259. That's it, then.

29th September. Seems like Gary Larson was right on the money with this cartoon! (click on it to enlarge)

26th September. I heard this morning that the raft of plastic waste in the north Pacific - known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - is twice the size of France.. (don't worry, we're not being left behind - there's a North Atlantic Garbage Patch as well.)

This is a problem that's not going to go away and we can't ignore it. How to contact your elected politician? In the UK? In the US? In France? Please take the time to write to ask what action he/she is taking to address this global problem..

The Bellevue casino
as it was..

..and as it is today

We went to the Bellevue, the former casino of Biarritz, at midday to see the "Biarritz 1918 - 2018" exhibition - that was billed as featuring work by Picasso, among others. Look here for a glimpse of Biarritz in all its former splendour.

We both thought this exhibition was grossly overhyped - yes, there was his small - 12" x 9" - painting "Les baigneuses" (below) - but I'm afraid that was the only thing worth seeing. There were letters to Picasso and much (as in practically everything else!) that fell into "the Emperor's new clothes" category - but very little from the great man himself. For an alternative viewpoint, there's a review of the exhibition here. (translation in English)

Disappointed, we headed off to have lunch at Bar Jean.. a long-time favourite of ours next to the covered market - but it was their day for closing.. 

Not our day - so it was a day for pot luck.. We walked down to the Place Sainte-Eugenie and eased into Le Capri.. Madame had moules marinière followed by sardines while I had a pizza.  

25th September. We've been enjoying some wonderful September weather here for the last few weeks - blue skies, temperatures in the mid-twenties, lower humidity - but the clear skies have brought with them cooler evenings. So - this afternoon I stopped off to pick up some logs for the wood-burner we put in a couple of years ago. To be honest, I'm quite looking forward to the first time we light it this autumn.. it gives a real cosy atmosphere. It doesn't get much better than contemplating the flickering flames, suitably encouraged by a glass of you-know-what (above)! (I think this is known as hygge in Denmark)     

23rd September. There's been an exhibition running in Biarritz since 7th July (it finishes on 30th September) entitled "Biarritz 1918 2018" that we've been meaning to get to.. There's this Picasso "Les baigneuses' (right) and many others on display apparently. We thought we'd try today but on arrival in Biarritz earlier this afternoon we discovered that there was a braderie in progress.. This is when the shops have a clear out of all their 'old' stock.. with the pavements cluttered with clothes rails and whole areas of town are closed off. Of course, old stock to them means this season's.. I don't think I have anything that new! I'm proud to own many items of vintage clothing.. such as two Lacoste polo shirts I bought in the US in the mid-1980s! (now 30+ years old!) I like my old favourites and I have to say that shopping is waay down there on my list of things I like to do. So you can see that old and new depends on your perspective!

I've been busy with our annual Comète weekend which was last weekend - it involved a lot of unseen preparation work, then the long weekend itself, and then afterwards tying up all the loose ends. I'll post a few photos in a day or two.

Meanwhile, the mosquitoes have been busy here.. and it appears that they're very partial to a spot of rosbif! (namely me!) We've not been bothered much - if at all - by mossies in previous years but with the more or less continuous rain we had here for the first 5-6 months of the year, followed by bakingly hot temperatures and high humidity in July and August, it's been all the encouragement the little bleeders oops, blighters needed to breed in large numbers. From my knees down I've been trying hard to avoid scratching the maddeningly itchy bites - but every now and again, my resolve has weakened and I've been scratching myself like a demented chimp! My hands and arms are just as bad - and then there's my ears and neck. I've been spraying mossie repellent all over me, setting up anti-mossie plugs at night (right) but all to no avail. 

To more cheery subjects, this morning I was down at the beach with the dawg - and if you ever plan to visit the Pays Basque, this is the month for it. While May and June are relatively tourist-free, the sea is still cold and hence the weather can't be relied upon. July and August are best avoided if you can (just too many people) - but September is virtually guaranteed to be the ideal month to visit. The majority of families with children have returned home, the sea is warm and the weather is stable with temps usually in the mid 20s.

This was the beach at Anglet this morning - Biarritz is just the other side of the headland with the lighthouse, with the mountains of Spain in the distance:

Tempting - or what?

13th September. This is the first video in a series that describes how someone out in the Canadian wilderness built himself a log cabin.. It promises to be addictive! Let me know what you think of it.

He has all his videos listed here - so plenty more to choose from.

Our annual Comète weekend starts this evening.. Sadly it only comes around once a year.

Here's a song that speaks to me - especially the first couple of verses:

10th September. For those of us of a certain age, fifty years ago we'd all have been watching transfixed at the remarkable television coverage - often live - of NASA's Saturn V rockets, each just shy of 3000 tons, blasting off from Cape Canaveral as they headed for the moon on incandescent tongues of flame. The sheer scale and power of these rockets was hard to comprehend. Little did I think then that years later I would be lucky enough to visit Florida and see one of these giants (40-odd feet taller than Big Ben) close up. From JFK promising - in September 1962 -  in that unforgettable spine-tingling speech ("We choose to go to the Moon") where he announced America's intention to land an American on the moon by the end of the decade, this was a stupendously ambitious project and it was all conducted in the unforgiving spotlight of global media attention. The Apollo programme was surely the most remarkable engineering achievement in the history of Man - and it all worked perfectly.

8th September. I took Nutty to the "Naughty Boys Club" (aka Obedience class) this morning and he did so well, he's been upgraded to the next class up for slightly older dogs. The secret behind this sudden change of fortune was that I didn't give him his breakfast before we left. That ensured that he gave all the exercises his full attention (especially those that came with an edible reward!) - and he romped through them all in a near-faultless display. The girl who runs the class was impressed. I know better though! 

