where art collides philosoperontap

Just been to the shop. M&S food hall. Nearest gaff to where Hannah lives apart from the corner shop. The strange thing is when you hear people talk vey towk loik vis. Just like on the telly but far away from my normal experience. I am not tempted at all to imitate them.

Defo a summer in the South East smell to the morning. Clear blue sky and a hot day in prospect. We are at Hannah and George’s to help with some decorating n stuff. I’m out on their deck enjoying an early morning cuppa.

The soundtrack to the morning includes police sirens, a magpie, blue tit and a robin plus what sounds like a jet airliner. Don’t think we are all that far from Stansted here though I wouldn’t expect to be able to hear the planes. The police car has moved on.

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Had a stroll to M&S food hall in Chelmsford. It’s only around the corner. A bit more limited than my usual stomping grounds Waitrose but it did a job and I settled in to a pot of tea in the caff before checkout.

Got some lunch stuff in but tbth not sure I’ll be wanting lunch wot with the day warming up an all. The others may well do.

There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow. The first year’s planting has been a success and bodes well for subsequent seasons. I have loads of seeds left in the box and I’ll need to consider where they might be scattered next year for further meadow growth. Meadows are defo where it’s at. Maybe I’ll distribute some in the hedgerows around the allotments. No rush.

Meanwhile the sun is out and it promises to be another glorious day in the shire. Aaaargh. We are having a leisurely breakfast. Not even started mine. Some bacon and sausage to use up. Stuff like that. Mind you not sure I really want a hot breakfast when a hot day lies ahead. Needs must.

Now sat on the deck surveying the empire. THG informs me the fire pit is still hot from Friday night so that’ll stay where it is for now. It’s a 2 man job to move it anyway. The deck is perfectly shaded at this time of day. At nine o’clock It is already a perfect temperature but will get hotter. The birds sound happy

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Well that’s the Olympics more or less over for another four years. Time to move on. Doubt we will watch the closing ceremony. If it is anything like the opening ceremony it won’t be worth bothering. There is a really good documentary from the footplate of the Flying Scotsman I can watch again 🙂The disappointing thing is that the football season is now starting. I’ll be concentrating on the cricket over the next few weeks. The football will wait.

Excellent bbq last night fair play. The Kadai fire pit got its only outing of the year so far. We have plenty of wood to feed it. Last night’s list included a bench, toilet seat and a chair as well as the usual bits of old fence that we have been gradually working our way through.

The bench had been in use earlier around the table on the patio. This is when we found out it was rotten and no longer much use for its originally designed purpose. It burned well.

So now I’m sat on the deck in front of the shed surveying a relatively tidy garden scene. Some of the camping chairs around the fire pit need putting away but the pit itself is still far too hot to touch.

Breakfast this morning was two cold sausages.

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Dinner this evening was two cold sausages. In a piece of baguette. With the leftover potato salad wot I made yesterday. And the last piece of apple tartine we bought in Carrefour in Ouistreham with some double cream.

Now watching the last evening of the Olympics. Taekwondo. Not very interesting tbh. Soz if you are a fan. THG is washing blackberries in the kitch. We did another hunter gatherer expedition earlier. A goodly haul again this year. Nature’s bounty. 

Salso going to be a good apple crop. There will be apple and blackberry crumbles to keep us going through the long winter months when fruit is scarce. Vitamin C. That is a way away. Don’t really want to think wintery thoughts when we are approaching potentially the hottest day of the year. Must stock up on fluids.

I have a really good bbq marinade recipe. Works very well. Problem is I have to look it up every time and am never sure which variation it is. Involves garlic, worcester sauce, soy sauce, honey, stuff like that. There are so many variations on this main theme I suspect I end up doing my own take on it.

Up early again. The dawn chorus is a little disappointing today being seemingly mainly wood pigeons. Pesky wood pigeons. Clear blue sky up there but some rain is forecast for later, apaz. Rain being “forecast” could well mean we are in for a lovely summer’s day.

