Tag Archives: marianne_contet

Saturday 2nd May 2015 – I WON’T HAVE MUCH …

… of my mind yet at this rate, the amount that I have been giving out to other people just recently. And today was the day that capped it all and they will remember me in the Orange telecom boutique in Montlucon for quite a long time.

For in there today, I have had customer service of the kind that makes Belgium look impressive.

It all started when I arrived at the place and there were two assistants on duty (on a Saturday morning!), of which one of them sat there all morning just tapping numbers into a telephone, making no attempt whatever to deal with the huge crowd of people in there.

I’ve never seen anything like this at all.

I had to wait there for a good hour before I was finally seen, and we started off as we meant to go on when the assistant refused to take back the television decoder that I have mysteriously been sent.
“You can do that at the other shop” she said.
“So why not here?”
“Because you do it at the other shop”.
Quite.

And then we finally had to deal with the issue of the contract for the new service. Despite my asking for hard copy stuff because I don’t have a printer, Orange still managed to send it to me by e-mail. So I needed them to print it out.

She could manage that fine, and so I suggested that I can fill in the papers then and there and that would be fine, but …

Ohhhhh Noooooo –
“you did this by internet”
“yes I did”
“so you need to post this off”
“why?”
“Because you sis it on line”
“But this is an Orange shop?”
“yes”
“So why can’t i just do it and hand it in here?”
“Because you did it on line”.

It was at that point that I exploded and, as I said, they won’t forget me in a hurry in there. It’s a long time since I’ve reacted like that. And even though it won’t solve anything, I felt so much better afterwards.

And I haven’t finished yet, by any means.

Apart from that, I’ve done the rounds of the usual shops in Montlucon and bought a pile of DVDs and also some new cotton bedding in the sale at Auchan – some nice dark brown cotton pillow cases and a quilt cover and a light brown cotton sheet.

I’ve bought the stuff in Brico Depot that I need to finish off the beichstuhl and the lights in the bedroom, and probably a few other things besides. There was a nice wooden toilet seat that will fit nicely on the beichstuhl too. But not the worktop – I’ve seen something that might provide a solution for this.

It was also a day for meeting people too. I had a coffee with Liz and Terry, whom I had met at the Orange boutique, and then bumped into Pascal, Marianne’s son, at leClerc. In the Auchan it was the turn of Michel, who used to be associated with the football club at Pionsat and he told me few things that answered several but by no means all) of what has been going on at the football club.

But no football this weekend, so tomorrow I might even have a blast at the radio programmes.

Saturday 18th October 2014 – GUESS WHAT …

… I’ve been doing this morning!

You’re right.

It was a bright, breezy morning with not a cloud in the sky and so straight after breakfast I went into Pionsat with the cover off the bed-settee. An hour later I was back, with the cleanest bed settee cover that I have ever had. That 18kg machine at the Intermarché works a treat, especially at €8:00 a time including soap.

Of course, you have to wait on the car park while the machine is working and you would be amazed at the number of people who go into the Intermarche in just that time. It’s quite a little goldmine there, especially as the woman who owns it has really done her research, with the amount of British and Dutch produce that’s on sale there.

I even ended up talking to Marianne, whom I haven’t seen since February. She was there doing her shopping too.

This afternoon I started work on the radio programmes for the next month and then later on tonight went back to Pionsat to watch FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 2nd XI play Montfermy.

That was an exciting match too, with a couple of new players this season including a real goalkeeper who had a good game. Pionsat won 2-0 without really breaking sweat. Kevin scored the first following a good ball across the defence that beat the offside trap, and a short corner from Vincent to Matthieu caught the entire Montfermy team asleep and Matthieu had a simple volley into the net.

FC Pionsat St Hilaire’s 2nd XI are now top of the table for the moment, and well-worth it too because they really did look like it tonight, and about time too.

Friday 7th March 2014 – THERE’S BEEN MORE RUBBISH …

… written about this place than anywhere else on the planet. And I shall be contributing my fair share too … "groan" – ed.

rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of godYes, you’ve guessed it. I’m in Rennes-le-Chateau and what am I doing here? Looking for the Holy Grail? Looking for the Children of Jesus? Looking for the tomb of Mary Magdalene? Looking for the lost Cathar treasure?

Or have I simply come for a nosy around to see what all the fuss has been about since an elderly housekeeper strung along a dazzling urbanite with promises of vast wealth and fortune in oder to ensure that she would be well-cared for in the twilight of her life?


interior of church st mary magdalene rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of godThis is the interior of the church of St Mary Magdalene at Rennes-le-Chateau and although it looks quite beautiful today (which it doesn’t, as it happens – it is badly in need of attention which is totally astonishing considering how much money comes here these days), it wasn’t anything like this 130 years ago.

