that will give us a chance to do those things that we were going to do.

I was planning to go back to my house and find some papers that I need but it seems that I have .. errr … left the keys to my house on Caliburn’s keyring which is of course with Caliburn at the menders.

D’ohhhh!

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Thursday 20th January 2011 – Winter is back.

I woke up this morning to discover a smattering of snow, sub-zero temperatures and a hanging cloud. Just like it ought to be in January, methinks, although you would never have guessed if from the last few days when we’ve been having May-type weather.

First task was to clean out Caliburn and check him over as tomorrow we are going on a long journey. everything needs to be ship-shape inside. And while I was waiting for the man from Viking to come with a pile of cardboard boxes I packed a few tools and other bits and pieces that might come in handy, as well as some paperwork that I need.

After lunch I packed the computer bits and pieces that I want and some clothes and bedding and that kind of stuff. Not to mention some food. My long driving journeys include nibbling snacks all the way on the journey.

I’ve also been tidying up in the barn and in the lean-to where the wood is. I need to make quite a bit of space (which is always at a premium around here) for when I come back.

And that is that. I’m having an early night due to the fact that I’ll be making an early start tomorrow. And the next time I blog, I’ll be in another country, assuming that the snow lets me leave. How about that?

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Wednesday 19th January 2011 – Just by way of a change …

… I was awake before the alarm clock this morning. Surprising too, because it was after 03:00 when I went to bed – rather busy on the computer was I last night.

And this non-seasonal weather is still here – light cloudy skies and plenty of solar energy, and thus electrically-heated water too, but the temperature has dropped. At 21:00 it was -2°C and falling, so winter is still with us.

I’ve had another good day working on the bedroom roof and that is making progress. Slowly, it has to be said, but at least it’s one of those tasks where you can actually see how you are getting on. I’ve probably done about a third of it and it seems to be making something of a difference up here with all of the extra insulation and then the tongue-and-grooving on the bedroom ceiling, which is of course the floor in here.

But I think that I have made something of an error in that I started with the tongue-and-grooving by the window, which means that I am having to do all kinds of contortions around the framework of the fitted wardrobe. It would have been easier to start at the wall by the fitted wardrobe and then continued out to the window. However, where you start is much neater than where you finish and by finishing over the top of the wardrobe, no-one is going to see how it all ended up.

The days are lengthening too. It was 17:48 when I finished work in the bedroom due to fading light, and I went outside to do some more but the drop in temperature drove me in at 18:10 when it was still light . enough to carry on for a short while. Give it another month and I’ll be outside working at 19:00. I’ll need to be too, as I have this greenhouse to build and some new plots and raised beds to deal with. Wherever does the time go to?

And in other news, CREFAD – this Government-sponsored business networking thing that gives lectures and advice to small businesspeople in the Auvergne – rang me up. There’s a meeting on 1st March at St Gervais on the subject of auto-entrpreneurs – this new system of taxation for small informal businesses – and they need a speaker for it. would I be free by any chance that evening? Magali (the girl who runs it) clearly remembers me from 9 months ago when I did a talk on eco-construction.

As it happens I am free that evening and even if I wasn’t, I would be. There’s no payment or anything involved of course which is a shame, but it gives me a chance to meet some more potential clients and talk about my business. An opportunity not to be missed. And they must clearly be impressed with my command of the French language otherwise they wouldn’t keep on asking me to speak at these public meetings, and that is something that pleases me greatly.

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Tuesday 18th January 2011 – We were recording again today

This time it was for the programmes for Radio Tartasse – the next lot of four-weekly programmes to take them up to the end of February. Luckily I don’t have too far to travel because it’s an early start in the morning, like … errrr … 10:00.

This time we were allowed to do the programmes how we wanted to do them, and it went much better. Liz and I have a very good rapport and much of our stuff is done as ad-libs and you can’t do that if you are having to concentrate on pages of script. And they have also agreed to let us have copies of the recorded programmes so that I can stick them on our blog when I have the time and I’m not so tired. But that will come – you can be assured of that.

And so back here, and carrying on with my ceiling. and that’s what I did for most of the rest of the day such as it was. And I’m making good progress too. It won’t be all that long before it’s done. BUt it went dark at about 17:00 – at least too dark to work on the ceiling, and so I had an hour or so outside doing a little more clearing up. And slowly but surely it’s looking a little (but only a little) more respectable out here. But the weather has turned. It clouded right over and it’s gone cold. I even have had the heating on a little earlier this evening. But not that that worries me. Now that the weeds and brambles are dying down I’m uncovering a few of the old chevrons that we ripped off the barn roof and threw down to the floor. It’s all more firewood for the stove.

