Knives in the kitchen and table tennis trauma.

Pretty thing!

What a year for accidents!  In late July I stabbed my hand with a kitchen knife, opening a cardboard box, and cut the nerve supplying sensation to the thumb. I had it surgically repaired but, the repair being delicate, was forbidden to use scissors or secateurs, to open bottles or jars or, worst of all, to play table tennis or badminton or ride my bike.  I managed a bit of left-handed gardening and started power-walking to make up for the lack of exercise then went to France in September.
By the time I came back on October 10th I was looking forward to being allowed to resume all my activities so I went eagerly to table tennis the next day. After 2 or 3 games I slipped in some water on the floor and did the splits at high speed. I would not recommend you try this for the first time at 67! Definitely best left to toddlers or gymnasts. The main muscle of my hamstrings tore away from the pelvic bone and the resulting internal bleeding caused the whole leg to swell and bruise alarmingly. Back to square one.

After weeks of limping or sitting around with my leg up and ice packs on, the swelling has almost gone and I am now able to get around reasonably well and use an exercise bike. The orthopaedic surgeon does not recommend surgery at my age (!) so it's lots of physiotherapy and hoping to regain about 80% function over the next 8 to 12 months. The muscle will remain detached.
I think my badminton days are probably over but will try table tennis again eventually, if I dare. I've been teasing Jon that at least my fall was a sports injury, unlike his. 

 This is how my foot looked when the blood and fluid finally ended up there.
 




























If you're wondering about the thumb, there are recent signs of nerve regrowth. It's not exactly sensation but I can feel a sort of tingling when it's touched. So I keep prodding it to see what it's up to. It will just take its own sweet time, but it does seem to be trying.

So that's me for the time being. I'm so glad I slipped in a wonderful week hiking with my French friends in September in the Cerdagne mountains near the Spanish border. The memories of that will have to sustain me over the winter. I'll post some pictures of that trip next

Old school friends

Cold drinks at the wine bar in Trebes

I just had my old school friends, Paddy and Bev and Bev's wife Elly staying with me here in France for a few days.  Four days is not long enough really to adequately show people the area, but I did my best. 

 

At LasTours

Queen Elly in the Tour Regine

Bev and Paddy in Cabaret

Some view



Courtyard supper - note tub of ice cream in front of Paddy!

 

Farewell photo. The old house will miss you.

The favourite trip was to Las Tours but we also walked along the canal at Trebes, visited the old walled city of Carcassonne,  looked at the climbing rocks at Notre Dame du Cros, picnicked, saw flamingoes at Bages, and rescued an injured dog at Peyriac sur Mer. Lots of eating and drinking too, of course. But still to come, for the next visit, the upper reaches of the Montagne Noire, the very different countryside of the garrigue, exploring the origins of the Canal du Midi, the amazing city of Minerve and ..................

Colourful last-minute shopping.

What, more peppers?

After they left I threw myself into the huge task of drastically pruning the fig tree which was taking over the courtyard, as the weather was expected to turn very stormy.  It didn't materialise in fact but it made me get on with the job.

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Recycling a la francaise

Our village is in the process of introducing kerbside recycling. It seems the French (or maybe this region particularly) does not perform well in recycling. So they're introducing an incentive scheme. New bins will be equipped with barcodes identifying their household and the landfill waste will be weighed as it is collected. The individual's council tax will be reduced according to the diminution of household waste. Great idea to incentivise recycling but they won't let us use it. I thought it would be great for us as we pay all year round for about three months services and it looked like we'd get something back. However, they've taken away our old bin and will only provide us with yellow bags. I protested vehemently at the Mairie but was told that we should examine our next council tax bill and if we felt we were being overcharged, there was a period during which we could challenge it. So that will be the next French Bureaucracy challenge!

Cherry picking

We tend to come out to France in May/June and September/October. These periods are marked by asparagus and cherries in the spring,  and mushrooms and nuts in the autumn. We've done the asparagus to death so now it was the turn of the cherries, and our friends kindly took us along to a PYO orchard. It was the first day it was open and the cherries were thick on the branches,

 so it was easy to (over)pick them.  We had nearly a bucketful
in about 20 minutes but couldn't stop.
It was a bargain for us at €1/kg (instead of €5 or more) but the owner was telling us that it was more profitable for him than paying pickers and selling the cherries on the market.