The ability to forecast is a relatively modern discipline. A hundred years ago the science would have been an art whereby a farmer would have checked to see whether the cows were standing or sitting. Ok there have been such things as barometers but not in common circulation I suspect. I might be wrong. Anyway there wasn’t a metoffice website to check, or the beeb or similar. We all have our own go to sources.

Maybe I should get a barometer for the shed. Just looked em up online and there are plenty available. I think I’ll wait until I come across one in a junk shop. Not that I go to many junk shops.

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I would like to describe to you the very excellente breakfast wot I just had. I mashed up an avocado, added lime juice, half a very finely chopped shallot and a chopped chilli with some seasoning. Then I toasted some white sourdough and griddled some bacon, both from Lidl. Although the Lidl bacon has quite a few “bits” in it it is actually far tastier than the Tesco or Waitrose low cost equivalent with far less white crap. The whole dish was assembled with a little Belazu aged balsamic drizzled over the avocado and I broke out a new bottle of Mr Vikki’s Harry’s brown sauce. Also sliced up a couple of home grown tomatoes.

The evidence has all been eaten so no pics. I am now enjoying an espresso cawfee in the shed afore getting ready for the day.

That is all.

PS I don’t usually buy supermarket bacon but this came with a veg box and I’m not complaining.

Lots of noise coming from the allotments. I popped out yesterday or the day before and it was people from the council trimming the hedges. Hadn’t expected them to still be at it today. Might pop out there to take a peek later.

It is certainly disturbing the peace of this Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning (delete as appropriate). I’m sat in the conservatory in full sunshine with a fresh cup of tea by my side. There was a little drama as I tried to lift a coaster off the table to a position suitable to accommodate my mug but the varmint wouldn’t shift.

In the end a fish slice did the job. Turned out the coaster was stuck on with candlewax. No idea how that happened unless someone had put a candle on top of it. An unusual act in our house.

We do have a supply of emergency candles somewhere in the utility room or at least we used to. We have only ever had to resort to them once which was during one of our annual Christmas carol singing parties. Was the most atmospheric singsong we have had. Carols by candlelight genuinely due to a power cut. We rarely get power cuts nowadays. At this time of year we don’t need candles anyway as it is still light until quite late.

Milkman came at 03:01. V early. Can’t work him out. Maybe he varies his round times to avoid making it easy for ambushers. We still have a pint and a half in the fridge from Monday’s delivery!

Step ladder
Long pole
Spare paint?
Roller paint things
White spirit
Sandpaper
Floodlight bulbs
floodlight?
Painting clothes 
Plants
Garden tools

Rained overnight which is a bit annoying as I’ve lots of stuff in the back garden to load in the car to take to the tip. Don’t think rain was forecast but that comes as no surprise. Should be a warm enough day ahead so things should dry out.

Can’t complain. We need rain. The lawn is brown in parts. Found the sprinkler when clearing out the potting shed yesterday but might not need it now. Not today anyway.

I’m up early again. I go to bed early. One leads to another. Not sure which. Could be either. It is my turn to make the tea so up early is good.

Some interesting sports on at the Olympics today. The usual athletics, sailing and canoeing but also speed climbing and graeco roman wrestling. Not sure either of those two do it for me. Speed climbing sounds unnecessarily dangerous and the wrestling makes me think of the movie “Airplane”. A lot of other sports on too.

I can’t for some reason get Discovery + to cast to the telly. There’s nowt wrong with the chromecast or the computah as casting other tabs works. It must be something specifically related to the Olympics broadcast. Feels strange to think they have somehow blocked the casting of the Olympics when the Discovery + site itself gives tips on how to cast. 

Maybe it will just work today. I’ll also try it from my laptop and on the telly in the TV room though that is no use to me during the day as it’s been on in the shed and I’ve popped in every now and again to watch in between jobs.

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There are more jobs to be getting on with this morning. The continuation of the garage tidy up and fixing the flippin curtain rail in our bedroom. This one appears on the list every year or three. The issue is screwing into the ceiling above the bay window. It’ll get sorted, again.

