Happy Return

Well, we`re back! Back home again from our annual Christmas visit to our `other family` at Lille. We got back in on Friday after a trip of 625 kilometres, all done in one day. On the outward trip we broke our journey at Orléans, so as not to arrive too exhausted, it`s not very polite to arrive at a friend`s house and demand to go straight to bed!
  We had a fantastic time chez Cécile and Patrick; the weather was relatively mild, unusual for Lille, we  had snow last year. At least the dogs, having to spend Christmas in the car like SDF`s, were not too uncomfortable. Still, they get loads of walks. Here it is even milder I walked them yesterday without a coat on (me rather than the dogs!) The down-side has been LOADS of rain, Paris was nearly underwater when we passed on the outward voyage and it rained nearly all the way.

Oysters--see if you can spot the pearl

Coquilles St Jacques + side dish

    We are really spoilt while at Lille, there are for example two separate dinners for Cécile`s family and Patrick`s, and we get to go to both! Kim has taken to Jax`s habit of photographing her food, so here are a couple of shots... Have to admit that neither of us are brave enough to eat oysters but an alternative of ham was provided.
























Oh, yes, you live high off the hog there and my digestion is still recovering.
   While we were there, Patrick took delivery of his new computer. He was not happy with the old one, which, he said ,was acting up. He disconnected it to install the new one and it worked fine on a temporary connection, seemed to be putting out its tongue at him!  Anyway, he generously gave the old one to me, so I am now the possessor of a much more modern Apple than my present Leopard and I am hoping that Ade can sort out any problems on the new Tiger OSX 10.4.3  A suivre!
   The Peugeot ran impeccably for two trips of over 600 kilometres in spite of the rain, I`m very pleased with how it continues to run. The only down-side at the moment is that Kim has returned with a Northern France cold, so I am nursing her back to health and we had to give church a miss this morning.  And it seems that a fox has seized the opportunity of our absence to eat our two Muscovey ducks....Oh, well, that`s life...RIP Alyson and Rebecca :(


  Right, that`s all for now, going to eat a small, dry biscuit with a glass of water...

Heart of the matter

   Yesterday was, to use our Pasteur`s words, une journée particulier. I had an appointment with the specialist for a `doppler` (ulta-sound? I don`t know the English equivalent) examination of my major blood-vessels. Our Doctoresse, when arranging Kim`s normal controle visit to the Cardiologue had `suggested` that I had one too, despite being in good health. She is petite but forceful, so I cravenly agreed. The Cardiologue, while finding nothing wrong, suggested a scan of the neck arteries in view of my mother`s early decease from a stroke. So, four months later, I find myself lying on the Experts `work-bench` while he applies an extremely cold probe to my neck. You don`t feel quite so confident that all is in order at this point. What will he discover on his little screen, just out of my line of vision? He touches a button and a loud swooshing noise makes me jump--perhaps blood squeezing through the narrow gap still open? Drole de bruit, he remarks, to my alarm. C`est normale, ça? I seek reassurance Ah, oui, tout å fait normale he assures me. I settle down while he pursues his research...
   After he had finished, he showed me the pictures and discussed his findings He mentioned a very small piece of plaque on the wall of the carotid artery. Sounds alarming, but the picture showed a tube with a tiny spot, like an ice cream carton lying on the floor of a Tube tunnel, absolutely no problem to the passage of blood. He dictated a report to my doc on the spot and relieved me personally of his fee, some of which I shall get back from my assurance and the Sécu. Still, a small price to pay for peace of mind, and if there had been any problem, it would have been caught early, so something could be done in good time. We are well looked-after out here!

  Bye for now, going to celebrate my continuing good health with a cup of tea and by putting up the Christmas deccies!

Talented cats!

   Now, I have said before that we have a talented crew of animals on the Ark, but a couple of items have surfaced in the last couple of days to display this very graphically. The first concerns Mrs Noah`s new laptop.
   This shiny machine, of which she is very proud is often left open on the coffee table beside her favourite chair, as closing the lid turns it off and she often wants to retain a game or occupation on which she is working. However, one of our talented cats had seized the opportunity of doing some programming on his or her own account. Whatever mysterious input was applied, it had a most bizarre effect on the laptop-- the screen picture turned upside down! It proved far from easy to reverse the damage and we thought we were going to have to call in our favourite trouble-shooter--hello Ade! However a bit of research on Google on my machine ( Kim`s was far from easy to use in reverse!) came up with several sites offering advice on this problem and Kim was able to follow the advice of a thirteen year old expert to reverse the effect. A happy outcome to a feline crime...

