No toll on the French part of the journey, but on this side of the chunnel there isn't an easy way around the Dartford Crossing. I got there in the pre-dawn with no UK money.
Me: "er, do you take cards?"
She looked at me and laughed.
Me: "I've only got euros."
Her: "Oh, no problem. And I can give you change."
Monday, October 20, 2008
To the Tunnel
I took the slow but pretty no-toll route. The toll-roads are very good, but dealing with automatic tolls from a RHD drive car is difficult, especially for someone with walking problems.
At Parthenay it was time for a break, and I parked in the mediaeval town intending to get a drink and wander round the old buildings. The drink was duly drunk but I missed the old buildings, having been distracted by some vaguely musical noises. A big band (not a "large band", but a band comprising a particular range of instruments which plays mostly jazz-derived dance music) wandered up the hill and congregated outside the cafeé; they sounded... enthusiastic, but possibly not all playing the same tune. They looked even more enthusiastic, wearing assorted garments of yellow and black, with lots of stripes and even black-on-yellow leopard-pattern. More players, wearing red costumes, joined them, followed by people wearing fairly random things, and a group wearing standard-style royal-blue brass-band jackets with grey trousers, topped off with blue-and-grey hats of curiously huge construction. They mingled into a huge ensemble and began to play again (conducted by an extrovert of the blue and grey persuasion), well-drilled and in time and apparently playing any piece they individually fancied. I took some photos with camera-phone, of middle-aged men in t-shirts and tights and boots and pink tutus or long red cloaks, and girls in vivid yellow outfits, and managed to get one photo of the mad conductor in action. It's silly season in France, with the autumn festivals in all the towns :)
Driving past the chess-piece roundabouts of Alençon (a lovely place once you get through the industrial area) and the waterwheel roundabout at La Flèche, I decided there's a photographic book to be made of French roundabouts.
On one of the massive industrial complexes of Le Mans there was a large odd-shaped orange thing above the road ahead. I couldn't work out what it was for a while. It was the moon, gibbous.
I must remember to drive through Bernay centre if I take this route again. That stretch of road is almost Milton Keynesian; in the dark and feeling tired I started to wonder if I was hallucinating when, on one of the many roundabouts, I noticed a sign on the first exit saying "Bernay 2"... the third time Bernay had been on the right. The next two roundabouts also said "Bernay 2". I was relieved to see "Bernay 3" on the following roundabout.
Abbeville has a wonderful gothic church which I've looked at in daylight. This was the first time at night, resulting in a marvellous discovery: the roads in the town centre are sparkly!
For reference -
St Genis de Saintonge (outline of ship on the roundabout); past Pons (wave to the Donjon) and Saintes; St Jean d'Angelys; Loulay; Niort; Parthenay; Saumur; La Flèche; Le Mans; Alençon; Rouen; Abbeville; Saint-Saëns; Boulogne; La Coquelles.
At Parthenay it was time for a break, and I parked in the mediaeval town intending to get a drink and wander round the old buildings. The drink was duly drunk but I missed the old buildings, having been distracted by some vaguely musical noises. A big band (not a "large band", but a band comprising a particular range of instruments which plays mostly jazz-derived dance music) wandered up the hill and congregated outside the cafeé; they sounded... enthusiastic, but possibly not all playing the same tune. They looked even more enthusiastic, wearing assorted garments of yellow and black, with lots of stripes and even black-on-yellow leopard-pattern. More players, wearing red costumes, joined them, followed by people wearing fairly random things, and a group wearing standard-style royal-blue brass-band jackets with grey trousers, topped off with blue-and-grey hats of curiously huge construction. They mingled into a huge ensemble and began to play again (conducted by an extrovert of the blue and grey persuasion), well-drilled and in time and apparently playing any piece they individually fancied. I took some photos with camera-phone, of middle-aged men in t-shirts and tights and boots and pink tutus or long red cloaks, and girls in vivid yellow outfits, and managed to get one photo of the mad conductor in action. It's silly season in France, with the autumn festivals in all the towns :)
Driving past the chess-piece roundabouts of Alençon (a lovely place once you get through the industrial area) and the waterwheel roundabout at La Flèche, I decided there's a photographic book to be made of French roundabouts.
On one of the massive industrial complexes of Le Mans there was a large odd-shaped orange thing above the road ahead. I couldn't work out what it was for a while. It was the moon, gibbous.
I must remember to drive through Bernay centre if I take this route again. That stretch of road is almost Milton Keynesian; in the dark and feeling tired I started to wonder if I was hallucinating when, on one of the many roundabouts, I noticed a sign on the first exit saying "Bernay 2"... the third time Bernay had been on the right. The next two roundabouts also said "Bernay 2". I was relieved to see "Bernay 3" on the following roundabout.
