Family Tree

I am the oldest male in my family tree stemming from my parents still alive.

I am the second oldest person still alive in my line of family tree stemming from my grand parents. (oldest male)

I am the fourth oldest person still alive in my family tree stemming from my great-grandparents. (oldest male)

I am the fifth oldest person still alive in my family stemming from my great-great-grandparents (oldest male)

No idea after that.

That is a lot of generations and lines that I am now patriarch to. The first time it hit me was on the death of my father a few years back when I realised I was now "head of the family" as the oldest male. (I haven't mentioned that to my mother as she would tell me not to be silly and send me to my room. Even though I'm 800 miles away. And I'm 62). But that's the tradition if not the reality of modern life. Although at that time I was only thinking of my immediate family.

So at some point this crown will pass to my brother, although hopefully not for a bit yet, and assuming I don't outlive him.

Luckily there are many more people below me than above on the tree. I just hope all those people aren't looking to me for an inheritance, they are going to be sorely disappointed.

Unless they want a piece of wistreia that I finished off today. Huzzah!

Loupia Lopping

So today, thanks to the weather turning somewhat warm and hitting 18° we took to the garden. We have a wisteria coming across the back of house and has entwined itself along a frame that covers a small terrace. It's very pretty when it is in flower. It is also a bloody nuisance when the blossom all falls off!

Armed with a pruning saw, loppers, and a steely will, I have cleared half of it. The easy half. The bit that is left is the stuff that has entwined itself around the frame and needs to be cut off in small pieces. I wouldn't mind it I could get my chain saw to if but the metal is so embedded it is not an option. Also, we are trying to do it slightly on the quiet so our neighbour doesn't realise what we are doing. Not that he minds, but being German he will have a more superior way of doing it and we haven't got time to listen to him and cut the wisteria back.

So, if we have another nice day tomorrow, I shall be reprising my role as Alan Titchmarsh and savaging the bastard thing.

All Change

When it's spring, a young woman's thoughts turn to moving furniture about. Well, an older woman who lives in Loupia does.

To be fair it was in response to a "problem" of my own making. We have two settees. A three seater which is where I tend to sit and a two seater which M normally frequents. My problem is that my settee is rather low, (they are not matching), and my knees are finding it harder and harder to hoist me upright. M's suggestion was that we just swapped settees. I, being the gentleman I am, said I didn't want her having to use the low settee either and we also have an armchair. So, for her to retain her settee and me to have the chair w needed to move all the furniture around, Setees went one way, then the other, chairs moved, rugs spun round, coffee tables angled. Nope, we didn't like it. On to lay out two. Everything moved again, Twice. We still didn't like the layout.

So we ended up putting everything back where it was and swapping settees. My knees are more comfortable, M doesn't mind her settee, and the cat is completely confused.

The Wanderer Returns

Firstly, here is a picture of the both of us which proves The Magnificent M isn't actually a goatee'd, tonsured monk with a bad habit.

Anyway, she is home today! Off to get her from Carcassonne Airport in a few minutes. (People might complain about Ryanair but 9.99€ is pretty good value for an 800 mile flight!).

I have survived other than that original injury and, he says proudly, although there is nothing really to be proud about, I didn't eat out once. In fact I only used a ready meal once and that was only part of a meal.

The house has been tidied to at least the point where she won't feel she immediately needs to start cleaning. I've managed to avoid doing any washing, that's clothing, not me, but she won't mind* and the cat is also still alive.

But by God I've missed her. Even though it is only a week. She'll be giving me grief later for not having finished some of the work that needed to be done, although the weather has been dreadful. I'd probably grind to a halt if she wasn't pushing me and I wouldn't have it any other way.


* other items I failed to do are available and will no doubt be pointed out.

Making a Mountain Out of a Molehill

Our big news at the end of last year, having been discussed for some time, is that The Magnificent M's daughter and fiancé are going to come out to France to join us. They will spend a year here and decide if they want to take the company over or whether a year in France is more than enough. They will come out New Year 2020 and stay till Xmas 2020 unless they decide to go ahead.

Anyhoo, that is just background. Whilst he is her fiancé presently the idea is that in May 2020 they will get married. But of course, nothing can be that simple in anymore. In my day, he says sagely, you went to the local church or register office and you got married. Job done. Nowadays such simplicity is eschewed.

So, the idea is that they wanted a beach wedding. OK, there are many to choose from and having spent some time narrowing down the chance to somewhere in Europe, and pretty much therefore the Med, they have decided on a Greek Island. Huzzah.

We then have another phone call a few weeks later saying they have a problem because they have just realised the wedding certificate will be in Greek and they want it in English. No problem, we say, you can get it translated.

A few days later it's yet another call. Nope, still don't fancy having the original certificate in Greek so on to plan B. They will get married later this year in the UK as a registry office with just two passers by as witnesses. That way they will have a UK certificate.

So what is happening with the Greek wedding. That is still going ahead. M & I are the only ones who know. She has not even told her sisters. There are going to be 30 people on a beach in Greece watching a bogus wedding and nobody is going to see the real one.

Then they will be having a UK party for all those who didn't go to Greece and see the wedding that wasn't.

So, they are going to have a real wedding anniversary, a bogus anniversary. Potentially they might have to have the UK certificate translated to Greek in order to have the bogus wedding carried out, and whether they do or not they will have to have it translated into French because they will need it here and France expect all foreign documents to be translated into French for legal purposes.

I hope they never have to get divorced, it's going to be a legal nightmare!

Five things

Five things I have recently bought but not used

A Dremel 3000
A Military Specification Anorak Smock
A practice kit for picking locks
A knife sharpening stone (Carbonundum?)
A large tube of Permaton.


Five things I have bought recently and opened.

A duo of penny whistles in the keys of C & D.
A large woolen jacket with integral hood
A cat scratching pole
A Celeriac "whatever it is called"
Eddy the Teddy

Snake and Pygmy

One thing we both miss here in France is pies! They do lots of pastry based things but not what you or I would call a pie. So last time we were across in Blighty we thought we would get a few Fray Bentos tinned pies so we could occasionally spoil ourselves.

I don't think it is illegal to bring tinned pies into France from the UK but we do like to think we might have smuggled them in, thereby adding flavour by the fact they would be contraband. It may well have added something but flavour hasn't been it. They have been a major disappointment. What meat there is, and there isn't much, isn't as flavoursome as we would like. Now this might be because of the change in our palettes. I longed for a sausage sandwich last time I was back but didn't enjoy it because there wasn't as much meat flavour as in our sausages here. However, I digress. We have now had two steak and kidney pies and one steak and ale. Just one of the latter to go. The other problem has been that the pastry hasn't cooked properly. The top layer rise and are fine but the layers just above the meat stay uncooked and slimy.

This was our great hope of pie nirvanha but alas we must wait until next visit where I shall be straight down the chippy for a Pukka Pie and chips. Now that's a proper pie!

Oh No You Didn't!

Oh yes I did!