    The other bit of talent was shown today by the grey kitten, Storm, who is a bit under the weather today with the cat equivalent of a streaming cold. To cheer her up, we let her share a bit of a brand-new loaf we were eating and she picked up the crust between her front paws, stood up on her haunches and nibbled it as a squirrel eats a nut. I have never seen a cat do this, we were quite impressed. No photo unfortunately but will try to get one later if she adds this trick to her permanent repertoire. It`s no good laughing, Storm!

   Bye for now going to lock up my computer!

Losing the plot?

   Following from my last Ark, which, you may remember made mention of our 38th wedding anniversary, I have been led to reflect a bit on the aging process. Kim commented on looking forward to the next 38, which caused me to reflect that we will be 116 years old if we make it, which strikes me as implausible. However, it`s not the gross length of life expectancy which concerns me but the HEALTHY life span remaining. Luckily, both Kim and I are fairly hale and hearty, even if a bit more weather-beaten than when we tied the knot. But what no one likes to mention is the fear of mental degradation.
  With cancer coming more under control of health professionals, the next great concern is the loss of memory. We know of at least two tragic cases and would hate to experience it at first-hand. I did mention to Kim some time ago that I kept forgetting names, but was comforted by her retort that I could NEVER remember them, even as a twenty-year-old! Nothing new there, then... Another comforting fact which I have read in several sources lately, is that bi-lingual people are much later in developing memory loss. The theory is that the brain gets so much healthy exercise remembering several thousand foreign words, that it is in a better position than the lesser-stressed monoglots. There, a new reason to learn your French!
  However, I did have a `senior moment` a few days ago. I was methodically processing some left-over stew into a nice soup. I ladled some of the stew into the food-processor from the casserole, spun it and then was going to tip the soup into a spare pan I had ready. However I poured it by mistake back into the casserole with the remaining stew... Not a bad error but it made me smile at my lack of attention and incidentally reminded me of this story.
  An American was telling of his father, who was a fantastically methodical man. One day, when he decided he needed a hair-cut, he visited his local barber. He entered the shop, removed his overcoat, put it on a hanger and hung it on the coat stand. He then did the same with his jacket, took off his tie, rolled it up and stowed it in his pocket. He unbuttoned his waist-coat, undid and loosened his shirt collar and took his place in the barber`s chair. The barber approached and said `Mr ---- , have you come for a hair-cut?` The father was surprised and said he had, rather crossly.  `Well, then` said the barber, `You are going to have to remove your hat` A case of not seeing the wood for the trees.

     Bye for now, going to enjoy life while I remember how!
   
 

Anyone fancy a good meal?

   

    Yesterday was our 38th wedding anniversary, and to commemorate all that (mainly) happy time, we decided to celebrate it in style with a meal out. To kill two birds with one stone, we decided also to try out the Restaurant du Canton in our next village of Longré.
  Funnily enough, although we are part of the canton of Loubillé, Longré is actually the nearer village, perhaps this is because it is over the Départment border in the Charente. The little café there closed a year ago, due I think, to a divorce and has only recently re-opened. It has been entirely refurbished by its new owners and offers a welcoming little bar area and a larger restaurant area, newly constructed under a most impressive conservatory at the rear of the bar. It is all very clean and pleasant, nice and warm, too on a rather chilly evening. The couple now running it are extremely welcoming and hospitable. They come from the Paris area.
  But what about the food, I hear you ask. Well, we were not disappointed. The menu is fairly simple, not surprising in a little establishment still in the process of building up its clientelle. Better a simple menu, than a great list of dishes not available or straight out of the microwave!.
   We started with an apero, as it was a special occasion. Kim had a Kir, and I had a white Pineau, both were excellent, and accompanied with the usual nibbles. Then came an entrée, not mentioned on the menu, which consisted of a delicious slice of quiche, with salad. After that, both Kim and I had chosen Escalope of Turkey with a Tarragon sauce. This was accompanied with delightfully light sautéd potatoes. Very tasty! Afterwards, for dessert we ate a creme brulée, which was one of the best I have ever tasted, with the creme still chilled and the caramelised brown sugar warm and crispy on the top.  We finished with a coffee in the bar area. The menu price, which includes a small carafe of wine and the coffee, was a very reasonable 12 Euros apiece. The meal was well-served on attractive square plates and the tables had proper linen cloths with a red satin runner.
  I`m sorry that I don`t have the nerve to photograph each dish, like someone we could name, you will have to take my word that it was all most attractively presented. Altogether a most enjoyable meal and we can thoroughly recommend this restaurant!
   Bye for now, all this talk of food has given me an appetite for lunch!

