Return from the mountains--barely,

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that we spend a week in the Pyrennees at Aucun, above Argeles Gazost, at the holiday centre Vers Les cimes. We love the high mountains, and find the holiday does us good. It's always a happy time to meet old friends and meet new ones, to walk among the mountain valleys, even though neither of us can walk as far as we used to. It's lovely to listen to Christian instruction among fellow Christians and to eat the copious and delicious meals we don't have to cook.  However, this year, on the penultimate day, disaster struck, which nearly undid all the benefit. We were going to take the dogs for a little stroll on a footpath near the village but when I tried to start the car to remove it from under the shady pine tree where it is parked to keep the dogs cool, it failed to start, the battery was nearly flat. I couldn't decide whether to call our insurance assistance, or to accept help from our friends at camp to restart the awkwardly parked vehicle .I was really worried about how we would get back home the next day.Eventually, I decided it would be best to call for help. I rang for Credit Mutual assistance and they were really excellent. They sent a local garage to call within half an hour, who had no difficulty in finding the very remote holiday centre. We were expecting a breakdown truck, but the mechanic arrived in a normal car and restarted the car with a portable battery and leads. He gave good directions to his garage, and asked us to go there to have the battery tested as he had another emergency to attend. We drove there very careful not to stall the car, and another most helpful mechanic tested the battery with a high-tech machine, which established that the alternator was charging the battery ok, but the battery itself needed changing. They fitted a replacement straight away, and we drove of having paid just for the battery. It worked fine since for the trip back, so obviously needed changing.
  Bye for now, going to make a nice cup of English tea, don't the French have strange ideas about what constitutes a cuppa!

The van stuck under the pine tree, Laika was trying to pull it out but got tired.

New Ark crew--a Shark!

  It's not that we've installed a fish-tank on the Ark, or corralled a ferocious requin on the deck! The Shark in question is a new vacuum cleaner bought as a result of the demise of our Dyson. We have always preferred the Dyson, for its formidable suction and strong beater action on carpets. However, after needing service from a motor problem consequent to falling downstairs, it never seemed quite its former self, emitting a sobbing noise and needing frequent unblocking of its numerous exterior hoses. Finally, it quit altogether and needed a replacement . Our neighbour, IanMacdonald had bought a Shark Liftaway and said it was loads better than a Dyson, so he let us try it by cleaning his lounge... It did seem very satisfactory  and was somewhat cheaper from Amazon, so we ordered one.
  The Shark does have excellent suction and collected a disreputable amount of pet hair from the kitchen carpet in no time. The dust collection box is quite small and was soon full, but very easy to empty ( once the instruction manual had revealed the latch to be lifted. )  The various buttons seem a bit complicated  but a little use soon breeds familiarity. The term Liftaway refers to an ingenious feature, the motor unit detaches from the shaft and the beater brush continues to turn, so it can clean under low furniture. It even has a headlight, like the Hoover Dirtsearcher of many years ago, I have fond memories of selling them when I worked for Currys. All in all, a most useful crew member, I can thoroughly recommend it!
  Bye for now, sitting drinking iced lemonade, the weather in France having decided it's summer.

The Shark in question

Visit to the Somme graveyards, part 2

   After our visit to the cemetery of the Devonshire Regiment, we went to have lunch in Albert, a larger town nearby. Following that, we set the Satnav to return to Cecile and Patricks house in Wattignies. As it often does, the Satnav chose a new and picturesque route, taking us by minor roads, and passing the much larger cemetery at Pozieres. We stopped to visit this and were impressed and saddened to see long lines of graves, over 2000 collected into this large site from the surrounding countryside . It's one thing to read about the many deaths of First
 World War soldiers, quite another to gaze at long lines of gravestones in serried rows. The most poignant graves in both cemeteries were those on which no name was engraved, as no identification could be found on the remains . On these, it just read ' A soldier of the Great War- known unto God '  I was deeply moved.... In one such grave there were even two Unknown bodies presumably where the remains were mixed up together in death!
  I'll try to attach some photos but I'm writing this on the iPad and photos are stocked on the mainframe .

Visit to the Somme graveyards. A moving experience.

During our Spring visit to our friends at Lille, where we were made most welcome , we decided to visit the First World War graveyard of the Devonshire Regiment, with which we have a certain connection. Kim found out from the Net that this is situated at the small village of Mametz, near the town of Albert. As this was not too far from Lille, we set off to find it.
  With our usual luck, we spotted a sign to the site just before reaching the village, and were able to park nearby. A short, paved path led us to the cemetery gate.
   The graveyard , as is the case with all military cemeteries, is tended by the Comonwealth War Graves Committee and they do a grand job. Lawns cut and weeded, all ironwork freshly painted, the tombstones kept clear of any lichen, and loads of information provided. The 14-18 war is long enough ago to be before my time, yet it is not exactly history either. I expected it to be interesting but was not prepared for how moving it was. I found tears in my eyes several times, seeing tombs of people with common Plymouth names, they could have been my uncles or neighbours.
  The Devonshire cemetery is relatively small, mainly consisting of soldiers killed in a sortie against the near-by German front line, clearly visible from the trenches held by the Devonshire Regiment. Previously weakened by a severe artillery barrage, the German trenches were taken by the Devonshires but a machine gun hidden in a near-by graveyard cut down dozens of our soldiers. The bodies were interred by their comrades in the trench and a poignant inscription carved- The Devonshire Regiment held this trench; they hold it still. After the war, this trench was converted  into the existing cemetery.