Tag Archives: crash out

Saturday 11th November 2017 – I’VE BEEN …

… socialising this evening.

And that’s not like me, is it?

Last night’s sleep was one of the best that I’ve had just recently. And I was away with the fairies too – out in the East End of London with the children who had accompanied me on a voyage the other night. Reading all of these historical criminal cases from the Old Bailey is clearly getting to me.

I beat the second alarm and after breakfast did a little tidying up and putting away the washing which is now perfectly dry. Putting it in front of the radiator seems to work. And then I had some things to do – like sort out a music playlist for this evening.

After lunch I crashed out for a good hour and a half and then had to go for a shower and a shave and a good clean-up. And then I hit the town.

It’s Brigitte’s birthday today and she was having a party on a boat in the harbour for all of her friends, and I had been invited. Braving the rain, I walked down there to the harbour.

We were 27 people on this boat, and they all tucked into a couple of huge seafood platters followed by cheese and birthday cake. Of course, there wasn’t very much for me but then again I wasn’t expecting it.

It’s not my scene at all, being there with all of these people for four hours or so, but I have to get out and socialise and to meet the other people from this building. I was even given a lift back, which was very handy given the rainstorm that we were having.

And I’m having yet another early night. And Sunday is a day of rest – a lie-in. And I’m intending to make the most of it.

Friday 10th November 2017 – I’VE BURNT …

… myself today.

Sitting on the sofa with a full mug of boiling hot coffee and I fell asleep. As a result I dropped the top two inches down my front and it didn’t half hurt.

Last night I’d had yet another good sleep and I managed to get up at the appropriate time too. It was warm in here too – 15°C on the thermometer so I turned off the heating. I don’t need it on in this kind of weather.

After breakfast I had a shower, a shave and a change of clothes so that I look pretty, and then set about paying for my web hosting – the renewal of which is today. And that took, intermittently, the whole day.

And that reminds me. MY web hosting isn’t cheap, but it’s good value when you consider all of the information that’s contained on it. And if you want to help me defray my expenses so I can keep up the good work, you can use the links on the side bar to access Amazon to make your next purchase. Your purchase will cost you the same price, but I receive a small commission.

Once I’d organised the web host (or, at least, I hoped that I had) I braved the rainstorm and went out to the shops. Mind you, I needn’t have bothered because they are in fact opened tomorrow.

LIDL and LeClerc were where I went and I didn’t buy anything out of the ordinary. I’m on an economy drive as you know. But I did find some bread buns at €0.28 each so I bought two and stuck them in the freezer.

As you know, I have some vegan burgers that we made the other day and I’ll try to sort out a proper burger arrangement with mustard, salad and cheese. It’s been years since I’ve done that.

I also called at the Chemists to pick up something for my cold, flu and sore throat. But here’s a problem. Some of the medication that I am obliged to take reacts with the products that has been recommended. In the end, the very helpful girl behind the counter sorted out some natural products for me. And that’s good news. I’ll go there again.

Back here was when I had my little accident with the coffee, and after lunch I was well away yet again. Obviously my first day out was a little too much.

Tea was an absolutely excellent stuffed pepper cooked in the oven, followed by apple crumble and vegan ice cream, seeing as I’d used the saucepanfor the tomato sauce.

And later on, I went out for a walk seeing as it’s now cleared up outside.

Another early night now and then I’ll be fit for the weekend.

Wednesday 8th November 2017 – I’M FEELING …

… a little better today.

I managed to have a reasonable night’s sleep too. I was in bed something like early and went off on a voyage. I’d been doing some research into criminal cases at the Old Bailey in the 18th Century for the last couple of days, and so last night I was on my travels being involved in some kind of welfare arrangement with children who had ended up before the judges (there are plenty of examples of children aged 15 being hanged in the 18th Century) and this even involved 18th-Century frozen food.

The alarm went off at 06:00 as usual but by that time I was already half out of bed. And after breakfast and a good relax, I even did some housework. I tidied up the frezer a little, rinsed out the new washing machine and did a load of washing (it works quite well, this machine).

