255. Nuts in May

29th May. Apologies for letting the dust settle in here but I've been a bit busy lately. Here's a favourite organ piece to unwind to - it's "Nimrod" from Edward Elgar's Variations - and it's played beautifully here by Diane Meredith Belcher on the Quimby Pipe Organ at William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri. I apologise for the hiss on the recording but I don't think it detracts too much from this fine interpretation. (Brass band version here)

This is one of the pieces the choir has been working up for a concert in October. It's "The Flight into Egypt, from The Childhood of Christ" by Hector Berlioz. It's a very expressive piece to sing and we're slowly getting there! (needless to say, the choir below is not us!) 

17th May. Villefranque is a picturesque Basque village that's situated on the slopes overlooking the beautiful river Nive.  It's 8-10km inland from Bayonne and we stayed in this gîte in the village for 5 months when we first arrived here in 2007.  (It's the big white farmhouse here in the centre).

If you're ever looking for a holiday in a peaceful gîte set in an idyllic location n the Pays Basque, run by a genuinely friendly and hospitable couple, I'd recommend it unreservedly. 

I regularly used to row on the olive green waters of the Nive from Bayonne as far as Villefranque and sometime beyond as far as the weir at Ustaritz.  

Here's a new picture of a dog who likes his comfort.  He decided to take early retirement at one year old and here he is taking a load off this afternoon:

13th May.  Against a background of dark clouds heavy with rain blowing in off the sea, I took the pooch for a quick walk down at the beach at Anglet this morning. As I left the house, I picked up a CD of Rock and Roll classics that I hadn't played for a long time. We only managed 10 minutes on the big field there during which he did the necessary before we had to dash back to the car as another heavy shower blew in - and so I listened to a few golden oldies (this one caught my ear - Eddie Cochrane's "Three Steps to Heaven" - released 58 years ago!) as the rain drummed on the car roof.

12th May. I watched Leinster play Racing 92 in the final of the European Champions Cup this afternoon and somehow, against a powerful Racing selection, the Irish side emerged 15-12 winners.  I thought that Racing had marginally enjoyed a slight edge in the wet conditions - conditions that pointed towards an attritional battle between the opposing forwards - and Racing had some big 'units'.  No-one was throwing the ball around and it became something of a dour match with all the points coming from penalties.  However, as the second half wore on, it looked as though the tide had at last turned as Leinster raised their game in the last few minutes and took the initiative - scoring twice in six minutes - to take the lead for the first time in the match.  In extra time, Racing missed a drop goal that would have leveled the scores.  Not a great match for those who like to see matches won by tries, but a win's a win. This is a golden era for Irish rugby - for both club and country!

11th May. By the way - the other day I dragged the plancha out of its winter storage in the garage - so, that means it's officially summer!  I'd covered all the metal parts in grease before putting it away last autumn so after I wiped all that off it, it was soon looking as good as new again.  I'm now waiting for the first opportunity to fire it up. Bring on the sardines, salad, a fresh baguette, a bottle of chilled rosé.. followed up with a contemplative Greek coffee and aaagh! At this point I always used to add: .. and a cigarillo.. I used to smoke the odd one but I stopped (voluntarily) about two years ago and as Basil Fawlty used to say: "That particular avenue of pleasure has been closed off." I still miss them. (Mar 2020. Edited to add: I no longer miss them..)

We went to Dancharia (just across the border in Spain) for some shopping yesterday and as we were leaving after our quick shop, coach-loads of pensioners were arriving from villages in Les Landes.  We've been caught up with these before - the aisles in the shops get blocked with confused old dears in charge of huge shopping trolleys and after they've finished shopping, they launch themselves out into the car park without looking left or right.  How there aren't more accidents I'll never know.

On the way home, we stopped at Ascain for lunch at one of our 'bankers' - the Restaurant Larralde (right) - a longtime favourite of ours.  We overdid things slightly (always the danger there!) - starting with the omelette aux cèpes, followed by a perfectly cooked steak with roquefort sauce, then an île flottante for Madame and a café/pistache ice cream for me.  They serve a very generous measure of wine by the glass.  I had a velvety Irouléguy Gorri d'Ansa for only 4.50€. As nice as that was, I still had to drive home. One glass of red at midday is enough for me these days - any more and I'd need an afternoon zizzzz! Needless to say, we didn't eat in the evening. If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Ascain, I'd have no hesitation in recommending the Restaurant Larralde. (The house red is Madiran) By the way, Ascain is a picture-perfect Basque village and if you are visiting the Pays Basque for the first time, make sure you drag yourself away from the pleasures of the coast to pay the village a visit - you won't regret it.   

