3rd September 2010. Last night was very warm and there was a sound outside that we don't often hear..
4th September 2010. I had a good outing in an VIII this morning - instead of pointing up the Nive as usual though, we turned the other way and rowed through the town under 4 low bridges and out onto the much bigger Adour and headed downstream..
The Nive and the Adour.. (clubhouse is just above and left of the nearest bridge)
We then set off at a cracking pace down to the coast. The boat was well-balanced this morning and it was very satisfying listening to the sounds we were making - the whooshwhoosh as the thirty two wheels of the eight sliding seats ran forward and back on sixteen slides in unison, the solidity of the work in the water and the occasional scuddering of the blades across ripples in the water - it's moments like that that remind me why I row. Did 15 km this morning.. (running total = 137km)
There's a lot of truth in this cartoon below (in my opinion!):
1st September 2010. We went for a ride up the Nive again this morning. We caught the river on the turn and there was no discernible current. Another 20kms..
I'd always remembered an old French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest (without knowing what it was called) that sounded as if it had an Arabic influence. It's a song that, to me, should have done better. I had to do a trawl through France's Eurovision entries on YouTube for the last 25 years or so before I found it. It came from the 1991 Eurovision (don't say we're not up to date here!) and it finished 2nd - so maybe not all that bad after all. So, today's Song du Jour is: Amina (& here in English) and "Le dernier qui a parlé" (The last one who spoke):
An interesting clip here on the techniques used to select the "best" eight oarsmen for a racing VIII. The strongest or fittest aren't necessarily the ones that combine best to make the fastest boat. There's read-across into the business model too. Here's a taster:
"There is an interesting parallel to this in corporate life. When asking managers to choose between the most competent and the most likeable candidate for a job, they often opt for the most competent. They’d be thought as unprofessional if they didn’t. However, in practice, they do very much the opposite, provided of course the likeable individual is sufficiently competent."
A thought-provoking comment from the clip: Pick your best VIII, not your eight best..
We took Chibby for a run along the grassy open spaces at Anglet beach this evening. At 7.45pm, it was still 31C.. and the sea was flat calm with the hills behind St Jean de Luz and on into Spain showing blue in the evening light..
Don't mention it to Madame but this has caught my eye..!
Hmm...
2nd September 2010. Aah, that's better - life is back to normal.. The July/August mass of holidaymakers have returned home and school has re-started for all 12 million schoolkids today.
I forgot to mention that we had another interesting visitor moored at the bottom of the avenue a couple of weeks ago..
Belem
This was the three masted barque Belem which offers experience under sail to all-comers. She was in transit from Lorient, stopping at Bayonne before heading further south to St Jean de Luz. She reminded me of one of the greatest accounts of life under sail ever written - "The Last Grain Race" by Eric Newby.
In this, Eric Newby's first book, he captured brilliantly all the salty tang of the dialogue of the largely Scandinavian crew on a deep sea voyage in Moshulu, a Finnish registered 4 masted steel barque en route from Belfast to Port Lincoln in Australia in 1939 and the return voyage via Cape Horn, laden with innumerable sacks of wheat. He was just 18 years old. An unforgettable and highly recommended read.
Very nice sortie in an VIII this evening.. 15km.. (Running total 122km)
The late Miriam Makeba exploded onto the scene in 1967 with this memorable record - Pata Pata:
31st August 2010. I can't believe I started this blog a year ago.. I've decided I'm going make space for a daily Song of the Day. (I might do requests too!) This is the first one:
The clock is ticking faster than ever as far as the forthcoming commemorative march (English translation here) over the Pyrenees is concerned - it's now only 10 days away. This is the annual event that re-traces the actual trail over the Pyrenees (from Urrugne to Renteria) used by the Comet Line in helping escaping Allied aircrew en route to Spain. Its purpose is to honour and celebrate the memory of those brave men & women who supported the Comet Line (English translation here) - many of whom lost their lives in the process. It's a three day event - with vins d'honneur at town halls various, dinners in the evenings and of course the little matter of the marches over the hills!
1st September 2010. We have been in the Pays Basque three years today. Here's a song (a perennial favourite at weddings) that was made for the day..
