Back in France - The Drive Part I

Firstly I want to thank each and everyone of you who wished us well on our journey, and also for the condolences - we were very touched by the large number of messages we received and both appreciated your kind thoughts.  

We have now been back in France for a few days,  but due  firstly to the fact that the garden looked like a jungle on our return and required some urgent work  and secondly, the need to resolve some chronic computer problems, this post is a little delayed.  I will try to catch up with everyone's posts as soon as I have a little more time.

We had a foul drive across the UK to Dover.  It poured with rain most of the way, and the amount of spray from the trucks was, to use Jean's word, "beastly"! The shot below was taken on the M25 London ring road, south of the city - in mid morning!

For once, we were spared the major traffic hold-ups for which this road is notorious and we exited, still in heavy rain and spray, onto the M20, southbound towards Dover. Thankfully we were driving that way; a Mini had somehow managed to get itself squashed  in a collision with a lorry, and the M20 Northbound to London was barely moving. Had we encountered that going south, we would surely have missed the ferry.

It was a delight, finally to  see the white cliffs of Dover from the departing ferry, and a break in the weather.

Heading back to French soil with a happy sigh.  The roll-on roll off ferry port at Calais is pictured below, after a smooth 90 minute crossing of the Channel.

I might add that the weather here at home is also not particularly good and although the garden seems to be enjoying the weather, we are not!  

I am hoping to catch up with Leon and Sue in the next couple of days.  They are travelling around France at the present time and if you have not seen their blog, I recommend that you take a look, if you enjoy touring France. They are visiting many places we have yet to see.

For 'My Life before Charente' see HERE  updated 23 May 2012

The Akubra hat and its control over rainfall

Many years ago, while on a visit to relations in Australia, my husband treated himself to an Akubra hat - the Rolls Royce of Australian headwear.  He thought that it would provide perfect protection against the sun in South Africa, which is where we lived at the time.  It has in fact been rarely worn, as each time it came out of the cupboard to be worn, the heavens opened and the rain poured down.  It became a joke that if we wanted it to rain, we just had to bring out the Akubra!!

Well, as we have had hardly any rain in our area of France since March, and the lawn is looking a bit like a fire has swept across it, we decided that it was time the hat made a trip to France. Nigel duly arrived at Limoges airport on 13 July (in a slight drizzle) and that night we had our first proper rain in months!! It has hardly stopped raining since and all the jobs that needed to be done outside are being well and truly delayed!

The magical rain hat!!

One of the jobs is to take the old wooden boundary fence down and dispose of it before the builders arrive to put up our new wall at the end of July.  As Nigel has a problem with his feet, he has to take care and can only work in short bursts.   

Looking at the weather forecast, this period of rain continues until the 25th (the day Nigel returns to the UK!) when the sun is due to come out once more!!  Spooky maybe, but it is very strange that the rain commenced when the hat arrived.  To date, we have had just over 30  mm (about 1.2 inches) in a week. Not a massive amount, but it certainly has made a huge difference.  The rain has not been heavy, which is good, as the ground is so dry it would have just run off the top. I now understand why farmers are never happy with the weather; if only it would rain all night and the sun shine all day. 

The results of the rainfall speak for themselves : -

Thanks Nigel, I will be wearing the hat after you leave and hope that it does the same for me.  I might add that it is a bit big for me and I cannot see where I am going, but if it rains what the heck :-) 

The magic of nature; a fiery sky.

On Sunday morning I was awoken by a deep, throaty roll of thunder just as it was starting to get light. I slowly stretched, then climbed out of bed to open the shutters in the bedroom. Nothing very interesting was happening on that side of the house, so I took my time wandering down the passage. I decided to open the shutters covering the glass doors on the other side of the house, and as I did so, I was literally struck dumb by the beauty of the gathering storm in front of my eyes. It took me a few seconds to register, and  I raced to get the camera!

The following nine photos are all in order and were taken in a space of just under five minutes. I was facing west and the sun was rising behind me. I cannot believe how close I came to missing this magic of nature.

A morning I will not forget in a hurry; I only wish I could add sound to this post!  It was very noisy!

After the Rain plus TDF update - Part 88

Firstly the TDF (Tour de France): it starts Saturday 3rd July (Grand Start) in Holland.
Every one of the 198 riders will have his face pictured on a flag displayed at the start. After the start, the flags will be taken down, transported to Paris and raised again at the finish. It is not clear whether the flags for those who do not make it that far will be re-erected, or not!!

Prologue : Rotterdam 

Individual time-trial course over  only 8.9kms.  This is a flat and fast route with no tight corners and likely to be won by one of the speed specialists (unless Rotterdam has the rain which is forecast for late afternoon); perhaps Cancellara of Switzerland, but hopefully  Bradley Wiggins or David Millar can bring the honour to the UK.

Sunday 4 July: the first stage is over 223.5 kms from Rotterdam to Brussels. Why Brussels? To celebrate the 65th birthday of Eddy Merckx and everything he has given to cycling.

All TDF information can be found HERE.

These pictures I thought were a bit special after the rain.

I can see a Genie rising up out of a magic lamp.  What can you see?

This one is almost a shining heart.

Just a note here to say that  my  one year old digital camera (no names, no pack drill) has given up the ghost. At least thankfully it is still under warranty!!  Until Nigel arrives on 13 July with a replacement, I can only  upload from my existing stock.        Sorry,  but it's beyond my control!!.

Secondhand vehicles in the Place - Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure – Part 69

We took a trip into Chasseneuil on Saturday morning, to find that the central car park had been entirely taken over by a vast array of used cars and camper vans.  Most were for sale, at prices given on windscreen stickers, but the ones to which we took a fancy, appeared to be merely on show. Not that we could have afforded one anyway!

London taxi - It has seen better days and I'd be surprised if it is still in use as a taxi!.  Note the Union Jack on the back.

Maserati

We were unable to fathom out what make this is, but judging by the Cibie headlights and lack of badges, conclude that it is a French fibreglass special!

A fancy and sleekly stylish Citroen C6; this 4 year old was for sale at 21,900€

My favourite though follows........

I am very definitely a Porsche fan.

P.S. It is still cold and wet.  We even lit the fire yesterday afternoon.......... at the end of May, this is ridiculous.  7mm of rain overnight, thankfully nice and steady, so at least the garden is getting the benefit of it.  While typing this on Sunday morning, it is still raining lightly; what we used to call in South Africa and Zimbabwe, a "monkey's wedding" except here the sun is not shining with it, as the real weather phenomenon requires!  "Monkey’s wedding," a  translation of the Zulu 'umshado wezinkawu', a wedding for monkeys.