Noël

These last months have had some events that I have no wish to blog about. The awful events in Paris are still resonating although for the most part the French are continuing as normal. That said, there is still a "state of emergency" and there are troops outside schools and on the streets as there have been for over a year now. But there are more armed police too, and in more places. In the malls you not only get your bags searched, but you have to open your overcoat too. It is beginning to feel normal as you anticipate the need on entering "le grande éspace". Let's hope it works.

Here are some more cheerful pictures. To the children, it is still an exciting time and the first picture is not of a model but a view from upstairs of the life-size Christmas ride. There is a Father Christmas (aka "Papa Noël") giving gifts too, but under my viewpoint.

The Christmas Train Ride

And I attempted to snap this tree at the far end of the lake, hoping that the lights would reflect on the water. But the sunset was not yet down enough to generate the light, and I don't think my phone-camera was really up to it! But use your imagination and perhaps you can see the intended effect.

Christmas Lights over the Water

Life goes in in much the same way. The lights above were there last year and I expect they will return next year too. Then you look out of your window and see 4 officers and a dog walking past your home late at night; and it is no longer quite as it was.

The Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum queue

I collected a tourist leaflet near Notra Dame a while ago and it advertised the Louvre Museum as being free entry on the first Sunday of each month from October to April.

Well October was not convenient but I have cherished for a while the idea of walking round museum free after church in November. So today, the 1st of November, at about 11:30 I set off for the train station into town. There is a short walk to take along the river but it was a sunny day and the walk was pleasant. I arrived at the Louvre at about 12:30.

There was a long queue. It snaked along the convoluted rope barrier and exited in my direction. I walked a few paces passed a sign that said 1:30hr and joined the queue.

I thought about that sign. I had a time I wanted to be back. In my planning I had reasoned that with free entry there would be little queuing since there would be no reason to stop people and make them pay. Clearly the popularity of free entry caused its own limitations. My visit was reasonable with the assumption of no queue, I thought to have 2 hours to walk round. Not enough for a real visit I'm told, but as it's free worth doing anyway.

But with 1:30hr to wait, the plan became less sensible. Half an hour is just too short. I left the queue and went to see what the sign at the start of the rope barrier announced; for next time perhaps.

"Exceptional for Nov 1st, a charge for the visit will be made"

It was in 3 languages.

There was no explanation as to why. This is the season when the government collects housing tax, residence tax (which is different), and social tax. So they should not be short of money, but I could think of no other reason. Even with all these taxes they must be broke.

Terry
Envoyé de mon iPhone

As a post-script, I saw more of the Mona Lisa on the banks of the Seine as I walked home (early as it happens) than I would have in the museum. And here is a picture I snapped of a French boat - spot the moustache on the back. It was a more interesting than the "Bridget Bardot" that passed just in front of this one. You can see it in the distance, a square uninteresting thing. I much prefer the humour of this one.

Spot the moustache on the back

Orchids Orchids every where

I had thought of mum who taught me how to spell fuchsia. She got it from Ron. But I forgot which flower it was at the time and assumed it was an orchid. The spelling aid she gave me was no use in this case, but as the word was in front of me I was unconcerned. It is only as I write this that I recall my error.

So what!

Here is a photo from the centre of Paris of a covered market-like shop that sells only 1 thing.

Orchids.

La Maison de l'Orchidée

Smog on the Horizon

The weather was doing its best to live up to the forecast. It was drizzling with mist and fog and cold in abundance. In its enthusiasm it appeared to have followed a thesaurus. All the forecast had promised was "light rain".

Sometimes, even on a route taken frequently over the years, you see something new. Today it was the picture above.

Paris is struggling with a smog problem and today seamed to emphasise the point. The "bête noir" has been the diesel car (even before the German effect), but here in the photo is another culprit I have noticed often here. There are very many chimneys like these and they all smoke like these too.

Why I have never noticed these before I don't know. They can been seen on the horizon from the corner of the road beside where I am working. Today they appear to stand out adding, as you can see, to the meteorological entertainment.

Whilst cars, perhaps especially diesel cars, are very likely far worse than chimneys, I would have thought that a multi-fronted attack could be even better.

Terry
Envoyé de mon iPhone Thu. 15 Oct.

Pedestrian Paris

St Jacques Park

Midday, and I am sitting in a park in the centre of Paris and it is relatively quiet. Not silent, but quieter than normal.

It would be a very pleasant autumn day but for the slightly chill wild that accompanies the sunshine.

Today is traffic-free day in the Paris centre. The trouble is that I appear to be on the edge of the free zone. Still, I have already walked through some quiet streets where the major hazards are bicycles.

It is not "no traffic" as busses, taxis, and delivery vans are still present. All these are supposed to go at 20kph max but by my assessment they are doing more than 12mph. Still, it is a big reduction in cars and quite an explosion in bikes (with children on scooters too).

So where is the park? It is a little one associated with the Tour St. Jacques (click for map).

Tour St, Jacques

Empty road (of cars) 

Hardly ever noticed this clock before, always too busy
trying to cross the street, but not today!

Even the police are on bikes

The new garden by the town hall. 360 degree view.

Originally sent by iPhone using WiFi in the park.
Updated with camera snaps.

Early Bastille

Just why aircraft should be associated with Bastille day I am not sure. At the time of the Bastille event, as far as I know, no-one had yet taken to the air (except Icarus), but the much anticipated fireworks could be symbolic of the combat.

Be that as it may, there was a practice run today over Paris. I counted 5 pairs of fighters, 3 cargo planes, a tanker with pursuit fighter, and even an AWACS which came close overhead and quite low. Most impressive with its rear-mounted disc radar slowly rotating as it passed.

But I had my camera out only for a few shots, of which these are the best. No zoom, just as good as you can get with your phone.

We will see more on the 14th I'm sure.

Bastille day official website in English

Ps. there are celebrations in London too.

Fast learning

Some of you may recognise this type of car. The low one in the front, coloured red of course.

On reflection, I have never seen them any other colour.

Ready to roll

This one was snapped from my balcony. And there is nothing particularly remarkable about it you may think. But I know that there are other cars often parked where this one is, and they all have only one purpose. Driving lessons!

You see, the car is parked outside the driving school. And if all goes to form, a student will soon come out for some on-the-road lessons. Usually it is a Micra or similar, but not today.

Time to sign up for some lessons......

Goodbye Tapas

Thursday night, and that is Martos' night for going out. On Friday people go home, like me.

And for the foreseeable future, this will be the last time. So I went out by invitation to sample some Tapas in the way only the Spanish know how.

The 9pm start was a special early concession for me. And a very pleasant evening still ended at half past midnight.

Now I know that Tapas is standard stuff in Spain, but when I try to order it I find it difficult to chose good dishes. On a night out with the "team" the dishes come fast and frequently. "Do you order all these or do they just come?" I asked. It appears that some are ordered, and others just arrive with the drinks. There was certainly a good verity.

The photo attached is missing one guest and has less Tapas on show, but it is the one where we were all smiling! And, of course, I was the wrong side of the camera.

When I arrived at the hotel, the door was locked. I rang the bell. Juan is on duty all night and he soon arrived and let me in. What time is this? He asked pointing to his watch. The ladies (wife & daughter) were wondering where you were.

I explained as he steered me through to the bar. He presented me with a wrapped memento of my 2 years of staying there. And he made me unwrap it so that he could show it to me. It was a presentation clock with my name and nice things written in Spanish on it.

It certainly will be a good reminder of the hotel, but also, as he put it, my adopted Spanish family in Martos.

It was more "leaving" than I felt able to cope with.

Terry
Envoyé de mon iPhone

Orange

Here is a photo if some oranges on a tree. In fact there are 4 trees, all heavily covered in large oranges.

And nobody has picked them.

Indeed, they fall to the ground and are left there. I commented on this, and there is a secret that the Spanish know that I did not.

The oranges are inedible.

Why anyone would grow inedible oranges I cannot guess, but from the looks of things, these fruit are totally useless. No one ever gathers them.

For the trivial persuiters, did you know that the colour orange did NOT give the name to the fruit? In fact it was the other way round. The fruit defined the colour orange and so distinguished that hue of "red"! The word orange was a fruit first.

