This Blog is about what I hold dear - nature and the countryside in which I live, community life and local heritage. During Covid-19 lockdown, I reinvigorated the blog, first with daily musings, now generally on a weekly basis. There are also regular videos of the wildlife that share our space.
Late autumn often brings nasty surprises - tax bills for example - and we have had a number this week. The last, but most impactful for me is a virulent head cold, which is making every task seem much larger than it really is and more painful too. It will go in time - taking seven days if I use treatments, and a week if I let it run its course - but I am on day 3, normally the worst, and feeling sorry for myself.
Yesterday (so day 2 of nasal misery) I came face to face with another nasty surprise, an over wintering House Slug. Not a normal slug: in its resting mode it was a good four inches (9cm) long and half an inch (one and a bit cm) wide, so clearly a flesh eating House Slug. It was resting on the side of the pot that holds my tiny mango seedling, grown from a pip of a fruit given to us by our new neighbour, and it is the first time I've managed to get one to germinate. The seedling was living quite happily in the garden until it got attacked by a slug or snail, so I put it indoors to be guarded by the Country Cats. We had a discussion about how they were slacking, but they paid no attention. I evicted the slug and hope it was found by a questing fox or buzzard.
We have had two nights with a slight frost this week, enough to further chill down the house after an October that hit the record books for being one of the two dullest (i.e. lack of sun) on record. It was a relief on Monday to see a strange yellow glow in the sky, but it didn't last long.
But in amongst all this gloom, there are some truly French things that remind me why we live here.
There was a note in our post box a couple of weeks ago - "come along to my garage on Sunday morning for a wine tasting (there will also be nibbles)". A neighbour has a chum with a vinyard over the border near Chinon, and once a year, they lay on a tasting of bottled wines and wines "en vrac", i.e. buy a canister and bottle it yourself. We weren't much taken with the bottled offerings, but the "en vrac" was rather splendid, so we put in an order. The word on the street was that the wine would arrive on Saturday evening. So yesterday evening, along with a bunch of others, we strolled down the road with our wheelbarrow and brought back our 20 litres of finest Chinon red.
Which is a roundabout way of saying that I am going to take my festering head cold away from my freezing cold office and down to the warm, where I will help bottle 20 litres of red wine, which seems a very sensible way of spending a November evening!
In the end we had 13 consecutive days without a glimpse of the sun, just dull, foggy, dankness. On Friday, the sun finally made an appearance for three hours, one and a half of which I was in an office and for the rest I failed to bring out my phone and take a picture as proof. And now the greyness is back for a few more days - how nice!
I did threaten to bring in a trail camera, as I thought the batteries might be running out. I did that yesterday, and discovered that the batteries gave out about 3 weeks ago - my bad! Actually there wasn't much activity recorded in the three weeks it was working. It was placed in the Orchard, with the hope of catching boar family antics, but while there was one night time video with a couple of snuffling sounds, there was not a hint of boar. The camera was by something we call Badger Road, and sure enough, there were numerous shots of a badger passing through at speed, so most weren't much good. This is one of the best.
There were lots of pictures of us passing by the camera (well as many "lots" as you can get when there were only 160 files in total), which have all been removed, leaving just 49 files with anything at all, including a few of our cats. There was a nice image of a deer, with an accompanying video I've not had a chance to load onto YouTube - for another day!
There was also a nice one of a couple of jays, again with an interesting video to follow.
Finally, there was a fine shot of the fox, showing off his magnificent bushy tail!
Other wildlife fun this week has been observing a few Asian hornets in the zone. They are mainly workers at the end of their life, fulfilling a desire for sugary things - rotting apples and ivy nectar in the main. A good frost and they will die off, but we will be vigilant from February, keeping an eye out for the next batch of queens to trap and destroy. European hornets are natural, the Asian ones are non-native and causing havoc among the insect population as they seek out protein from May to August to feed the colony.
