… start to the day today.
Last night I told you that it might be rather late before I went to bed. But 01:00 was rather ridiculous.
As a result I totally ignored the alarms that went off, and it was almost 09:00 when I finally arose from the Dead.
I’d been on my travels as well. It was wartime and we were in Paris. Our task was to free Paris from the Germans. We’d formed these underground cells and one or two of these were confining these Germans to some kind of castle on a pinnacle separated from a rocky spur by a huge chasm. A red and white electricity pylon had been blown up and had fallen across the gap, and it was expected that the rest of the resistance would charge across it. I was summoned up for my troop and they were going to come and join me and said that all of the resistance would be ready for this attack. But when my troop turned up they were playing football – there was a football match going on. They started to pass the ball to me and I thought that we were supposed to be fighting, not playing football.
And that wasn’t everything either, but the rest of the story is not fit for human consumption, especially if you are eating your tea.
As you might expect, it was a very slow morning and it took me almost until lunchtime to attend to last night’s dictaphone entries and to organise yesterday’s photos. And there weren’t all that many of them either.
But later on, I managed to up the pace somewhat and by the time that I’d finished for tea the outstanding dictaphone notes have been reduced to a mere 65.
This was of course the period when I was falling seriously ill so it’s hardly surprising that although I had actually transcribed the notes for my 2015 trip, they were never connected up with the images. So as one task draws on to a conclusion, another one rears its ugly head.
There had been several pauses and interruptions too.
I tidied up all of the empty bottles and cartons and took them down to the rubbish bins, where I was detained for a chat by one of my neighbours for a while. She had a lot to say for herself.
Lunch of course, taken indoors yet again. And the hummus that I made the other day is delicious.
There was of course the usual afternoon walk.
And not too many people around either because the weather looks as if it’s on the turn. That must be keeping people indoors.
I certainly didn’t want to be out there on the beach on a day like this. It wasn’t very peasant.
But there are people who clearly don’t think like me, or else they are made of sterner stuff.
There was a couple sitting down there on the bench at Cap Lihou by the old medieval sentry-box. They were quite clearly enjoying the cold wind, the spray and the smell of the ozone.
And good luck to them too. They deserve it, and probably need it too.
As I have said on several occasions recently, we seem to be having more and more trawlers out here in the bay.
Despite the miserable weather this afternoon, this photo came out quite well, all things considered. It’s a trawler working away out there just off the north of the Ile de Chausey.
We’ve seen a few trawlers working out there just recently. I wonder if this means that the fishing shoals have changed their swimming pattern
There’s another change of inhabitants at the Chantier Navale today.
Regular readers of this rubbish will recall the yellow pontoon that appeared in the harbour a couple of weeks ago after the core driller left.
It seems that they have now pulled it out of the water and it’s up here having things done to it.
I’ll go dow tomorrow and have a close look at it and see what it’s supposed to be and what’s going on
Back here I carried on with the dictaphone notes, and had another lengthy chat with Rosemary. And by the time that I’d finished ready for tea, I realised that I had forgotten my shower today.
Tea was a stuffed pepper and rice followed by the apple pie and some of that coconut sorbet, which was delicious.
And then off for my evening walk around the walls.
For a little experiment I took the new monopod with me and gave it a try. There was plenty of activity still out there in the English Channel so I gave it a try with the camera.
It’s not as steady as I was hoping for, but it has to be an improvement on hand-held long exposures in the half-light.
aAnd round the other side, I was distracted by a noise coming from the harbour.
It seems that Victor Hugo has been out on a run to the Channel Islands and had just come back, judging by the crowds at the ferry terminal.
She had unloaded her passengers and has now come into the inner harbour to tie up. She’ll stay moored here until she goes out again.
And still no sign of the new ship Granville that is to replace her. She was here the early part of last summer but had a breakdown and I haven’t seen her since, although according to her AIS signals she was in here a few times late last year.
So now I’m looking forward to an early night. I really ought to have one and a good sleep too. Last night’s fiasco I’ll put down to taking tomorrow’s bank Holiday one day in advance.
So an early start tomorrow.
trawler ile de chausey granville manche normandy france
trawlers baie de mont st michel brittany coast granville manche normandy france
working on monument de la resistance pointe du roc granville manche normandy france
yachts trawlers english channel granville manche normandy france
