TWO MORNING WALKS and a refreshing new approach?

Nick has been struck down with "man flu" this week so I have been on morning dog walking duties.

There are several walks I like to do with Hugo.

A walk twice around the lake at Paulmy is one of our favourites.

It has been very cold with foggy starts to the mornings.

It was 2°C when I set off on Friday, 3°C when I got back.

It hardly seems five minutes since it was 22° and even 32° not long before that.

The change in autumn colours has been rapid.

The bit of rain we had in September and early October seemed to give the trees a second chance and they perked up and held on to their greenery.

Then all of a sudden the leaves turned and the recent strong winds blew a lot of them off.

Another favourite is along the voie verte at the little hamlet of Étableau.

This stash of cable indicates that some electrical work is planned nearby.

The voie verte (meaning green lane) is a wonderful facility for walkers and cyclists.

It is the old railway line that linked many of the villages and hamlets until the 1960's.

The railway tracks were removed years ago and in recent years the overgrown trees and shrubs alongside were cut back and a good gravel surface put down.

Relics of the old railway still exist in places.

All of the old cottages that housed signalmen at points along the track have been renovated and are occupied.  This one is used as a holiday home.

This one has more land and is a permanent home.

From several points along the voie verte there is a good view of the old ruined fortress that sits on the hill overlooking the hamlet of Étableau.  It was built in the 1100's and is now, although in ruins, privately owned.  You can read about it here with the option of reading the text in English.

Changing the subject, the protests, riots and vandalism mentioned in my previous post are still taking place.  Last Monday we went to the centre of Tours with a friend to collect her carte de séjour.  The ambience was very much business as usual, with people going about as if nothing had happened, yet there were numerous shops and businesses boarded up or burnt out and the roads and pavements scarred by fire.

The shops targeted were almost exclusively clothing and accessory shops; Adidas, Levis, H&M, Sephora (selling perfumes and cosmetics), phone shops and so on.  Many of the larger chain stores were clearly re-stocking but the smaller ones were just boarded and closed.  We were baffled why the opticians had been destroyed.  No doubt the valuable sunglasses and even spectacle frames are now being traded  by the thieves but the damage to the business by setting fire to it will be hard to recover from; patient records gone, orders gone, expensive equipment destroyed.

The friend accompanying us has had a mammoth struggle to get her carte de séjour.  It has taken her nearly a year to get it.  Her previous card expired in December 2025 so this new one is only valid for another six weeks.  Now that she has it she can apply to renew it.

However, there has clearly been yet another change of process adopted by the Préfecture and they have resumed sending text messages.  She received a text telling her that her card was ready and giving her a date and time slot to collect it.   We set off with a degree of trepidation, expecting the usual hassle to get into the Préfecture and not knowing what state the centre of Tours would be in.  The collection process turned out to be smooth and slick and she was in and out within five minutes, clutching the precious card.  The fee for it has now increased to 250€ per year.

To our absolute amazement, yesterday we each received text messages informing us that we can also now apply to renew our cards which expire in March next year.  Minutes later we received emails telling us the same thing along with a link to the website.

This is a refreshing change.  We know that the Préfectures have been told by the Ministry of the Interior in France to pull their socks up and deal with CDS applications more quickly and efficiently and this is very promising.

We shall see!!  

MADNESS

 This is the beautiful Hotel de Ville, the town hall, in Limoges.

The consequences of destroying a public building where so many aspects of public life in the region are administered are enormous.  All the records for planning applications, the payrolls, and goodness only knows what else, gone.  Most of the loss will affect local people for years and it's hard to see what good it will do the cause of the protesters protesting against lack of funding for schools and colleges, shortage of teachers and other grievances.

In the centre of Tours, our nearest city, dozens of shops and businesses have been ransacked and looted, then the interiors destroyed.  There are videos of vandals smashing windows and leaving the H&M shop with armfuls of clothes still on hangers.

Now that the protesters have had their fun and made their point, inevitably the cost of sorting out the mess and the repairs will filter down, one way or another, to the ordinary folk.

People sometimes admire the way that the French "take to the streets" to make themselves heard; so un-British.  It's one aspect of French life that makes me nervous, uncomfortable, just like in 1990 when French farmers burned alive a lorry load of lambs at Calais to protest against the import of British lamb into France.  It was cruel, heartless and appalling.  This is just madness.

SEPTEMBER

September is my favourite month of the year.

I spent a week of it in the UK where the weather was unusually kind.

Much as I enjoyed my week I was looking forward to getting to get back to France.  The Ryanair flight back was completely stress free.

I grumble about Ryanair but really shouldn't, without them we couldn't do what we do - live in two countries.

Yvonne was pleased to see me back home.

The double cushion trick is the way to a cat's heart.

Hugo has matured into a truly wonderful dog.

The September weather has been fabulous.

Warm days, cool nights and mornings, and plenty of sitting out.

The sunrises have been gorgeous.

The sunsets beautiful.

There has been plenty of deer activity - the brame is in full swing. 

We went to our favourite town, Chinon, for the afternoon.