An important discovery for us yesterday was that our favourite café in town has reopened. About a month ago I guess, I spotted that it was closed with curtains drawn, and after waiting a couple of weeks in case it was just holidays, I reluctantly decided it was gone - another blight on the year. But yesterday, the curtains were gone, there was a new painting on the plate glass window and when we went in, the coffee was still the best in town. Good luck to the new owners!
And now I must turn my attention back to a slightly poorly puss cat. Poirot, the doyenne of our group, has an eye infection, which means anti-inflammatory drops four times a day and anti-biotic paste in the eye twice a day. Fortunately she is very food oriented, with a passion for Dreamies and for cheese or salmon flavoured creamy gloop. She is not resisting eye drops or paste as she knows that she will get a copious and tasty treat straight afterwards. It is not so easy with cats that don't like treats!
While last week I showed a photo of a sunny day and a cat in a hammock, I had hoped for much more sunshine this week. Indeed every day the forecast was for sunshine "tomorrow" or "the day after tomorrow" and today even "this afternoon". But it hasn't happened - the high pressure and sodden ground has kept fog and low cloud in place all week with no respite at all. The ground hasn't dried out at all, making lifting potatoes unnecessarily hard work, while the lack of light saps the spirit. I think the constant broken promise of sun tomorrow has made it all the harder to bear and I am sick of it.
There are odd chinks of colour to look out for. I have always been a fan of nerines, and sometimes they flower for me, but mostly they don't. This year I have been lucky and one has flowered and I have been able to admire the circle of bright pink flowers each day for a couple of weeks as I go to feed the chickens.
The trees haven't done much by way of autumn colour - we haven't had much of a cold snap, just constant, bone aching dank. It is possible there will be a late flush of colour but I'm not holding my breath. However there is another plant that provides a pretty reliable splash of colour in the autumn, and because I grow it in hanging baskets, I get to admire it rather than having it covered in dead tree leaves. The strawberry leaves are quite spectacular this year, with odd fruits hidden away. The fruit isn't interesting as it needs sunlight to produce a bit of sweetness and flavour, and we haven't had any of that for a while (see above), but you can't have everything.
I had to visit a house and garden during the week and was stunned by the display of dramatic flower heads on the yucca plants there. Mine have done nothing this year, and of course indoor ones don't get the conditions to do this. For me there is no rhyme or reason to when yuccas flower, but I am grateful to see them doing their thing this year.
As the leaves fall, it becomes obvious where Asian hornets have been building nests. While I've not spotted any in our area, not least due to the successful trapping and destroying campaigns in Baugé en Anjou, I did see this one when visiting the house and garden with the yuccas. The nest had been breached as I saw a bird or two flying in and out - perhaps the amazing tit family have decided they like to eat them, much as they do with pine processionary grubs?
It's not all gloom I guess. The lack of frost and the moist conditions mean that the cristophine vine goes from strength to strength, with leaves the size of dinner plates and hidden fruits. In the gloom it looks a bit like a hut or shelter, and actually it does do a good job when it rains. Assuming no prolonged period of intense frost this winter (unlikely given global warming, although it would be good), this brute will be back next year!
Most of the garlic we planted last year was not worth lifting, so I didn't. But I noticed today that those bulbs are pushing back up and will provide tasty scallion style garlic "spring onions" through the winter. It might be worth planning next year's potager plots after all!
With that in mind, I am now off to cook chicken Béarnaise, otherwise known as garlic chicken.
I am minded to bring in a trail camera during the week, as there is one that has been in place for a couple of months now and probably needs to be checked over. All things being equal, there could be much more exciting things to write about next week than autumnal murk!
OK, last weekend I promised more wildlife videos, and maybe I will include a couple at the end, but this week has been quite a busy one, and for a number of reasons.
Last week I wrote this blog early, before dashing off to the photo competition exhibition, hoping I had at least one of my photos printed and therefore in the top 30. Well, my hopes were dashed, but to be fair to those that were printed, there were only 2 that I would have said weren't worth printing. One was out of focus, and perhaps I am old fashioned, but I don't think that is good photography. The other one looked to me more like an advert for Legal and General (other financial services companies are available but have different advertising and logos) than an entry in a provincial photography competition, and in my view would have been barred on that basis in a similar competition in the UK. It won the adult section.
Of the two printed ones I liked the best, one got a prize for the popular vote done over the two days of the exhibition, and is shown here the furthest left, modelled by a member of the Society running the competition, the next one along won the popular vote, probably as it had a bird in it, the other two were the winners in the Junior section. Well done all!
The next big excitement of the week was Storm Kirk. He didn't bring much wind, but he brought a shed-load of rain with him. It started raining before dawn on Wednesday and carried on with varying levels of intensity until just after 6pm. Overall we had 59mm of rain or 2 3/8 inches - however you count it, it was a lot! For the main rain gauge in our garden by the house, we had to empty it twice during the day, taking readings each time. At 10am when I went to feed the chickens it was like this!
Fortunately around us there is enough of a gradient to ensure that house, garden and cellars don't flood, and that was the case for most around here, although some low roads became impassable as water came off the fields, and the Couasnon broke its banks. But the main flooding was in low lying fields. Others were not so lucky in other parts of France and I feel for them. Occasionally however field banks were not up to the task and ceded with the weight of water, particularly if the field above had been harvested or ploughed recently so the soil was compacted. This slip was near our country retreat.
The ponds are now nicely full and since Kirk did his worst, the weather has improved and blue sky has been seen!
The other excitement during the week was round two of the Challenge Communale in boule de forte. My team had won our first round match, so on Thursday evening we were pitted against the team from one of the boule de forte clubs, the Esperance, and weren't totally hopeful. I was instantly depressed when I revealed my antique boules, which were denounced as disgusting. However it turned out that the Esperance team were unavailable to play the semi-final on Saturday, so forfeited the game when they were leading 8 - 2. Once that was sorted, they told me the product I needed to get to make my boules beautiful and shiny once again, so I sort of forgave them.
Saturday morning, 10am, I was back at the boule de fort club with my "disgusting" boules for the semi-final against another boule de forte society, la Paix. Despite hangovers and lack of sleep on both sides (not me, obviously), once we got going, the game was quickly lost by us 10 - 1, so I didn't have to worry about the final. To be fair, we would have forfeited if we had won as one of our team couldn't be there for the final. Anyway, by 11am, hair of the dog was being taken by those that needed it, and I was drinking a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc, knowing that I wouldn't have to play again for another year!
The only ones of these boules that are ours are the red ones!
As I mentioned, it rained all day on Wednesday, so one thing I could do to pass the time was to load up a few more wildlife videos on YouTube so I can share them here (you can also find my YouTube channel and subscribe or follow to see more of what is there). I found another amusing woodpecker video - I am very fond of the Woodies!
There is a fair amount of mouse or rat activity down by the ponds - that's fair, as it's a wild place and they are wild animals. I have no issues with them living as nature intended.
In the same way, I am fascinated to watch "our" fox as he goes about his business. He is in the wild, away from domestic gardens and chicken runs, fending for himself, and not relying on dustbins either. I've no idea what he is eating!
I have looked to see if there are nests or fungus or fruit around there, but I can't spot anything. If he is eating slugs or snails, good luck to him, but I would be a bit less happy if it was frogs and toads. Whatever, it is nature doing its thing.
Next week you can see coypu, plus I'm going to bring in another camera which has been at a point where I used to see hares and deer, so hope to have news of them. I fear there will be a lot of John and I strimming however!
Last Saturday's storm is being claimed as a natural catastrophe as numerous buildings were damaged, though fortunately not ours. I was in a shop this morning that had been affected. It is all very well having a foot of insulation in the roof, but when it gets wet, it becomes very heavy and brings down an awful lot of stuff with it! Not pretty and not good for the shop keeper!