When a new priest, Bérenger Saunière, was appointed to the parish, he was horrified at the state of the place. It had been abandoned during the French Revolution almost 100 years earlier and although there had been a religious revival, the fervour had not reached Rennes-le-Chateau and the building was on the point of collapse.


hollow column altar support rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of godHe borrowed a little money and made a start on some urgent renovations. But when he turned his attention to the altar, he found that one of the pillars was partly hollow and some parchments had been stuffed into it.

Hollow pillars are nothing new in churches. If you’ve been following my adventures over the last few years you will know from my frequent visits to Auvergnat churches with Marianne that it’s quite customary to have something similar in a church, and it’s where the sacred relics are kept.

And, as you know because I’ve told you this before, there was an inventory of relics carried out in all French churches in the mid-19th century. This church was no exception, and in the diocesan registers there is the report of the visit, and …
Bishop’s investigator “are there any relics in the church?”
Saunière’s predecessor “more than likely”.
It’s curious, to say the least, that Saunière’s predecessor could not give a definitive answer, especially when it’s something that falls within his responsibility.

As for the parchments, there is no dispute whatever that they were found. As to their content however, you’ll have to make up your own mind about that because every person tells a different story.

One thing that should maybe be mentioned however is that the pre-Revolutionary priest of the parish, the Abbé Bigou, was the confessor to several notable families in the area. Believing that the Revolutionaries would pillage absolutely everything that they could find, Bigou’s secret hiding place- the hollowed column used as an altar support – would make a safe cache for anything important.

And Bidou? He fled the Revolution and died in exile, never returning to Rennes-le-Chateau.

So Saunière found some parchments in a hollowed-out column. The next thing of note to happen is that some time later there’s a little enigmatic note in his diary – “ohh, by the way, I found a tomb today”. And then absolute silence.

He’s next in the graveyard attached to the church, frantically digging away to such a degree that the mayor of the commune makes a formal complaint to the Bishop. And then Saunière starts to spend money like water – tens of thousands of pounds.


villa bethania rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
He rebuilds the church and the presbytery, he refurbishes the village’s water supply, he builds a new road, and then he buys some land and builds himself a sumptious villa with outhouses and a magnificent tower that serves as a library.

He’s then investigated by his bishop – where did the money come from?

The conclusion is that he’s been selling masses. And there’s no doubt that he did. But just how many would he have to have sold in order to have amassed so much money? It’s unthinkable. He’s suspended from office but he carries on as before, taking no notice. Even though there’s a newspaper “advertisement” from the bishop advising his parishioners that he has been relieved of his functions, no-one takes any notice at all. He dies and takes his secret with him to the grave.

Only his faithful housekeeper is aware of the situation. Once she let slip that “the people around here are walking on gold but they just don’t realise it”. She sells the villa to an urbanite from the coast but remains in occupation promising the purchaser that she will make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But she too takes her secret with her to the grave and that is that.

So where does this leave us?

I’m not going to waste anyone’s time with conjecture. There’s enough rubbish been written already about all of this.


magnificent defensive site rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
But firstly, one look at this site will tell you that this is the most magnificent defensive situation one could ever imagine, and the view from here commands absolutely everything. Nothing can move within a 20-mile radius without being observed from here.

If I were a neo-historical figure looking for a place to build a palace and a town for my followers, I would choose nowhere else but this. And there is evidence of occupation going back thousands of years – Stone Age, Iron Age, Gallo-Roman – you name it.

But the Visigoths came to this area in the 5th Century and set up a Kingdom. Their capital city was called Rhedae and from what we know, the site of Rennes-le-Chateau corresponds in every detail with the contemporary description of Rhedae.


visigoth carving rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of godTons of Visigoth artefacts have been discovered in the area and the church itself contains much evidence of Visigoth stonework, sculpturez and artefacts, such as this magnificent carving that Saunière discovered, face-down on the floor and being used as a flagstone.

There is therefore little doubt that the modern-day Rennes-le-Chateau is the historical Rhedae


rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of godIn fact, on my mega-ramble around the site this morning I counted three and perhaps 4 concentric rings of defences around the site, and there is no evidence to suggest that anything much of this relates to a more modern period.

So whoever was fortifying this site really meant it


rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
Now if you remember from our discussions a few years ago, it’s perfectly normal for there to be a small chapel included in a castle or chateau once the Lord has converted to Christianlty and, as I have said, there’s certainly a Visigoth presence in the church here.

But as Christianity gained in influence and barbarity slowly died out (not that you would ever notice it) the church would take over more of the site and the castle or chateau would be reduced in size.


chateau hautpoul blanchefort rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of godThis is the current chateau, right next to the church. But from what I can see at a distant glance, there is nothing particularly Visigoth about this – although I have been told subsequently that part of the foundations is believed to be of Visigoth origin.

And in any case, this is not where I would have my chateau. Mine would be on the highest corner of the walls with the best view – right in fact where Saunière build his tower-library.

Anyway, to continue onwards. Saunière says that he found a tomb. What evidence is there that there was a tomb here? Plenty, as it happens.