It was a beautiful day outside and I was tempted to go out for a walk for the first time this week but instead I crashed out after lunch. Maybe the idea of going for a walk is a step too far. But my head cold seems to have eased off a little and transformed itself into a cough – and haven’t we been here before?

Tea was oven chips, vegan sausages and baked beans, followed by apple crumble and custard.

And now I’m preparing for an early night again. I’m definitly going to try to go out tomorrow if the weather is nice. High time I stretched my legs.

Tuesday 7th November 2017 – I’M NOT …

… feeling much better today either.

Despite going to bed early I couldn’t get off to sleep. It was 00:30 and I was still awake. I was still awake at 04:30 too, although I must have been asleep at one point. And I was still awake at 06:00 when the alarm went off.

No possibility of me getting out of bed though. I went back to sleep and it was getting on for 08:00 when I finally crawled out.

During the night I’d been on my travels too. To Oostende where I started off taking a female friend. We went to see a huge cruise ship that had arrived, and although it wasn’t easy to see. There was a tower block in the distance and I was explaining that behind it in the past would have been the huge pile of coal that fuelled the steamships that called here.
From there on, I was with a female partner – it might even have been Nerina – and I was skinning a cat in the same way that you would peel a mushroom. But halfway through the proceedings the cat appeared to recover consciousness. I couldn’t continue and had to pass the cat over to my partner to complete.a

I managed breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning vegetating on the sofa. I did manage to crawl off at one point. I have some Vick vapour rub somewhere – I know that I have because I remember buying it in Leuven – and I wish that I could find it.

Lunch was a struggle. I wasn’t hungry but I do have to eat. It took me quite a while to swallow my sandwich. And then I crashed out again for a few hours on the sofa.

I made tea tonight. I had lentils on the boil for quite a while. In the meantime I made the usual onion, garlic and spice base. In went the mushrooms, the lentils, a tin of mixed veg and some soya cream. I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t hungry. And there’s enough left over for another four meals, all of which went into the freezer.

So now I’m sitting with my feet up. I’ll be in bed very soon if I can clear my nose. A good sleep will do me good, I reckon,

Monday 6th November 2017 – GUESS WHO …

… has come down with the ‘flu?

I was awake at 05:10 this morning with a streaming head and from then on, hings just went downhill. With the temperature being 11°C in the living room that was the cue to put on the heating in the apartment. And it works too, much to my surprise. I can configure the heating so that in here it’s on i the daytime and in the bedroom it comes on for the night.

After breakfast I sorted out some Lemsip stuff. It’s been here for about 10 years but it’s better than nothing, I suppose. And it gave me some relief.

It was a struggle to make lunch and then afterwards crashed out on the sofa. And out to such an extent that I went and dragged the quilt off the bed and made myself comfortable.

That did the trick because I was feeling a little better by 18:00. Well enough to make a vegan pizza and some of the apple crumble – which was delicious with some soya custard.

I shan’t be doing too much now. I’ll be in bed soom, dosed up witj Lemsip and olbas oil. And I hope that I’ll feel better in the morning.

Sunday 5th November 2017 – I’VE HAD A …

… very nice, busy day out today.

I’ve been round at Liz’s for most of the day. We decided a while agos ago to have a bake-in one of these days – an so we fixed on today.

We spent most of the day baking and making soups, and ended up with a huge pile of stuff. There’s –

carrot, coconut and ginger soup
pepper, squash and tomato soup
apple crumble
vegetable piee
coriander hummus
beanburgers

There’s enough here to keep us going for a couple of weeks, I reckon.

We split the proceeds between us but I could only bring a few bits and pieces home as my freezer is, as you know, pretty full right now. And I do wish that I had bought a bigger one.

I can pick up the rest another time.

This morning it’s Sunday and so there was no alarm. And so no-one was more surprised to see when I awoke that it was all of … errr … 05:10. But badger that for a game of soldiers. I went back to sleep until a more realistic 09:10.