Chinon never fails to enchant us.

We have passed an early evening or two enjoying life in the village square.

With the village pizzeria not yet re-opened after a change of ownership we went to Descartes to try the newish pizza restaurant there.

The pizzas were not great and we have read that the restaurant is about to close.

Making good pizzas is clearly harder than you might think.

Two gorgeous old cars were parked outside the salle des fêtes in our own village.

It was "Paella night", rescheduled from earlier in the summer.

It's usually an outdoor event with fireworks at the end of the evening but due to the successive heatwaves it was postponed to September.

Paella was served to a huge number of people.

It was an excellent evening, great food, lots of fun and fabulous fireworks.

With the cooler weather we fished the old Harleys out of the barn and went for a few rides.

I never thought I would still be riding my Harley at the age of 74.

Mine is 19 years old, his 22 years.  Almost vintage.

The band "Celtiqua" played their farewell concert at the Lavoir in Preuilly.

It was a bitter sweet event, great music from old friends but a sad goodbye.

The weather is looking good for the coming week and into October.

Long may it continue (although we really do need some rain).

When comfort food is more tempting I have earmarked this recipe for our courgettes:

https://www.ocado.com/recipes/one-pan-courgette-lasagne/3PNvJ4T7DIynBjWpm04ISQ

STALLED and biting the bullet(s)

Blogging has stalled for a while as I have been in the UK for one of our routine visits this week and before that we were very busy with entertaining, gardening and other stuff.

This visit I have done the usual stuff such as cutting the grass, tidying the garden, tidying the house following our earlier exit in July and, importantly, I have been on a mission to buy myself some new clothes and shoes.  I am desperate for new shoes, most of mine being years old and worn out (or no longer comfortable for my poor old abused feet).  I also need new sandals but they will have to wait until next year as by now there are none in the shops.

I dread going shopping for clothes and shoes but dread even more the hassle of buying them online.  The waiting in for the parcel or having to fetch it from the corner shop, the trying on to find the fabric is nothing like I expected and the shoes don't fit, followed by the packing up and returning using the various methods dictated by the supplier.  Then the checking of my account to make sure the refund arrives.

I had been to one of the retail parks a few miles away and bought a couple of dresses and a jumper in the Weird Fish sale, plus a raincoat from Cotton Traders.  The only shoe shop was Pavers but the only shoes that looked suitable were not available in my size.

So, I bit the bullet and went into town.  First stop M&S who have moved from the town centre into a new store in a retail park on the edge of town.  I queued to get into the inadequately small car park and slid into the only inadequately small parking space I could find, a long way from the shop.  At least the parking was free but limited, of course, to two hours otherwise you risk a hefty fine from the people who own the car park.  You can't visit all the shops on the site in two hours - unless you are very focussed and don't enjoy browsing.

I was lucky to find jeans and trousers in my size plus underwear in stock.  I bit the other bullet of trying them on in the shop, which always seems to be a faff but avoids the inevitable return to the shop if they don't fit when trying them on at home.

I also nipped into the food hall (always a joy) and picked up some small chocolate gifts to take back to France.  When we are invited out to lunch we take some chocs for the hosts and M&S chocs are always well received.

Next I went into the town centre and parked in a central car park.  By then I was hungry so I popped into the Post Office.  The building that used to be the Post Office is now a bar restaurant.  I hesitated but thought how bad can it be?  The décor was a cross between Frankie and Benny and an old railway station caff.  This surprised me as I thought that kind of thing had gone out of fashion now.  Having paid £8.60 for a very dismal bacon sandwich (just two small slices of unbuttered toast and two minute rashers of bacon) and a small bottle of mineral water I ventured out to the shops.  I am out of touch with how much eating out costs in the UK.

There used to be two Clarks shoe shops in town, plus others such as Lilley & Skinner and a huge shoe department in the Co-Op.  The Co-Op, our wonderful department store, closed several years ago and there is now just one Clarks shoe shop and two that seem to sell cheap trainers.  I was out of luck.  

However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed wandering around the town.  The weather was fine which always helps but somehow it didn't feel quite so down at heel as it has felt lately.  There are still plenty of empty shops and too many nail bars* and vape shops for my liking but on the whole I thought I could come to like the place again.

The indulgent wandering around town added time to my car parking fee which was £4.60.  So by now I was £13.20 out of pocket and only a very mean bacon sandwich to show for it.  (We rarely have to pay anything at all for car parking in our part of France.)

My plan was to head to yet another retail park way out of town where there was a Hotter shoe shop, a drive which took forty minues.  If I was unlucky there I would have to go to the dreaded Meadow Hall - the massive shopping centre on the outskirts of Sheffield - which would involve at least a forty minute drive up the M1(depending on the time I hit the motorway and if there had been any "incidents").  In Hotter I hit gold and came away with a selection of shoes, boots and trainers that will see me through several winters.  

Changing the subject, I have been trying to eat very healthily while chez nous uk as all that socialising and enjoying life over the summer chez nous fr has taken its toll on the waistline.  I have had huge success with poached eggs.