In several cases, there are entries in the parish registers of people being “buried in the tomb of the Lords” – the last one being in the 1730s. And it’s only after that date that the Lords (and Ladies) were buried ordinarily in the cemetery.

There have been three inspections of the church using SONAR – a device that measures reflected echoes from the ground – and they have each given a similar result – that at a depth of 5 metres or so under the church there is a reading that corresponds with what one would expect to see if there were a cavern below.

No entrance to this cavern was found, though, and the easiest way to hide an entrance into a cavern (from the outside, anyway) would be to use it as a grave and bury a body in it, and then fill it over. And maybe this was why Saunière was digging frantically in the graveyard. Perhaps the parchments had given him a clue to whose grave it was that led into the cavern.

As an aside – following what have been described as “a few deplorable incidents” (of which we can all hazard a guess) the cemetery is locked and access is only granted to relatives of the inhabitants of the cemetery. I wish that I had known this back in May 2013


library tower rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
But this is no place for speculation. There’s enough of that about already. And some of the speculation would appear to be manifestly false. Saunière was not always “rolling in money” – even after having discovered whatever it was that he discovered, he had times when there was so little about that the work on his beloved Villa Bethania came to a sudden halt. If he really were blackmailing someone about a guilty secret, he would simply go back for more cash. Or if it were a regular flow of money that he was receiving, he would have planned his work more carefully.

Some say that, being an unltra-Royalist (which he certainly appeared to be), the French monarchist parties were paying him handsomely to propagate their cause. But with a parish of just a few hundred souls, their vote wouldn’t have been worth very much.

And much of the rumour and supposition that circulated following a “disclosure” by someone in Paris in the 1970s and 1980s is now considered by most authorities to be based on a forgery.


grave father antoine gelis murdered coustaussa rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
Nevertheless, he did receive money – and plenty of it – from somewhere. And one of his confidants, a priest by the name of Father Gélis from the neighbouring village of Coustaussa, was brutally murdered one night while all of this was going on.

Even today, the locals at Coustaussa (and I found some pretty vocal local yokels who told be everything I want to know) consider that Gélis’ neohew did the deed and did it for the money that Gélis was supposed to have been handling on behalf of Saunière (although the local police dismissed the nephew as a suspect and went to great pains to state that the money remained untouched.

And so you pay your money and you take your choice.

If you want to find out more about the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau, then there are enough books written on the subject to rebuild completely every single one of the three and maybe four concentric rings of denfensive walls around the village of Rennes-le Chateau. Don’t just read one of them though otherwise you will end up with a very skewed viewpoint and – perish the thought – you might even start to believe that author’s particular slant on all of this.

There are ten thousand books, ten thousand authors, and ten thousand different opinions about the mystery of Rennes-le Chateau.


chateau de coustaussa valley de sals rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
While I was in Coustaussa checking the grave of Father Antoine Gélis (and believe me, there is nothing in the world more sad than an abandoned cemetery), I went for prowl around the ruined castle.

It was built on an eminence at the foot of Rennes-le-Chateau with the aim of controlling the valley of the River Salz, which as you can see, it does in spades.


rennes le chateau de coustaussa aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
It dates from the 11th and 12th centuries, times of much turbulance in this frontier province, and fell to the Crusading forces in 1210. Nevertheless, it was the scene of a small rebellion, which didn’t last long, but the reprisals were, well, severe, as you might expect whenever Simon de Montfort was about.

This led to the first round of demolition


rennes le chateau de coustaussa aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
It was re-established as some kind of manor house in the 16th Century but the Revolution put paid to that. It was sold into private hands and the new owner treated it as a quarry, selling off all of the stones to the locals in the neighbourhood for their various building projects.

That really marked the end of the Chateau as we know it.


rennes le chateau aude france bérenger saunière tomb of god
It’s still in private hads today and one is supposed to ask the owner for permission to visit the castle (which is not for the faint-hearted as it really isn’t very secure)

I duly presented myself at the relevant address, only to discover that it has been a long time since the owner has taken the trouble to visit his own premises, and so I took it upon myself to enter. I wasn’t going to let a ruin like this pass me by.


So now having given Caliburn a good wash (because, believe me, he needed it after the snows and salty roads of Andorra) I’m now in the pretty-derelict spa town of Rennes-les-Bains. A couple of things I need to do here.

Friday 28th February 2014 – I’VE ARRIVED …

… at my destination for this weekend. I’m in Hendaye, which is at the extreme south-east of France and just across the river is the Basque coast of Northern Spain. And here I’ll be until Sunday night.

hotel bellevue mimizan plage les landes franceThis was my hotel from last night – the Hotel Belle Vue. I was in the annexe in the foreground – that’s where the cheaper rooms are and, of course, I’m on the budget plan. But nevertheless, I’m not faulting for a minute the value for money. I was quite happy with this.

No complaints about the breakfast either, and with the kettle in the room I was even able to make a flask of coffee.

french cock mimizan plage les landes franceWhile I was on my travels last night, prowling around the town, I came across this sign. I had to return to photograph it this morning before I left.

If it shows anything at all, it shows that money spent on a good native-speaking translator is never wasted, no matter how good you think that your on translation might be. Although, I must admit that if the boot were on the other foot I would be happy with a sign like this.

I was in Hossegor later this morning to carry out an errand. My friend Marianne wrote a book on Pionsat and this was illustrated with photos from a bygone age.

leclerc supermarket formerly garage richardy hossegor les landes france
One photo shows a man leaving the Pionsat Post Office and someone who saw the photo said “that’s Richardy, a garage proprietor from Hossegor who had a summer home in Pionsat”.

It was always on Marianne’s list to go to Hossegor and see if she could find the garage but seeing as how I was in the area I went instead. And after multiple enquiries at the Town Hall, the Police Station, the Tourist Information and the Pensioners’ Club, people think that this supermarket might have been it.

It’ll be confirmed for me on Monday.

arklow fortune port of bayonne pyrenees atlantique france
From there, I followed the coast down to Hendaye and the weather deteriorated as I drove south. Sitting having my lunch at the port of Bayonne watching the Arklow Fortune, newly arrived from Ijmuiden, something of a storm had sprung up.

The Arklow Fortune is a rare breed of vessel by the way – she’s a freighter flying the Irish flag so it seems, and that’s not something that you see every day.

storms high winds raging seas st jean de luz pyrenees atlantique franceBy the time I reached St Jean de Luz near Biarritz, the weather had turned decidedly nasty as you can see. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen it as bad as this. Violent was not the word.

Here in Hendaye, the seafront is closed off as they are expecting the weather to deteriorate further over the weekend with a climax on Monday evening.

But I have a hotel 10 minutes from the seafront overlooking the river that separates Hendaye from Spain. It’s basic and in the throes of being renovated, but they’ve done me a good deal on the price of a room and including breakfast, even if there is no heating yet and the room needs finishing. As I said, I’m on the budget package.

So after my excellent vegetable risotto, I’m off to bed for an early night.

Tuesday 18th February 2014 – I HAD AN AFTERNOON OUT …

… this afternoon. This involved moving a pile of stuff with Caliburn and so first job this morning was to empty Caliburn and then to put away everything that I had been storing in him. And that took a while, I can tell you.

I then swept him out too, and repaired one or two electrical bits and pieces that needed fixing. So at least he’s now clean and tidy in the back.

Next on the list was hanging out the washing, and then to clear out a space at the side of the existing compost bin and put there the one that I bought last year in this Government composting scheme. ONce I had done that, I could empty the beichstuhl, such pleasant jobs that I have around here.

So I picked up Marianne and then we went round to Bill’s to load up Caliburn and then went off to Montlucon and the salerooms. On the way we called at LIDL as they were having another LED light sale. This time it was the 1-watt lights that I use, and at €2:99 each now. They had 6 in stock, and now they have none at all.

We went to Brico Depot too where I bought some more wood and some heavy duty varnish for the stairs. You can tell that this is now becoming really serious.

Anyway, we ended up in the cafe at Leclerc having a coffee and a chat and then it was back home via the fresh veg shop. And I had to take in the washing as by now it had started to rain.

Yes, it’s all happening here now.

Tuesday 28th January 2014 – I’VE PUT THE FIRST …

… piece of plaster board on the wall today. This is progress indeed.

Mind you,it took me long enough.

I had to go to the bank this morning braving the flurries of snow – they wanted some information off me – and then round to Bill’s house. It’s been a year since Bill left us and his estate needs to be finalised. Consequently it was the final call for people to buy anything that remains, before the house clearance people come.

Marianne’s son Pascal wanted a few things and there was some tidying up still to be done, so I helped Marianne do that and then gave Pascal a hand, and then took his stuff to a garage that he’s using to store stuff until he moves to his new apartment.

That took all of the morning but I wasn’t finished yet. When I was strapping something onto the roof I noticed that one of the brackets holding the solar panel to the underneath of the roofrack had sheared off. That needed fixing before I went too far and so there I was making a new bracket.

After lunch I fitted the two counter-battens and replaced one of the rails that I’ll be using to support a shelf. It seems that Brain of Britain has measured up for a 27mm rail but fitted a 40mm rail instead? No wonder it didn’t look level.

So having done that, I had to free all of the plasterboard from the stuff that had accumulated on top of it over the last year or so. And then, I could start on the plasterboarding.

And for tea tonight, I made a lentil and mushroom curry. There’s enough forthree more days which is just as well, because it was delicious.

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 – HERE YOU ARE THEN

shelving lean to les guis virlet puy de dome franceHere’s the shelving unit in the downstairs part of the lean-to, allnicely fitted and made to measure.

