↓
 

Blasdale Home

The web home of Steve and Rosemary

  • Home
  • Picture albums
    • 2020s
      • 2020 Gallery
      • 2021 Gallery
    • 2010s
      • 2010 Gallery
      • 2011 Gallery
      • 2012 Gallery
      • 2013 Gallery
      • 2014 Gallery
      • 2015 Gallery
      • 2016 Gallery
      • 2017 Gallery
      • 2018 Gallery
      • 2019 Gallery
    • 2000s
      • 2000 Gallery
      • 2001 Gallery
      • 2002 Gallery
      • 2003 Gallery
      • 2004 Gallery
      • 2005 Gallery
      • 2006 Gallery
      • 2007 Gallery
      • 2008 Gallery
      • 2009 Gallery
    • 1990s
      • 1992 Gallery
      • 1993 Gallery
      • 1994 Gallery
      • 1995 Gallery
      • 1996 Gallery
      • 1997 Gallery
      • 1998 Gallery
      • 1999 Gallery
    • 1980s
    • 1970s
    • 1960s
  • Tag Cloud
  • Blog
  • Blasdale Genealogy
  • Cambridge
  • Subscribe
Home→Published 2012 → September - Page 2 << 1 2

Monthly Archives: September 2012

Post navigation

Newer posts →

Tuesday Night Music Club

Blasdale Home Posted on September 4, 2012 by SteveSeptember 3, 2014

Another lovely  dry and hot day idling in the Marais region of France. Went for a cycle ride with Mikie on a circuit route  to Damvix and back. Spotted a few Dragons flying around.  Rosemary and Linda headed off to Coulon and visited a very good museum all about life on the Marsh.  Rosemary had headphones with an English translation of a film about the history of the Marais.  Main commentator had a Welsh accent of which Rosemary much approved.

The night was a disturbed night.  The owl in the roof space decided to become a noisy owl, and proceeded to make a sound like crunching bones.  I know owls don’t have molars, so really can’t at all be sure what it was up to.  Rosemary flushing the loo at 3 am elicited a hiss of protest from the resident.

Posted in France | Tagged Arcais, Coulon, Damvix, France, Marais | Leave a reply

Monday Monday so good to me

Blasdale Home Posted on September 3, 2012 by SteveSeptember 4, 2012

Linda, Rosemary and I set off for a cycle ride, cycles prepared, seat lowered for Rosemary, and tyres pumped up and off we set.  Three hundred yards down the road there was an explosion like a gun, Linda was horrified the neighbour was out shooting rabbits.  Nope, it was the inner tube of Rosemary’s bike bursting.  Quick walk back to the house and left Rosemary behind, and off we went again.  Did a quick circuit along the dykes and through the fields.  Little wildlife to be seen.  One escaping bull calf, and a dead Coypu on a bridge. 

Back at the ranch lunch was prepared and then we were off to Surgeres.  Surgeres is apparently the centre of the dairy industry of the region.  Even butter labelled Surgeres can be found in the supermarket.  There is an citadel in the centre, but little remains other than part of the fortified wall, a church and a tower.  We took an English guide leaflet from the tourist office. This leaflet provided much light entertainment and brain exercise, but we discovered Surgeres was the centre of the diary industry.  We suggested Mike and Linda set up a tourist guide translation company.  A beer at a local cafe, where the waitress was a Brit heading back home to start her University course at Cardiff.

Some supper shopping and then home for wine, and some manual labour podding  Linda’s white bean harvest.  This continued while the pizza dough base rose   Finished the evening making and consuming pizza and red wine. while reminiscing on the long lost colleagues from the Walker era.

Posted in France | Tagged Arcais, Coypu, France, Surgeres, Walker | Leave a reply

Lazing on a sunny afternoon in the summertime

Blasdale Home Posted on September 2, 2012 by SteveSeptember 3, 2012

Not a sunny day, but warm, with little wind and no rain, almost what the doctor ordered. Lazy day, ate our pain au raisins from the supermarket. I accessed the Internet, emailed, blogged etc, while Linda & R went off to view L’s vegetable and flower potâge. Mike had to take cycling clients to the airport in La Rochelle. Rosemary, Linda and I went out to a vide grenier (aka car boot) in a nearby village. En route, the petrol light came on, but it was easy to fill up at the supermarket under Linda’s expert tuition. She said how the government had reduced the price per litre by 5 cents, to try and boost the economy.

The boot sale was depressingly large and every stall had to be examined. But fairly early on, lunch was purchased, sausage and frites and a glass of rosé. We sat at a table with a French couple, with whom Linda chatted and who had done well buying clothes for their grandchildren. It was an all-day event; it was even open during the French lunch time period. Not to miss their lunch, many of the car booters were sat around groaning tables behind their pitch, reluctantly getting up to deal with a passing purchaser. There was entertainment with some youths playing English rock songs. They did break for lunch. Rosemary actually made a couple of purchases, a roundish shaped Ricard water bottle and an old French linen shirt come nightie.

Back at the gîte supper was dutifully prepared, BBQed spatchcocked chicken, sausages, and roasted veggies from Linda’s veggie patch. The odd glass was drained.

Posted in France | Leave a reply

Saturday It’s gonna be a long drive home

Blasdale Home Posted on September 1, 2012 by SteveSeptember 3, 2012

The Mistral really challenged my patience during the night. You could hear the gust in the nearby trees and count the seconds for the gust to turn the tent into a twisting, bulging hallucinating mess. Not the most conducive sound and sight to help one get to sleep. Slowly the clocked ticked on and 7 arrived. Dressed ourselves and packed the tent, at least it had not rained during the night, small blessings. The tent required some firm handling to control its riotous antics and to stuff it into its ever shrinking bag. At least we were not in the middle of a thunderstorm, another blessing.

Off we went on our way to Mike and Linda in Arcais where we were going to be staying in their gite. Long motorway drive all the way to Niort, should be good, French motorways are typically uncrowded. Oh yeah every blasted French person and their dog seemed to have taken to the road today. The only time the road was quiet was during the long French lunch break. Bouchon after bouchon all the way to Niort. Even a brief respite at a motorway café was a let-down. I have always been impressed by the motorway cafes on the routes to Lyon and the Tarn, but this route along the South and then up to Bordeaux was the pits. The cafes were small, and crap, mainly serving drinks out of vending machines.

Turned off at Niort, and headed to a super market at Mauze-sur-le-Mignon and stocked up with food, which, with the prospect of a fridge, we could finally do. Arrived at Linda and Mike’s where they had supper and a drink awaiting us. A pork and bean stew with Toulouse sausages. Suitably replenished we went to bed in a very quiet, dry and windless gite. Bliss.

Posted in France | Leave a reply

Post navigation

Newer posts →
©2025 - Blasdale Home Privacy Policy
↑