Spring flowers

The weather has been pretty unpleasant so far this Spring.  Here's an antidote to bad vibes.

A new instrument

I've been exploring the jazz medium as a means of musical expression.  It's harder than it looks.

I can read and play reasonably well on the flute, but improvisation in real time against a changing chord sequence in relation to a given melody is something else again.  The blues is probably the easiest and most popular standard chord sequence, and so that is what I am learning and playing.   It has to be said that the flute is not really a blues instrument.   It is especially good for latin jazz, and can be deployed in other categories to good effect.  But not blues.

So I thought I'd investigate the harmonica, a blues instrument if ever there was one.  They don't cost much either; the instruction books cost many times more than the instrument.  (Although more expensive ones do exist).   But a few weeks with it taught me that getting a decent technique will take more time than I can give it.

I was intrigued by an online ad for an electronic wind instrument by Akai; an EWI 5000.   I looked it up and it claims to be able to offer fingering options to include sax, clarinet, oboe, and flute.  Flute I can do.  It came with all the accessories and a carry case thrown in.  I have been playing it.

It does not however, offer exactly the same fingering as the flute.  There are some differences that seem minor but are giving me a challenge.  The fingerings for the notes are the same in all the octaves on the EWI, unlike the flute.   C has two options for fingering, like the flute, a low and high one.  The low one is the same as the flute, the high one is different.  All the other notes have one fingering, the C# fingering corresponding to the low fingering on the flute.   The EWI offers fingerings for an octave +1 (C to C inclusive), you change octaves by moving the thumb up and down a series of rollers.

Being an electronic instrument, the EWI has numerous voicings; they all sound a bit electronic, but imitate more or less successfully the different real instruments they represent.   You can add your own sounds and buy commercial ones too.   The EWI has seven octaves against the flute's three.  I have had it for a couple of days.  It shows promise, I am pleased with it.

Ain't YouTube wonderful?  I can watch free lessons on how to use it, get good tips, and see experts playing it in videos that are either motivational or depressing depending on my mood.

Oh it all makes work

Our gîte, being classed as a business that invites the public, gets a fire inspection every five years.  The idea is to ensure that the users of the building are protected as much as possible from the dangers of fire.   Fair enough, really.  The main ground floor doors of the gîte are lockable, although few clients actually lock them, and every bedroom key opens every outside door.   We also had keys mounted inside by the doors, in special metal cases with breakeable glass.  So in the event of fire, any locked doors can be opened, even if no-one brings a key.

Not good enough, says the fireman, despite this having been OK for the previous two inspections.  We now need locks that lock with a key from the outside, but open from the inside with the turn of a knob.   Safer in the case of panicking people trying to get out of a building as quickly as possible.

So 'twas on the Monday morning that the menuisier came to fit the new locks.

House hunting - contrasts

We recognise that, much as we like it here at Les Hallais, there will come a time when we have to downsize.    What to move into, though, that's a difficult question to answer.

The fundamental choice is between a ground-up renovation of the kind that we did when we moved here, and a place that's ready to move into that needs no work beyond a bit of redecoration.   We've been debating the pros and cons of each option for a while, and can't come up with a definitive answer.  I suppose in the end it will come down to finding that special place.

Earlier this week we went to look and two different places, at opposite ends of the spectrum.  One is fit for nothing other than complete renovation (if you want to live in it all year round, as we do).   The other is ready to move into tomorrow.   The idea is that we would get a better handle on the emotional appeal of the different options, as well as looking at two "possibles".

First, the scruffy one.  Two buildings, one a barn/shed, the other the living quarters.  Apparently used as a "maison secondaire"; a holiday home.

Clearly an ex-water mill, given the way the river that runs by is diverted, wooden beams and rafters in good nick, 2 hectares of land (a bit too much, but you can always rent fields out to somebody).  Needs complete renovation, that will cost at least €200,000 probably nearer €400,000 when you include all the things you don't think about.  In my view they're asking (way) too much at €150,000.   Could be nice when it's done though.

Next, the posh one.  Perfect working order,  newly redone.  3 bedrooms upstairs, plus a downstairs bedroom with en suite.   Not much garden, big empty house right next door.   Low-ish energy bills, solar panels, heat pump for the underfloor heating (air-air, not so good when it gets really cold outside) gym upstairs in the garage.   No river.

This one looks to be an incredible bargain at €250,000.  The owner is apparently in the building trade, so I imagine that the price of materials to him would be less than you and I might pay.

Hmmmm

Extracting the urine

One of the ways of attacking the lunacy that is sometimes foisted upon us by the Powers That Be, is to take the Mickey.   I am minded of Pastafarianism, a religion that (as I understand it) pays homage to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.   The last I heard anything about it, they had demanded and been granted the right to wear a colander on their head for their passport photos, in the name of their religion, and of religious equality.

Today, to my delight, I read in the Ouest France, a french newspaper, of a 60-year-old former male argentinian worker in the tax office in that country .  (S)he has taken advantage of the law that says a person can identify as being of either gender, apparently without the need for surgical intervention or much other justification, and can insist on being treated as being of their chosen gender.

Sergio has become Sergia, and (s)he has just retired at 60 instead of the 65 that is the normal retirement age for men.  (S)he also apparently lives with a younger lady (relationship unspecified; it could be his daughter for all I know)

Broad beans

As a kid, I was fed broad beans that my Dad grew.  At the start of the season, harvested immature, they were OK, being small and tender.  As the crop continued over the Summer and Autumn, it was hard to keep up and eat them all, so they matured and became tough.   The skins were especially unpleasant.   I planted broad beans last year, and had no difficulty eating the beans when they were still small tender, largely because there weren't that many.

This Spring is being pretty miserable, weather-wise.  It's drizzling today, and cool.  My veg patch soil is at 5°C and Accuweather tell me that I can expect to wait another three or four weeks before the average day/night temperature exceeds 10°C, which is the soil temperature needed by broad beans to germinate.

I planted some broad beans this morning, anyway.  I put them under perspex cloches in the hope that this will warm the soil a bit.  I get impatient.

Maintenance

I have finally finished all four bays in the new compost heap.  There is a little pile of compost left at the far end to be disposed of, but the rest of the old stuff is spread around the garden where I hope it will do useful things for plants.

The new greenhouse is starting to fill up with plant trays.  I've not planted anything really frost-sensitive yet.  We are expecting  -5°C in the next few days; I will need to see how well that is kept at bay first.  Which reminds me, does anyone know a good way of stopping lettuce from bolting to seed?

Meanwhile, we empty the septic tanks.