Last night was quite revealing at the Olympics. The Swedish pole vaulter won easily and broke both Olympic and world records. He was already the world record holder. He added a centimetre to the height of his previous record and appeared to clear it easily. The commentator said he was on a bonus from his shoe sponsor every time he broke the record so he does it in increments of 1 cm. Very clever.

Good to be back in the shed, early. Weather forecast is set to be fair and warmer than in Deauville. Shed doors wide open with a view over the wildflower meadow that has flourished during our absence. A good watering should help it even more.

The whole garden was very much on the dry side. I suspect we are going to throttle back on trips away during future summers. After all, the UK is great at this time of year. We really only went to France because of the Olympics. Not that we didn’t have a great time.

The whole trip was full of highlights: Olympics rugby sevens, Band of Brothers sites around Utah Beach, Chez Roger, the horse racing at Deauville, Honfleur harbour and finally Rouen which beat expectations especially the hotel which is going to get a great review. Can’t say Paris itself was a highlight. You can understand why everyone tries to get away from the place during the summer months.

Came back with a load of coins. They are always v handy for things like parking, tips and shopping trolleys. Should have shifted them all really as I must have about twenty quid’s worth. 

I remember many years ago we used to get visitors from Hughes Aircraft Co in LA. They would hand over notes to pay for rounds of drinks in pubs and get a load of coins back as change. Eventually they would end up with a huge pile of coins but still paid for their drinks with notes as they didn’t want to look stupid trying to figure out which coin was worth how much. Thems were the days. Quite heady days actually when I worked in the space industry. The contract values were high and Marconi had no objection to me splashing out loads of dosh entertaining. I wasn’t even a salesman! 🙂 

Home now. No place like it. There is a growing jobslist. I especially need to mow the lawn and cut back on some overgrowth at the back of the potting shed. Ivy growing everywhere. Also the front hedge needs a bit of a tidy. Then there is the great potting shed tidy up. That one has been on the list for a long time (over a year probs) and this is the week it gets done. It all fits together.

The apple crop is looking good for this year. We keep meaning to press them as loads just get left on the tree and the ground. Perhaps I’ll pick that one up as a project this year. See how that one goes. We are mostly around. The cooking apples look particularly good. Apple and blackberry crumble for the win.

Milkman came at 05.37 this morning. This beats his previous record, also on a Monday, by seven minutes. Did he stay up late to watch the men’s 100m final? Blink and you missed it. Interesting to contrast the speed of milk delivery with the 100m race 🙂 

Delivering milk is not all about how fast you get there. It is more about freshness and reliability, as long as it arrives in time for the cornflakes. Does anyone I know have cornflakes for breakfast? We stopped decades ago when word went around there was more nourishment in the cardboard box than in the cereal, allegedly.

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V productive jour, I mean day. Thought I was still in France for a minute. Must be the fact that the Olympics in Paris are on the telly. Anyway I crossed one job off the list but it took me all day. The potting shed has needed sorting for a couple of years. Got to be a dumping ground.

Having previously made strides with sorting the garage I was able to move the wardrobe from the shed to the garage. Don’t get me wrong. There isn’t a wardrobe in the garage now but there are bits of wardrobe. It was a solid wood job and I wasn’t going to chuck wood that could be repurposed. It’s components are leaning tidily against a wall on top of a couple of batons to keep it off the ground. There ya go.

Now there is a pile of crap in the back garden that needs taking to the tip tomorrow. Feet were filthy as I was wearing sandals to do the clearing out. Don’t worry, I’ve had a shower. Healthily tired.

Now watching Keely Hodgkinson in the 800m final. Noted that six of the runners are wearing orange trainers. Mine are luminous green. Dirty luminous green. Don’t wear em that often tbh. Usually to play golf. There isn’t a dress code where we play golf 🙂 Laughterton.

Keely won yay. Well done our Keely.

A grey start to the UK day as the ferry approached the Portsmouth naval dockyard. Everything seems grey coming back into the UK though some if that may just be down to the fact that my phone is still in night mode and the grimy windows on the boat.

In the onboard cafe the mode is still very much French. Croissants and pain au choc with not a bacon sarnie in sight. That will wait to a more sensible time. It is Sunday after all. I think.