Perhaps the first fruits were all inedible and in this way they made the word more useful?

Terry
Envoyé de mon iPhone

Franglais and all that

There are, I notice, lots of French words in the English language. I sense that the English rather enjoy it. And whilst most of the French people I know appear to use English words when it is convenient, I also hear French voices raised in a passionate, sometimes almost shrill, objection.

Protection of French-ness it would appear.

So it was with some interest that I noticed an article in the free paper "20 minutes" entitled " On parle tous « franglais », so what?" (We all speak franglais, so what?)

The argument in 5 steps went something like this:

▪ because it's too late
▪ because you should not ban all franglais
▪ because France is weighed down if you do
▪ because it is a "win win situation"
▪ because certain anglismes disappear

I was particularly interested in the section under "win win". I have long been of the opinion that much of our English has 2 sources. Hence "Anglo-Saxon". And this has assisted me in picking up French as a language. I started to use posh English words with a French accent for anything I didn't know. It doesn't always work, but then again it is successful more often than you might expect.

I reasoned that this came down to a certain Frenchman in 1066 becoming king. So it was with interest that I read the following:

■ «Amour propre », « cliché », « déjà-vu » sont quelques-uns des mots intégrés à la langue anglaise, rappelle Paul-Romain Larreya, Et ce depuis 1066, quand la bataille d'Hastings ouvrait à Guillaume le Conquérant le chemin de Londres.

■ «Amour propre », « cliché », « déjà-vu » are some words integrated into the English language, recalls PRL, ever since 1066 when the battle of Hastings opened to William the Conqueror the road to London.

Exactly.
But now it is not just me who thinks so.

It appears that French has also acquired some English. William must have gone home from time to time. 

Terence Westoby

terrywestoby@gmail.com

+33 6 75 91 87 71

Sent from Samsung tablet

Sugar and Spice and all things Nice

I hope you like a good laugh! 

To explain. The church I go to has mid-week groups, usually in someone's house. This is a great way to meet people, and here in France, for me it is a chance to see French families at home. This happened with the church in England too, but of course the French do things slightly differently. 

The French like to eat. 

And eating together is very biblical. But I sense, rightly or wrongly, a little pride in the meal quality. Or it could be very ungenerous of me, since it is clear that the French prefer to make something to take, showing they made an effort, rather than bring something bought. 

Today is a meeting day, so yesterday I made an effort. 

I was really pleased to find some "yoghurt cake" recipes that were quoted as "very easy". They were in French, but still not too hard. I looked and found I had a lot of the ingredients;  flour, sugar, oil, and even yeast! I needed yoghurt and eggs, and some cocoa products;  and a lemon for the second recipe. 

With all this bought, I set about following the simple instructions. Mix all the ingredients together and bake. It really was not hard. I watched expecting the yeast to take effect but little in the way of rising happened. I reasoned it was yoghurt cake after all. 

Being cautious, and not wanting to take something that tasted bad, I had put a little mixture in a cup-cake at one side. This allowed me to sample my effort without cutting the cake. It tasted ok, even good! Encouraged, I set about making the other flavour too. At a little after bedtime, I had 2 offerings to take the next day. 

But I did wonder why the yeast had not worked. The recipe called for "levure chimique" and levure is yeast. I checked. Chimique is chemical. So I needed a sachet of "chemical yeast". Cleaver these French, yeast is usually living. I checked the whole phrase in Google;  chemical yeast. But French Wiki had a different slant;  baking powder! I pondered my options. Try again: not enough time. Buy something: preferably not. Take it and see if anyone suspects. It tasted ok so I thought I would try it! 

So tonight I turned the first one out. The top looked lovely but underneath it was uncooked! The cup cake was small enough to be ok, but without rising, the middle had failed to bake. Everyone would notice. 

So I have eaten at home and I will go for the meeting part of the evening advertised an hour later. Once I had a wife who made all this stuff look easy, but my easy recipe had failed and you are allowed to laugh. 

But next time I will get it right! 