It didn’t take long to finish it either, about 3 hours or so. But I was interrupted by a heavy rainstorm so I had to take in the washing, and a phone call from Marianne too.

That did however give me some time to start emptying the verandah a little and move the stuff onto the shelves. There’s a long way to go, but at least I’ve made a decent start and it won’t be long before I can organise myself so much better

Tonight I cooked a mega-aubergine and kidney bean whatsit – and on the woodstove too. I’m definitely improving there.

Wednesday 15th January 2014 – I TURNED DOWN …

… a trip to Brico Depot this morning. You can see that I’m not feeling myself at all right now, which is just as well etc. etc.

Anyway last night I was playing bass with The Groundhogs on a revitalisation tour. Of course TS McPhee didn’t make it, and if that was me on bass, that only left the drummer as an original member.

A little later on, I was sent to work in Stockport and that cheered mr up because I could leave a whole pile of difficult post tobe dealt with by my successor, but on the other hand I was worried as I was bound to meet up with Nerina again.

Like I have said before … "and you’ll say again" – ed … I only with that my real life was half as exciting as my dreams

Meanwhile, back in the land of the living, by lunchtime absolutely everything that has no business being in the living room was elsewhere, and I had moved the old table to righht underneath the window.

This afternoon, I moved most of the tools downstairs and dismantled the temporary work bench. I also built a quick toilet room out of a piece of OSB and a piece of furniture out of an old caravan that I scrapped in 2007. There’s even light in there – of a sort.

I had Marianne on the phone too, but it’s soooo difficult trying to talk when I’m in this condition.

For tea I made a mega-lentil and mushroom curry – all cooked on the woodstove. It wasn’t half impressive

And there’s some left for tomorrow and Friday too.

Saturday 28th December 2013 – REGULAR READERS OF THIS RUBBISH …

… will recall that ages ago I commented on some bizarre weather conditions that we were experiencing here – to whit the phenomenon that at night we were having beautiful clear skies with millions of stars visible to the naked eye, and then as dawn broke, we would immediately cloud over and have buckets of rain all day until late evening, when the skies would miraculously clear again.

This is exactly the weather that we have been experiencing here over the last few days, and each morning I’ve been woken up by a torrential downpour despite the beauty of the night.

This morning it was 05:30 that we had the downpour but I wasn’t going to be fooled by that. i’m still on holiday so I stayed in bed until 10:30 and I don’t care.

I worked on the radio programme for a while and then just after midday I actually left the premises! Yes, shopping in St Eloy where I spent almost nothing at all, and quite right too seeing as I didn’t need much and there was nothing on sale to tempt me.

On the way back home I went via Cécile’s to see if she had received any post, but her box was empty and her house hadn’t been affected by the violent winds that we’ve had. But on the way back, I noticed that the abandoned railway line from Les Racauds up to the tunnel at Les Bouchards seemed to be clear of weeds. That’s one part of the old Paris-Orleans railway line that I want to walk so it seems that I’ll be doing that sooner rather than later, once the weather dries out.

I did another radio programme this afternoon and then Marianne phoned me up for a very long chat. It seems that there’s a disturbing development with regard to the situation at Bill’s old place at Les Crouzons, and all hands will be required at the pumps for a couple of days as a matter of urgency. It’s to my advantage to be there, but that’s another few days away from here that I can well do without.

But I took the opportunity of mentioning the old railway line to Marianne and she’s going to draw up a plan of action for the next three months. We have a lot to do and we need to make the most of any decent weather than we might get. So far, apart from those few days in November, winter has been holding off. I’ve a feeling that when it dfinally does come, it will come in spades.

Friday 20th December 2013 – DIDN’T WE HAVE A LUVVERLY TIME …

day out coach trip bus ride pionsat clermont ferrand puy de dome france… the day we went to Clermont?

Thanks, Marianne, for ringing me at 06:30 otherwise I would still be in bed now, but anyway off to a garage along the road between Pionsat and St Eloy where Marianne was to leave her car for a service, and then we headed into Pionsat to catch the bus.

33 of us, there were, on board heading for Pionsat’s annual shopping trip to Clermont. Many towns and villages in the rural Puy-de-Dome go there on the same day and the Conseil-General have a little welcoming celebration with coffee, orange juice and croissants – just as well seeing as how I didn’t have any breakfast. And we received a free tram ticket, shopping bag and little Christmas present too.

The queue for the tram was enormous and so we walked to the centre, which was quite nice seeing as we passed by the city’s cemetery. One thing about Marianne is that she’s just as interested in things like this as I am and an invitation for a stroll around the dead centre of any kind of urban settlement will not be sneezed at.

cemetery clermont ferrand monks puy de dome franceThere were formerly many religious establishments in Clermont Ferrand and we stumbled across many communal graves in which various groups of nuns had interred their departed members.

The communal graves of the monks were however much more interesting. Tucked away in a quiet little corner of the cemetery behind a few enormous tombs is their last resting place – one headstone for each establishment and a little plaque for each brother who is interred here. Things like that are quite poignant really.

And I wonder who is involved in the upkeep of this little plot because some of the communal graves of the nuns are, well, very sorry spectacles indeed.

commonwealth war graves cemetery des charmes dechaux clermont ferrand puy de dome franceThere’s also a Commonwealth War Grave here in the cemetery at Clermont Ferrand. 22 British, Canadians and New Zealanders are buried here. 21 are Air Force men and quite clearly three groups of 7. Pilot, Flight Engineer, Navigator, Wireless Operator, Bomb-Aimer and a couple of gunners.

One group died on 5th March 1944, another group on 10th March 1944 and the third group on 27th July 1944. Clearly three Lancasters shot down in the vicinity and with the proximity of the huge Michelin tyre factory – just a couple of hundred yards away from where I was standing taking this photograph, then no prizes for guessing what they were doing – or trying to do.

Or so I wrote at the time. Subsequent research revealed something rather different.

Only one of the aircraft was a Lancaster engaged in bombing the Michelin factory (with an alternative target of the marshalling yards at Aulnat).

These were the crew of Lancaster B III serial ND513 of Squadron 207 RAF, carrying identity EM-R. The crew led by Squadron Leader Dudley Pike had set off from Spilsby in Lincolnshire on 10th March at 19:42.

The aeroplane suffered a direct hit from flak and exploded in mid-air. The wreckage crashed close to the Anne-Marie-Menut roundabout between 23:00 and 23:30.

The earlier crash, on 5th March 1944, was actually a Stirling B III serial EF215 of 75 squadron RAF (although many of the crew were New Zealanders). She carried identity AA-M

She had taken off from Mepal in Cambridgeshire on 4th March 1944 at about 20:51. She had been loaned to SOE (the Special Operations Executive) and was on a training flight parachuting arms to the Resistance in the Auvergne.

Because of the foul weather (blinding, gusting snowstorms were reported) she couldn’t see the torch signals and so aborted the mission, but ran into the side of a Puy in the Le Cros – Douharesse area.

The upper middle machine-gunner luckily survived the crash and was arrested. The others perished and, according to a report issued at the time, the cause of death was as much exposure to the elements as the injuries received in the crash.

The third aeroplane Was another Lancaster B III, serial number ND527 (only 14 machines newer than that lost on 10th March). She carried identity LE-O and belonged to 630 suadron RAF, although some crew were Canadians.

She had taken off from East Kirkby in Lincolnshire at 21:17 on 26th July 1944 to bomb the marshalling yards at Givors, south of Lyon, but at 02:45 the following morning, in the middle of a violent storm, she was involved in a mid-air collision with Lancaster ND856 of 82 squadron.

The pilot of the plane attempted a crash-landing just south of St Ignat, 14kms north-east of Riom, but collided with trees. The plane burst into flames and the crew was immolated.

Incidentally, ND856 exploded in mid-air and its remains fell to earth four or five kilometres away. The crew was originally buried in the local cemetery close tot he crash site but were later exhumed and re-interred in the big military cemetery at Mazargues, near Marseille.

lieutenant W T L Short commonwealth war graves cemetery des charmes dechaux clermont ferrand puy de dome franceThe 22nd grave is that of Lieutenant WTL Short and his is an interesting story.

It doesn’t matter what your perception of the RAF Bomber Command is (mine is that they were a bunch of mass-murdering war criminals, but that is by the way), no-one will dispute that for the expense and effort involved and the number of casualties that they suffered, they were pretty much ineffective and much more could have been achieved at far, far less expense by quite simply parachuting into the target area a bunch of commandos armed to the teeth, with the aim of sabotaging the factories and their output on the ground. The rail campaign of Summer 1944 is a classic example of this, and who remembers the Heroes of Telemark?

But a close look at the headstone of Lieutenant Short will reveal that he was “attached to the FFI” – the Force Français de l’Interieur, which is the politically-correct way of describing the French Resistance. And I can’t help thinking that for what he cost the British Government, his efforts were probably far more cost-effective than those of his 21 neighbours. And what is even more sad about all of this is that if you go to The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website

and carry out a search for the Des Charmes Dechaux cemetery in Clermont Ferrand, you’ll find entries for the 21 airmen but no entry for Lieutenant Short.

basilica notre dame du port clermont ferrand puy de dome franceFrom there we walked on into town, stopping halfway for another coffee of course. Crossing the road we went to the Basilica of Notre Dame du Port.

This church dates from the 6th Century and was founded, so the story goes, by St Avit who, as we all know, comes from down the road here at la Cellette where he had a spring and a hermitage. The church was destroyed by the Normans during one of their invasions of the 10th Century and subsequently rebuilt. Unusually, the crypt is open to the public and so we went down there to see what we could see but the short answer to that was “nothing”. It did not escape our notice, however, that the crypt only stretched so far underneath the church.

town hall clermont ferrand puy de dome franceMarianne then took me to see the Town Hall, which is just around the corner from the cathedral, the famous cathedral where Peter the Hermit summoned the First Crusade back at the end of the 11th Century.