Autumn.

              This is the weather the shepherd shuns
              And so do I;
               When beeches drip in browns and duns
                And thresh and ply;
                And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe,
                 And meadow rivulets overflow,
                  And drops on gate-bars hang in a row,
                  And rooks in families homeward go,
                   And so  do I.


   Walking the dogs up the track earlier this morning, this second verse of Thomas Hardy came to mind. I too, made haste to cut the mandatory dog exercise short and return to the warm kitchen, where the wood-burner is keeping things snug and dry.
   And yet, it`s not cold and it is a magnificent sight to see the golden leaves streaming to leeward as the tall trees shed their dangerous wind-resistance. All is in order in the countryside and in due course we will be able to say ` This is the weather the Cuckoo likes` again.
  And in fact, a bit of blue sky up to windward has spread, and the sun is out again, better conditions for the afternoon, I expect!

  Bye for now, I hope your weather is being kind to you!

Vive la Différence?

 There are many advantages, and of course, some disadvantages, in living in France, and readers of this blog will have heard me enumerate them often enough. The climate, chiefly (we are sitting with the front door open to the autumn sunshine) the cheaper and of course rural life etc. There are no doubt disadvantages, though I can`t at the moment think of them... Then there are differences which may be one or the other.. One of the differences which anyone renovating a French house will encounter, is the electrical system.
  Now the British system is relatively recent and is of course different to everyone else in the world, quelle surprise!. It is built around the well known 13 amp square-pinned plug. In effect, each appliance connected to the system has its own fuse. The power can therefor be supplied by loops serving many plug sockets or lights. Each loop has its own big fuse back at the main distribution board. The advantage is that only a few wires come out of the main board. The disadvantage is a large unwieldy plug which won`t fit any other known socket on earth...
  In France, this loop system is not only not seen, it is illegal. The plugs are not fused, and look tiny to British eyes, especially the smaller ones for small, twin wired items. If the iten needs an earth, the plug is a little bigger, as you can see in the header pic. The disadvantage is that the circuits are fused back at the main board, so each socket, or say up to three, have a separate spur of wire, and the bunch of wires coming out of the main board have to be seen to be believed! Both systems work, both have their points, you pays your money and.... in fact you have no choice! It`s a draw...
   The other major system difference is the hot water supply. In Britain, the water for your shower is heated by gas or electricity straight from cold, as you use it. Advantage-- unlimited supply, available straightaway. Disadvantage, low rates of flow, especially in winter, when the mains water is very cold. You have a choice between a trickle of hot water, or a good flow of luke warm, neither very appealing! Plus, in France, the electricity supply is generally too low to run an electric shower heater, as we found out to our cost when we tried to install one.
 The alternative in France is to have your shower supplied from the hot water tank. We get all the very hot water one could desire at the shower-head. Simple, but impossible in the UK!  The reason is that Uk hot water tanks are at atmospheric pressure, while in France they are at mains pressure, by having the cold supply connected to the tank, illegal in Britain, for fear that there will be a reverse flow which might contaminate the supply. Some genius in France has suggested that a non-return valve could solve this, rocket science or what! The problem of over-pressure of the tank was solved by a small pressure-relief valve, shown in my pic to vent off a small amount of water . The result--steaming hot, copious showers, what luxury!  Vive la différence!

   Bye for now, off to enjoy a shower!