Now sat in the car on deck six awaiting the nod to disembark. Fortunately no one has switched on their engine yet though I can see a few lights on.

We’re off.

Somewhat fatigued now after two weeks in France. We are both looking forward to getting home. Sat in the boarding queue in the drizzling rain. It’s v humid but if we open the window for fresh air the rain comes in.

Pre boarding is nine fifteen but actual boarding is eleven o’clock for an eleven thirty departure. Doesn’t sound enough time to get everyone on and the hatches secured in my mind but I know nooothing. It isn’t like the Hull to Rotterdam ferry where they let you on hours before departure time so that you can spend more money on board. No idea what pre boarding means in our case.

Couldn’t get a priority disembarkation for this boat which also means priority boarding as they put you in the front of the queue. First world problems. The worst thing is the six thirty arrival. They wake you up at least an hour before which means four thirty CET and body clock time. Huh.

Have moved forward to a small security queue. One of the chosen ones! Can’t see whether the guy has his gloves on 😉  We are watching the Olympic swimming on THG’s iPhone. Well she is. All I can tell you is it takes me a good minute to do a 25m length, regardless of whether it is breast stroke or front crawl. THG is much faster than me and always goes in a different lane for faster swimmers.

Time to move on from Deauville. Figured we would stay the night in Rouen afore catching the boat homeIt is seven thirty five and we don’t need to vacate the premises until eleven so still a bit of chillin on the balcony time. Breakfast is a simple granola, yo’ gurt and berries plus finishing off the Normandy ham wot I bought yesterday.

Never made it to the bar at the Normandie. Another time. Actually we liked Deauville but not sure we would specifically return here to stay overnight. It is a cracking seaside resort and very popular with trendy Parisians but it is really a giant beach with lots of bars and restaurants and a few other holiday type resources such as a golf course, racetrack, tennis courts and watersports. 

Now I guess that would do for most but I think I preferred Honfleur for its history and quaintness although you would definitely need a place to stay with onsite parking. We had originally booked Hotel L’Absinthe in Honfleur which did have parking but decided that we would prefer self catering and Deauville came up with the goods.

In Rouen we are staying slap bang in the middle of all the action and have valet parking. Here are the keys my good fellow, or words to that effect. Our bags are more or less packed and we just have an overnighter to take in to the hotel. Sagood system. Will arrive early to take advantage of the fact that umpteen museums and old buildings are located within easy walking distance.

We will be near to place du Vieux-Marché and I anticipate loading up with meats and cheeses to take home though not discussed that with THG. Experience has shown that local markets are fantastic places to buy food. Far better than supermarkets. A bit obvs maybs but it is so.

Horses amble by on the beach opposite. I wonder if any of them were racing yesterday. As we left the hippodrome last night there were quite a few horse boxes in motion. Cracking racetrack btw. We paid twelve Euros to sit in the stand right on the finishing line. Bargain. There were people on hand to fend off the hoi polloi who had only shelled out five Euros from coming in 🙂 We did consider dining in the Terrasse restaurant but went up there and there was hardly anyone in with not much atmosphere. The menu was a bit too much on the posh side for those of us who merely wanted a simple steak frites avec une verre du vin rouge. The racetrack is a hundred and sixty years old and one of the top ones in France so they tell us. Defo a step up from Market Rasen.

The speciality in Rouen is duck apaz so that’s tonight’s menu sorted. Just a question of finding the least touristy restaurant in which to eat it. Looked up the best gaffs on Tripadvisor and none of the top three seemed to serve duck. All looked a bit designery. I’m sure the food is v tasty but at this stage of the trip we ain’t after fancy stuff. May be speaking out of turn but I doubt it. Probs booked up anyway.

Just seen a boat float very slowly in front of our dock. I thought to myself hmm that boat is going very slowly. Then the small rubber dinghy with a tiny engine came into view. It was pushing the bigger boat. They ain’t going far. This is life on the balcony in the Marina in Deauville as reported by moi as it happens.

Cafe au creme on the balcony again. A grey, cooler start to the day which is good. Not going to be as hot today, yay.