Once again I trod the boards this last December bringing joy and happiness* to the masses in the hilarious tale of Robin Hood. Having played the baddie last year as Long John Silver I rather fancied myself as The Sheriff of Nottingham. Unfortunately the director had other ideas and so I ended up being Little John. Out of the four Merry Men we had plus our new recruit I was actually the only man, such are the trials and tribulations of amateur dramatics. Worse for the Magnificent M was that she ended up being Friar Tuck. Not her favourite role ever. And she will kill me because she appears on the video link below!

One of the reasons that I ended up being Little John was that the director wanted me to sing Bring Him Home for Les Mis. I am never going to get to play Jean Valjean on stage so for two and a half minutes I suspended the character I was meant to be and transported myself to my favourite musical.

The result is below. Not sure it is my best performance ever but it was nice to get a chance to tick it off the list of songs I've wanted to sing.

Bring Him Home

*it may in fact have brought despair and depression.

And they're off......

Greetings from what has been a relatively warm South of France on this glorious first day of February and the first day of Blogathon 2019. Don't get too jealous though, it seems to be a one day wonder and we are back to 5°C and rain again tomorrow.

I am presently looking after myself for a week because the Magnificent M has returned to the UK to see youngest daughter and grand-daughter. It is now 53 hours and I am still alive, this comes as a shock to both her and me. So far I have only injured myself once in the kitchen by slicing my finger on a can lid. Had we been in the UK I could have lived on ready meals and an occasional raid on fish and chip shops. Unfortunately the French aren't very good with ready meals and there is very little fast food. We have no curry house and only one Chinese, which is Vietnamese, so just isn't quite right. Therefore I am cooking for myself. I am no masterchef. I am not even a minorchef. So it was a burger last night and it was Thai noodles tonight. Not sure what I'll manage tomorrow.

And I guess now I'll have to master the dishwasher!

I can feel it coming........

Oh Lord!

In Flanders Field.......

I am a firm believer in the red poppy.

I could almost bring myself to wear a purple one for the animals who were killed in conflict.

But that's as far as I could go.

If people must wear a white poppy, either because they really don't understand what the red poppy symbolises or they feel a need to virtue signal, they do have the right, mainly thanks to the men for whom the red poppy is worn. I would however prefer them to choose one of the 364 other days in the year and leave the 11th for it's original remembrance.

I have been reading a book of David Mitchell's, comedy actor, writer and celebrity "quiz" contestant. He writes upon the subject of the Red Poppy and sums up how I see things but could never be as eloquent. I hope he won't mind me sharing part of it here.

The poppy is an incredibly moving symbol. This flower somehow flourished on battlefields smashed by the world's first experience of industrialised war - a war of unprecedented carnage which became almost as terrifying to the statesmen who had let it start as it was to the millions of soldiers who were killed or wounded by it.

Such was the international shock that, even after our side had won, no one could bring themselves to remember it with anything other than unalloyed sorrow. Not with victory arches or triumphal parades, but with the plain, mournful Cenotaph and a tradition of wearing paper versions of the flowers that had grown among the dead, the petals with which nature had rebuked the murderousness of men. That's why, whilst I understand the point they are trying to make, I disagree with those who eschew the red poppy but wear a white one for peace. To me, the poppy is already a pacifist rather than a martial symbol - a sign that war should be rejected at almost all costs.

The poppy represents the consensus that existed after the armistice - not a military or political consensus, but an emotional one: an overwhelming sense that the indiscriminate bloodletting of total war was too terrible ever to be forgotten, that only in solemn remembrance can any sense be made of those millions of deaths.

So, at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, I will be remembering

My grandfather, Thomas Kenna, who ended the war with a metal plate in his head and invalided out of the war with mustard gas poisoning. He was never able to work. He died in 1964. I can only remember him visually through pictures but I can still hear his laboured breathing as though it was yesterday.

My Great Uncle, Samuel Longbottom, who died 24/8/16 and lies in the Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt, France.

William (Willie) Lacey. who died 27/11/17 and is commemorated at the Cambrai Memorial, Louveral, France, as his body was never recovered. He was not a relative but a friend of Thomas Kenna, above. He made Thomas promise that if he, Willie, was killed, that Thomas would take care of the girl he was courting, Kathleen Haycocks. Thomas kept his promise, not only looking after her but doing so by marrying her. Kathleen was my beloved Grandma Kenna.

I will remember also, all their comrades who fell or made it through from wherever in the world and also the German troops and their allies, who my grandfather looked on as the same as him, young lads who were sent to the slaughter by politicians.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning - We Will Remember Them.

Recollections 1

This is thrilling, in a not very sort of a way. By adding that 1 to the title you know there is to be a follow-up, suitably titled Recollection 2. The big question is whether I will get round to writing it.

First things first though.

We have just been visited by my brother, G and his wife A. Myself and A didn't get off to a good start. And not just because she is loud with a capital L O U D, likes to shock for the sake of it. (We were in the middle of a restaurant the other day when she decided to talk loudly about vaginas for some reason. The 14 year old who was with us nearly died of shame and she had to walk away. And that is now that A has calmed down from what she was like.

I may have said before the real reason I don't see eye to eye with A. It goes back to their wedding some 35 years back this last month. Prior to the day I think I had only met her a couple of times as I had been living in Birmingham and they in London so had only seen her at my Mum's for occasional family meals. My brother had decided to have his best mate O to be his best man even though G had been mine. There was a really good reason for it and I was totally happy that O performed that duty but was pleased that G asked me to be a witness at the signing of the register. Anyway, come the glorious day, we turned up at church and Amanda was being the big I am and organising things, not like a traditional bride at all and Graham came up to me and took me to one side. He told me Amanda had decided that as her brother had come all the way from Australia he should have something to do, and that something was sign the register. Not that she got on with her brother, she can't stand him. And not in place of the other signatory which was one of her friends but in place of me. So that was that. My Mum could see I was absolutely fuming. Partly for my own disappointment but more so that she should stop Graham having who he wanted in his wedding party. The only role someone from his close family was actually involved in.

And so for 35 years I have resented it. I am a Yorkshireman and we take these things hard.

So during their visit, and I can't remember why, the subject of their wedding came up. And A says to me, "were you at our wedding?" I was very restrained and just said yes. Why she thought G's own brother wouldn't be there, Lord knows, but she obviously didn't care too much whether I was or not. I could of course decide after all this time to let it go. On the other hand, I have decided I'll just put another chalk mark on the tally of things to resent her for.

Can you tell that was a full on vent?

Greetings from Bedlam

Hello.

It is August.

It is madness

But today is actually a day off. Or a morning off so far, you can never tell whether a guest will ring with a problem. 

It is full on work at the moment with the turn-rounds and the pools.

This is our first Sunday off so far in 6 weeks. Last week was clear until Saturday evening and then we ended up working until 9 in the evening, which is a busier Sunday than a normal busy Sunday.

Anyway, I haven't got anything interesting to say.

I'll try not to leave it two months again.

Au revoir as they say here in Franceland.

Banal Blogathon 4

 

Keys. 

We have loads of them. 

That's only one board. 