I’d been on my travels too. A long complicated voyage but all that I remember of it now is being on a couple of cable-hauled barges going in opposite directions on the Manchester Ship Canal.

After breakfast – and nice fresh muesli too – I had a shower and a clean-up. And then I hit the road in the driving rainstorm. Liz’s two neighbouring kids were there and were in quite a chatty mood. Once they had gone, we could attack the cooking.

Lunch was carrot, coconut and ginger soup, and tea was pie and mash with peas. And delicious it all was too. But it was quite exhausting doing it all and I found it hard to keep awake. In the end I had to come home and crash out for an hour.

In view of the weather I didn’t feel like going for a walk. It’s not a good diea too because I seem to have acquired a streaming head cold after my night out last night. I’m going to bed in a moment instead.

Saturday 4th November 2017 – I’VE JUST SEEN …

… some of the best goals that I’ve ever seen at this level of football.

A breakaway down the right wing by the right-back. A cross right into the penalty area and a forward running in sidefoots in on the half-volley into the back of the net from 18 yards out.

A couple of minutes later, another breakaway down the right wing once again from the right-back. A cross right into the penalty area and this time a diving header from the substitute centre-forward straight into the back of the net from about 8 yards out.

Both shots totally unstoppable.

Yes, we’ve been footballing today, haven’t we?

We nearly didn’t though. It was a struggle to hail myself out of bed and the beautiful nocturnal voyage that I was undertaking disappeared in a flash.

It was even harder to haul myself outside to Caliburn and go to the shops. The weather didn’t help either – it was teeming down outside with rain the like of which I haven’t seen before while I’ve been here.

There was a lot that I was needing to do, but the weather didn’t make me feel very optimistic. IN the end I just went to LIDL and Leclerc. And I didn’t buy anything that wasn’t on the list either. It was a sad morning for that.

After lunch I crashed out for quite a while – I’m still not feeling myself. But I did wake up in time for the football. Although the day had been bad, it had stopped raining so I walked up to the Stade Louis Dior. ON the way, I encountered the Bank Manager, who told me that there was a paper missing from my Bank account. He’ll ring me next week to discuss it.

US Granville’s opponents tonight were Vendee-Fontenay. Hopelessly adrift at the foot of the table. With me being in the crowd, an away banker was obvious and when they took the lead after three minutes, I would ordinarily have put the mortgage on it too.

It was a weird goal too. Down the right wing the Vendee Winger went to cross the ball in but his kick was blocked by a sliding tackle from the left-back. The ball ballooned in the air, swerved off its expected trajectory right into the path of a Vendee midfielder who was totally unmarked 10 yards out, and he headed into the empty net.

But gradually through the intermittent showers US Granville asserted themselves with the aid of some very good goals, and ran out 5-1 winners.

Despite the heavy scoreline, it wasn’t all one-way traffic. Vendee-Fontenay had some very good spells going forward and Granville had to do some desperate defending.

After the match I had a good walk home and had some rice with a tinned curry, just like I used to do after football back in the old days in PIonsat.

I’m exempted from a walk this evening due to my perambulations to the football ground. And with it being Sunday tomorrow I can have a lie-in. And I deserve it too.

Friday 3rd November 2017 – I KNEW …

… that I would suffer for my exertions this last week or so. And sure enough, today was the day.

Although I was out of bed at the appropriate time, I didn’t feel much like it, I was creaking and groaning from every joint and after breakfast, I sat on the sofa and hardly moved. Just the odd mug of coffee and stroll down the corridor, but for much of the morning I was sitting here on the corner of the sofa dozing away.

After lunch I was back on the sofa again for a couple of hours and away with the fairies again. But I knew that I ought to be doing something positive; so I went for a little walk.

I was right about the pile of gravel on the docks though.

But it wasn’t Pluto or Victress who came for it, but a new arrival, the Shetland Trader. I’ve not seen her before.

Built in 1992 and almost 3,000 tonnes, she’s come from Buckie in Scotland, via Southampton and Alderney for the gravel, which she’s taking over on the usual run to Littlehampton.

