Normal or average?

 This year has been really strange as regards the weather. In the Spring we had early hot weather more like July, with almost no rain. The grass went brown in our cour as it usually does later in the summer and everyone was talking of the secheresse or drought. Temperatures were up to 10 degrees over the normal, or average for that time of year.
  Then the summer arrived, when it is normal in Deux Sevres for the days to be hot and dry. What happened this year?  We had cooler temperatures, up to ten degrees under the average and frequent rain showers. The cour has gone back to green, the sheep have more grass than they can eat and nobody is talking drought anymore. I have to mow the cour and strim the orchard weekly, unheard of here after June.

 The point I am trying to make is that this year will go down in statistical records as being an AVERAGE year!  Taken on average the temperatures will approximate to the normal for the Spring and Summer, the rainfall likewise. All this without for a moment being a NORMAL year. An American once said that `there are lies, damn lies and statistics` and never was a truer word spoken.
  What this weather pattern proves in the argument over global warming or cooling is for wiser heads than mine to ponder. Perhaps the only lesson one can draw is that things will average out in the end if you wait long enough!

               Bye for now!

Living on the Frontier

 Here`s a conundrum for Star Trek devotees... How many ears does Mr. Spock have?  The answer is, of course, three-- a left ear, a right ear and a final front ear!  All right it is an old joke and not all that hilarious, but it does introduce the theme I want to talk about today.
  We live in south Deux Sevres very near to where the frontiers of the Charente, Charente Maritime and Deux Sevres meet. In fact there is a post marking the spot near the village of Les Gours, 10 minutes away from here, where they hold a biennial fete. That`s one set of frontiers.
  We live about 70 km east of La Rochelle on the edge of the area where the Atlantic coastal weather gives way to the drier harsher inland climate another frontier region. Our region is also where the more temperate climate of Bretagne gives way to the mediterranean climate further south. We are sort of betwixt and between, on the frontier again.

There is another dividing line, more temporary this time that often shows up on the Météo . The dividing line between two sorts of weather often cuts our region in two, south to north. Will we be in the rainy area north of the line or the sunny region to the south, or vice versa?  Difficult at times to guess what our day will hold.
  Well, I`ll let you into a little secret. Our region is movable! It`s true, often if the good weather is to the south we will drift in that direction and become a South-West Départment. If, on the other hand the northern weather is more favourable, we`ll up-sticks and become a North-West addition. I know it`s unfair to the people who have to grin and bear with the weather they are issued with but this is often how we beat the statistics. I wouldn`t want to live anywhere else!

        Bye for now, I`m off to lie in the sun.

There`s a taste of garlic in the soup!

Today the Ark is venturing into new and uncharted waters. Despite the deadly danger I have decided to review the site `A Taste of Garlic` run by Keith Eckstein. Keith may find this surprising, but I feel he has enjoyed several years of unchallenged liberty to knock down and drag out unsuspecting bloggers and it seems only fair that he should be on the receiving end.
  This preamble may lead my reader(s) to think that I do not like the site. Nothing could be further from the truth and I would like to add a bit of publicity in directions which were previously unexplored.
  To start at the beginning then, A Taste of Garlic reviews and lists in an amusing and readable form all the English language blogs that come to Keith`s notice dealing broadly with the French way of life, principally with people who have moved to France and are enjoying or sometimes complaining about their new life and surroundings. He reviews blogs in depth from time to time, reviews books on France,interviews unsuspecting authors, and does an excellent review of the week each Tuesday, awarding several prizes. How the fellow finds time to read and review so many blogs is a mystery to me. He has confessed to being an insomniac and I can only suppose he stays up every Monday night!
   Keith had a previous existence as a big-shot I T manager with ICL till he saw the light, dropped out of corporate life and relocated to Brittany as an abattoir temp(!) then finally as a free lance IT Support and Website design consultant. He admits a consuming (I use the word advisedly) interest in mushrooms and is also unusually fascinated by blue Citroen 2CVs and Velosolex mopeds. One can also gather from his articles a great interest in French Cuisine. It is a great honour for bloggers in France to be reviewed by Keith although his remarks are often somewhat cutting and derisive. To put it crudely he enjoys taking the p--s out of some of his victims. I have not yet had the experience of his consideration of my humble blog and I believe that this is due to the fact that the only vehicle I have mentioned is my Triumph Twentyone. a machine far too puissant for a 2CV and Velosolex enthusiast as these are powered by engines formerly used by Herr Singer...
    Seriously, though A Taste of Garlic is an unmissable site and I urge all my readers and friends interested in France to dip into it. They will find interesting thoughts and above all will find links to blogs about our way of life which will fascinate them for many a happy hour. Tap in A taste of Garlic on Google or Facebook for a unforgettable read.
    A taste to be indulged in sans modération!