Terence Westoby

terrywestoby@gmail.com

+33 6 75 91 87 71

Sent from Samsung tablet

Skiing

Panorama at lunchtime

Sierra Nevada is near Granada and boasts a mountain high enough for winter snow. Because it is the highest in the area, it can also be windy. You select your day to go by looking at the wind forecast.

Today was forecast as not too strong, but it was strong enough on the upper slopes and since the wind got up towards the end of the day, when it blew painful showers of ice in our faces we headed for the more sheltered runs.

The wind is key in this area. If it is too high the the lifts close and nobody skies. But today proved to be mainly sunny if a little cold at times, especially on the lifts where you are at the mercy of the wind and in the air too.

3 of us went skiing. Me, John living in Spain and a Spanish colleague. We spoke about the recent terrible events in Paris and after a while the 4th person with us on the lift said "careful, I am French". That certainly opened up the conversation.

John, me, and in the background, Africa and the sea.

There were lots of English voices on the slopes, you would particularly hear them as masses of people were squashed ski-by-ski at the lift entrance. It was a very pleasant time, and particularly useful, as John noted, to have a Spanish guide who knew the area.

And everyone except John's skies survived in one piece. (He got them fixed that very evening so it can't have been bad).

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Winter blooms

Not quite flowers, but considering this is January I have begun to notice just how much greenery there is here in Martos.

Typical of the area are olive trees, although it is not only these that are green. However, on this roundabout there are olive trees that appear to be sprouting. So last Wednesday I took a photo.

Pretty eh? OK more fun!

As in France, the Spanish appear to like decorating their roundabouts. Near where I go to work there is an old car sprayed grey-green probably because of the car industry associated with the factory. And I know that near the olive-tree roundabout there is a large olive factory.

So the roundabouts are decorated appropriately, and as I was on my way to eat with a colleague from my French office, I could not resist pausing on-route for this picture. It was cold and sometimes raining, but these trees, always grown in pairs or triplets, appeared to be thriving on it.

I have not been back in daylight so you have to have this night shot of the olives. I am not sure how they will harvest them in the summer.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Sunshine

The advantage of coming to Spain is partly that it is further south than my usual residence. And the lady owner, clearly knowing this, persuaded the landlord of their hotel I am in to give me a room with sunshine. So this morning I took a picture of the sunrise. 

The photo is a panorama from my balcony. The sun is not yet up above the distant mountains, but that increased the lovliness of the clouds which were white-lit from below and bright in a clear blue sky. In the distance, the far mountains, probably Sierra Nevada, are white-topped in snow.

Unfortunately the brilliancy of the colours is completely lost in the photo, so read what I said and use your imagination!

I ought to be grateful, but the WiFi does not work in that room and I mentioned it. This morning they moved me to my usual room again. WiFi normality has returned even if I lost the view and the morning sunshine! 

Terry

terrywestoby@gmail.com

+33 6 75 91 87 71

Sent from Samsung tablet

Transport

Today I had to leave work early, and I got home late!

The need was to visit my consulting company, the one I actually work for, and they are 2 hours from where I actually work. So I hopped on a couple of busses. 

First the TVM which is mostly routed on its own bus lanes. Hence the TVM is rarely held up and the frequent service is reliable and quick. Lots of people use it and so, despite being a double-length bus it is often so crowded that you stand cheek-to-cheek (top of leg) with the other passengers.

Then the more conventional 379. I got to sit down on an uncomfortable seat on this one and rode it from the start to the end. I am always impressed how the drivers fight through the traffic so that the bus runs on time (there are exceptions like when my bus was 3 hours late).

What was new was the tramway at the last bus stop. Since I was not sure where it went, I caught it only for the return journey- just 2 stops to the bus. It is the one in the picture.

As you can see, the new tram is a mono-rail, well ok it runs on ordinary tyres with a mono guidance rail. My guess is that the rail is part of the electrical circuit too.

There is no step to get on the tram, the tram-stops are raised and the floors are always level. The interior is open all the length of the tram making it a long tube inside. Being electric it is silent at the stops and quiet otherwise. My tram accelerated away at a surprising speed and it was smooth and impressive. Very soon I have covered my 2 stops, the information board confirming the station and I returned to the bus route, a now much less satisfactory experience!

