279. Into the unknown..

31st May. Here's a short video that shows two of our favourite places to walk the dog now that we're free to roam further than 1 km from home: first, the coastal footpath heading south from Anglet towards Biarritz - and then the forest at Pignada..

         

When I was down with the pooch at the field behind the beach this morning, I spotted a group of people practising Tai Chi.. it all looked a bit "New Age" to me. Here's another group in the Jardin Publique, Bayonne.. Not sure my creaky old knees would allow me to do this anyway:

        

We continued the blitz on the garden this morning so that we'll be all ready for summer - Madame tried her steamer on some discoloured paint with no joy - before switching to the Kärcher pressure washer (under instruction!). I then brought out the hedge trimmer and gave a hedge a short back and sides.. 

We're now both soaked and covered in muddy back-splatter - but the garden and the terrace should be bone dry again in ½ hour and Nutty can be let out again to pester his lizards!

30th May. To spare you the tedium of having to read through all 279 posts here (!), I've included (at no charge!) an excellent review of the Pays Basque here..

An oldie (heard on the radio this morning) that's full of 60s optimism is Gilbert Bécaud's L'important c'est la rose (from 1967 - the year that Madame and I collided!).. Lyrics in Angliche here: 

    

Here's a little-known factoid for the next time it goes quiet in the snug: did you know that Neil Diamond's 1980 single "Love on the Rocks" was co-written by Gilbert Bécaud? (his version here)

One event that, along with the arrival of the swallows, heralds the imminent start of summer (at last!) is the installation of our plancha on the terrace. It sits in the garage over winter, protected by a coating of grease, but today was the day of the annual dragging-out ceremony.. I don't know what it is but it seems to get heavier with each year that passes - and it was already heavy to start with! I cleaned off the winter dust and cobwebs - and wiped the wooden parts over with boiled linseed oil and now it looks like new again. I also oiled our teak garden chairs. I've not been able to find linseed oil here - I'm using a bottle (bought in England at least 12 years ago) that miraculously re-appeared in the garage last year - and it works a treat.      

This is one that stays forever fresh - the incomparable Charles Aznavour with "La Bohème"..

 

We noticed a couple of evenings ago that the swallows were back - swooping, darting and chasing each other at breakneck speed around the roofs and chimneys with that so-distinctive twittering.. 

This classic Dire Straits song - "Romeo and Juliet" - has long been a favourite of mine..

        

Here's an astonishing piece of virtuosity by Laura Lāce, a young Latvian guitarist.. as she tackles Vivaldi's "Summer" in a way that no-one could ever have foreseen: 

           

29th May. I was returning from the beach this morning with the hound - when I found myself behind an emergency plumber's white van. I was idly looking at it - half-thinking of other things - when the centime dropped and I suddenly realised that yes, the French do have a sense of humour. The name of the plumber's business was S.eau.S.. 

27th May. I took a ride along the Nive yesterday almost as far as Ustaritz. Its waters were a tempting bottle green and it looked especially inviting. There were quite a few sculling boats out on the water but without my specs I couldn't identify any of the scullers. Very pleasant indeed out there.   

25th May. A few years ago, we were invited to dinner by the friend of a friend, the owner of a stunning Basque house perched on the clifftops just to the north of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. I doubt if its setting could be equalled - the house overlooked the restless expanse of the sea out to the west and north - with the only sound being the sea's rhythmic shushing as it lapped endlessly onto the property's private beach down below. (I should have worked harder at school!☺)

  

To the rear, there was an uninterrupted view of La Rhune, the emblematic mountain that dominates the Côte Basque with its familiar outline.. 

After dinner, I excused myself and stepped out on to the front terrace to watch the sun going down (I lit a cigarillo - yes, I smoked the odd one in those days) in that velvety windless dusk. What a stunning view.. I could get used to that!   

24th May. Another walk through the Pignada woods with the pooch this morning. I was looking at the maritime pines - they have slim elegant trunks, often with no branches until at least a height of 20 metres (60ft) from the ground is reached. None of them grow straight up either - they all seem to grow 10° or more off the vertical but always in a different sense to their neighbours. At ground level, ferns were shooting up past 2 metres in height - with more to come. Even with the occasional jogger pounding through, it's still a remarkably peaceful place - although I did hear one jogger as she approached: she had earpieces in connected to a phone strapped to her arm - and she was in full auto-babble mode. I can't imagine anything worse. I'm afraid I'm not part of this mobile phone generation - I have one - but it gathers dust somewhere in the house.  

By the way, the Jardin Publique (opposite the theatre in Biarritz) used to be home to some mighty trees - but sadly, many of the larger specimens were blown down during the big storm (Tempête Klaus) in 2009. It used to be one of the few places with guaranteed shade where you could find respite from the sometimes fierce summer heat. The loss of these great trees changed the whole character of the Jardin Publique for a few decades.      

It's always nice to hear an outsider's view of your own town - so sit back and enjoy this stroll around Bayonne. Thanks to Arnie Jacobsen (a good Danish name by the sound of it) for this one!

22nd May. I've just discovered that all the time I've been making my favourite summer drink, without knowing it, I've been making a Daiquiri.. See what I wrote on 3rd May..  

21st May. I took Nutty, our cocker spaniel, to the woods at nearby Pignada this morning - and what a pleasure it was to walk in silence beneath these tall trees under blue skies. For the past 2 months I'd been walking him around Bayonne - across one bridge over the Adour and then back home via a different bridge. It stayed within the limits (just!) set by the government (1km radius from home for a max of one hour) but having to repeat that same walk every day wasn't the most inspiring thing - but needs must. 

