Good idea, but...he had forgotten that his car and trailer were trapped on the wrong side of the newly filled potholes. Oops...
Other words the festival has thrown up are bête seller, describing a particularly awful literary work that becomes an instant hit, the timely eurogner – euro plus rogner (to cut down) – to suggest making savings in the euro zone, and a verb, textoter (to write SMS messages on a mobile telephone), to compliment last year's winner, a phonard – a pejorative term for someone who is glued to their mobile phone.
Even though I have read a number of bête seller in the past, the only one of these words I can imagine I will use with any frequency is phonard, but it's good to know the other words are available, just in case.
Henry James called it correctly: the narthex of St-Ours in Loches is indeed impressive. A narthex, or porch, is traditionally where people who were not communicants of a church could stand outside the church, but still under cover, to hear the sermon. There was usually also a font, so that people could be baptised symbolically on the journey into the church. The doorway into the church proper is surrounded by a fully carved 12th century nativity, with some interesting touches.
and also to the right, asleep (under the same blanket!) and being visited by an angel who is warning them not to visit King Herod and also of the coming massacre of the innocents.
The angel is in blue, hovering above the nicely carved blanket which covers the recumbent Magi.
The second photo is from the balcony of the apartment my brother rented in Canary Wharf. As much as I do not like Canary Wharf and its associated shopping hell, it has to be said there are some good views to be had.
The third photo was taken at Leigh on Sea, late on Sunday afternoon. Leigh on Sea is famous for cockles, so Uncle Geoff and I decided to be true East Londoners and promenade along the waterfont eating shellfish from a bag.
This is a late 19th century plough plane - a router for cutting grooves. It was Susan's great-grandfather's and arrived here a week ago.
I am really pleased with the whole thing: walls, niche and lighting. All we need do now is sand and varnish the stairs and that part of the job is finished.
This time last year it started snowing, so I guess anything is possible...
This is a bit of a mystery: a 2nd century Roman (or at least Gallo-Roman: that is built by locals who wanted to show how Roman they were) tower. No-one is quite sure what it is - or was - although a funerary monument is the current front runner. Made of brick and standing exactly 100 roman feet (29.4 metres) high, it sits overlooking a bend in the river Loire at Cinq-Mars-la-Pile. It contains about 100,000 bricks surrounding an infill of rubble, which can been seen in various places where we assume treasure hunters have been at work.
At the top on the tower and facing the river are twelve decorative panels, patterns of brick and cut stone. These are more commonly found in buildings in Ostia, the port city of Rome, and may give some indication of the background of the person who had the monument built.
Numerous excavations have taken place, the latest being in 2005. During the course of the work a stone built terrace was excavated, as well as a small building. A statue was also found, of Sabazius, an eastern deity very rare especially in Gaul and northern Gaul. Originally Phrygian, Sabazios was worshiped as a god similar to Dionysus. He was the son of Zeus and Persephone. The results of this excavation are here (or machine translated, here)
On Friday night Dad was leaving to return to Australia, but I hired a car and we filled in the day by visiting the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. A great Boys Day Out was had with hundreds of aircraft and lots of photo opportunities. The weather was really pleasant, amazing for November in East Anglia, and it was good to see some of the English countryside with my Dad, something we probably haven't done since I was 7.
We arrived back at Heathrow in plenty of time to have a coffee and a chat, and then Dad was off on the plane (hadn't he had enough of them by now?). I hope we can have a repeat visit of that kind: short and full-on, blokes doing stuff.
It has proved to be a fascinating exercise and a great way to get to know the local habitat through the seasons. This year we had an exceptionally dry and warm spring and a warm and somewhat wet summer.
This has resulted in some winners, mostly woodland species, and some losers, mostly grassland species. Some species have occurred in exceptionally high numbers, such as Orange Tips Anthocharis cardamines (l'Aurore in French) in the spring and White Admirals Limenitis camilla (le Petit Sylvain in French) in the summer. Some species have been shockingly absent - I didn't record a single Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria (le Tircis in French) on any of my transects, yet this is normally a very common woodland butterfly. My beloved Glanville Fritillaries Melitaea cinxia (la Mélitée du plantain in French) seem to have been badly knocked by the dry spring, but their close cousins the Knapweed Fritillaries Melitaea phoebe (le Grand Damier in French) did very well. It seems to be a difference in caterpillar food plants, with the Speedwell that the Glanvilles need in the late spring being greatly reduced by the dry weather.