We have another. 

And that's before all our personal keys. 

And all the ones in various drawers to go with houses we lived in previously. 

Or cars owned 30 years ago.

Keys of every description.

Probably.

Now you can get doors that open with an app on your phone. 

How good is that going to be!?!?!

Until your battery goes flat.

And your charger is indoors.

Behind the keyless door.

Banal Blogathon 3

We have a cat.

A cat that does this.

It really isn't helpful when you are trying to work on a laptop.

She knows numerous shortcuts.

She knows how to turn the screen so it reads sideways. Or sometimes back to front.

This takes her a matter of seconds and me a matter of hours to fix it.

Sometimes she decides it is better if she decides to sit right in front of my face rather than on the keyboard. Usually with her backside towards me, which isn't the best view.

Which reminds me of the Kenn Dodd joke bout the man who invented cat's eyes.

So he is driving along one day and sees a cat in his headlights, he notices how reflective they are and he goes back to his workshop. He makes these cat's eyes for the ministry of transport and they take them on as a safety feature. It's funny how things work out. If the cat had been facing the other way he'd have invented the pencil sharpener!

Banal Blogathon 2

Wall art. What's all that about?

Of course we know what it is all about. There has been a trend of decorating the walls of ones house throughout the ages. The Romans had their murals, later we had wall hangings and tapestries. By the 16th and 17th centuries paintings were the big thing. Now for some reason we have decided to adorn our walls with bits of twisted metal.

This photo shows two panel that adorn our lounge wall. I have no idea what they are meant to represent. Are they planets? Perhaps they are the bubbles in a glass of our local tipple Blanquette de Limoux. Perhaps they aren't anything but discs for discs sake.

An Old Master can set you back millions, tapestries many thousands but I suspect, even in a couple of hundred years, people won't be queuing up in Antiques Roadshow 2218 with a rare piece of wall art. Assuming there is any left that hasn't rusted away.

Banal Blogathon 1

So here we are back at Bren's June Blogathon contribution - The Banal Blogathon. And I'm late. I suppose I should do a banal post as to my lateness but I wont.

The English word banal comes from the French word banel. Unfortunately, as an object, banal or banel don't exist, so instead I give you ........

BANANAS!

I like a banana, with custard, ice cream, perhaps in a sandwich. The problem is I like a slightly under ripe banana and I can't get them in France. In fact I can't get a decent banana for love nor money. The French prefer wherever possible to use home grown produce or something from a French colony. Unfortunately it would appear none of the French colonies were banana growing ones. Sometimes if we are really unlucky we have some grown in France. They shouldn't bother.

It drives me bananas!

It Pays to Check

I needed to go out and buy some grub screws today. My French may be improving but not to the standard that I can name all types of ironmongery available. So time to call in the help of an online translator.

English  -  Grub Screw
French  -  Vis a Ver

OK. Vis is often the basis of any type of screw so thought there was a good chance for once it might be right. Still, one can never be quite sure so when in doubt, reverse translate.

French  -  Vis a Ver
English  -  Fuck of Worm

Probably as well I didn't ask anyone!

Memory Lane

Tonight Mathew, I am watching the Old Grey Whistle Test.

Not a great lover of rock music or prog rock or anything much when I was a teenager but I used to watch this. Mainly I suspect so I knew what everyone else was talking about. Indeed, Danny Baker is saying much the same thing at this very minute.

Good old Whispering Bob Harris. He managed to make it exciting and secretive, being part of this special world of bands. Bands that weren't going to appear on TOTP, or very few of them.

I suspect many watching tonight wish they would bring it back.

But they won't. Who needs a program where people can actually play musical instruments, can sing in tune without autotune and don't have a "journey" with which to draw in the public. Just groups of musicians sitting around making music. How the hell is Simon Cowell going to make a fortune with that!

Good Vibrations

I have a strange disease. I don't know whether it is known to the medical community or not. I have decided to call it mobile leg.

I keep my mobiles in my right trouser pocket. I have for years. But I have noticed over the last year or so that sometimes it feels like my phone is vibrating for an incoming call. When my phone isn't in my pocket. Which is weird. And my left leg never does it.

Have my leg muscles learnt to vibrate? Should I accept things as they are but panic if it starts to play a ringtone? Is a leg vibrating whilst driving against the law? Do I have to give my leg back at the end of the contract?

Come on medical world. It's all very well curing the common cold etcetera but this is what people* are demanding a cure for!


* People may in fact just be one person in this instance.

Work Overload

It is of course our slow time of year. And it will continue to be so. But I am about to have 6 weeks of work to do at home.

My mother has come back with me from the UK to stay for 6 or so weeks. This spells trouble. Not because she is any trouble per se, You couldn't have a nicer house guest, but last year Marj discovered a secret. Having spent months trying to get me to put shelves up, curtain rails et al, she mentioned to my mum she was still waiting. My mother turned round every couple of days to ask if I'd done such and such. She then proceeded to suggest I get off my back side and do it. So I did.

Marj was astonished at how I just went and did things at her suggestion when she was hitting her head against a brick wall. As Mum said, "because I'm his mother". This year she has made a bit of a list so my mother can get me to do them during her stay.

Today we met a couple of friends and I was telling the husband the story and my mum was there, before we got to the very end he said "because it's your mum!".

Us boys are very well trained as far as our mothers are concerned!

You've let yourself down, the school down, and the blogosphere down!

Well, there we go. In a complete replay of my school years, by leaving my posts until the last minute each day, the moment something went wrong there was no chance to recover and therefore I have missed handing in yesterdays homework and have failed my February blogging course.

It should have all gone so smoothly. A trip out to Godfreys Fish & Chips at Harpenden, a post prandial drink, and then back to base with an hour to spare. But then things got a bit later and we all got chatting and then the chimes of midnight struck, I ran so that I could get to my computer to post and on the way I lost my glass slipper.

Tonight was going to be the problem as I have a party to go to and once I leave at 10am today I won't be back until the wee small hours of tomorrow morning. Instead however, I have fallen at the fence before by taking my eye off the ball and hitting my own wicket whilst mixing large numbers of metaphors.

Oh well, perhaps Feb 2019 will be the year when I get properly organised!

End of an Era

I was going through some of my old haunts today. Things change all the time and a couple of groups I belong to on Facebook often post pictures from the area many years back which are interesting to see or even remember but today I passed a place and realised an era had come to an end.

When I was a wee lad a friend of my mum used to cut my hair, and once he moved on to the big barber shop in the sky I used to visit a salon of hirsutedness over the road, but rather than cut my hair the way I wanted they would cut it too short. This was the 70s and short hair was very old hat. They would style your hair and indeed, it looked like a very old hat. Boom Boom as Basil Brush would say.

Come 1972 my Grandma got remarried and I needed my hair marginally cut but styled. My dad said "why not try my barber" so off we trotted to Dave the Barber. I was 16 and needed to have my hair tidy enough for parents to approve and long enough that I could get into trouble at school thereby maintaining some sort of street cred.