The Town Hall was an interesting place to visit. It was formerly some kind of Abbey, as you can tell from the inner quadrangle and cloisters. But we couldn’t go inside for a nosey – it’s lunch time already.

And what do you notice here? Yes – a blue sky. It was depressing, wet and miserable this morning, just like me. But now it looks as if the sun might be coming out.

clermont ferrand puy de dome franceThe Christmas Market was next on the agenda. That was in the square at the back of the cathedral, the square that is dominated by the Puy de Dome, which you can see all bathed in snow and wun on the skyline in the background.

At the market I bought my final Christmas present, so I’m glad that I came here, and then we headed off to the Tourist Information and the Conseil General where I picked up an enormous pile of stuff for Radio Anglais. We won’t be complaining about lack of events and information now for quite a while with all of this stuff that I’ve collected, and I made a couple of useful contacts too.

big wheel ferris place de jaude clermont ferrand puy de dome franceMy main reason for being here though is to hold Marianne’s hand on the big ferris wheel in the Place de Jaude. In her capacity as hournalist she decided that it would be quite a plan to get to the top and take some decent photos, but she’s not very good at heights. Consequently I was roped in for moral support.

The wheel is quite high as you can see, and the views from the top, such as this one looking north-west, are absolutely splendid. Mind you, I was quite disappointed as it was the smoothest ride that i’ve ever had. It gave no real sensation of movement and it certainly didn’t seem as if we were anything like this high.

cathedral clermont ferrand puy de dome franceMind you, another lifetime’s ambition has been accomplished. Taking a photo of the cathedral at Clermont Ferrand is next-to-impossible as it is hemmed in by all kinds of other buildings and there’s no really good shot.

I’ve been experimenting with extreme-length telephoto lenses from the surrounding summits of the Faille de Limagne but they haven’t really worked out. But sod that for a game of soldiers now. Up here is the nicest view of the cathedral that anyone could hope to see.

So a visit to a bookshop, a quick coffee and then back to the bus and home to 2°C.The temperature has plummetted and we might well be back into winter at last.

Thursday 19th December 2013 – FIAT LUX!

12 volt DC electric lighting LED les guis virlet puy de dome franceNo – we aren’t talking about Italian cars and washing powder here, it’s that we now have power and light upstais in the downhill lean-to.

I was fed up of trailing cables all over the place, which is what I’ve been having to do for the last couple of days, and so bearing in mind that I did some wiring in there a while ago and that I also drilled a hole through the wall into the house last year, I hunted down a cheap American extension and fed it through the hole.

I then collected all of the loose wires, joined them together ( and these French cable connectors are the bees’ knees that’s for sure. I’m going to go round and replace every single one of my “chocolate block” connectors), threaded them through a conduit and put a plug on the end. With a switch wired in for working the lights as well, I plugged the circuit in and there we are!

But just looking at this image here, It’s hard to realise that just two years ago, there was almost nothing of that far wall, no flooring and no roof either. That lean-to has come a long way when you consider all of that.

After lunch I measured up for the shelving unit that I’m going to build, and tracked down the demi-chevrons that I need for the uprights as well as a few laths for the horizontal shelf supports. The uprights were cut to the approximate size and the front uprights were cut and marked for the horizontals, but I didn’t have time to finish them.

Firstly Marianne phoned me about tomorrow and then Rosemary rang for a natter. It’s always nice to talk to friends and I welcome every opportunity that there is, even if it does mean that I fall behind with my work. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Tomorrow I’m off to Clermont, on the bus would you believe? It’s Pionsat’s annual shopping day and I mustn’t miss it.

Friday 13th December 2013 – DO YOU REMEMBER …

dry stone wall where wood shed was les guis virlet puy de dome france … yesterday when I was talking about the stone wall here?

The old woodshed was on those pallets just there and the wood was stacked up against the wall. The wall is honeycombed with all kinds of things growing in it but that part there, where the wood has been for about 3 years or more, nothing at all has been able to grow in that.

les guis virlet puy de dome franceConsequently, it’s perfectly clean and weed-free and I want to keep it like that. Hence my decision to mortar the joints, even though it’s supposed to be a dry stone wall.

Not only does it look much prettier like that, then nothing will grow in it either, I hope, and that will be one less thing to have to worry about.

It took me most of the day to do that as I had to clean off all of the moss and the like, and in a few places I had to build parts of it back up again. There were also a few weeds growing in the top and so I had to pull them out. But here we are anyway, one wall about a third done.

This evening I went round to Marianne’s as she was having computer issues. And after I had sorted those out, Marianne cooked some food which was really nice of her.

And it’s rained this evening. First time in well over a week.