But it does make you wonder what hope the UK has after Brexit when it has even to import its gravel from abroad.

With the rain trying its best to break through the clouds, I carried on around the walls.

And there aren’t half some courageous people around these days.

Here we are in November and there they are down there, two women who have decided to go for a swim in the sea. All that I can say is “good luck” to them. Rather them than me.

I stood and watched them for a while, but didn’t squidge them with my welly – I left them to it and came back home for coffee and a warm, although I still haven’t put the heating on yet.

Later on in the evening, after having had a good chat with Rosemary on the telephone, I roused myself enough tp make tea. Mashed potatos, vegetables and a vegan burger. I even struggled out for a walk.

But I won’t be doing anything else. I’ve had enough and I’m going to bed.

Thursday 2nd November 2017 – A RIGHT LOAD OF BANKERS.

I seem to attract the worst sort of bankers, don’t I?

On my way to the LIDL this morning, I stopped off at the Credit Agricole to check the automatic payments on my account. And the monthly payments to my bank in Belgium and my bank in Canada STILL haven’t been paid.

In the bank I got to see an assistant, and he confirmed that although all of ly accounts are now held at the bank here in Granville, the monthly payments referred to above have never been made.

Consequently I insisted on seeing the manager. And when he was finally free and I saw him, I told him precisely what I thought of his bank. And I was impressed with how much polite but offensive French I could conjure up on the spur of the moment.

What made it worse was what happened once he telephoned his International Department and they said that International Dorect Debits can’t be transferred between branches, but need to be cancelled and restarted. And when I asked him why his assistant hadn’t told me that when I went in in May to transfer my account, he didn’t have a reply.

With the heat from my comments on his remarks, they’ll be having the painters in to redecorate his office. I was one very unhappy bunny, as you can imagine. I’ve just been for two months in Canada and the USA spending money that I ought to have had but didn’t – and if you recall, I didn’t stint on my expenditure out there.

I made an appointment for after lunch to continue our discussion, and I went off to LIDL where I bought the bread for freezing, some ice cube sacks, and the wrong size of plastic bag in which to store my frozen stuff.

During my lunch break I gathered up some papers to take back to the bank, and it’s just as well because they had absolutely nothing on their files and, for some reason, they were extremely reluctant to telephone the bank in Pionsat to obtain the information.

The information for the Belgian bank was easy, but for Canada, not so. On the transit form that I took down, the reference number was 16 digits and there was only space on their computerised form for 9.

Having run round in circles for half an hour, I insisted that they telephone the bank in Canada and obtain the information first-hand. Eventually, they agreed and here we encountered the unfortunate fact that Canada’s clocks haven’t gone back yet, so they weren’t open.

I had to loiter in the bank for 45 minutes before the call went through, and after being thoroughly interrogated as to my movements in Canada, they gave me the account details. A 9-digit number indeed, “but you’ll need the 7-digit branch code”.

“I wondered what that box of 7 digits was for on the form just before the space for the account number” said the bank clerk. I despaired.

So now I’ll have to wait until the beginning of December to see if the payments have gone through. But I’m way beyond being annoyed about all of this, as you can imagine.

As I left the bank, I bumped into Brigitte who was loitering around outside. Three times this week, that is. We went for a coffee and a walk around the docks. I came back here and crashed out for half an hour – after all, I’ve walked over 118% of my daily activity today.

I’d had a rough night last night. Tossing and turning for much of it. And I’d been on my travels too – driving a coach on a holiday feeder service. I’d returned home to find that someone else was trying to go out on a feeder but there was no oil in his coach and he was annoyed to say the least. I said that he could go in mine, which somehow I had managed to park in my room in this hostel where I was staying.

What was ironic about this was that I was idly surfing the internet looking for photos of Ford coaches and there in glorious technicolour was a photo of a coach that I used to drive when I worked for Salopia Saloon Coaches in 1979. It’s a small world.