I'd forgotten just how pleasant it was to walk in the Pignada woods - I really must take my camera there next time. There are many maritime pines that have grown to an immense height but I've yet to see any sign of the red squirrels that I'm lead to believe are native to this area. 

14th May. Had my hair cut today while wearing a mask.. I didn't feel much like Zorro..

10th May. Biarritz enjoys a spectacular frontage onto the Atlantic - and understandably, most videos of the town show the same familiar seafront images. It's a pity because the architecture of the town is almost a time capsule of its celebrated past when, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the preferred destination for the crowned heads of old Europe - and the rich and famous. Many of its extravagant and oversized seaside properties were constructed in a variety of outlandish and fantastical styles (think Hollywood-sur-Mer) that could easily be used as a backdrop to a Rudolph Valentino film or an F Scott Fitzgerald novel.. It's hard to find a video of Biarritz that actually shows anything behind the seafront. This is the best I can come up with - start at 2.12:

I made this short video a few years ago that shows the breadth of architectural styles to be found in Biarritz.. (plus a few favourite places tagged on the end!)

A few days ago, the French PM announced a progressive relaxation of the confinement measures that came into force here in mid-March. Our reaction? As we're both retired, there's not the same imperative to rejoin society at large. There's also no vaccine on the horizon either - so as we're both in the 'at-risk' age group and Madame has ongoing health issues, we intend to carry on as we have been for the past 6-7 weeks. Many of our friends intend to do the same. I think the driving force behind the proposed relaxation measures is largely economic - but as we are no longer in the workforce, we're exempt from that. If people wish to start going out, seeing friends, having BBQs, street parties, and all the rest of it - they're at liberty to do so of course - but we won't.

6th May. Two hours to the north of us lies Arcachon - a prime seaside destination for the people of nearby Bordeaux.. Here it is during confinement..

 

And here's what Biarritz looked like a month ago under confinement.. Very odd to see all the hotspots so deserted:

5th May. What with the recent heat, interleaved with a few showers, the garden has been growing like crazy.. I've just spent half the afternoon up a wobbly ladder trying to cut back shrubs and bushes that were making a bid for freedom. I had to stop about ½ hour ago to cool down with a frosty San Miguel from the fridge in the garage. It's a tough job etc etc.. 

4th May. Temp was in the low thirties today and the forecast was convinced that a thunderstorm was due this evening - I didn't think it seemed likely - but just half an hour ago, we had a flashing night sky, followed by rumbles a-plenty and a good showering of rain.

3rd May. Forecast is for 33°C (91°F) here tomorrow..

Here's a reminder of our part of the world in happier times..

 

These split screen videos have become all the rage on YouTube since the world has been in lock-down. Here's one that resonates with me - Harrison Sheckler organised 300 people from 15 different countries to come together to participate in a beautiful virtual rendition of that great song "You'll Never Walk Alone" (paroles en français ici) from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, "Carousel" (1956). Enjoy! (No extra charge for playing it twice!)

Harrison Sheckler - take a bow! I've lost track of how many times I've played this..

It was a day of 'firsts' today.. I wore my shorts for the first time this year (and yes, I did warn the neighbours), then we had lunch outside on the terrace for the first time, and it was so hot we needed the umbrella - another first - and finally, this evening, I made myself one my rhum specials for the first time this year: take a long glass, add a fat finger of white rhum from Martinique, then a finger of sugar cane syrup, the juice of a lime and then top it all up with cracked ice.. One glass is perfect.. a second would be disastrous! Four or five more months of this.. I mustn't weaken..!

1st May. As I approached the Place de la Liberté in front of the Town Hall (right) in Bayonne this morning I spotted about 10 people conducting a ritual "May Day manif" (demonstration) there. They were walking in a circle maybe 30 yards across and as I neared them I could hear the mumblings of their discontent. They really don't understand how lucky they are to live in such a blessed part of France - but that truth cuts no ice with these perpetual grumblers.   

The community of Anglet sits between Bayonne and Biarritz and the three were recently merged together into an intercommunal structure (based on Biarritz and Bayonne) known as the agglomeration of the Pays Basque (consisting of 158 communes). Anglet is a convoluted tangle of streets with no clear pattern - all lined with the characteristic white-washed red-shuttered Basque houses. For a driver, it's a real challenge to acquire the mental road map but after 12 years, I think I've almost got it! Maybe..

Here's how the normally vibrant town of Anglet appeared during the Coronavirus confinement in April 2020:

I can't remember a time when we entered the month of May with such a sense of foreboding, unease and a lack of hope. Who would have thought that, just a few short months ago, many thousands of us would not be alive to greet the summer.

The world has changed - all that we knew is now history. For those of us who are retired, staying at home is do-able, without too much stress. However, for those who are still working, I think they're going to be experiencing a sea-change in the way their lives are organised in future. For some, they're going to find that their jobs have evaporated. This crisis has revealed so many dependencies and unforeseen links and I'm sure there are still some more earth-shuddering shocks to come. Given time, and if a reliable long term vaccine for the Covid19 virus can be developed, then I think the former order of things may be re-instated - but how much time are we talking about?

In the meantime, here's Oldarra, one of my favourite Basque choirs, with "Maitia Nun Zira":