Abbeville has a wonderful gothic church which I've looked at in daylight. This was the first time at night, resulting in a marvellous discovery: the roads in the town centre are sparkly!
For reference -
St Genis de Saintonge (outline of ship on the roundabout); past Pons (wave to the Donjon) and Saintes; St Jean d'Angelys; Loulay; Niort; Parthenay; Saumur; La Flèche; Le Mans; Alençon; Rouen; Abbeville; Saint-Saëns; Boulogne; La Coquelles.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Of grapes and wrath of Australis
Yesterday the weather forecast for Jonzac today was warm and light southerly winds, and the forecast for Bordeaux the same. Partly right: it's warm. I was woken by things going crash in the garden as it became rather breezy, and I've just seen Neighbour get blown off his bike. Fortunately he was passing the row of little ex-houses and was only blown against a wall. It is quite amusing to sit here at my desk in the nearly-finished room and watch life in the slow^W lane.
There is green mush all over the front of the car. Passing Sainte Ramée yesterday, I was admiring the grape harvest and drove through a shed load (that's load-which-had-been-shed, not shed-load, but it was quite a heap). So, the Big Blue Yes has been trading grapes.Yesterday the weather forecast for Jonzac today was warm and light winds, and the forecast for Bordeaux the same. Partly right: it's warm. I was woken by things going crash in the garden as it became rather breezy, and I've just seen Denis get blown off his bike. Fortunately he was passing the row of little ex-houses and was only blown against a wall. It is quite amusing to sit here at my desk in the nearly-finished room and watch life in the slow^W lane.
Oh, the green mush? It was all over the front of the car. Passing Sainte Ramée yesterday, I was admiring the grape harvest and drove through a shed load (that's load-which-had-been-shed, not shed-load, but it was quite a heap). So, the Big Blue Yes has been treading grapes.
There is green mush all over the front of the car. Passing Sainte Ramée yesterday, I was admiring the grape harvest and drove through a shed load (that's load-which-had-been-shed, not shed-load, but it was quite a heap). So, the Big Blue Yes has been trading grapes.Yesterday the weather forecast for Jonzac today was warm and light winds, and the forecast for Bordeaux the same. Partly right: it's warm. I was woken by things going crash in the garden as it became rather breezy, and I've just seen Denis get blown off his bike. Fortunately he was passing the row of little ex-houses and was only blown against a wall. It is quite amusing to sit here at my desk in the nearly-finished room and watch life in the slow^W lane.
Oh, the green mush? It was all over the front of the car. Passing Sainte Ramée yesterday, I was admiring the grape harvest and drove through a shed load (that's load-which-had-been-shed, not shed-load, but it was quite a heap). So, the Big Blue Yes has been treading grapes.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
New living room and office space
The new room is looking almost ready to use. Photos of the renovation and construction are here.
Fitting the flooring anywhere close to the wavy walls has been very difficult. Ben has done a marvellous job.
There's still quite a lot of work to be done: put the rail on the stairs, cover the edges of the flooring, fit the sockets and wiring, fix the walls around the sockets, apply another coat of varnish, cover the steps with something (bamboo or tiles, not sure which) and sort out the join with the kitchen door.
I don't know what to do about the kitchen entrance. It would look better to remove the grotty old door and surround (put in as a temporary measure by the owner-before-last) and just have an archway between the kitchen and living room, but it's perhaps not practical from the point of view of heating - although the big fireplace in the kitchen is more than adequate for the kitchen itself, and could possibly heat both. There's also the question of sound insulation, keeping cooking and preparation noise away from rehearsal space. An archway, with perhaps a curtain, would look gorgeous, though.
The floor won't join up easily, either. Owner-before-last bought enough tiles (which I bought off last owner) to do the whole of the ground floor, and only got as far as doing the kitchen; but now there is bamboo flooring in the middle it might look odd going from one to the other.
Fitting the flooring anywhere close to the wavy walls has been very difficult. Ben has done a marvellous job.
There's still quite a lot of work to be done: put the rail on the stairs, cover the edges of the flooring, fit the sockets and wiring, fix the walls around the sockets, apply another coat of varnish, cover the steps with something (bamboo or tiles, not sure which) and sort out the join with the kitchen door.
I don't know what to do about the kitchen entrance. It would look better to remove the grotty old door and surround (put in as a temporary measure by the owner-before-last) and just have an archway between the kitchen and living room, but it's perhaps not practical from the point of view of heating - although the big fireplace in the kitchen is more than adequate for the kitchen itself, and could possibly heat both. There's also the question of sound insulation, keeping cooking and preparation noise away from rehearsal space. An archway, with perhaps a curtain, would look gorgeous, though.
The floor won't join up easily, either. Owner-before-last bought enough tiles (which I bought off last owner) to do the whole of the ground floor, and only got as far as doing the kitchen; but now there is bamboo flooring in the middle it might look odd going from one to the other.
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