7th May.  The footage that's emerging from the eruption of the volcano known as Kilauea on the Big Island, Hawaii looks truly shocking.. and its impact is made worse by the slowness of the outpouring of lava (pyroclastic flow) as homeowners are forced to watch their houses being swallowed up.  Here's a disturbing clip filmed by someone on the roof of his house (starts at 1:48). All around is a verdant tropical normality - except at the bottom of his garden where a fiery vision of hell is erupting.

6th May.  Finally we were able to sit out on the terrace this evening in the sun (24° at 7pm) and have a game of cards with an apéro. OK, I was thrashed 6-2 (sob!) but it's only a game innit?! Let's hope this marks a beginning.

5th May.  We took Bulldozaire (aka our cocker anglais) along to his second dog training session this morning. It's held out in a field about 20 minutes from here. Last week, the ground was sodden and all three of us returned home covered in mud. After he'd been hosed down in the shower, he slept the rest of the afternoon away.

The session started this morning with all the dogs off their leads for about 15 minutes - I suppose it's done to dispel all, or perhaps some at least, mutual curiosity and as a bonus - it provides their owners with a good laugh! There must have been a dozen or more of them - all "bad lads" who haven't so far been able to respond to the usual incitements to good behaviour. They were all more or less of the same age with a few older recividists in the mix to add some spice to the proceedings! Only one - a young boxer - got a bit over-enthusiastic and she was exiled to a field next door to cool her heels for a while. Our dog proved himself to be more or less incapable of following simple instructions (I'll leave you to decide who he takes after!). He's coming up to one year old and he's very independent and likes doing things his way. We'll see!

Madame found this channel on the TV (in France it's on Ch 122).. and amazingly, our pooch watches it in rapt fascination. It's probably targeted at stay-at-home dogs - but he watches it with an unblinking stare!

4th May.  Surely this month will see the return of the sun on a more or less permanent basis.  Down here in the Pays Basque, we've had the Mother of all Wet Starts to the year - and yes, while part of me looks with some pleasure at how our lawn is looking (I never thought I'd hear myself say that!), a greater part of me wishes that it was shorts & t shirt weather every day.  I also want to get out there on my e-bike.

I had a letter from the Prefecture up at Bordeaux to acknowledge receipt of my application for French nationality and now I'm waiting for the call to go up there for a chat.  Hope there's not a 'practical' - like for example, "Finally, we'd like you to demonstrate your commitment to France by showing us how much you appreciate this..".  At this point a flunky steps forward and whips the domed cover off a steaming plate of 'Tête de veau' (calf's head).  That would be my personal Red Line..!

In case you're wondering, the title of this month's post comes from this..

254. Spring has sprung..

30th April. I've been aware, almost subconsciously, for some time that the most prevalent car colours here differ from those in the UK. When I was out earlier, I looked down a long line of some 30-40 parked cars and noticed that the colour of every last one lay somewhere on the monochrome spectrum between white and black. I'd say that most were various shades of grey.

When we used to come down here on holiday years ago, if we saw a red car coming towards us it could almost be guaranteed that it would be displaying a UK registration. Then when we were in England a couple of years ago, it was noticeable that electric blue was now the "couleur du mois"! (Or as they have it there - the colour of choice). I'm not sure what this proves - if anything. It's just an observation. Now we have "expert colour psychologists" who can decrypt our colour choices.. If you wish to lose the will to live, read this! You've been warned. (I'm not an Express reader by the way.. ☺)

28th April. For 4 years in the mid-1990s, I had the great good fortune to be working in the vicinity of Venice. At least once or twice a month throughout the year, I would manage to find the time to visit this most wonderful of cities, even during the chill month of January, when the bitingly cold wind off the sea had the ability to freeze one's face into a rictus. At times like that, Venice would be almost deserted and, looking out across the misty lagoon, it seemed that all an artist would need to render a faithful image of the view would be a thousand shades of grey. I would walk and walk until I had to seek refuge from the cold in the warmth of a café. There, I'd order a hot chocolate which was almost of a blancmange-like consistency and if it was really cold, I'd have a brandy with it. Once warmed up again, I'd set off once more. The intervals between stops would become shorter and shorter as the cold bit.

At the other extreme lay August. I was there once on 15th August (an Italian holiday) under a burning sun, with humidity to match. Groups of tourists were being marshalled through the narrow streets by guides - each holding a whip aerial with a distinctive object tied to the top of it - a pair of luscious red lips, a toy rabbit, an inflatable duck, the more bizarre the better. These groups of tourists appeared to arrive in waves - and the heat and the humidity combined with the jostling to make for a not very pleasant experience.

I was there with a friend one day during one such occasion and we were walking along the waterfront with its row upon row of gondolas bobbing up and down on the choppy waters. We walked past the Hotel Danieli (highly recommended) and after a few yards, we came across a restaurant that overlooked the lagoon. A card in its window announced a seafood buffet lunch for 55,000 lira.. This worked out to something around £22.. It was "an offer I could not refuse"! One of those lunches that will live long in the memory. Some time later, we emerged blinking into the sunlight and waddled off in the direction of Harry's Bar*.. for one last attitude adjuster before heading back to the train station.

A visit to Venice has to be made at least once in a lifetime. There really is nowhere else quite like it anywhere in the world (including Las Vegas!). And no, in all my visits there I have yet to experience any of the smells that generations of hack writers ascribe to Venice.. (the video is best in full screen)
Seems like we've turned the clock back again.. as we've had rain, rain and more rain. We were out at a dog obedience class this morning - as Nutty's behaviour needs modification. It's almost as if he has a split personality. He's no longer allowed out in the garden unless he's on the lead as he constantly demonstrates destructive tendencies.

This year, our long-suffering lawn was finally looking as it should (especially as it's been well watered these last few months) - but Bulldozaire decided it could be improved with the addition of a large hole scraped in the middle of it. This was just one of his party tricks.. Others include rounding off the corners of a Persian carpet in the study; rounding off the corners of the bedspread; ripping holes in the pillowcases; retrieving savoury & unsavoury items from the laundry basket and chewing them. He seems to have a contrary nature: he will do things as required of him - but only if he wants to. Madame broached the surgical option with me but, as a card carrying male, I'm reluctant to consider that option until we've exhausted all the others. If only I could tell him!             

19th April. Spring came and went in a week.. yesterday we had some of Madame's relatives (from Andernos-les-Bains) for the afternoon. We ate outside and the temperature was a whisker under 30°.. I was down at the beach this morning (yes, in shorts and a t shirt!) with our 4x4 cocker spaniel at 9.30 and it was like summer. Cloudless blue sky, blue sea and white breakers. This weather changes everything. I think I'll be going for a ride on my ebike this evening along the Nive. 

11th April. "Allez, allez, allez!" (if you have to ask what this refers to, you wouldn't understand!)

4th April. I removed the cover from the table on the terrace yesterday - always a good sign - and we had lunch out there for the first time this year. Think it was about 20° - give or take a degree. It looks like a morning for a ride on my e-bike as well - as the forecast seems to indicate that rain could be on the agenda this afternoon.

The arrival of warmer weather changes everything here - my shorts (!) will soon be making their first public appearance of the year, our plancha (right) will be dragged out and then we tend to live outside until late October/early November (fingers crossed). I'm surprised that the plancha has still to make an impact in the UK as they really do lend themselves to impromptu eating outdoors. I'd've thought they'd be perfect for those unpredictable (polite term!) British summers. From the decision to eat outdoors to starting cooking takes no more than 5 minutes - that's as long as it takes to heat up the cooking surface - plus the cooking surface is far less messy, more versatile and much more convenient than that of a barbeque. They excel at cooking fish for example. Eating food cooked on a plancha is highly enjoyable compared to the forced smile of eating something part-cooked or overcooked (ie, burnt) on a barbeque. Here's someone showing how it's done in the US. There's a business opportunity here for someone.  

Hibiscus

2nd April. We've been busy in the garden tidying things up after the last wet three months. I noticed the wisteria (known as glycine in French - you'd never guess) is out. And after 10 years of effort, the lawn finally looks dense and green (with no burnt patches from you-know-who). The hydrangeas (hortensia in French) are off and running too.. and our small palm tree (left) in the front garden is pushing out these large buds and is poised to sprout its yellow blossom and shower everything with pollen. There's also a couple of hibiscus trees (with 5" trunks) that produce spectacularly blue flowers that have just started to bud. Everywhere we looked today, nature was in motion - at last.

Here's something I caught on the radio earlier today.. It was new to me and it sounded as if it could have been an old Irish air. But - it's called "The Ashokan Farewell" and surprisingly, it was written by Jay Ungar back in 1982. Well done to him! It was also used as the title track to the PBS series "The Civil War" (which I've just started watching.. really excellent so far).

If ever a tune was written for a 5 string banjo and guitar it was this one.. See here.