You may laugh but poaching eggs is, IMHO,  a black art and over the years I have tried a number of methods with mixed success.  I have tried microwaving them (Nancy Birtwhistle's method) often resulting in exploded egg, the silicone egg poaching pods (eggs stuck like glue to the pods), steaming them in a tea strainer over a pan of simmering water (stuck like Gorilla glue to that), and, most successful so far, sliding them into a large shallow pan of barely simmering water from a small cup (Nigella Lawson's method).  This would produce eggs that varied from perfect little balls of deliciousness to something that looked like a strangled jelly fish (but still tasted good).

More recently I have bit the bullet and done it the old fashioned way with HUGE SUCCESS.  Sliding the egg from a cup into a small but deep saucepan of just simmering water containing a splash of white wine vinegar has worked for me.  I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the freshness of the egg but when the white is just no longer transparent the egg seems to have that oh so perfect runny yolk we all aim for.  A thing of joy without a doubt.

Last but not least, I have just finished reading this book.  I started it on the aeroplane (or rather, while waiting for the one and a half hours delayed flight in the dreadfully uncomfortable and greenhouse-like waiting room at Limoges airport which they euphemistically call the "departure lounge").  Once chez nous uk I couldn't wait to carry on reading it.  Set in the era of coach and horses and parlour maids, it was a bit of a slow start but very worth sticking with it to the end.  If you like a tale with unexpected twists and turns you would enjoy it.

As a post script, Blogger seems to have thrown a wobbly yet again and no longer updates my reading list or the blog list on my sidebar.  Does anybody have any idea how to fix this?

* As a further post script I recently stumbled across an article which refers to the invasion of nail bars into towns all over the world.  The writer refers to the nails as "acrylic claws".  They definitely would not suit my lifestyle and I often wonder how people manage with them!

OLD STUFF AND LOGS

 All of the usual brocantes / vide greniers (flea markets) have taken place this year in spite of the tremendous heat.  Several of them are now very big events.  We have had five heatwaves, one after the other and haven't felt like going to all the brocantes that we usually do.  We have however, managed a few and acquired a few bits and pieces of old stuff.

In reality, very little of it is very old, just stuff that other people don't want.

We did very well at our own village brocante in Paulmy early this month.

I couldn't resist this chicken to add to my growing collection of chickens.

This one cost just 1€.

My little collection of French chickens.

No fresh eggs, just fun.

See also the little pile of serviettes.

Fourteen beautiful yellow serviettes in cotton, 4€.

Note also in the background some martini glasses.

A set of seven (!) from the brocante at Yzeures-sur-Creuse.

If ever we need to serve cocktails, we now have the right glasses.

Also from Paulmy, a rather pretty cake stand.

I need another cake stand like I need a hole in the head.

For 2€ I couldn't resist this one.

I found a space for it somewhere.

A friend had a stall at Paulmy and did rather well selling her old stuff.

I admired this classic cookbook by Arabella Boxer and she gave it to me for nothing.

She had family staying and her grandson made lots of objects using 3D printing.

I absolutely don't understand how that works but am prepared to accept that it does.

Rather like I don't know how a television works but am happy to watch it.

He did REALLY well with his 3D objects and I bought a key ring, 2€. 

The beads were, I think, meant to be two bracelets.  2€.

I shall restring them into a necklace.

The pretty green mug came from the brocante at Lesigny.

It's massive event, taking over the whole village but on a very hot day we gave up and left early.

The mug was the only thing I felt like hanging around to ask the price for.  1€.

The china cups and saucers came from the most recent brocante, a huge event, at Cussay.

You may wonder about the loaves of bread.....

At Cussay they fire up the old village bread oven.

They make and sell the most delicious bread.

We ate the white loaf, called a "boule" and froze the brown loaf, called a "complet" which means wholemeal.

There was a stall selling haberdashery and craft items which looked like they had all come from a shop that had closed down.

These gorgeous Gütermann beads were 1.20€ a tube.

I have it in mind to add some of them to the pretty bracelet beads to create a necklace.

We didn't stay long at the Cussay brocante.

There were acres of stalls but we needed to get back home to our logs.

On Friday we had had our delivery of logs.  It is, strictly speaking, a bit early in the year to be having logs but I heard where there were some for sale and decided to put in an order.  In previous years we have had trouble getting them and at one point were close to running out completely.  Hence last year we ended up paying well over the odds for the wood and a huge amount for delivery.

This time I turned up at the log man's house just before lunchtime in the hope that I would catch him in.  He never answers the phone.  We combined our order with that for a friend to make the delivery worthwhile.  The wood was a sensible price and he didn't charge at all to deliver.  It looks like excellent well seasoned wood.  The proof of the wood is in the burning.

Our friends collected their share on Saturday and we spent some of Saturday and all of Sunday afternoon sorting, splitting and stacking the logs in our woodshed.  I was on splitting using an electric log splitter, Nick was on barrowing and stacking.

It was blooming hard work but it's all done and we have wood that is ready to go all winter.