Afterwards we sat in the courtyard with a cold drink, stoning them for jam and pies.

Carpets and cupboards

The carpet saga is finally OVER.  We have a full stair carpet and it looks great.  So, if you can stand the wait, and have 18 months to spare, give it a go.
On the other hand, we put the microwave in for repair the day after we arrived, and it has only just been done.  At least that's what the website says.  It has apparently been sent from the workshop back to Darty's shop so with any luck we may have it back in time to go home! This year for the first time the house will be occupied in July and August so at least our tenants will reap the benefit. And the flower tubs will benefit from their presence, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in good condition when we return in September - they're usually practically dead by then.

The cite at night

There was a fascinating (bizarre?) art installation in the cité this week.  Images were projected onto the walls of the château at night. They were repeated patterns in strong colours which started off static and then moved. The pattern changed every 3 or 4 minutes and some sequences appeared to distort the walls of the building, giving the impression of perspective or of a distortion of the flat surface, which moved around. I can't say I found it very artistic but the experience was worth seeking out, sitting on the wooden decking in the courtyard in the darkness (and a warm evening - the first for over a week) watching this display moving in front of us.

Carpet news

Guess what? The carpet fitter came and fitted the stair carpet on the day he said he would! No fuss, intelligible French, and no radio ( he just hummed classical music quietly to himself).  So the carpet looks great..............

However, it wasn't quite the end of the story.  The observant among you may notice something lacking.

Yes, the last organisation, who gave us the runaround for weeks and then went bust, even managed to measure up wrongly so we're two steps short of a staircase!

Back home

We had one of those bizarre experiences in Kuala Lumpur, where we had factored in a 24 hour stopover. In the queue to check in, hot off the flight from Melbourne, I recognised but was unable to place a face further down the counter. When I'd stared long enough he noticed and we realised that we knew each other through singing and he lived in Old, a village about 5 miles from Orton. Quelle coincidence!
We spent the afternoon in KL walking the streets,
taking frequent drink stops, it being warm and incredibly humid. Most impressed by the Petronas Twin Towers,


even more impressive seen illuminated later in the evening.


Anyway, back to our homecoming and an unbelievably cold house. Considering it was spring, not winter, it was strange how very long it took to warm up. We had the heating on throughout that evening and all next day and still had to wear thick sweaters or jackets in the house. I soon got warm in bed the first night but when I turned over in the night the bed was ice-cold everywhere but where I was lying.
What has been amusing is that everyone I've met who has followed the blog has mentioned my being lost at the Octopus. It's like I didn't write anything else. Everyone's shocked or amused at Chris' response (as indeed I was!) but I have to say that you reap what you sow - I was never one to worry about Chris, though you might say he gave me cause on occasion.
Our first week back was hectic with a two day stay in a cottage near Conwy mid week to reunite with 4 school friends, some of whom had not met for 50 years. What a fascinating time that was.


Then at the weekend Jon and I took the grandchildren to Liverpool, staying in the once-grand Adelphi hotel, to see the Giant Spectacular, which was.......spectacular......and gigantic.
Thank goodness I didn't notice any jet-lag or it would have been hard to cope.

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Location:,Kettering,United Kingdom

Ballarat

We followed our week in Castelmaine by staying with friends in Ballarat.
Like Castlemaine, it is a town which grew and prospered in the second half of the 19th century due to the huge amounts of gold found there. Consequently,it is impossible to visit the town without learning some of its gold mining history. In Castlemaine we made good use of the self-guided audio tours. In Ballarat, on the other hand, we spent most of a day looking round a splendid reconstruction of a goldfield.



We even panned for gold in the creek.







If you are persistent enough you can find tiny particles of gold in the silt.