The Lycaenidae (Blues) have mostly had a poor year, with very few Holly Blues Celastrina argiolus (l'Azuré des nerpruns in French) in the spring and low numbers of Common Blues Polyommatus icarus (l'Argus bleu in French) and Provencal Short-Tailed Blues Everes alcetas (l'Azuré de la faucille in French) in the summer. Happily, the rare Large Blue Maculinea arion (l'Azuré du serpolet in French) seems to have had a good year and I observed them on several occasions, including an egg laying female.
I observed 45 species in total and 1417 individual butterflies while surveying. The most abundant species overall was the Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina (le Myrtil in French), which also topped the monthly bills for May and August. The most abundant species in April was the Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni (le Citron in French), June was heaving with Marbled Whites Melanargia galathea (le Demi-deuil in French), July was the time of the Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus (l'Amaryllis in French) and in September the Small Whites Pieris rapae (la Piéride de la rave in French) came into their own. There were a number of species that I only saw one each of: Mallow Skipper Carcharodus alceae (la Grisette in French), Large Chequered Skipper Heteropterus morpheus (le Miroir in French), Purple Hairstreak Neozephyrus quercus (la Thécla du chêne in French), Sooty Copper Lycaena tityrus (l'Argus myope in French) and Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja (le Grand Nacré in French). Sometimes only seeing a single individual in the survey is just bad luck - I saw normal numbers of Purple Hairstreaks and Sooty Coppers in the course of my daily observations outside the restrictions of the survey. I also saw Mallow Skippers, but felt that their numbers might be a bit low this year. I recorded no Scarce Swallowtails at all while surveying, but saw them regularly in the summer. The reason for this is probably because this species is very much a garden (or orchard) butterfly, and my survey sites are cereal crop margins, limestone ridges, natural grasslands and forest rides.
If you are interested in the complete species list I have updated the Loire Valley Nature butterfly list to show species seen on the survey in blue, but I have not given any indication of numbers there.
Because we bought just before winter kicked in (and Susan had caught a serious cold the day we bought the house anyway) it wasn't until April 2007 that we got around to installing running water and toilet facilities. This meant that we could stay in the house, camping in the salon. It was bitterly cold, but we were excited by the thought of having what was at that time basically a holiday home in France.
In June 2009 we had the first signs of bathing in a civilised manner, and July was staircase month. In October the fireplace and chimney went in, and life was really beginning to get comfortable: not only were we no longer living in one room (the salon) we could wash and stay warm!
All in all, not a bad five years....
The local council is developing a parcel of land up on the ridge behind the chateau and close to the road to Loches. Previously the land had been ploughed and the farmer who owned it grew crops such as wheat. Soon it will be housing blocks, including some for supported housing, and a new police station.
Susan
They are very popular in the organic movement because they cause the minimum soil disturbance and take very little effort to use. I'm completely sold, and if I get any birthday money (hint, hint...) I will be buying one of these (they cost a bit over €100 if you buy them online and have them delivered from the French manufacturer Ducoterre).
These ones are Norvika, from BricoDepot, and when I see this one neatly installed on its new chaux-chanvre (hemp render) wall on the staircase by the spare bedroom door, I feel nearly as happy as when my back door mat was installed.
We have a few old examples, with original terracotta tiles in situ on the pantry floor, and the odd brick randomly placed in the shoddily built extension to the back of the house. The bricks are all stamped with the names of their manufacturers and the town they were made in. We have bricks from Preuilly and nearby Chambon, a village little more than a hamlet.
We happened to duck down a path in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher one day recently and discovered a particularly impressive array of local bricks. Old bricks and tiles like these, with their distinctive stamps, are a very accessible reminder of local history, and have become minor collectors items. I've seen roof tiles for sale at brocantes, with those bearing the name of the town the brocante is in displayed most prominently. I seriously considered buying one at Preuilly's brocante, as a nostalgic souvenir of past times.
The seeds are attractive birds, and the tree grows anywhere the birds take them - hedgerows, woodland fringes or fence lines where the soil is chalky. The wood is extremely hard and as the name suggests, was once used to make spindles, for spinning wool while you walk, talk and think of other things. Because of its fine grain and the ease with which it can be split, it can be sharpened to a thin point and was used to make toothpicks, knitting needles, arrows and skewers. Apparently it was also used to make birdcages.
I was told recently that it makes the best artists charcoal, and this seems to be the one use for this wood that has continued into modern times (although a quick check of the internet revealed that it is not at all easy to get - almost all artists charcoal seems to be made of willow these days). It's the sort of thing an enterprising and determined artist could make for themselves though.