It's been a while since I've included a Basque choir - so without further ado, here's Oldarra - with their beautiful rendition of Agur Jaunak - a song of welcome.

If my dear old Mum was here, I'm sure she'd be saying that, in the interests of balance, I should include a Welsh male voice choir - so as I'm a quarter Welsh, who am I to argue! I grew up to the sound of her singing as she went around the house - and she loved Welsh choirs. I think there are quite a few similarities between Basque and Welsh male voice choirs. See what you think:

6th September. This song was the soundtrack to our early days and it's for all those who have had a long distance relationship - the interminable waiting at airports and windblown train stations, the hellos and the bittersweet goodbyes:

A few minutes ago I felt like reminding myself what it's like to row in a fast VIII.. and I found this clip on YouTube. I've never rowed six abreast in an VIIIs race, but looking at this video of the Olympic final of the Mens VIIIs in Rio, I can only begin to imagine the exhilaration in that British boat after the controlled fury of that thunderous start when they found themselves leading the race. All the pain of endless training - the early starts, the weights, the dieting, the rowing machines, the runs - would have disappeared in that one golden moment. Need I say it but it's best in full screen. The overhead view from the drone camera really does capture the spirit of that event.

3rd September. I was down at the beach at the Plage des Cavaliers, Anglet, this morning with Nutty for a quick run.. This is definitely September weather now - always the best month here. Most of the holidaymakers have gone and the weather has cooled down a notch or two. The blue green ocean was calm with impressive breakers forming just at the water's edge. Silver mist hung over the empty golden sands with the mountains just a faint blue line in the distance. Days like these remind me why we love this blessed part of the world and also the fact that we're lucky enough to be spending our retirement years here.

"Tally Ho"

2nd September. For the past few months I've been following the inspiring story of Leo Goolden, a resourceful young English boat builder, who has taken on an enormous restoration challenge: that of rebuilding "Tally Ho" - a 108 year old wooden yacht (right) that was teetering on the brink of total dereliction. He's rebuilding it in Sequim, WA, and he intends to sail it back to the UK once the mammoth task of restoration is complete. Looking at it, I would have said it was beyond economic repair. The story is being told via a series of short bite-sized YouTube videos - and if you're anything like me, you'll find them compulsive viewing. He seems completely undaunted by any of the challenges that the boat throws up at him - and believe me, there's no shortage of those. It seems that there's nothing that fazes Leo.. I tip my hat to him in total respect. 

If this project interests you but Washington State is a bit far away, then there's this traditional pilot cutter - all 68 feet of her - that's being built from scratch in Truro in the UK.

1st September. Had a good session with Nutty down at the dog training class this morning. I think there's a film waiting to be made here! Put 15 assorted dogs into a fenced off enclosure, let them loose and watch the fun develop! The girl who runs the class has one of these (left) - a Cane Corso Italiano - and, as you might expect, he's very well trained. He's a large gentle dog with an excellent temperament and he simply sits there watching the chaos developing all around him. If he wanted, he could sort out the 'bad lads' in a few seconds. But he's seen it all before and he occasionally shifts his position - but does little else. You'd need a large house for him to be comfortable. (It appears here that Nutty's not the only dog who eats pebbles!)   

As I write this, there's a bullfight in progress in the neighbourhood (5 minutes walk from here) - and occasionally I can hear the jeers and catcalls of the moronic crowd as a bull hasn't read the script and doesn't die as he should. Ugh.. How people can watch the spectacle of 6 bulls being dispatched in this manner - for their entertainment - is beyond me. I believe there's another corrida tomorrow too. Instead of fiddling about with summer time, Juncker and his unelected cronies should set about banning this barbaric 'sport' from Europe - a spectacle where animals are killed and their deaths are applauded to amuse the crowds. Shameful.    

September - this is our kind of weather. Temperatures in the lower twenties, humidity down from the unbearable wet blanket that lay over the land just a few weeks ago, and blue skies.. 

Meanwhile, it appears I won't have much time for blogging! I read that these are the tasks I should be carrying out this month: removing dead and non-productive vegetable crops; apply manure and compost to clay soils; planting crops for late autumn harvest: cabbages, peas, fennel, cauliflower, lettuce, swiss chard, onions, leeks, Chinese peas, and endive; drying peppers and squash; start new strawberry beds; dig up and divide garlic, perennials, iris, daylilies, bulbs and onions; keep watering properly even as the weather begins to cool; clean up all dead fruit; fruit trees fed and sprayed with tonics; seed lawns with rye grass for winter colour; remove any dead shrubs or trees; dig holes for planting trees and shrubs; purchase potted trees and shrubs for planting in autumn; continue to mulch trees and shrubs; raking fallen leaves and add to compost pile; purchase bulbs from nurseries; feed lawn with slow release fertilizer; remove spent blooms from roses; weed vegetables and shrubs, mow lawns; start to prepare sheds, tools, and equipment for Winter weather; repair roofs.

My response to all this would be to ask: "And what, pray, should I do with the feather duster?" Answers on a postcard please!

Quote of the day: Remember: we're all in this alone.

I remembered late tonight that it was 11 years to the day since we arrived here in the Pays Basque - thus setting in motion the second part of a dream we'd had for many years. The first part was selling up in England. Having successfully managed that, we put into storage all the non-essentials and headed south in a rented van with everything we thought we'd need until we found our house in the Pays Basque. Living the dream - it's not often in life that you get to do this.