If you track down WIRED you will find an article about the increasing cost of lightening to buildings and insurance across the world, using the marvellous example of Mutton's Mill in the Norfolk Broads, which has had lightening conductors fitted to all four sails to prevent significant damage in a storm (perhaps try googling Farrell of the Broads Authority to find the story).
[Mutton's Mill, photo credit, Andrew Farrell]
Since the storm, temperatures have got steadily colder, although there are nice sunny days. Rebus has spotted that the best autumn billet is on top of the beer fridge, as there is no heating on anywhere else and his fur coat is quite thin!
This cold autumnal weather means good sunsets in general, and also nice evenings to stand out and watch bats flitting around, hoovering up all the flies and other winged nasties that come out after dark. We have at least two types that zoom around our house and garden, and actually the area is well known for its significant bat colonies, with protected caves where they overwinter.
Today (Saturday - I am writing this in advance - see below for why) was the annual Societé de la Paix Mechoui or animal roast, but in practice it is always a pig roast. Festivities start from midday with people turning up for the aperitif and to admire lunch cooking.
Then everyone gets herded onto two long tables for more aperitifs, starters, the main event of spit roast pork with beans and ratatouille, rounding off the meal with cheese and apple tart. We generally get home at about 6pm after coffee. It is a wonderful way to meet people, to share village life and gossip and to feel part of something. Every year is a bit different, even if the menu doesn't change, and we wouldn't miss it for the world.
Tomorrow I head for England, to see chums and family, and possibly even Mutton's Mill, so next week's story will be very different. Have a good week!
Meteorological autumn started on the 1st September and autumness is being embraced by fauna, flora and weather with unseemly eagerness. Temperatures are dropping, and the weather lurches from dismal to awful, with quick hints of sun in between. Yesterday we were due storms in the afternoon, but needed to spend a few money off vouchers, so didn't get to the place in the country until the rain had started, while thunder rumbled around. We were lucky, actually, to be there and not at home, where there were strong wind squalls, nearly three times the amount of rain, and hail. While the barn cats munched their way through their feed, oblivious to the weather, I watched the rain and then checked the lightning strike web page.
There's not much by way of mellow fruitfulness about either. The berries are rotting on the canes almost before they ripen and the pears are over - not enough for a burping barrel either! There are apples - the Reine de Reinettes are falling and are quite tasty. I need to burrow into the Bel de Boskoop to find any there, while the Granny Smiths will hold for ages. The Canada juicing apples are rotting, then falling, so I fear for the trees if the marauding boar decide they like cider. We had hoped for a single variety juice pressing this year, but if we do one at all, I think it will be mixed. The quince are also a disappointment, as they have missed out on the heat and sunshine they need to develop to their full size and become fragrant. They are falling! I will have to try to make jelly, but I don't think they will be up to tagine or slow cooked quince standard sadly.
Also in stark contrast to last year, we can only spot 5 fruits on the cristophine vine, despite it being even bigger than last year! It also misses the heat and sunshine though it does enjoy a good deluge.
The cyclamen in the lawn have been later to flower than normal - about 3 weeks later if I recall correctly. I had hoped that the delay might at least mean a full carpet of them around the birch tree. I may be jaded and depressed with this year, but it seems to me that they too are less bountiful, although new corms have started to produce flowers in far flung areas of the garden.
We are hoping for a decent year for mushrooms, with all the water that there is around. A walk around the One Acre Wood today showed that there are things popping up, but not interesting edible things so far.
We have found a first bolete, but not where it should be. There was one growing in the lettuce bed, which I picked, but as there is no oak or chestnut in the Garden area, just a rather large birch tree, I did not risk cooking it. It could well have been fine, but when picking wild mushrooms, any doubt at all and it goes on the compost heap.
The Marx Sisters have settled in well, and at least two of them have started to lay rather cute small eggs. Groucho is a greedy so and so and likes to climb into trees and onto tables. This can be disconcerting. Harpo bumbles on in her own happy way, and seems to have been the one to come into lay first. Chico is a bit more of a loner and likes to fly. Specifically, she likes to fly at my back when I am walking away from her, which is a bit worrying. Perhaps in a former life, she was an eagle.