Having done well over 100% of my daily routine, I’ve exempted myself from going for a walk. I’m going for an early night to recover from today’s exertions.

Wednesday 1st November 2017 – I DON’T KNOW …

… who it was who decided to have a party underneath my bedroom windowsill at 04:20 this morning, but if ever I lay my hands on them, they’ll be drinking soup through a straw for the next few weeks.

What made it worse was that I was on an exciting nocturnal ramble and I remember saying to myself “I really MUST remember this!” – but I awoke with such a sudden start that it went comletely out of my head and I couldn’t remember a thing.

But never mind – I managed to be out of bed before the second alarm went off, no matter how much I didn’t feel like it. And after breakfast I had a shower and cut my hair. I haven’t done that since before I went to Canada and it was looking quite unruly.

For the rest of the morning I had the usual nonsense to perform on the laptop. That took me up to lunchtime.

Now I do have to say that this bread from LIDL really does freeze well. And it defrosts even better. I shall have to do more of this and I’m wishing now that I had bought a bigger freezer.

After letting my lunch digest for an hour or so I went for another walk.

My route took me down to the docks so that I could see whether Grima had brought anything exciting yesterday.

There were these tractos – two of them – or, rather, one and a half because the one furthest from the camera is only the gearbox, cab and rear axle.

They are International Harvesters and by the looks of things they have been standing outside in the weather for a considerable number of years. There’s nothing much of any interest on them, that’s for sure.

I walked on through the town to the car park where I left Caliburn when I first came here

There’s a little park just there with a pond and a couple of fenced compounds with all kinds of different animals in there.

I hadn’t actually been for a walk around it before, and so I took the opportunity to go for a good prowl around, seeing as it was such a nice day.

There was a zig-zag path at the back of it so I climbed right up to the top of it. And there was a good view down to where the old goods railway line used to run down to the docks.

I ended up on the main road out to Donville-les-Bains and from there it was quite an easy walk down the hill to the Casino.

But not so easy going up the hill on the other side to the Old Town. I Had to take my time up there. I’m definitely getting old.

I didn’t know what to make for tea tonight so I prepared some vegetables in a big dish with olive oil, chick peas and peanuts and put it in the microwave. It didn’t come out how I was hoping as the potatoes and carrots weren’t cooked enough, and the frozen veg was overcooked.

But it’s no big deal. You have to pay to learn. I’ll have to do the spuds and carrots on their own first next time.

So I’ve been out for my walk and I’m off to bed in a short while. Tomorrow I’m planning on walking out to LIDL to buy some more bread. We know that the bread sells out quickly, so I’ll have to go out fairly early.

Tuesday 31st October 2017 – I DECIDED …

… to go for a walk down into town this afternoon to do a little shopping.

And so; as you can see, I was having my usual luck when it comes to opening hours and the like. I wasn’t in any rush this afternoon, and that proved to be my undoing.

It always happens to me, doesn’t it?

This morning, I didn’t quite manage to crawl out of bed prior to the second alarm going off. That was something of a disappointment as I’m trying to organise myself a little better.

And it was cold in here too. 12°C in fact. Had I been in the Auvergne I would have had the heating on as 13.4°C is the optimal temperature down there, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall. But that wouldn’t happen inside the attic until mid-November so it shows just how effective the insulation is that I put in the walls and roof.

But with 12°C in here, it still doesn’t feel as cold as 13.4°C does in the Auvergne. So I’ve made it into November anyway with no heat – except for the casual heat in the bathroom when I’m having a shower, and that doesn’t count.

There was plenty to do on the laptop this morning, and to make matters worse I crashed out for an hour or so sometime during thr proceedings.

Lunch was defrosted bread, and that worked quite well. I shall have to do more of that.

Having continued with some work this afternoon, it was about 15:45 when I went down into the town.

My luck was in down at the docks, and it wasn’t only my luck that was in because my ship had come in too.

I’d told you the other day that the stuff was piling up in the corner of the dock where Grima ties up and so I was expecting her arrival any day.

And sure enough, she had arrived on the lunchtime tide, unloaded a pile of scrap, and was busy taking on board the stuff on the quayside.

I’d not seen her load up before so I spent some time watching them piling the stuff on board.

With a skilled crew on board and skilled dockside handlers they were sticking an enormous quantity of stuff on board. Grima might only be a small ship but she has an extraordinary capacity for freight.

And it didn’t make any difference about the time that I had passed on the quayside because the Carrefour would have been closed anyway

The Coccinelle didn’t have any Tahini so I prowled around all of the fine food shops in the town to look for it. Having opened a jar of chick peas and with some left over from the curry last night, I want to make some hummus. Apparenty it can be frozen, which is good news.

My journey took me up past the railway station with no luck, so seeing as I was halfway there, I walked on all the way out to the Bio-Coop. They had some (at a price of course) and I bought some sausages and vegan sandwich spread too.

On the way back I stopped at the LIDL and to my dismay they had sold out of bread. But I bought some onions and potatoes seeing as I was running low.

The 100% of the day’s efforts came up on the fitbit when I was walking back into town (with still a good way to go) so I could exempt myself from going for a walk tonight. It was late too – 18:45 when I returned home. A coffee was on the cards after all of that.

Tea was mashed potato, carrots, frozen peas, frozen sprouts, frozen broccoli and a vegan burger. And very nice it all was too.

And now I am off to bed. I’ve done enougb today, I reckon.

Sunday 29th October 2017 – I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

Indeed.

Three days in succession I’ve been to a public event organised here in Granville, and three days in succession there’s been no buvette.

I just don’t know what the world is coming too.

What’s even worse is that today was US Granville’s 2nd XI match against RSG Courseulles in Regional Division 2 and there was a crowd in the region of 120-150 there to watch the game.

And there is a buvette at the Stade Louis Dior – and it was closed!

I’d had a good night’s sleep too – the long walk had clearly done me some good. And I was awake at 09:20 – or 08:20 in real time because the clocks went back today.

And I had been on my travels too. Something of a nightmare the first bit – as I was watching Jai Quitongo play in the Morton – Skint Midden match and score a beautiful swerving free kick from about 30 yards out – for the Skunks!
Later on, my neighbours started to clear their garden and peg out a driveway for concreting. And this meant that I could clear mine of al of the brambles. It only took me half an hour too, and I uncovered an old car, something like the old Cotina that’s lying around on the farm.

It’s Sunday today so I wasn’t in too much of a rush to do anything. I had something of a laze around. Abd my lunchtime butty was very nice too.

After lunch I walked – yet again – to the football. Today though it was at the Stade Louis Dior – a walk of about 3.5 kilometres – or 7 kilomtres both ways.

RSG Courseulles were mid-table but Granville were next to bottom – and you could see why that would be. I have never seen a team attack so much, have so many shots on goal – several of them completely open – and put them either wide or over the top. The attack was more than woeful – it was appalling.

The sad fact though is that they played the opposition off the park. The two strikers of Courseulles offered nothing up front – simply because they were given no service.

Any nother team could have scored a dozen against Courseulles – and so could Granville have done, but their attack really was shocking. We even had one shot on an open goal hit the post, bounce back into play with all of the defence wrong-footed, and a totally unmarked Granville attacker side-foot it wide from three feet out.

Granville in the end won 2-0 – with a free kick after a couple of minutes and a 30-yarder from a defender after a Granville attack had hit a post and rebounded out.

I walked all the way back afterwards.

My route back gave me a good view of the harbour too. All of the gravel is still there so it seems that whoever is coming for it hasn’t arrived yet, And all of the stuff for Grima is still there too.

Marite seems to have disappeared too. She’s not been around for a while. It’s all quiet down at the docks right now.

After having a little … errr … repose, I made my pizza. and the addition of ground black peeper really does make a difference. It was beautiful.

I shan’t be going for a walk tonight either. I’ve done enough today. An early night and an early start will see me right for the forthcoming week.

Saturday 28th October 2017 – BRAIN OF BRITAIN STRIKES AGAIN!

There I was, doing the rounds of LIDL with a bag full of shopping. Just about to put my shopping on the convenyor when I reached into my pocket for my wallet with my money and bank cards in it.

Yes, I’d had my raincoat on last night, hadn’t I?

I had to dump my bag behind one of the empty tills and nip home for my wallet.

It won’t happen again though. I’ve left €50 in Caliburn and another €50 in the secret pocket in my mobile phone case. But what a silly thing to do!

A strange thing happened this morning. It was 08:20 when I awoke this morning. No alarm. For some reason or other the telephone had stalled at 23:49. And so we didn’t have sucj a good start to the morning anyway.

After doing some stuff on the laptop I went off for my trip around the shops and my unexpected return here. But the old washing machine has now gone to the great laundry in the sky – the dechetterie was open this morning which makes a change. The fridge is there too, along with another pile of cardboard boxes that had accumulated

At the Auchan I did the rest of the shopping. Including some frozen sprouts, frozen mushrooms and frozen peppers. What with the mango sorbet and the loaf of bread the freezer is now full. It’s far too small for what I need and I’ve a good mind to take it back to swap it for a bigger one.

Mind you, I thought that the fridge was far too small too, but I’ve managed to rearrange things around in there and there’s plenty of room in there now. I imagine that once I start to attack the frozen food it will be the same in the freezer there too.

After lunch and a bit of tidying up, I crashed out for half an hour or so, and then I caught up with a few other things that needed doing too.

But this evening US Granvillaise’s 3rd XI were playing ES Hébécrevon on the artificial pitch at the Sports Centre. And as it was a reasonable evening, I dressed up warmly and walked all the way there. It’s about 3.5 kilometres up and down hill, and I reckoned that it would do me no good.

Much to my surprise the Sports Centre was closed up, so there was no buvette. How is this possible? In the Auvergne they wouldn’t even consider having a public event without a buvette, and yet here we are, twice in two days, THis isn’t the France that we know and love, is it?

As for the match itself, Granville were bottom of the league without a win and Hébécrevon were 9th. So I was expecting another defeat. But much to my surprise I saw one of the best matches I’ve seen for quite a while.

Granville were much better than their league position suggested and played some beautiful football. Hébécrevon huffed and puffed but never looked likely to seriously trouble the Granville defence, and the home side scored three of the best goals that I’ve seen for a while.

All three of them breakaways, two of which were solo efforts and the third was a cross from the young lad playing left-wing (who had an excellent game) into the centre to the forward who hit it on the half-volley straight into the corner of the net.

I walked back home wfterwards, stopping for a bag of chips. And nice they were too.

Now I’m off to bed and it’s a lie-in tomorrow with an extra hour in bed. We put the clocks back tomorrow – 1 hour if you live in the real world, 50 years if you live in the UK, 120 years if you voted for Brexit and 250 years if you voted Conservative.

Friday 27th October 2017 – HERE’S ANOTHER …

… morning where I was up and about before the second alarm.

It wasn’t quite such an early night as I was expecting, but once I’d gone to sleep I’d really gone, And it was the deepest, most comfortable sleep that I have had for quite some considerable time.

I had been on my travels too, at the airport in my red Cortina estate. Taxiing of couse, picking up a crowd of people and their luggage. And it was a tight squeeze to fit everything and everyone in.

After breakfast I had a little rest and then cracked on with some things that needed doing on the Internet. I ended up at the Siege of Sidney Street and the Aliens’ Act of 1905, and when you research into all of that you’ll find out that there is nothing whatever that is new under the sun. The names might change but the news remains the same.

After a lunch, I went for a walk.

It’s half-term here in France so there are loads of people about.

The tide was going out so despite the cold wind that was blowing, people were down on the beach having fun, although it wasn’t like summer of course.

I walked around the walls to the steps down to the back of the casino. There were even one or two people swimming out there farther around towards Donville-les-Bains. Sooner them than me, that’s all that I can say.

