Tag Archives: ascension

Thursday 15th August 2013 – I KNOW THAT I PROMISED YOU …

…that I wouldn’t discuss the question of parking any more, but I’m a bigger liar than Barack Obama when he promised to close the Concentration Camp at Guantanamo Bay.

sensible parking avenue jeanne ixelles 1050 brussels belgiumI have in fact been obliged to continue my discussion and to post a photograph, because here is someone who actually did it properly.

I can certainly say that there was nothing in front of him – he could have advanced another 3 or 4 metres if he had so desired, and not only that, he actually looked out of his car door, saw where the line was and reversed back another foot or so to make sure that he was on the limit.

It goes without saying that the driver wasn’t a Belgian. He was of oriental extraction – East Asian or something like that. But anyway he did it properly.

So this morning I was up again early and while Cécile and her mum were sleeping I dashed off a huge pile of amendments to my web site, adding the “like” and “share” buttons, correcting the layout of a few headings, and also adding on some stuff about cookies. In case you are wondering, I haven’t coded any cookies knowingly into my website. The only ones that you might find are those embedded into third-party plug-ins;

Eventually Cécile and her mum were ready and so I sent them off out to the shops but they were back inside half an hour. It’s “Ascension”, isn’t it? And Belgians don’t need too many excuses for having a day off.

This afternoon we attacked the cellar and I can’t blame Cécile for losing interest half-way through because it’s a desperate job. I’ve no idea why Marianne tore up so much paper – letters and stuff – as she did and then put it all down in her cellar. I’ve sorted out most of that stuff but we’ll need to finish it off tomorrow if Cécile can pluck up the courage;

There’s much more stuff photographed and I’ve put a good pile of iton the web page as well as on the Deuxième main web site. There’s already someone in after the washing machine and I hope that the rest goes soon. Another day on this and everything should be on it, I hope.

But sorry about the parking again.

Wednesday 12th May 2010 – You can see …

space blanket insulation polystyrene bedroom les guis virlet puy de dome france… what I’ve been up to today in the bedroom, even if the photo is rather blurred. I’ve fitted the two uprights (although you can only see one) for the front of the wardrobe and I’ve started to line the walls within the wardrobe with polystyrene insulation.

In fact a good day on this will probably see the wall finished, boarding included.

It won’t be tomorrow though. It’s yet another bank holiday (Ascension in fact) and there’s a footy tournament at Pionsat. And now that I have the appropriate qualifications, I’ve been asked to referee it. But it won’t be for long if the weather is anything like today. We’ve had another totally miserable grey wet depressing day again. Never mind November, it’s actually like a winter January day here. Even the cold is a wintry kind of cold.

In the garden though I noticed that a new potato plant is starting to appear so something is moving. And my onions and garlic are loving this weather – they have fine glorious bushy green leaves the sort that I’ve never seen on anything I’ve grown before.

And in other news, my SIREN number came today. I’m now a registered French tradesman and I can go out and look for work – which reminds me of an international conference that took place back in the early 1980s between Jimmy Carter, President Gorbachev and Queen Elizabeth II
Jimmy Carter ….”we transplanted a cows heart to a man and within three months he was looking for work”
President Gorbachev ….”That’s nothing. We transplanted a cow’s leg to a man and within three months he was looking for work”
Queen Elizabeth II …”That’s nothing. We transplanted a complete cow to 10 Downing Street and within three months there were three million men looking for work”.

But talking of looking for work, I’ve been roped in to a furniture removal on Saturday. At 09:00 would you believe? Still, I’ll get up early if there is the folding stuff involved.