I have had another major session with my new strimmer, using the brushcutter head this time, and have a number of projects with that. More to follow in the coming weeks. I also probably ought to shuffle the trail cameras around, so again something for another week.
Friday evening's pub session was grey, cool (I was wearing a sweatshirt, for goodness sake), and distinctly humid. Saturday morning we woke to a thunderstorm and heavy rain - some 20mm before 11am. But as so often with summer storms, but midday, the sun was out and temperatures rocketed and we were able to sit out for aperos in the garden and say how lovely it all was. So at 3:30am, we were unimpressed to be woken with a shock by loud thunder nearly overhead and positively biblical rain, which carried on for a good hour.
I am always surprised after such a violent sounding night, how in the morning, you have to look really hard to find the evidence of the cataclysm that seemed to be going on during the hours of darkness. Yes, the rain gauge was pretty full, and the one at The Garden was nearly overflowing, and driving to The Garden, there were odd banks of sand by some of the fields, but nothing particularly broken, just a lot more water in the ponds.
It is sad that summer ends so abruptly, not least as we are still in Comice season, and Genneteil were doing the honours this year for the Noyant Villages area. Still by the time they got to the procession of villages (no fancy floats this year from the Noyant area), the sun was doing its best to shine on them. I do feel that this year's procession was a demonstration of cruelty to Renault 4s and as I used to drive one, I felt a lot of sympathy for this poor car, pulling a trailer that was too well loaded for the weight of the car.
For an event where the theme was Rock and Retro, I also felt that the non-marching band weren't quite in the swing of the theme by playing Lady Gaga's Poker Face. But perhaps it is the highlight of their repertoire.
Autumn jobs are coming to the forefront of our thinking. The Meadow needs to be fully mown and the side paths need to be cleared so that I can get into the little woodland at the end and finally see what is down there. The Orchard is too overgrown and needs to be sorted out before the walnuts start to fall - not least as walnuts are our rent to the landlady. So, lots to do, and possibly too much for one man.
So I rummaged in my moth filled wallet and invested in a strimmer/brushcutter that I can use. My elbow has ceased to support frequent use of a pullcord for starting a petrol engine, so I have gone for a battery model and used it for the first time yesterday. The battery lasted longer than I did, which bodes well for later in the autumn. Me in safety gear, harness and carrying said strimmer is not a good look, but better safe than sorry!
Last Sunday, in a last hurrah to summer, we attended a jazz manouche concert at our local pub - Les Epines de Mymi Rose. I've wanted to catch one of her concerts for a while, so was delighted to spend a warm summer evening, sitting with a glass of wine. listening to an excellent performance.
One of the delights of autumn here are vivid sunsets, so this from Wednesday night may well be the first of many. There is much that is autumnal around at the moment, with the giant orange jelly slugs, ripe fruit falling and a certain feel to the air. I am very fond of early autumn, but not so much this year, as we never seem to have had much of a summer. Perhaps a week or so in August.
I did mention giant orange jelly slugs - they are numerous and finding life just too, too wonderful at the moment. Wandering around the One Acre Wood I nearly stopped slug sex but standing on two, but managed to sidestep them just in time. Fascinating and disgusting at the same time!
Interestingly (well I think it is interesting anyway), the French word for heatwave is canicule, from the Latin canus and something else, but implying our dog days of high summer. Anyway, we are slap bang in the middle of another bout of high heat, which is quite restricting. This morning we thought we might go to the Festival of the Giant Croissant - it is an annual thing around here. I thought I might have written about it one year, but looking back, I haven't. The giant croissants are over a foot long and would feed a family of four for two breakfasts. I digress - everyone seemed to have the same idea and with a wait of 15 minutes to get into a car park, a couple of hours slogging around a hot village surrounded by fragrant and sweaty people lost all appeal. We diverted to see the cats in the country and slop a bit of water around new crops and came home. When I checked the Weather App, this is what I was promised.