First stop was the bank. Check on the state of the bank accounts (which are not too healthy after my exertions in North America) and to liberate some cash. First cash that I’d drawn out for quite some considerable time.

Next stop was the library to fid out what courses and exhibitions are taking place. But a pair of more unhelpful librarians I have yet to meet. They looked at me as if I had just landed from the moon.

I went round onto the port afterwards. And it looks as if either Victress or Pluto is about to pay us a visit.

This last couple of days a huge pile of gravel has accumulated on the quayside and we know that they come in here every couple of weeks or so to pick up several thousand tonnes of gravel for the UK.

That’s about a good ship-load to go back to the UK. But it shows you what kind of bad state the UK economy finds itself when it even has to import its gravel from abroad.

That’s not all either. Here, there’s a pile (and I do mean a pile) of insulation, a good couple of lorry-loads of steel pipes, several pallets of water, and tucked behind a container is a Ford with a Jersey registration.

All of this can only mean one thing. And that is that Grima is about to pay us a visit too.

She’s the old Shetland Islands ferry that brings the scrap over from the Channel Islands and goes back with a return load of whatever it is that they need over there.

Back here I crashed out for an hour or two. Well away I was too, and I wasn’t particularly polite to the door-to-door religious person who disturbed me.

And later I went round to the public hall here. There’s some work to be done in the old town – some of the water pipes are almost 100 years old and still contain lead, so there’s a project to uproot and replace them.

Not that it interests me, but it’s a way of meeting people. Brigitte, one of my neighbours, was there too and we had a chat and went for a coffee. And a coffee was essential too. It’s the first time that I’ve ever been to a public meeting in France where there has been no buvette.

They have a lot to learn in Normandy.

My stuffed pepper was delicious. Boulghour, tomato and onions seasoned with black pepper and olive oil was the stuffing. With frozen peas, fresh carrots and pasta in tomato sauce it really was beautiful. I’ll have to try some more of that.

Having been out twice today, I didn’t go out for my evening stroll. That’s quite enough.

And tomorrow I’m off to the dechetterie (I hope that it’s open) and some more frozen food.

Thursday 26th October 2017 – BETWEEN 1ST OCTOBER …

… and 30th Aprli, the dechetterie in Granville is closed one day per week.

I wonder if anyone would care to guess which day it is.

With having an early(ish) night last night, I was awake once more before the alarm went off. And I was out of bed and half-dressed when the second alarm went off. Going for a walk before going to bed is doing me some good, I reckon.

The soya milk, fruit puree and grapefruit juice were nice and cold in the new fridge and that’s very pleasant. My ice cubes had frozen quite nicely too.

After breakfast I had a few things to do and then I set off through the thick fog and damp to the dechetterie. It was pretty miserable out there this morning.

At the dchetterie I had the usual disappointment as you might expect. It’s something that seems to dog my trails no matter wherever I go, as regular readers of this rubbish will recall.

But never mind. I went to LIDL on the way back, bought some frozen food for the freezer and some kitchen storage containers that they had on offer – just the kind of thing that goes in the freezer. Some bread and a lettuce too seeing as I’m running low on fresh supplies.

I also called in at the GIFI. When I was there the other day I’d seen a cheap ice cube tray with storage container. I drink quite a lot and it’s nice to have ice in it. This will make things taste a little better and I’m all for luxury these days as you know.

After lunch I crashed out for a while. The exertions of yesterday are still affecting me. I’m aching everywhere and I pulled a muscle in the inner of my left thigh. So that’s playing me up. I’m in a bit of a mess.

With having bought some oven chips this morning I had sausage, beans and chip for tea. Nice though it was, I had clean forgotten about the stuffed pepper that I had half-prepared for tonight. I hope that it will still be okay for tomorrow.

That’s the one thing about having a freezer these days. I can now vary my diet quite considerably and that’s a good thing.

This evening I went for a walk and watched a fishing boat struggling through the gloom. It’s still quite misty outide and damp, although it isn’t raining. I hope that this will mean another decent night’s sleep tonight.

EPIC HALL

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