Whilst this was taken a few weeks later, here I am, resplendent with longish hair.

Whatever happened to that young lad about town! My mother insisted I should have some "portraits done" at a local photographers otherwise no evidence would exist.

Anyway, so lasted a relationship with Dave until last year. When I approached the age  where I could reverse the figures above and Dave decided to retire.

All through those years, although I occasionally had to use other barbers Dave was my number 1 man. He was the man who changed my styles for 40 years as hairlines receded and thinned.

The last time I went, around a year ago, resulted in the following.

A somewhat shorter, greyer, style than when he started. And yes, that is The Magnificent M!

Today I drove past the shop and, although still a barbers, it was modernised. No more pictures of 1950's styles with brylcreemed models looking wistfully into the distance. The old style red leather chairs with the board that went across for the kids to sit on. His Wanted Poster that his kids had bought him one Fathers Day. The bay rum, brylcreem, rubber puffer full of talc for the back of your neck, all gone.

I hope the retirement is going well and you've got a place in Italy to holiday in even if you aren't living there. After 40+ years I must have paid you enough money to at least enjoy a bit of your new found freedom! 

No Frills, No Problems

Greetings from England. Except you are already in England. So it only me who is abroad.

Once again I landed upon these shores thanks to Mr Ryanair. They get a lot of bad press but I have to say in my experience they have always been really good. Take this journey for instance. It cost me 12.99€. To fly the thick end of a thousand miles. You can't even by a large pizza for that, well not at Pizza Hut anyway.

The journey takes 2 hours and 5 minutes on the way here. It is 10 minutes less on the way back but that might be because it is downhill on a globe. I buy a can of drink airside at Carcassonne and ta
ke that on the plane with me. Even I can last for 2 hours without needing a meal so there is no need to spend any money on the plane itself.

There are of course the extras you can buy. I took priority booking which cost an extra 2€. Firstly, because I always have a window seat it means I can get on firstish and get to my seat without having to climb over anyone. Although today I excelled and was first on the plane! The baggage allowance has changed and you are only allowed a handbag, manbag, or laptop case in the cabin. Unless you have priority booking when you can still have your small case in the overhead locker. If you don't have priority your small case can go in the hold and it doesn't cost you anything. Larger cases are chargeable. And it also means you don't have to queue for your bags at Stanstead which can take quite a time.

The flight left on time and arrived 5 minutes early so the only downside was they played their fanfare but luckily nobody clapped which is often what happens. Actually the other downside was a bit of a bumpy landing but that wasn't their fault. That was God who arranged that. I think it possibly also got hit with a gust of wind just as we touched down because not only did it bump but it seemed to skid slightly which isn't surprising given the torrential rain that was pouring down at the time.

So hurrah for cheap air travel. All that for less than the price of a pizza. I would have taken some photos but we were either in cloud or it was dark. So to compensate, here is a picture of a grasshopper I took last Monday.

Can You Dig It?

Well, the local electrical company can. They are moving us from overhead lines to underground cables. Much has been done today and we've only just got wi-fi back so just a quick blog tonight. It'll be the same tomorrow but I will avoiding it, cos I'm on my travels. Back in dear Old Blightly tomorrow and on my Mums' fast and stable  broadband.

Hopefully when I get back our cat won't have got too curious and ended up buried under the tarmac!

Schadenfraude (or however you spell it).

We get on pretty well with our owners. They obviously pay our "wages" but in the end, we tend not to get every penny we can out of them, which is probably a mistake, but anyway that's how we are. We believe in a bit of give and take. We charge more for our complete property management service that if an owner sources all the separate components themselves as they are cutting out the middle man. And that is fine, you can't win 'em all.

So the other week we had an enquiry from a very large house not too far away from us to quote for a full management service. We did so and slightly under what we should have charged because there was a lot involved. They decided we were too expensive. No problem, we don't need any extra owners but we could have outed a couple of others with their replacement.

So earlier today, on a facebook group I follow, there was a request from someone for recommendations for a plumber as they had an emergency and needed to get it sorted out. Well, well, it was the same people. If they had gone with us there would have been a plumber in today. So now they know why what we offer might cost a little more. If everything goes right you have saved money, if it doesn't it costs more in money and more importantly, stress.

No, I didn't recommend anyone. I did however have a little sense of "satisfaction" that their decision had come back to bite them. It doesn't show me in the best of light but better than if I had replied on the page asking whether they had thought of getting a property management company.

Slipping into old age.

Following young Mashers post this morning, which in turn follows young Brennigs post the other day, I too am going to on breakfasts. Well not just breakfasts but all meals.

If I had kids we would be eating breakfast, lunch and our evening meal at a table, as a family. That alone will let any parents reading this know that I don't have kids as that's a fairyland scenario. Anyway I don't so we can be a little more relaxed. And since xmas our efforts to eat on our laps has been made easier.

We obviously had trays before but now we have......

To be fair, we didn't buy them ourselves. They were a present. Nor are they that design. We aren't so old as to actually buy them. They are, however, quite useful. Particularly when you use them with liquids in the bowl or on the plate.

It definitely feels like a heavy move towards older age but still realising they are a good idea and feeling a bit depressed about it.

Still, at least it isn't a zimmer frame yet. But who knows what we will get for Xmas next year!

Ziggy Played Guitar

46 years ago today in a London pub, David Bowie came on stage in a new persona. Nobody I know was there. In fact not many people were, it was a small pub. It was four months before the LP came out and it is the first musical event that seemed to unite virtually everyone in my class at school. Those more in the know than me started talking about it and enough excitement was generated that by the time we first saw Starman on Top of the Pops we were hooked on Bowie.

It isn't that we hadn't heard of him before. My brother had Hunky Dory. It did absolutely nothing for me. I listened to it again a couple of weeks back and it still just sounded like wallpaper to me.

Ziggy however was totally different.experience. We talked about every performance we saw. And when the album was out we discussed each track. Learnt them. Sang them. We were all our own Ziggys. There was much air guitar playing to Mick Ronson.

Bowie caught our attention like no one had before. Or possibly since.

Traffic News

There was a report this week on the UK's busiest roads. The winner was the A406, North Circular Hanger Lane to Chiswick Roundabout. A stretch of road I know well. And indeed the local website mentioned it here.

The website also gives you major roadworks in the area. For the next couple of weeks or so there is one here.

That's certainly going to help with the congestion. I know they have to do the work but it always takes so long in the UK.

I expect the tailback to be somewhere about Leicester.

It Never Rains In Southern California.

So sang Albert Hammond. Although I prefer his single Free Electric Band. Anyway, I digress. It never rains in Southern California sang Albert Hammond.

It does however snow in Southern France.

That was a surprise when we woke up.

And I'm not sure the vines at the bottom of the road are going to be happy about it.

This at least explains why it has been so bloody cold lately.

If we had this amount of snow, which is quite a bit for our village, I can't wait to see the mountains when the cloud lifts!

Old Man - New Technology

So, I signed up for that there Google Play Music service. For a few pennies less than ten pounds I can access virtually every record ever made, except the ones by my mate Phil Martin, the Languid Balladeer.

Anyway, I've been merrily having my free trial month and half way through, The Magnificent M, being impressed that she could listen to her old heartthrob, David Cassidy, incessantly, decided we should invest a further five pounds a month for Family Membership, which means she can use it as well.

All would have been well except, having signed up for individual membership on my French profile, I managed to sign up for family membership on my uk profile. Both use the same gmail address so it shouldn't be too hard to move the membership from one to the other. And yet it is. Talking to the Google Play help desk is proving trying as even with screenshots they aren't able to see what the problem is. Even after a week.

I have a feeling this might run for some time.But it's not all bad. I can still listen. Even if it isn't to Phil.

Escale à Sète

And now I get to tie up two previous posts. Back in October I mentioned I was a member of The Aude Shantymen, Singing in harmony with the sea. Supposedly. Then not 72 hours ago I outed myself as Long John Silver.

The Escale à Sète festival is a maritime festival lasting a week on an annual basis. Sailing ships from round the world converge on the port and from our point of view there is a shanty singing concert/competition. And we also get to go round bars singing and getting free drinks. But the most interesting bit is we get invited to sing on some of the sailing ships. Like proper pirate type ships. With sails! And ropes! And probably a cat with 9 tails!!

And we are going to dress up. As pirates. Some of us haven't been this excited since our 7th birthday party!

Tally Ho!

The annual cull of deer in Richmond Park is about to start. There will be the normal outcry that follows this announcement. It is an emotive subject. When I was young, late teens/early 20s I was very against hunting, culling, etc. Indeed, I was banned from Selfridges for harassing a woman in the fur department and telling her the coat she was wearing looked better on the animal than her.

My views now I am older seem to have mellowed or maybe swung the other way. Maybe I'm not as susceptible to a furry friend as I once was.

I used to drive through Richmond Park a few times a week. I got to recognise the differing herds. And I also got to spot the deer that weren't going to be there for much longer. Some were easy to spot. The white deer, those that were carrying injuries, those that were smaller. The deer are remarkably successful at breeding and increase their numbers by too large a percentage each year. So how do you keep the numbers down? You can't give them away because you will be giving the worst stock to someone. In the end, having heard the arguments I think culling probably is the best solution. And the restaurants of Richmond have venison on their menu for time. As does Buckingham Palace as HM owns the deer.

Down here in the South of France we have a similar problem but with Wild Boar. I've seen 3 or 4 whilst we've been here and I thought there were probably a fair number around. I wasn't sure what a fair number would be. Maybe a hundred or so in the near vicinity. I know there are many hunters and they might get one, they might not. On a good day they get a few. Over the season so far, which started in October, at a nearby town, Puivert, so far in the immediate vicinity they have culled over 3000. 3000!!! I'm surprised you can drive down the road without running the buggers over. And they can be vicious as well. Apparently they have bred exceptionally well this year. The hunters are having a field day. And all our restaurants and supermarkets are brimming with "sanglier". The French are a little more  sanguine about things than the good burghers of West London and Surrey.  There won't be many voices of dissent to the hunting down here.

Not these days, Guv'

Some time back, young Mr Masher was so good as to point out the lyrics of Grease Lightning which were certainly not what one would have imagined in such a wholesome film as Grease with that nice young Olivia Newton-John.

There is a song from the 70's which gets played on French radio quite often, probably because they like the tune. I'm not sure whether it is played much in the UK any more. Whilst it is a perfectly innocent song, in this day and age, when everything is scrutinised to the nth degree to see if something is politically incorrect or depraved, and I don't mean singing about hoes and drugs because apparently that is acceptable, I suspect the record company wouldn't have allowed it to be released.

The record is Clare by Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Put on your best Puritan hat and read the lyrics. As you can't walk down the street and look at a child for fear of accusations I think you will see why this is of a time past.

Clair
The moment I met you, I swear.
I felt as if something, somewhere, 
Had happened to me, which I couldn't see.
And then, the moment I met you, again.
I knew in my heart that we were friends.
It had to be so, it couldn't be no.
But try as hard as I might do, I don't know why.
You get to me in a way I can't describe.
Words mean so little when you look up and smile.
I don't care what people say, to me you're more than a child.
Oh Clair. Clair ...
Clair
If ever a moment so rare 
Was captured for all to compare.
That moment is you in all that you do.
But why in spite of our age difference do I cry.
Each time I leave you I feel I could die.
Nothing means more to me than hearing you say,
"I'm going to marry you. Will you marry me? Oh hurray!"
Oh Clair Clair ...
Clair
I've told you before "Don't you dare!"
"Get back into bed."
"Can't you see that it's late."
"No you can't have a drink."
"Oh allright then, but wait just a minute."
While I, in an effort to babysit, catch up on my breath,
What there is left of it.
You can be murder at this hour of the day.
But in the morning the sun will see my lifetime away.
Oh Clair Clair ...
Oh Clair

There is a misprint in the lyrics though which actually makes it a little more explanatory. It shouldn't be Oh Hurray!, the lyrics are actually Uncle Ray this being a song he wrote when his niece. who is called Clare, was young. Then again, I'm not sure Uncles would be looked on any more favourably.

The Man of a Thousand Faces

This last December I took part in my first pantomime for about 40 years. And for the first time ever I got to be the baddie! And yes, it was in France but luckily we were performing it in English. I couldn't have coped with shouts of "Oh non ce n'est pas" or "derriere toi!". Anyway, it was Treasure Island and I got to play Long John Silver.

Of course, as you can see, my appearance was totally based on Johhny Depps character, Captain Jack Sparrow. It is now law that all pirates have to look like him. You will no doubt see the similarity.

No, it's not quite there is it. I did however remind myself of somebody. And it took few days to work it out. It was of course, jazz player and food critic, Jay Rayner, son of Claire Rayner, for those old enough to remember TVs most prominent agony aunt of the 80s (?).

Others suggested that it might in fact be rock god Frank Zappa.

Other suggestions welcome!

United Nations

On Friday afternoons, when we aren't busy, ourselves, Birgit who live next door, and Joelle who lives one house further on, spend an hour or so talking in French. It helps to improve our French conversation and also Birgit's, who is German, and for Joelle, who is French, it has given her an extra social occasion. In general the conversation flows, although mine is more of a trickle, but occasionally we go down a certain route and it all falls apart. That's when we move into our Franglais +, known to us as Franglaismande! Between us we can manage the following;

French English German
Dave Middling Fluent None*
The Magnificent M Very good Fluent Did A level
Birgit Quite good Good Fluent
Joelle Fluent Some None

* I can manage zwei bier!

We have conversations to try and explain certain things where every sentence in one language follows on to another sentence with a differing language. I'm not sure it helps. Instead of one person not understanding something and needing an explanation it disintegrates into a babble of confused multinational voices until someone takes control.

I wonder if the European Parliament has this many problems?