The most recent time was last Thursday, the 10th November, when clouds were gathering, the evening was drawing in, and the main carpark (which I have photographed so many times) was shut.
Over the past eight months the surface of the main car park has become very rutted and large puddles formed. Although summer this year was very wet we have been extremely lucky and never visited the chateau in the rain, but you could see the damage that large numbers of cars can do to a gravel surface if conditions aren't right.
St Martin of Tours died in Candes st Martin on the 8th of November between 395 and 402AD, but according to the Catholic Encyclopedia no-one is sure of the exact year. He was loved and respected by many people, so a bit of a fight developed over the resting place of his body, which was seen as a great marketing opportunity: wherever had the body was sure to be a place of pilgrimage. In the end the body was "pilferred" (their word, not mine) by the cathedral at Tours, and as the body travelled the 20 miles or so up the Loire to its new resting place the flowers and trees along the banks of the river burst into flower.
The area the Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa is native to covers the Mediterranean basin, but it is Corsica that is historically most strongly identified with the production of chestnut flour. For hundreds of years, Sweet Chestnut growers have selected the sweetest varieties and perpetuated the cultural knowledge to create a great delicacy. Chestnut flour is naturally sweet and incredibly fine. This allows the creation of many dishes, ranging from the traditional pulenta (a Corsican chestnut version of the Italian cornmeal polenta) to the more modern and exotic, like my Chocolate Chestnut Soufflé Cake. It is rich in vitamin C, low in fat and suitable for gluten free diets. Ideally, it needs to be kept in the fridge, and you need to sift it into your mix as it has a tendency to cake into little lumps.
According to the blurb on the box Liselle brought us (I've translated):The Chestnut has been inextricably linked for at least 5 centuries to the life of the inland villages of Corsica. Today, chestnut growing is an essential component of safeguarding the cultural heritage, mountain economy and the ecology of the area.Chestnut flour is fairly easy to get in France, with most good supermarkets stocking it. I have also bought it at Halles et Champs in Perusson.
Harvested around mid-October and dried slowly, the chestnuts, belonging to several specific varieties, are shelled, then rigorously sorted and selected before being baked in wood-fired ovens and ground into flour. From their ancestral experience, the producers obtain a chestnut flour characterised by its sweetness, fineness and purity, with a smell and taste of dried chestnut and biscuits.
The first of August 1914! The sun set on France, on the district of Loches and on this time which, after the war years, appeared, in the memories of the survivors, so very Belle.
All of these businesses are now closed, although the Hotel Balzac is for sale and could once again be a hotel one day.
In the past we have travelled to Retromobile by TGV, but the last two trips to Paris we have travelled by the scenic route. It takes twice as long but gives a much better view of France: chateaux and small towns rather than wide open plains and wind turbines. It is also a little cheaper, and because you can't reserve seats you can always get a ticket - as opposed to the TGV where once every ticket is sold, the train is full and no more tickets are sold. This means that even at very short notice you can get a ticket even if it means sitting on your bags in the corridor the whole way. Usually though, you get a compartment and privacy.
One thing may sway it towards travelling on the TGV: recently I have seen TGV Duplex trains travelling across the bridge over the Loire river. I have never been on a TGV Duplex, but would really quite like to. A double decker, 300km/h train? Who wouldn't!
A few days ago I had better luck though. Under one of the sheets of iron was a little family of Short-tailed Voles Microtus agrestis (le campagnol agreste in French). They duly did the mad scramble thing, but within minutes bold little faces were peering out to see if I had gone. I hadn't, so I managed to get one very cute photo.
Short-tailed Voles are about 110mm long plus a tail of about 35mm. A fully grown one can weigh 50g, a young one only 20g. They are quite shaggy for a vole, with hairy ears. They like to live on the fringes of fields (indeed another English name for them is Field Vole) and can be found throughout France. 'Our' voles appear to be making a good living from our hazel nuts, but the species also like acorns, bulbs, grasses and roots. Active during the day as well as the night, they can run fast, but rarely climb. They live in social groups in shallow burrows and their numbers can increase dramatically over a 4 year cycle of boom and bust. Occasionally they can cause commercial damage to lucerne pasture or cereal crops, when numbers reach plague proportions.
They are the main prey of Barn Owls and the voles' population affects the owls' breeding success. Owls are not their only predators either - weasels and stoats, foxes and cats, buzzards and kestrels, asp vipers and grass snakes are all keen to dine on vole, so it's just as well they breed rapidly.