Friday 29th November 2013 – I MADE IT OUT THIS MORNING …

… but it was rather touch and go as it as another one of those cold clammy mornings where I didn’t really feel too much like crawling out of my stinking pit.

But anyway after breakfast I had to unload Caliburn of all the wood that I had bought the other day and that’s all now in the barn. Then round to Marianne’s and then on to St Maurice.

laurent dumas pierrette ray jean yves gouttebel st maurice pres pionsat puy de dome franceFirst thing that was happening there was a meeting of the officials of the Canton of Pionsat and for the first time that I can ever recall, we had all 10 mayors present at the same time.

And not only that, we had Laurent Dumas, the canton’s delegate to the Departmental Conseil-General and also Jean-Yves Gouttebel, the President of the Conseil-General, in attendance. We were really honoured and it seems that I am once more moving in exalted circles.

new road opening st maurice pres pionsat puy de dome franceThe purpose of being at St Maurice was for the formal opening of a road. Not a new road, but a realignment of an existing highway that has just had a great deal of money spent on it.

Someone produced a tricolour ribbon and so we had Dumas and Gouttebel standing in the middle of the road cutting the ribbon – something that would have been quite exciting had there been a truck or something coming the other way.

Long-term followers of this rubbish know that St Maurice is famous for its exotic cars – there are a few crazy mechanics here and on one occasion they had an exhibition of their output.

la jonquille longest car in the world st maurice pres pionsat puy de dome franceOne such vehicle is “La Jonquille” – claimed by its builder to be the longest car in the world, and St Maurice is where it lives.

It’s rather loosely based on a Peugeot 403 estate as you can see – well, several Peugeot 403s in fact.

Later that afternoon I went to pick up Marianne again this time for Riom for the annual meeting of journalists of La Montagne – the local newspaper. Where the meeting was to be held was only a mile or so from the big LeClerc hypermarket at Mozac and so we went an hour or so early so that I could do my next week’s shopping. No sense in missing an opportunity for that and it saves me going to St Eloy tomorrow.

Back here later it was taters upstairs and so I had the biggest fire I’ve ever had. That increased the room temperature 15°C in an hour or so and that’s some going, and it cooked my tea in record time.

So now I’m off to bed – I’m doing “minding” duties tomorrow.

Now I

Wednesday 27th November 2013 – I’VE FINISHED …

… building the framework for the woodshed, and the two sides are assembled. It doesn’t half look serious too, as indeed it should – 2 metres high and 1.5 metres deep and it will be 4 metres wide when it’s properly assembled.

Next stage of course is to dig the holes in order to plant the legs of the sides, but I’m not sure that I’ll be doing that tomorrow. Right now, it’s -7°C outside and dropping rapidly, and with one of the clearest starry skies that I have seen for a while, there’s no limit as to how low it might go.

Mind you, we had a gorgeous day today as well. Hardly a cloud in the sky all day and 78 amp-hours in the electric water-heater. It was quite enjoyable working outside.

And I’ll tell you something else. If you remember back to September, I bought a Ryobi Plus One Impact bit driver, and I used it today. It gets through the batteries but it drove the 6×60 screws right into the wood without very much effort at all, without any pilot holes – and we are talking real wood too, not this resinous pine stuff. I was well-impressed with that.

I finished that about 15 minutes before it went dark so I had a wood-cutting session – some of the rotten beams that I’d pulled out. And then I had to go to Marianne’s – she’s upgraded her computer but half of the programs that she has wouldn’t install. Hardly surprising, as some were for W98, but others just needed a little tweak. And back home, I had Rosemary on the phone for 15 minutes.

Now I have the fire banked up and I’m going nowhere.

Tuesday 19th November 2013 – YEEUUUCCCHHH

It’s been one of “those” days again. When the alarm went off, it was dark outside, which it shouldn’t be at 07:30 in the morning. And as it wasn’t getting any lighter, I finally crawled out of my stinking pit to see what was going on and, sure enough, we had another hanging cloud. This one was right over the house, the barn and everywhere and you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face outside.

What a start to the day.

Consequently I was in no hurry to start work this morning which was just as well for at 10:00 I had a phone call from Marianne. One or two things with which she has been dealing seem to have gone tits-up in rather a spectacular fashion and so I told her I’d pop round for a coffee and a chat. That solved my problem about working anyway.

After a lengthy chat and a couple of coffees I came back here and started on the barn again. I’ve had a real go at that and a couple more bin-bags of rubbish, as well as a hibernating dormouse, were put outside ready to go to the tip. And as the day advanced, I ended up clearing quite a reasonable amount of floor space and that is good news for when I need to empty Caliburn. I might even have space to put the stuff now. And if the weather keeps on being thoroughly miserable, I might do even more good. You never know.

And the chances of that happening are very good, as it happens. For when I stuck my head outside just now, it was snowing. First snow of the winter.

Ahhh well …