We are hitting the home straight of the trip this evening with a visit to the Deauville races at Hippodrome La Touques. World famous race meet that lasts the whole of August or simlar. Expect to win enough cash to pay for the trip 🙂Gambling is a big part of coming to Deauville, what with the Casino on the sea front an all. When in Normandy…

One of the things I’ve observed in Normandy is the plentitude of cider and calvados outlets. It is very tempting to buy something from each one you come across. Problem is there is only so much cider and calvados you can manage. THG is particularly in agreement on this recognising that buying lots of booze results in drinking lots of booze which is not compatible with my losing weight. It was v tempting when I came across a shop with small bottles of calvados ranging back as far as 1955. They were lined up in rows with the labels getting yellower and more faded as the years went back. I didn’t ask how much they cost.

It being difficult to avoid the Olympics whilst we are here I note that “Tears flow as Team GB soar up the medal table on wonderful Wednesday” according to one of the papers. Drilling into it the beeb said “Team GB win five more medals on day five at Olympics”. I’m sure this is very good but I can’t really come to terms with the name Team GB. I doubt most people living in the UK think of them as part of Team GB. What was wrong with GB or UK? I now note that the tracksuits say Great Britain.

There is more of a breeze this morning, reflected by the fact that the mirror-like surface of the marina has changed to grey ripples. This is more like Peel in the Isle of Man. Feels comfortable. After all, this part of the world is just as much known for its storms.

A small French tricolour flutters at the stern of a yacht opposite. Lots of these boats are in need of a good clean. Makes me wonder whether this is a slightly less posh marina. I expect all the biggest, most expensive jobs end up on the Cote d’Azur. It might mean that their rich Parisian owners don’t come here that often and when they do can’t be arsed to get the sponge and bucket out.

I can see a tractor manoeuvring behind Restaurant La Peniche which is a barge moored in the harbour here. I suspect it is smoothing the sand on the beach. After all they have to be able to justify the charges for the umbrella and deckchair hire. There goes another sand castle. That kid took hours to build that one 🙂

https://www.france-galop.com//fr/courses/reunion/20240801/UUI1MEN3bUdDZ09lcDluYm41NGxndz09

Must say we have enjoyed Normandy. I can see us returning.

We left the races before the last race which was a Class 1 with only five entrants. Lovely track. Lost every single bet! Nice dinner though in one of the on site restaurants. Nobody else there. They eat a lot later than us around ere.

Seven twenty two. I can hear noise coming from the boat down below in front of the villa. They must have slept on it. The couple did have a couple of visitors, presumably for dinner, last night and interestingly one of them left after a while in a state of agitation. No idea what had been said. The things you see. I avoided eye contact.

I’m sat on the balcony with a cup of cafe au lait prepared using the espresso machine, more hot water and milk. Feels pretty authentic. It’s cooler out here than the bedroom which is quite stuffy. 

Just realised I can see Hotel Normandie and the Casino from where I’m sat. Won’t be visiting either this trip although the former notionally has the best bar in town so it’s not like me.

It struck home last night that Deauville is very much a resort. People just come here for holidays. The winter population of 4,000 grows to 40,000 during the holiday season. Must be totes dead in winter. Bleak, cold windswept. Snice now  though 🙂

More racehorses trotting along this morning on the other side of the water. One rider to three saddleless horses. Presumably the riders have saddles. Couldn’t quite see. All part of the vibe.

At the far end of the marina I can see a road cleaning cart brushing its way along, orangey yellow lights flashing away. Gotta keep the place nice looking for the punters. The surface of the water is like glass.

The weather is set to hit thirty again today with a cloudless sky. We are off on a day out to Honfleur. I’ve just read that Honfleur is one of the most popular places to visit in France which doesn’t fill me with confidence regarding finding somewhere to park! Woteva.

You will be aware of Honfleur’s history as a magnet for impressionist artists such as Monet and, well, Monet. It was also where Samuel de Champlain came from and was a big trading port with its ships being involved in cod fishing off Newfoundland (long way to go for a bit of fish) and, less illustriously, the triangular slave trade. 