You see odd things on the Paris transport network. Apart from the many army personnel who are now making themselves obvious all over Paris (and they appear fully armed too), there was an old lady on one bus, cloaked and well wrapped up against the cold. She was fiddling with a mobile phone as she sat near the door. As I watched, suddenly her thick woolly headscarf lit up with a blue light from inside. As I watched it flashed on briefly at about 10 second intervals. I realised that the little old lady was wearing a bluetooth headset under all her warm clothing.

I was aware that Paris ladies stay up with fashion even into their retirement. Clearly they are up with technology too! 

Terry Westoby

Mobile    +33.(0)6.75.91.87.71

Fixed      +33.(0)1.64.48.33.72

email     terrywestoby@gmail.com

Paris in the rain

It is January and it is alternately raining or drizzling, but Paris is out in force just the same. The Saturday streets are busy with shoppers and the cafés are full. Since it is still early, the cafés are serving drinks and those outside (under covers and with patio heaters) are smoking. People rarely eats before 8.

There is still the sense of the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo shootings but Paris is not going to shut down. There are regular posters declaring "Je suis Charlie" and in one case the all inclusive "nous sommes Charlie".

Ship detail - click to enlarge

As I walk down one of the colourfully lit streets there is an international air to the shops. One is an Asian antiques shop sporting this huge ivory ship in the window. Next door, down a darker ally, is a British contribution; a Scottish pub. The pub boasts products just as authentic, and consumable too.

The other photo is down the road from the Paris Ritz. The road has a wide, clean feel. It feeds me towards the Opera.

But it is still wet and the blustery conditions have blown my cheap Spanish umbrella inside-out so many times it will be junked when I get home.

For now, even an inverted umbrella is useful as I dive into the nearest metro. I have another umbrella for tomorrow.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone

Beautiful Olongapo

Home of the most beautiful women in the world, or so the poster over the road proclaims. And perhaps with reason because I understand that the current miss world was born and raised here. 

Olongapo is where we change buses on the way to Manila airport. The photo is of some of the housing on the outskirts as we leave the town. Of course there are plenty of nice brick houses too, but what you see is very typical. 

I suppose beauty is not necessarily a product of good living? 

Terry

terrywestoby@gmail.com

+33 6 75 91 87 71

Sent from Samsung tablet

New Years Day

Fireworks and karaoke characterise most celebrations in the Philippines, and none more so than at new year. Most nights there have been both in evidence, but on new year's eve there was renewed enthusiasm! 

But not by us. We were tired and were anticipating an early start next morning. So amid the bangs we slept until midnight. Then it was impossible to ignore the fusillade that was unleashed so we gainfully got up for a while and watched from the balcony. 

In the morning we were of to Pampange, some 3 hours by bus, so when Evangeline's brother Roger said he would give us a lift, we readily accepted. It is 1 1/2 hours by car. And so we arrived in light traffic just after 9am at brother Roger's in-laws. The pictures are from there. 

The purple dish is obi-cake and the colour is natural. It tastes like rice cake with sprinkled nuts. The house is brick built but no internal ceilings, at least in the part we were in that consisted of a kitchen/dining room and a bedroom off to one side. But there was much more house beyond my view that I did not see. 

Tradition has it that an abundance of food should be served on new year's day so that there would be prosperity for the rest of the year. So loads of food was laid before us for breakfast. The family had been up until 3am celebrating and had only just got up. 

There were 4 generations in the house. Roger's wife, her mum and gran and their child. In the picture with Roger are the 3 older generations. Incidently, Evangeline consistently called her brother "manon" and when I asked why it appears this means "older brother", and if younger, it sounds like the English for "add in". 

The situation looked a little rough, but all were healthy, especially gran who shuffled around in a spirited manner, and who insisted in giving us each a warm and affectionate hug as we left. Later on we called on the other daughter, Roger's sister-in-law who was living in a makeshift house beside the main road. The call was brief but from the outside you could tell that things were poor and I was told that health here was an issue. We left some "Christmas money" before we drove off. 

Today it rained. We were so glad of the car! 

Terence Westoby

terrywestoby@gmail.com

+33 6 75 91 87 71

Sent from Samsung tablet