Blogathon 2018

So, we have broken from the traps. Whilst I stand in the very shadow of Masher and his 12 years before the mast I think this is year 5 for me. For some reason I did 2012 and then had a few years off. And then for some reason I started again. Madness, I tell you! And once again I find myself with nothing in the draft folder to start with despite my best intentions. I dream of the day when I have 28 posts sat there waiting for me just to publish one.

As I sit here typing, the Magnificent M asked me;

What are you doing? Blogging?
Yes, it's February!
Oh God, not again. It can't be February again already!

That is the sort of pressure us Feb bloggers have to endure! Still, it's satisfying to know that the Blogathon is known further afield than just the three of us who do it! Sometimes.

Blogathon Eve?

Who can tell? There has been no pre-warning. Will tonights supermoon make a difference? So, tomorrow may herald a new day of blogging brilliance or it might just be another day. The world waits!

WebOct 31

So where to end up? It's a site which is very much a work in progress. Hopefully by Spring it will be fully built and populated. It is the website for our business.

VACANCES D'AUDE.

It's not the world's most interactive site, not technically brilliant, but I can build it which at least makes me feel useful.

And if as normal there isn't much happening here after today, it will be because I am trying to work on the above.

WebOct 30

Today's site is just coming into it's own,

CHRISTMAS MARKETS.

If you fancy a trip to a Christmas market in France, Switzerland or Belgium, this is the site for you. A day trip or a weekend away to get you in the Christmas mood whilst visiting a picturesque town or city is usually a pleasure. The big cities are obviously very busy but it certainly feels more authentic than most of the UKmarkets manage. It helps haveing much colder tempertures, and they do make an excellent vin chaud!

When we lived in the UK we used to do Lille some years and we also did Bruges. I can recommend both. Go on, give yourself a treat. Eurostar makes is so easy.

WebOct 29

Today we have a shopping site I have been known to use.

MY SUPERMARKET

Usually I do it because there is aone off item I want and I want to know where I can get it cheapest. Such as this evening. We are coming back to the UK at the end of this week and I will be looking to buy a large multipack of Diet Cokes. The best value appears to be a 24 can pack at Iceland for £6.50 but have discovered through this site that Asda do a 30 can pack and it is only £7.50. Bargain!

One feature it has I have never used, but think it would be useful for the weekly shop, is that you put in the groceries you want and it tells you which of the supermarkets can supply that total shop the cheapest. Of course, you could work out which shop sells each individual item cheapest and visit four or five of them but the petrol driving from one to the other might outway the savings.

Now, where can I get a bargain Malt Loaf...........

WebOct 28

Today's site is another nod towards my life here in France.

THE AUDE SHANTYMEN.

Although there is not one photo of me on there, this is the singing group I now belong to. If ever there is anything on here I want you to know about I will let you know!

WebOct 27

I've mentioned before, I'm sure, that I've dabbled a bit in astrology. And if you are going to do that you need this!

EPHEMERIS.

This is the position of ll the planets on a daily basis, which you want to know if you are casting horoscopes or birth charts etc, but actually it is a useful device if you are stargazing anyway as you can position the planets within the constellations. So it is astronomical as well as astrological.

It also gives the Sidereal Time, i.e. accurate time in space, for each day so is possible to calculate your exact time of birth. Nobody can be bor on February 29th as no day exists like that in the sidereal time calender so it is quite possible, for those born within a few hours of midnight, depending on the four year cycle we use for leap years, to have really been born on a different day. Which is intersting, or not.

I'm definitely not getting out enough!

WebOct 26

I'm not sure really how to describe the appeal of todays site.

BLITZORTUNG - Lightning and thunderstorms in real time.

The link is for the page that shows Western Europe and is probably the worst day for doing this as there is not one thunderstorm across the continent as I type this. A nasty storm to the East of Australia and a bunch of them just off the North African coast.

I do actually use it to see where the storms are in our bit of France sometimes or in the UK but then I also sometimes like to just see where there are major storms either in the US or Far East.

I think this might mean I'm a bit of a weather geek!

WebOct 25

You may or may not remember that last December I became the proud owner of a piano accordion. It was purchased from an auction house which I now keep an eye on. It is

BROMPTONS AUCTION HOUSE.

It really specialises in stringed instruments. They have auctions every two to three months. I have got used to the fact that violin bows often go for one to two thousand pounds but even I was somewhat amazed by this one

£57,000's worth of Cello Bow

And the most expensive violin this time was

£288,000's worth of violin.

My accordion was not of that price range!

For amateur dramatics there is an umberella organisation and is the fount of all knowledge.

NODA or the National Operatic & Dramatic Organisation.

as well as providing insurance for am dram companies they have awards and help promote companies, offer advice and help wth legal problems. We also get to check out what other companies are putting on and whether we want to run off and perform with them. They also offer reviews of performances which can sometimes be a good thing and sometimes not. In fact the pantomie I am performing in France is scripted by NODA which perhaps I shouldn't really be mentioning as it may not be licenced for eperformnce here. (Oh yes it is, oh no it isn't etc.).

I became very involved with them at one point when we discovered a problem with one of the reviewers and they were exellent at dealing with the situation.

Anyway, you can find your local societies if you want to go se a performance or perhaps tread the boards. And even mre imortant for a lot of companies, if you want to work backstage.

WebOct 23

Well, at least one of you will have thought this site would be coming up.

Geocaching. The problem is you might not be able t get very far with it, bar the same one person, as access requires sign up.

Anyway, if you haven't heard of Geocaching it is, or was, the finding of various hidden items by use of GPS, usually of a decent size in a nice location. That is how it was, now it is finding some mall film canister or smaller hidden somewhere not very interesting. However, don't get me started on that or there will be problems!

As well as finding them you get to hide tham too, and I used to have three physical caches but they have now been retired because they got "lost". There used to be something called a virtual cache which, instead of a physical cache, required you to find some information to claim the find. I still have one of those going. MMMonument. It has now been visited by over 5000 people who have visited London.

As for taking part, it is not something I do much now but as I have decided I need to do more walking this winter I might have to dust off my old hand held GPS.




.

WebOct 22

This is another site that will have little interest to anyone but me and locals who lived near where we were in London.

Brentford TW8.

This is one of the many community websites covering the country. It allows us to check what is still happening but mainly in a way that allows us to get anrgy about things that are happening. Nothing more enjoyable than becoming Mr and Mrs Angry!

WebOct 21

I don't have a lot to do with soaps. In fact other than occasionally watching Eastenders, TV soaps are a complete mystery to me. However, there is one soap I've been involved with for about 25 years now, although that is less than half it's number of broadcast years. It is of course.....

The Archers.

I started listening when I was driving for a living. When the repeat was the next day at 1.45pm in the afternoon rather than 2pm as now. One of the reasons I liked it was because it was gentle unlike TV soaps which are nothing but sensationalism and stressful event after event. Even when characters are killed off it tended to be done discretely. And I always knew what was happening in the farming year.

There have been a number of new scriptwrites over the last few years who are trying to drive it to be more gritty and get some controvertial storylines into it. But that isn't what The Archers were about. It would be nice if things were just left alone once in a while.