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Monday 17th January 2011 – It was Monday today …

… believe it or not, and this afternoon we went to the recording studio to record our radio programmes for the month of February. And no offer of transport from our sponsors either. It seems that whatever budget that was available was only for 12 months and that has now expired.

Anyway, with a view to not taking this lying down, I have taken some positive action. I’ve created a blog for the radio programmes that we do and the intention is that I will stream the radio programmes on there for the benefit of those who can’t receive them or who forgot to listen to them. And in addition to that I will be offering advertising space, at a very democratic €30 per annum for those who run a business or have a service to offer, or €3 per 15 words per month for small ads and the like, people buying and selling articles and so on. And with the money that we raise, we can pay our own travelling expenses to the studio.

So I need help in spreading the word about the radio blog, and I also need customers to buy the advertising space. If you can do your bit to spread the word it would be a great help.

This morning I was up early (just for a change) and with the new insulation that I bought on Saturday I was able to have a profitable couple of hours doing the bedroom ceiling. And it’s advancing pretty well in there. I’m quite happy with that. This evening though we were in St Eloy for the Anglo-French group and we were so carried away with the discussions that instead of finishing at 21:00 as is our wont, it was almost 22:00 when someone noticed the time.

Tomorrow we are recording again – at Radio Tartasse. I need to encourage them to let me have the radio programmes from their end so that we can put them up on the blog too.

I hope it all works!

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Sunday, 16th January 2011 – What a beautiful day.

Definitely the best of the summ… errrr … winter so far. Not only did we have the hottest temperatures of the winter, we had the sunniest too. Not a cloud in the sky all day. My batteries in the house are all fully-charged and the water heater (that uses up the excess electricity) ran for 2.5 hours and warmed up the water to 32°C. Not quite shower-warm but we are getting there.

But how ridiculous is this though, when just 12 days ago we had -8.4°C? It could only happen here in the Combrailles.

Today I finished off “holiday lettings” ready for recording tomorrow, and then I worked on a blog for the radio programmes – an important thing that needs doing seeing as we seem to be going nationwide (well – alright, into the Allier and the Creuse). The aim is of course to stream out programmes so that people who miss them or live outside the reception areas can pick them up.

So after that it was off to St Bonnet to watch Pionsat’s 1st XI give them a good spannering. and I arrived 10 minutes late to find that they were already ahead 2-0. They won 4-0 in the end and that included missing a penalty, thanks to an excellent double-save by the St Bonnet keeper.

But this match was well-planned to be played in mid-winter. The heat that was generated on the field both on and off the ball would have certainly melted any ice that might otherwise have formed in any traditional kind of winter weather.

And so round to Liz and Terry’s to rehearse our radio programmes this week. We are recording at Radio Arverne tomorrow and Radio Tartasse on Tuesday.

And now I’m back home in my warm unheated attic – two consecutive days that I haven’t had the heating on here – watching the Jets and the Patriots. And listening to the adverts – including one for Viagra “seek medical attention immediately if you have an erection that lasts for four hours”. At my age, it wouldn’t be medical attention that I would be seeking, I could tell you. It reminds me of the time that a new machine tools factory opened up in Crewe, and the proud owner put up his sign “O’Malley’s Tool Works”. So I rang him up and told him “so does mine, but I haven’t put up a sign about it”.

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Saturday 15th January 2011 – It’s been another day …

where things might have been better.
Not the weather, though. we had a beautiful day today. The solar panels on the house roof generated almost 200 amp-hours today and the batteries in the house are now almost fully-charged. The batteries in the barn have been fully charged for a couple of days of course.

So up with the lark and off to Montlucon for my insulation. And they just had one pack of 20mm sheets left and so I shall have to make do with that for now. I also picked up a pile of door handles for €2:00 each and a few other bits and pieces too in the sale, but the huge disappointment was the sliding doors. They had a pile on sale at €15 each, quite reasonable light oak with inset mirrors and so I immediately went for four of them. But much to my dismay, only the first one was light oak and all of the others were a dark gloomy colour that won’t match the drawers and won’t match the worktop either. So back to square one with that.

I was back home before midday too, despite fitting in a trip to the Auchan, and I did some more on the Holiday Lettings thingy that we are talking about on the radio just now.

At 17:55 I nipped down into Pionsat to watch the 3rd XI play Montfermy, a match specially arranged at that time at the request of the visitors. Not many matches at all on tonight so they had even, for the first time that I can remember, been able to find an official referee for a 4th Division match and so we had the ref, we had 14 Pionsat players – and no opposition.

They simply didn’t turn up.

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EPIC HALL

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