… that I have a splitting headache and I’ll be off to bed in an instant, I had another afternoon out. If I’m not careful I’ll be making a habit of it.
But with it being Easter I had a day off and did absolutely nothing at all. Highlight was watching a DVD of a Nosby Stills and Crash concert that has been hanging around here for years. I’m going to have to find a good program on the internet to rip the sound-track to use on the radio programme.
But before anyone says anything, because it has been mentioned in the past, there are no issues with doing this – ripping sound tracks and the like – because with it being a bona fide radio station (in fact, all of those for whom we contract are) they pay a licence to the Performing Rights Society or whatever the French equivalent of that, and so whatever they broadcast (which includes our programmes and the contents thereof) is covered. Just so that you know.
In fact it rather reminds me of the time back in the 1980s when I was driving a tour bus for Shearings Holidays and showing a copied video-cassette of Carry On Camping
“Why?” I asked
“Isn’t that a pirated video you are showing?”
“Well, as a matter of fact it is”
“Well I’m going to prosecute you!”
“No you aren’t” I told him
“Why not?”
“Because what you do is that you report me to the copyright holder and the copyright holder sues the owner of the coach – as they have the vicarious liability of the actions of their employees”
“So who owns the copyright of the ‘Carry-on’ films?” asked my passenger
“The Rank Organisation” I replied
“And who owns this coach?”
“The Rank Organisation”
Mr know-it-all then went and sat back down again, suitably deflated.
I hate doing this kind of thing to people, but sometimes, it does have to be said that anyone who sticks his head above the parapet deserves to catch all of the flak.
This afternoon, Marianne rang me up. If you remember from last year, the town of Pionsat has bought a derelict art-deco maison de maître in the town with the aim of demolishing it and building a new salle de fêtes. We went round to have a good look at it at the time.
It seems that they have now started to dismantle it and Marianne noticed that the rear door had gone so that people could now enter into it without the key to have a good look around. Was I doing anything?
Needless to say, I don’t need to be asked twice, so off I shot into town and we went for a prowl around.
I took loads more photos to add to the huge stack that I took the last time I was here, including this splendid one of the village of La Cellette right across the valley with the magnificent La Cellette viaduct on the long-abandoned Montlucon-Gouttieres branch of the Paris-Orleans railway in the background
After our little clandestine wandering we then went for a wander around the outskirts of the town looking for the traces of the ditch that brought the water from the river down to the old water-mill as the owners of the mill want to restart the water wheel.
After much protracted searching we managed to trace the entire track all the way back to the river. It’s been fairly well damaged and needs quite some expense to bring it back to a decent state.
As well as that, Marianne also gave me a pile of press cuttings from the local paper – all stuff that I had contributed over the last year or so. I keep a file of that kind of stuff – you never know when it might come in handy.