Anyway. if I miss anything or want ome background information. This is where I head.

WebOct 20

Todays visits

Narbonne Cathedral.

Jacqueline Riu. For M's benefit not mine.

And a walk along The Canal du Robine.

WebOct 19

Where we went today

Dali Theatre-Museum. More in a minute!

The City Arms. Luncheon was taken here. Not the best place ever but better than some of the reviews state.

Ok, Back to the first link. I have to expand a bit. As the young people say on that there Facebook - O! M! G!. Now I'm no great art expert. I like what I like and I don't mind a bit of Dali. I grew up with a large print of Swans Reflecting Elephants on the lounge wall as it was my mother's favourite picture. She just thought it was very clever. It costs 14€ to go in and it is worth every cent. It also gets you in to his jewellery exhibition of pieces he made few of which will have heard of his prowess in that direction. We spent over two hours in the main museum and I need to spend a lot more time there. I enjoyed looking at all the stuff but I just had an incredible feeling of being overwhelmed that drawings and paintings he made were right in front of me.

I could wax lyrical for hours about different bits but I won't for which you will be mightily relieved I'm sure, but if you ever get the chance to visit and you have even the slightest interest in him YOU MUST GO!

WebOct 18

Places we visited on purpose but probably won't bother ever again.

Cerbere - The last town in France.

Portbou - The first town in Spain.

Llanca The first decent sized town in Spain.

WebOct 17

La Plage Aux Mouettes where we had lunch.

Chateau Royal where we visited this afternoon.

La Vieille Cave where we had dinner.

WebOct 16

A slight change of how this is done for the next 5 days as we are on holiday but still as a weblog.

http://www.hlecatalan.com/en where we are staying

http://www.hlecatalan.com/en/restaurant-le-miradou where we ate tonight.

WebOct 15

Most of my dictionaries are in storage. I have dictionaries of different languages, dictionaries of phrases, dictionaries of fables, the odd thesausus and an Etymological dictionary. They aren't anything I look at regulary but I like to have them around and sometimes I will spend half an hour reading through them for the fun of it. But I suppose like many reference works, the physical is losing out to the online. My present choice of an etymological dictionary is

ETYMONLINE.

This seems quite comprehensive (adjective 1610s) and trustworthy (adjective 1791), which is what you want.

WebOct 14

The area just to the south of us is prime walking country. In fact last weekend I had 6 mates over from the UK for a couple of days walking. The weather was sunny and in the low 20s and we had a great time. We found the walks on the following site

Walks of the Audoise Pyrenees.

Over the next few months I am going to do my best to get through some if not all of them. As I sit here, I think I might even blog about them. But knowing me I won't quite get round to it. Anyway, there are some nice photo's on the site of the sceney in this area. If i don't make it round them at least I'll know where I would have been!

WebOct 13

When I have had my fill of music from the Musicals I have a second string to my internet radio based bow

JAZZ RADIO.

If you have any interest in any form of jazz you will find a channel for it here. From calssic jazz to modern and from New Orleans to Paris. Big band, bebop, blues and ballads are all there in the aliterative glory.

Whether it is the music of your parents or a guilty pleasure of your own all jazz is here for your enjoyment and edification. Nice!

WebOct 12

I love a good quiz. And there aren't any pub quizzes here, mainly because there aren't any pubs. So once a week I sign in to

JOHN KUTNER'S MUSIC QUIZ.

Sometimes there is a theme, sometimes there isn't. There are plenty of participants many of which are better than me. I normally end up between 50th and a 100th over the 12 week league averaging between 7 and 8 points out of 10 but I once managed 38th with an 8+ score average.

In addition he has a "single of the week" page giving the story behind the song, birthdays for the week and other trivia pages.

If you like a music quiz then why not join in? Just please don't beat me!

WebOct 11

Todays website is an important one for us but other than perhaps a look at some pictures, of very little interest to anyone more than a few miles from where I sit.

LOUPIA WEBSITE

This is the official website for our village. It lets us know what is on, sometimes, allows us to see who is selling up, and gives us a chance to swot up on the history.

The downside is that it is, of course, in French!

WebOct 10

Photographs once again.

BBC PICTURE CHALLENGE

The BBC run a photo competition every week. I enter quite often but never get a picture published but one never knows. Well, I do. I tend to be more of a snapshot photographer and don't put the time in to get the right shot or to frame it properly but one day I might have a lucky break. Interesting to see what others make of the topic. Sometimes it is very literal and others it is interpretive. So now I need to work on - On Toast, Footprints and Shivers over the next three consecutive weeks....

WebOct 9

I do like a good show tune. Or I do when I'm in the mood. Other than Elaine Paige on Radio 2 of a Sunday lunchtime you only get to hear songs from musicals in special programmes so I was happy when a friend online linked to

ENCORE RADIO.

Although it is only available online I can get my fill whenever I want. And that includes when I'm driving as long as the mobile network holds up. To be fair, even as an enthusiast of musicals, I can't manage much more than two hours without needing a change. But dipping in and out is a pleasure.

WebOct8

Today's site is another of my photography tools,

IPICCY.

iPiccy is a photo editing site which is easy to use. I can use it so it must be. I'm sure there are better ones with more features but it has enough different actions and filters to make me feel as though I am in control without having too many you don't know what they are for.

In additions to photos, I've discovered, or rather I've realised, it is good for improving scans that I've made.

I haven't tried the collage part of the site yet but I should probably try as no doubt we will have plenty of opportunities to make hundreds of collages of Grand-daughter no 1 once the Magnificent M realises it is possible.

And best of all it's free and being a web based programme it isn't eating up 100s of gigabytes of the hard disk to change a 2 mb photo.

The foolowing site is the one I guess we should blame for us ending up living in France.

FRENCH PROPERTY LINKS

From the very first time we thought about the possibility of moving we checked out what was available, really to see what we might want when we retired. It was on this site we found the house which, although not the house we bought, meant we ended up seeing the house we bought.

Whether you fancy the idea of relocting or just want to see what a comparable house costs in France to the UK, you can browse for hours looking as French chic, or wrecks and a smattering of houses that still have gaudy 1960's orange geometric wallpaper.

WebOct 6

There are loads of backing tracks to sing along to on YouTube if you want a bit of Karaoke but if you want to go one step further then the site for you is

AMERITZ

There are thousands of professional backing tracks which are all very well, but the addition that they have over some others, is the chance to change the key that the music is in so it sits comfortably in your range. They are great for practicing with before performances, even if you are just chorus and often proves that you haven't learnt the words half as well as you think whilst you've been practicing against a recording with the lyrics sung. I tend to use them for singing but actually they would also be good for solo instrumentalists.

Lots of different genres and with the occasional sale there are times when you can pick them up very cheaply.

A bit of a niche site perhaps but an important one for me.

WebOct5

Sometimes French radio is too much and I don't fancy any of my cds so where do I head?

LIBRIVOX

This is a vast range of audio books that you can download free. I have been working my way though the detective mysteries. It's been very interesting listening to books written around 100 years ago. There are often things crop up that are relevant to political or social situations now and it gives a different perspective on the present times.

It is based in the USA so most of the readers are American which can lead to some interesting pronunciations of British place names some sounding funny but others being annoying.

There are many genres of fiction and non-fiction therein, with famous authors and others whom have probably not been heard of in many a year.

Anyway, it's free, so why not downoad one. There's not much to lose and a lot to gain.

WebOct 4

Today brings another site at which I while away time when I should probably be doing something a bit more constructive.

PUZZLE MADNESS

It has a number of different format puzzles miainly based on japanese number puzzles. A number of versions of Suduko of which I prefer Mathdoku, a particularly bad mashup of Japanese and English terms. Whilst being number based I like Nonograms. On this site they are random puzzles but a brief google search comes up with some magnificent pictures,

a modern version of painting by numbers.

They also have what for me is one of the most pointless puzzles - wordsearch. There isn't any skill in it. But each to their own.

Now, do I write the work emails I have to do or am I going to be diverted to do today's puzzle.......

WebOct 3

Today's site charts all things astronomical.

HEAVENS ABOVE

Whilst Kirsty McColl sang "it's hard to wish on space hardware", should you wish to do so, this is the site for you. You can follow the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and a number of satellites, the positions of the planets in the sky in case you want to spot a tiny point of light which might just be Jupiter, and what's happening to all those satellites they got excited about when they were launched? Like Voyager 1, which is still going some 140,000+ light years away!

The reason I originally found it was because of Iridium Flares. This is where light from the sun bounces off a satellite and as you look at the sky you see it flare up and die away. It interested me for a bit but then I thought it was a great way of getting kids involved in astronomy beyond just showing them stars.

So, if you want to know what is going on up there bove your head, this is the site for you.

WebOct 2

Throughout my time Blogging I have occasionally picked up on photography sites that I can flex my artistic muscles over. The one that occupied my time most was BLIPFOTO. It is a simple premise - Just post a picture a day. Whether you choose to run your page as photo only, give a basic description or a full post explaining it is up to you. I haven't actually posted anything for about 10 months although I keep thinking I will go back to it. I "met" a few people through it who became online friends. Even as I write this I am thinking it would be a good idea.

Anyway, if I do post again it will be here, on DAY BY DAVE

WebOct 1

Welcome to the month long Weblog event. A different website each day that means something to me either for personal reasons or just for interest.
But where to start? Particularly as I haven't had time to think about this for long. So I am going to start where I start with my day's browsing. Which is with another blog.

DIAMOND GEEZER

You may or may not be familiar with him. Diamond Geezer is based in Bow, East London and blogs every day. every singe day. And not just a quick dozen words about what he had for breakfast, although I think that has once happened, but a good 500 - 1000 words per day. He's been doing this longer than I have and if nothing else I admire his stamina.

Some days his post is very local to where he lives. Who of his readers can forget this years Bus Stop M saga. Although even some of thoe posts are interesting. But through his site and the occasional gems that pop up I now know there is a place in Essex which has a scale model of the solar system. Not just in a display case but starting on a village green with the Sun. The planets are then placed radiating out from the sun in their correct orbital positions. If I remember correctly, Pluto is somewhere in a field outside of the village. He also won't blog on behalf of companies
wishing to promote themselves which usually leads to a quarterly review of what he's been asked to write about and the ways in which he is approached.

In the last week, and this is quite a good week to look at he has covered;
1/10 - A look at Hampstead and Camden as part of an ongoing series looking at the proposed London Boroughs which never happened.
30/9 - 50 years of Radio 1. Looking at the daily running schedule every 5 years and where the DJs are now.
29/9 - What transport plans were proposed in 2006 and what happened to them.
28/9 - A visit to the Heights of Abraham in Derbyshire
27/9 - A visit to Derby which was mainly spent on the train with little time in the destination itself.
26/9 - 50 things that niggle me. 50 things that annoy me. 50 things that make me angry
25/9 - A look at Wandsworth as part of the same series as 1/10.

I think it is definitely a blog for those who have a connection with London but he certainly has plenty of readers from around the UK and the rest of the world who get an insight into his world. I commend him to you, if only for an occasional dip in to see what he has been up to and why.

Weblog October

Following on from Messrs Brennig and Masher's month of blogging earlier this year I declared I would suggest something for the month of October. All through September I have been wrestling with two ideas as to which shoud mark my premiere appearance of Blogger in Chief for the month. Having had sleepless nights and hours of in-depth thought I have decided to throw both ideas out of the window and go with something else.

This blogging lark has been around a few years now, I myself have been about it for the thick end of 20 years. And I thought why not go a bit retro. In the beginning, and should any young person inadvertently look at my blog whilst looking for something more interesting and not realise it, originally, weblogging was about listing websites that might be of interest to others or linked to each other by theme. Therefore for the month of October I will choose a website per day which I have in my favourites or have used in the past, and say why it is a favourite or what it is about etc.

And if Messrs Brennig and Masher chose to join me I will be honoured. And if anyone else joins in I will be even more cock-a-hoop.

Broken!

Well, I thought since my chest was still hurting a bit, although a great deal better, I ought to go get an x-ray 5 weeks after the event. I was being nagged by too many people to get it done. As always it was very efficient and within minutes of the x-ray I had the results in my hand. I've broken my sternum. Yep, I appear to have broken myself in half. Perhaps if I fit a hinge system to the back and zip at the front I could open like a Russian doll. That would be fun.

Anyway, having left it 5 weeks I'm not really able to take advantage by lying on the couch like a Victorian maiden with an attack of the vapours. But that's what we are like us Northerners. Our bodies break but we still carry on. Slowly. Although I think that might be my advancing age.

Bang Crash Wallop.

Well, it's not been the best of days.

I was travelling into Limoux this morning when I had to pull slightly right to avoid a lorry coming the other way. Unfortunately it was at a bit where the bridge cuts in left.

There was a van/bridge interface clash.

I managed to block half the road at a 45˚ angle. So I had 15 minutes of traffic directing and then the Gendarmes turned up. They rang for a breakdown truck whilst directing the traffic. They were very efficient. Their main concern was getting the road clear. So much so that they didn't bother checking my licence, insurance, anything. Not that there would have been a problem if they had. But no doubt in the UK I would have had drink and drug tests, all my paperwork checked. One of the most interesting things was how many people stopped to ask if I needed help. Possibly 1 in every 5 vehicles coming past. Sometimes 2 or 3 cars in a row. It's one of the things I like about being here.

Anyhow, the van is now at a garage where a loss adjuster will decide if it's repairable or dead. I think it might be touch and go!

Closing Credits

Well, that didn't go quite to plan.

We have been exceptionally busy during June. Much busier than we should have been. The weather has been very unusual and the pools don't like it. I wasn't short of time for watching films because you can do that late at night when knackered but as for writing up reviews, well, I was just a bit short of brain power.

Had I have been on the ball then you would also have been reading about

And on a rather co-incidental but sad note comes the news of Barry Norman's death.

Credits Roll.