A gold nugget in the gold museum


This is how the first (alluvial) gold was extracted from 1851 onwards, mostly by individuals who staked their claim to a parcel of land. As this source was gradually exhausted, in the 1860's mining became more industrialised, as rock was removed from underground and crushed, the gold then being separated out with the aid of mercury. The main gold rush in the area was over surprisingly quickly, by 1870, and finally the last mine closed in 1918. The value of the total recorded yield from the Ballarat Goldfield was $10,000,000,000, and much was unrecorded.
As new techniques became available, periodically there were revivals of the mine workings, and today gold is once more being extracted, as the price has risen to a level which makes mining it economically worthwhile again.

I have to admit that for me the best way to absorb history is through these sites which bring the period to life. Childish maybe, but it works. I managed to come through school unscathed by any elements of history, which I found excruciatingly boring.

Another excellent experience we had in this second week was a couple of days driving along the Great Ocean Road along the S coast of Victoria, in a car kindly lent to us by our hosts.


The scenery here is spectacular and we saw our one and only koala in the wild on this route.
Lots of swamp wallabies staring at us on Griffith Island too.



And cars. Of course there had to be cars. Jon's Castlemaine friend repairs and restores vintage and veteran cars for a living, from workshops on his premises so we were steeped in cars and car talk there, even riding round in an Austin Chummy for our sight-seeing.


Ballarat was also a visit to a car friend and resulted in other car inspections and a visit to another enthusiast.



So car talk, lots of outdoor sight-seeing, the company of lovely hospitable friends, seeing Chris, wildlife galore, cities and backwoods. Altogether we have both been well-catered for and the time has just flown by.


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Pokies and hot coffee

A couple of things which we couldn't help noticing in Australia which you probably won't find in the guidebooks.
We kept seeing protesting posters saying things like "No More Pokies". What??
Well it seems Pokies are gaming machines and there is felt to be an epidemic of them.



The picture is typical. It's of a historic hotel in the centre of Ballarat which has this in the lobby. I've not researched the background to their growth but it is clear there is a groundswell of popular opposition to many applications for installations.

Incidentally, as our hosts pointed out to us, the hotel made a rather big bloomer when ordering their custom-printed carpet, which says Dieu et mon Driot.



Another tip for the traveller is how to order your coffee, something we did lots of!
If you like your coffee hot, you have to say so. The default is "not hot". How odd. And how many lukewarm coffees we consumed before making this discovery. I blame McD, or rather the idiot who sued them for scalding her. If anyone knows otherwise I'd like to hear from you.


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Location:Kettering,United Kingdom

A Sea Odyssey

We had a wonderful weekend less than a week after coming back from Australia, and after the two days in Wales. Jon and I took the grandchildren to stay in the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool to see the Giant Spectacular, or Sea Odyssey.
The last of the funds received as European City of Culture in, I think, 2008 bought the staging of this event by The French company, Royal de Luxe to coincide with the Titanic anniversary.
There was a "little" girl (a mere 30 ft tall),









her dog Xolo at 9 ft tall,




and her uncle, in diving gear standing 50 ft tall.











The children loved the whole oversized spectacle, as did we.


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Location:Liverpool, England

Castlemaine

We've been exploring the locality round where we're staying, which is Campbell's Creek near Castlemaine about an hour north of Melbourne. One really good way has been through the local tourist bureau which rents out audio guides. They lend you an mp3 player loaded with tour guides, and a paper map of the route and set you off. We've done the town tour and one of a historic gold mine site. This was the site of a major gold rush in the 1850s. There's not a lot left to see on the ground but with the explanations in your headphones it makes a lot more sense. And it's really evocative of those times to hear the noise of the batteries which crushed the quartz, and old diggers' songs and music as you follow the trail through the site.

Jon is steeped in old cars as our host is an expert car restorer so they are all around us, and we even borrow one to go sight-seeing.

I'm posting this now, brief and without photos as I may soon be off-line, at least for a few days as I think my iPad Sim card is about to expire. Hopefully I'll finish it off better later...




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Location:Main Rd,Campbells Creek,Australia

Melbourne and more penguins

Sad farewells to Chris last Wednesday. Hobart suits him so well we don't know when we can expect to see him again.