Honfleur is only about half an hour’s drive and there is no rush. This morning I am going to indulge in a bacon baguette. Using lardons. Can’t really get proper bacon in France. It’s okay. When in Rome…

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Back from Honfleur. Lovely place and very easy to understand why it gets so many visiteurs. Historic, interesting, quaint. Streets were somewhat on the narrow side at times. Wouldn’t want to drive into town in a motorhome.

As we arrived in the (a) car park the little tourist train pulled up so we figured we would go on a spin on that first to give us an idea of the place. Don’t bother. Nice enough drive but all they did was take us to a viewing point above town from which all you could see was the river Seine. There was also a nice and very old church there with a stack of exernal bells, one of which was called Pierre. We stopped there for fifteen minutes. Way after everyone was ready to go. It was almost as if the purpose of the tour was just to show the fabulous homes of the rich that lined the hillside. Think Hollywood mansions tour honfleur style.

On the way home we stopped to buy provisions at Intermarche Super. Could also have filled the car up but it was thirty five degrees out and the last thing I wanted to do was stand there at the petrol pumps sweating buckets.

San now on the balcony sans chemise. It is still ot. That is probably us for the day. We have some nice king prawns with salad to fend off starvation later on. It is far too hot to do anything. I have my new book to finish.

The beach is rammed. Well as rammed as it can be in Deauville. The beach here could handle millions of sun worshippers.

Eight thirty one and the sun is already quite high over Deauville. Another hot day in prospect. Noisy seagulls patrol the seafront.

Deauville seems to have two main attractions: horse racing and the beach. In fact there are two race tracks, one of which, La Touques, hosts a very prestigious racing festival each summer. We are going on Thursday.

Deauville is a favoured weekend spot for wealthy Parisians apaz and presumably they like lying on the beach and going to the races. I daresay there are a few bars and restaurants around town for refuelling in between those two very energetic activities 🙂. Olympic beach volleyball has been on the telly.

The main problem with being in France whilst the Olympics are on is that French TV covers mostly those activities where their own team is involved. This doesn’t come as a surprise obvs. Just slightly annoying. We’ve tended to have the telly on mute with BBC coverage on THG’s phone. Being with EE the beeb thinks we are in the UK when roaming on cellular. Switch wifi and it doesn’t work. I did have a VPN but need to get it set up again. Doesn’t really matter.

So this morning we are off to Deauville market. See what choice morsels we can pick up. It’s what they do around here. At least that’s what happens every time I see a TV programme with a chef on his or her travels. Checking out what’s fresh and then buying a bag full and only use a fraction of what they’ve bought.

In the meantime a stablefull of racehorses have just walked by on the path the other side of the marina. They like to run them on the beach. It all appens ere.

…

Well we did Deauville. Ok we did Deauville market and sat outside the Mairie whilst THG had her lunch. Then we did the prom. Iconic prom I’d say, though I don’t really like using that term as it is very much overplayed. I had an ice cream and we strolled back to the sensible shade of the airbnb in the marina. House, duplex apartment, however they describe these places.

The French summer holidays are very much going on around us. People of all ages on the mahoosive beach. Some of them had sensibly hired an umbrella with deckchairs at thirty bucks a pop. These had the advantage of not being far from the beachfront bars and restaurants but were a long hike from the water.

We are staying in the shade for the afternoon. Living where we live we aren’t used to the heat and sun. It’s around thirty degrees right now.

Some sights around Deauville that illustrate the glitzy nature of the place. High end designer shops such as Luis Vuitton and also a mural describing the location of Coco Chanel’s first boutique. Near the Casino and Hotel Normandie. The latter is supposed to have the best bar in town but were having a quiet few days on that front. Save it for the races on Thursday night.

THG had half a lobster each at Chez Roger. Flambeed. No idea how much it cost but I did clock the price of a lobster at a couple of caffs we passed. The first was 85 Euros. Hmm not too bad I suppose. Then at The Normandie it was up to 125 Euros. You makes yer choice you pays yer money.

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Just saw a fish jump up in the marina and swim off tail wagging away. Swaying not wagging, probs. However the movement of a fish should be described.