While the sun is at its most intense at midday, the hottest time of the day is generally between 5pm and 7pm, by which time it was due to be about 35ºC. We have decided to spend the day defrosting the small freezer instead.
With hot periods like this, there isn't much you can do really. You have to go with the flow and try to keep as cool as possible (it is only 29ºC in my office currently). This week we did decide to try out a new restaurant nearby. The Bistrot 1813 has only been open perhaps 3 months, and is doing well, although from adverts on social media, when the schools and colleges go back, they could be struggling for waiting and kitchen staff. We had a very enjoyable lunch there - 16,90€ a head for three courses, plus drinks on top (a very good Côtes de Rhône by the glass - not cheap, but if you are only having one glass, make it a good one!). Fontaine Guerin is just down the road from us and has a church with a twisted spire - there are a few of them around here!
Yesterday morning was overcast and sticky. Sunny and 36ºC is distinctly unpleasant but 28ºC and muggy is possibly worse. To make the small and bijou market at Baugé that much more pleasant, there is often musical entertainment. Some can be a bit trying - some Frenchman trying to croon "It's now or never" and imitating Elvis is the nadir, but recently there was a trad jazz clarinettist who was fab. Yesterday we had a couple on guitar and fiddle doing Celtic sea shanty type music which was enchanting. I hope they come again.
Rebus is no longer officially a kitten, he is now a cat. He thinks this is a bit unfair, but once you hit one year old, you are a grown up in cat world. But as he is now considered a cat, he has adopted one of the best loved cat perches around our garden. Not our gutter, but definitely our cat!
He is well camouflaged in there!
The Marx Sisters have taken to garden life well and Harpo has started to lay eggs, but Chico and Groucho are being threatened with being part of the poule au pot served by the village at Telethon time. I don't really need 3 freeloading chickens!
We are in the final countdown to the Comice, at Vaulandry this year. The last time it was there was 2011 and it was very hot (bit of a theme there). On the Saturday a bunch of us performed Old MacDonald a une Ferme - there are photos here but fortunately no video! Reading through the rest of the story, Pauline is now in the caring profession, Florian is married with one child, and Valentin has a degree in Engineering - how things move on! The second day was the usual mayors' ploughing match and parade of floats, as is shown here. I had nothing to do with the lovely float for le Vieil Baugé, which paid homage to the village's past as a wine producing area.
I've just heard a noise like a large lump of ice falling off the freezer, so I must go and tend to the ice removal process, which will be nice and cool - have I mentioned that it is 29ºC around my computer? Have a good week!
Yes, summer is firmly installed now, and finally the verges are taking on their straw colour that I normally associate with July. It arrived in a rush, with last Saturday starting to look promising, and last Sunday was as perfect a summer day as you could ask for. But it didn't know when to stop, and Monday was hotter, which made visiting a chum in hospital more appealing as they had air conditioning. Tuesday was deeply unpleasant - up to 39ºC measured in the shade in the garden, but with humidity, feeling a lot worse, and since then things have slowly calmed down to normal high summer.
On Monday, to finally welcome in summer, we got most of the cover on the gazebo in the garden. First I had to check all the fixings and resew a number of the tapes, as they had been buffeted rather in the winds last autumn. It is easiest to use my sewing machine outdoors, where the light is good and the table doesn't have a slippery surface. Poirot, the elderly cat, decided I needed help and supervision - fortunately it didn't make life too difficult!
We have started on the annual mow of the wildflower meadow (royal we). There is never an ideal time to do it, and currently it is a sea of white umbellifers, mostly wild carrot I think, but there are few butterflies, and the crickets seem to get out of the way OK, and if we leave it too long, the brambles and old man's beard and tiny saplings get more difficult to pulverise. Seeds of things like orchids and broomrape are now ripe so will be spread around in the mowing process.