So we're back in the city again and quite impressed with Melbourne, loving the Victorian cast iron balconies and porches and the vibrant city centre.






We took a half-day tour which included Phillip Island to see the little penguins. Because they are moulting at the moment, there are fewer than usual, but we still saw over a hundred (that was just the start- they go on coming in over several hours - over 1400 were counted the previous night) and were thrilled to see them really close up. They emerge from the waves in a small group, to size up the safety situation. They dither around for several minutes, often taking fright and dashing back into the sea, before finally gathering in larger numbers and marching up the beach to the dunes. Walking is quite hard work for them and they pause frequently, seemingly unaware of the admiring throngs watching them, so you can get a really good close look at them. Cute is the only word, I'm afraid. No photos though as it's forbidden.



Phillip island nature park had residential properties until very recently, but the government bought up each house as it became available and the last one was bought only 5 weeks (Months?) ago. Once acquired by the nature park the houses are demolished and the land returned to nature.
Also on this tour were visits to a cattle farm with various rescue animals and a koala park





I'm late posting this, already moved on from Melbourne, staying in Castlemaine with friends.

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Location:George St,East Melbourne,Australia

Bruny island

We spent the weekend on Bruny Island to the south of Hobart. It consists of N and S islands joined by a very narrow isthmus, which is a point where the fairy penguins come in from the sea to nest in burrows in the dunes each evening (correction Most evenings). This is something I very much wanted to see, and Chris was keen to go mountain biking on the island so we took the ferry over with him and his mate Dan and their bikes. Jon and I spent the night in a holiday cottage. A friend of Chris's was doing a month's voluntary lighthouse keeping so they stayed there at her cottage.





The lighthouse was first lit in 1838 and is the oldest continuously-manned lighthouse in Australia. It was decommissioned in 1996, when it was replaced by a solar-powered tower. So Chris's friend minds the automatic weather station and takes manual readings, and looks after the old lighthouse. We all went up inside the lighthouse with champagne and snacks for a bit of a party as this was her last week there. At the very top we took turns to sit inside the light chamber surrounded by lenses and were slowly rotated, for the most surreal experience of ever-changing distorted visions of stormy skies, or people peering in at us. Not an occasion to be taking any mind-bending drugs!








Jon and I left this happy party to go and see the penguins. We had to drive carefully as it was dusk and there were lots of death-defying hoppers loping across the tracks in front of the car. We watched for penguins for about an hour without success. Apparently, there are fewer to see at this time of year when they're moulting. We were just returning in the car, disappointed, when there was suddenly a lone penguin on the road caught in our headlights, looking very disoriented and oh so cute. (they are only about 12 to 18 inches tall) He wandered this way and that, clearly wondering which way was home (I know that feeling) until we took pity on him and turned off the lights, thanking him wholeheartedly for being so cooperative. Unfortunately no photo, as it was unfair to keep him standing around posing.

We all went on a wildlife cruise next morning in perfect weather (it was wildly variable the previous day, with squally showers, cold and very windy). This showed us some of the remarkable rock features and caves, as well as sea birds and fur seals - a really good 3 hour tour.


Dropping Dan off at home, we were invited in for a cuppa and saw Kate's (this is a shared house) mud house which she has recently built at the bottom of the garden, which slopes very steeply down to the sea. She told me how she wants to spread the word about the technique of building these houses, hoping to make a living running practical workshops in fact. I really loved her "pod" but think I'd want double glazing and air conditioning in that climate!
I'd love to share photos of this but the only ones I took are on my phone and it invokes the wrath of the iPad so I can't. Blame Apple not me.

It's now Tuesday, we've just had a lovely afternoon on the beach. We went back to Tinderbox Bay at my request because it was so quiet - no traffic noise or other people at all, and the council workmen turned up 10 minutes later to cut and strim the grass. So we had our BBQ and went on to Fossil Cove where Chris snorkelled and we were the fossils.






Next stop Melbourne. Maybe no WiFi maybe no blog.

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Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia