Morning all. Bright and breezy this morning, but the wind is coming from the north, making it feel cold again. Off to a birthday tea today with our middle granddaughter, who will be 18 this coming week. She has worked really hard to get the grades needed so she could go to veterinary college. When she received the application forms, she found out that she can not even apply now as she is not an EU citizen. I suggested she applies for French citizenship, but that would take too long. So she is now looking to do a biology degree that might give her an alternative route in three years time. "It will not stop you from studying in Europe" said Johnson. Her view of him is not something I understand. Her French is a lot better than mine. Have a good day everyone.
Can sort of feel Srping coming here, but still down to single digits at night. I have the feeling that this year will be a hot and dry one. The cactus here are already giving off a dry smell, which, the locals say is a sign.
Morning all. It is freezing outside, made worse by a moderate northerly wind. I needed to get the car checked out as last night was getting "battery low" messages. Seeing as it has a new one in, I wondered what it might be. A meter should show up if it is charging, so I went to my man at the garage who will have one, only to find him closed. Being a Monday, many tractors were heading to the cattle market, pulling trailers used for transporting animals. Tomorrow will see the huge outdoor market which prevents all through traffic, so it will have to wait till Wednesday before I attempt to get to the garage again. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Bright sunshine, but still very cold. The car battery situation has been resolved, not by my tinkering, but a few words from Mme as we went to her physio session yesterday. "Has the message reappeared?" No, not so far, I said. "Was battery low in English or French?" English. "All the messages on your computer screen are in French." I know, but this was on the radio screen. As I waited for her to come out of her session, like a bolt from the blue, it dawned on me. This was not the car battery, but my phone that is connected to the radio via Bluetooth. I had charged the phone's battery overnight, which is why there was no repeat message. Feeling an idiot, a regular feeling, I was very glad I didn't set man at garage off on a wild goose chase. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Bright sunshine glistening off a light fall of snow. Weather is very unpredictable these days, and the Météo certainly didn't spot that coming. A message from Orange to say that my internet is likely to be perturbed this afternoon. This should be fun seeing as I will be going to the bank this afternoon with Mme. to try and sort out the online access problems she has with her association accounts. It is likely to be a failed attempt if the bank is offline. Have a good day everyone.
It sounds very much like you're getting a visit from the Beast from the East before we do - it's tipped to visit here later this week/early next week. Just when we thought the central heating could have a rest from its hefty daily workload.
Morning all from Cornwall.. Had some great walks on the North coast, been to st ives, tate s ives has an amazing rooftop cafe, yesterday Eden project which was ridiculously expensive but very interesting with lots of environmental wake up calls.. Today a day walk near Padstow... Tomorrow as a special treat we have booked a meal in rick steins cafe... Saturday we hope to see the gardens at heligan.. Must say i would hate to visit in school holidays etc.. Lots of road development everywhere and house building all over too.. Such a shame as a very beautiful county.. Network for roaming very patchy tho... Mme suggests my phone is partly to blame... We are planning to travel over to st Malo Mondays night.. But seem to be landing during a border strike.. So who knows... Have a good one....
Last time I went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan I ignored advice to follow the road signs and trusted my sat nav instead. It took me down a very pretty country lane which got narrower and narrower and then even more narrow to the extent that I had to retract my wing mirrors and was unable to reverse back out of it. It was also not possible to open the doors to get out. So stuck in the car we had to keep going. What looked like nice soft six foot high banks on either side of the road were not soft but solid granite walls hidden behind a thin layer of vegetation. I travelled about 3/4 of a mile at 1 or 2 mph and got a myriad of scratches down the side of the car. I did wonder how the AA would get us out of this when we got totally stuck, perhaps their first helicopter rescue by Chinook. But eventually to great relief the road did widen and we had a lovely time at the gardens. So my advice is that however tempting it may be and shorter it may seem, stay on the main road and follow the signs.
Yes.. We have already discovered a few of those, thank you satnav, now trying to keep to better roads and of course, mme is not opting to drive...
I've been along that road... Mrs Fez was driving. We quit before it was too late! We did a fly-drive to Ireland and had a not too dissimilar problem with a narrow track road with a wall on one side and a precipice with a 300+ foot drop on the other. OMG that was hairy scary! We were only in a Fiat Brava (sort of Ford Escort size, modest 4 door saloon). We've dined out on some of the stories of that holiday, our first together, absolutely wonderful time!
Afternoon all. Had to leave early today for Mme's physio. She came out pretty shattered as she was put on a new machine that replicates Nordic skiing. Instead of plodding along on the other machines, she found herself almost running for ten minutes. Not something that she does these days. Turning up at a restaurant after a hazardous journey through a vineyard down south, the restaurant owners apologized for failing to tell us not to follow a SatNav, but to go a bit further and stay on the tarmac. As for narrow roads and sheer drops up in the mountains, how many times have I asked Mme what she thinks about the view, only to find she has her eyes tightly closed? Enjoy your day.
I don't blame her - I react similarly to her on the North Coast 500 roads in Scotland. Too close to the ocean in places for my liking, lots of blind corners and summits to negotiate I don't drive with my eyes shut - but after an hour or two of driving it takes a good while to prise my fingers off the steering wheel.
Bucket list of mine to do the 500 ring on a motorbike. A good pal of mine, and fellow Hornet, did it for charity a few years ago. He's made his home in Scotland for the past two decades or so, twelve years a copper.
Hope you weren't one of those who emptied their portable toilet by the side of the road! Lots of complaints about that from locals living along the route.
Morning all. Overcast, but dry and no frost. Mme has a hairdressing appointment this morning and said she would drive herself. So plans made to fetch some more logs up from the fields, only now she doesn't think she has enough petrol in the car for all the running around she has to do. So another hour of people watching for me, unless I go and join the locals for a coffee in the bar. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all, from sunny rural France. Reading about the travel arrangements for fans going to the Luton game, I am reminded of a gentler age when I could get on my bike, and cycle the twenty miles to watch a game. This would have been at the end of the 1950's when Luton had players such as Ron Baynham, Billy Bingham and Syd Owen, all very good at that time. At the ground, I could put a chain and padlock around my bike and a lamp post, and find my bike unmolested after the game. Even when the two clubs were not in the same division, the fixtures were arranged so that one of them would have a home game, and people could go to a game, even if it was not their club. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. It looks like a good one to be outside. I just wish it was a degree or two warmer. For two years, Mme has been looking for a replacement head for her squeezy mop. She likes her mop on the floor tiles after one of us has managed to spill some tea or other liquid on them, but despite searching all the stores that sell such things, they just aren't being stocked any more. So I entered Mop World on Amazon fr. and the first thing to come up was the head she wanted. While I was there though, I noticed just how many different ones, all extolling their virtues are on sale. Can the power of advertising get the public to believe that they need to replace an existing one with something different? Probably, but what a waste of resources. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. It is still on the cold side, even though the wind has dropped and is now a gentle breeze from the west. The sun has not appeared so far today, but it is dry, although the Météo says we can expect rain tomorrow and for the rest of the week, but probably warmer. April is the time to get my first sowing of peas and beans in, but you can steal a week or two by warming up the soil beneath cloches. So that is the task today. Prepare the seed-beds, then cover them up. Have a good day everyone.