A favourite flower is gaura, and this year, after it had been well and truly strimmed down to ground level, it has come back with a glorious display for us. I guess this could be the answer for how to keep it lovely!
I have been through the files on the trail camera that was overlooking one of the ponds. It wasn't the best placement, and it overlooked a path going across so you get lots of photos and videos of animal bottoms disappearing out of shot. This short video of a meandering doe is a rarity, and she doesn't stay around that long either!
Perhaps a day after the camera was set up, a stag took an interest in it, and had a good go and dismantling it, but failed.
The main purpose of the camera placement was to catch the boar having mud baths. They leave an imprint in the mud that is impressive, so I hoped to capture something interesting. One night I thought I might be in luck. A boar arrives.
It gets itself into position, after a bit of preparation.
But is then too far away from the trail camera to set it off again, until bath time is over anyway, at which point I get an image of a muddy boar! There is evidence of the boar bath place in the mud of the pond of course.
I would show you that, and the boar after its bath, but the internet is so slow and intermittent, I need perhaps 20 goes to get a photo loaded up, so I am calling it a day. Enjoy your week!
After years of planning and months of the Olympic Torch passing through as much of France as possible, and people trying to get enthused about it all, last week it started! Opinions are divided over the opening ceremony, ranging from censorship, through moans about it being boring and taking too long, being bitty and strange, to out and out adoration. It seems to depend on how well you know French history and culture and whether you can be bothered to dredge your memory for interminable teams with flags parading into tight capacity Olympic stadia in previous iterations.
I can see both sides - from my academic and intellectual perspective, it was an interesting take on how to parade sportspeople from over 200 nations into a holding area where they can observe the Olympic oath being taken by representatives. The logistics are always challenging, so to take to the water adds another dimension and a different way of doing it. I suspect Los Angeles won't try to imitate that! On the detail of some of the tableau, well, if you don't know French history or popular culture, many things will go over your head and the always quirky Philippe Katerine may well be a long way outside your comfort zone.
Some have said it was too inclusive - but working to the French moto of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, I don't think you can overdo the inclusiveness, including a 100 year old Olympic Gold medal holder being the third last link in the torch relay. There were moments that had me teared up (French boat going under the bridge), or held in wonder (the horse charging up the Seine), or just downright proud to live in France (the light show around the Tour Eiffel), but people will never agree. I liked it, you may not have done, but as always I found something else to do while the teams were on the move.
I've not included a picture - there are many in the public domain.
In the run up to Friday, all the discussion was about the weather - would it stay dry? Would the front pass through beforehand? Would it just be a bit of cloud and the odd drop of rain? At no time did the forecasters say, "It will pee it down like you haven't seen in Paris in July without thunder for years". O well! The week was so mixed with hot sun on Wednesday and Thursday, and now again on Sunday. It just goes to show you can't rely on the weather behaving itself. But today things are looking lovely.
The sky last evening did actually presage a change in weather, with a wonderful, luminous pink effect across high clouds heading away to the east. Today is the transition from something akin to October to high summer, which is due to last three or four days I gather!
Yesterday I dug up a load of potatoes for the week - they are looking good, but aren't really interesting to photograph. While I worked I was whistled at a lot by a golden oriole, so I replied, imitating its call. We kept up our conversation for a good quarter of an hour - I wonder what we said!
A final item from yesterday, was that the usual Saturday market in Baugé was augmented by the monthly display of classic, vintage and collectable cars and vans. Some are quite magnificent, while others make me feel old as they were normal when I was growing up. To add to the display this month, they brought along entertainment - a clarinettist playing jazz standards to a backing track. He was very good and it was a delight. I hope he comes back again soon!
Anyway, for a Sunday, we have a very busy end of the day (annoying as I would quite like to vegetate in front of the TV watching the cross country bit of the Olympic 3 day event from Versailles, but they keep cutting away to basketball or table tennis, so I guess I'm not missing much). I had better go and do "stuff", and wish you a good week!
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