                    Bye for now, going to hide from the wrath to come....

Love between species

 In any well-run Ark there has to be friendship or at least mutual tolerance between different species. Ours is no exception and generally the passengers get on really well together. Imagine Noah`s problems with lions and lambs sharing accommodation though the Bible does say they will lie down together later! For now it`s sufficient for me to insist on a non-aggression pact between cats and dogs!
 In fact it goes further than that and the different species show an affection for each other that goes well beyond just mutual  tolerance as you can see in the photos I have included. Dogs who will happily chase any `foreign` cat will accept our cats as being part of the family.
  The result is a community of different animals forming a family whose bonds are strong enough to overcome the normal enmity towards other species.
   But of course this is not all. There is another species aboard the Ark, one of the most quarrelsome in the known Universe. I speak, of course, of  Humanity. But here too the atmosphere of the Ark has woven its spell and humans have also accepted and inter-species family feeling. I hope Mrs Noah will forgive me publishing a photo which clearly shows mother-love for a baby not of her own race. Even visitors have shown that anyone can accept to care for helpless young of any sort.

In the light of these musings, is it not strange that as humans we quarrel and fight not only with those of a different skin-colour, but with those who speak a different language or whose religion is slightly different to our own. If our great Ark in space is to survive, we shall have to do better than this...
  Well, I must sign off now to get my fellow human`s breakfast.
    Bye for now!

Mules and Donkeys

One of the advantages of having guests to stay is to have a cast-iron excuse to visit sites of interest in our region and leave housework to its own devices. It has thus worked out during the stay of Rebecca. True, the house looks a little frayed around the edges, but when you think of the chaos into which any sixteen-year-old can reduce a tidy bedroom they have little excuse to raise an eyebrow!

  With this in mind, we decided yesterday to visit the Assinerie du Baudet de Poitou, not far from us at Dampierre sur Boutonne.
 You may not know that our region of Poitou Charente was famous for its large and powerful mules. Many thousands were sold each year all over France and were used for ploughing and drawing carts as well as for pack animals by the Army. Now a mule is the result of an unnatural union between a male donkey and a female horse. The resulting off-spring has the advantages of both its parents, being as large and powerful as the horse with the hardiness and calmness of the donkey. It is however sterile, so to get another mule you have to go back to the seller which must have been another plus for the trade! The advent of the tractor in the Thirties wiped out this commerce and the breed of donkey and horse needed to create these animals almost died out till enthusiasts rescued them a few years ago. That is the reason for the Assinerie where breeding groups of the large donkey and impressive horses are being nurtured.
  We found a well-maintained farm with an interesting visitor-centre and reception, frequent guided tours of the fields where the horses, donkeys and mules are grazing and above all, the opportunity of caressing the adorable little new-born foals. As the centre is subsidised by the region the admission fee is very reasonable and I can thoroughly recommend a visit if you are in the area! I`ll try to add a few photos though the computer is obstinate today! I think it must have absorbed some mulishness...

                Bye for now!

Futuroscope

As we have had guests staying, we have, of course

used the excuse to visit a local attraction in this case the Futuroscope, near Poitiers. For any of my readers who don`t know of this  theme park, it is an area dedicated to the film image, and to the science of the image in general. In a large landscaped park, housed in buildings of a futuristic design, are cinema experiences of every sort. Huge screens or wrap-around domes are used to project specially made films in I-max and/or three-D format. Often the seats are made to move in the fashion of a Link Trainer to give an effect of terrifying reality. A car chase or a futuristic voyage through imaginary scenery has you gripping the safety bar in a spasmodic clutch, or you can be strapped to a modified car production- line robot to take part in a dance which has you inverted from time to time.

  We left early in the morning (that is Kim, Alyson, Rebecca and I ) because it`s not easy to see even part of the shows on offer in a single day. We took a picnic as things are always dear in theme parks! The site is provided with covered picnic areas as you can see above. The weather was a bit chancy and rained on the way there and in torrents on the way back but during the day it was fine so we were lucky!

    All in all we had a lovely day, if a bit tiring and we returned home with our heads reeling from special effects....

     Poor Al has gone back to the UK (another early morning for the Ark personnel) so we are taking it easy today with just a visit to the lake this afternoon.

                      Bye for now. See you soon!