Sunny and mild

It was a mild Spring-like morning  unusual for February, so I went for a walk to burn off some calories and enjoy the sunshine.   First thing I noticed was this little device in the river.  I wonder what it's for?   I couldn't see any sensors or recording devices on it, it just seems to sit in the water, turning with the stream.   I can't believe it will last long: the river often rises enough to submerge this thing, and I imagine that either the little wooden slats will break off or the whole thing will be carried downstream.

A bit farther along the walk, I come to these steps.   The first time I encountered them, I was on a mountain bike, coming the other way.   They were a bit of a surprise.   The track had begun, level, wide and grassy, but had become rather narrower, muddier and steep downhill.   It had also become tilted to the left, encouraging my bike to head towards a ditch and a stream that widened from time to time into an uninviting pool.   Applying the brakes on the muddy, tilted track achieved no deceleration, but an uncontrolled skid, so was abandoned as a strategy.  So the bike accelerated downhill until I turned a corner and there were the steps.  Nothing to do but stand on the pedals and let the bike take them as it would.  No harm done in the end, but the chain came off.  These days if I'm on the bike I walk this bit.

At the farthest point of the walk is an ex-mill where lives a big dog, a St Bernard I think.  He usually barks as I approach, but is friendly and wimpers with pleasure if I stroke his neck.  Not there today, perhaps it's a bit early for him.

On the way back I pass a smallholding with a couple of geese.  One took a dislike to me.  Oh yeah?  Bring it on. I spread out my fingers like talons, raised my arms and hissed at it.  The reaction was immediate.  "What?  Just kidding.... looking for grass actually.... er, have a nice day".

Strava tells me I walked for 7.63 Km in 1 hour and 27 minutes, an average speed of about 5kph, with an elevation gain of 113m.

 

Heavy machines

There was some noise of heavy machinery working just outside our gates the other day, so I went to see what was going on.   They were laying fibre-optic cables.

I remember, some 35-odd years ago, doing the rounds of the university admissions.  One of the candidates was Southampton, where they were doing advanced research on fibre optics, and the senior bod there was enthusing about how they could now get several tens of yards of useful performance.   We have come a long way.

The machine that was making all the noise was a trench digger/cable layer.   It would dig a trench, roll the cables into it, and a separate digger would come along behind it to fill it in.  One of the guys was marking the street tarmac where the phone line, and separately, the water supply, ran across it.   He came up to me and asked me where the electricity supply cables ran.  Hey, I don't know, and neither did he.   We didn't get cut off though, so I assume the cables come up the hill from the valley rather than across the road.

I asked, some time ago, about how we might get a fibre service delivered to our place.   Our ex-mayor, who worked in the telecomms sector, said that the fibre would be strung along the telegraph poles that carry our phone line.  So I'm not sure how we'll be connected to this new cable that runs underground.

Aubergines

I started my aubergines too late last year.  Or perhaps I planted them out too early when it was still too cold.   In any case, I didn't get any fruits.

According to the seed packet, they can be planted from January, so that's when I did.   They're in a warmed propagator that my Mum bought for me ages ago.  The seeds have germinated and the seedlings survived in the conservatory during the cold spell, with a little help from the bottom heat.

We still have plenty of chillis in the freezer so I have strict instructions not to try those again this year:  next on the agenda are sweet peppers. I didn't have any luck with those last year either, so I'l wait until the aubergines are out of the propagator.   

Ice patterns in the sun

A short walk yesterday to blow the cobwebs away.  Sunny but cold, and with a chilling wind.  Frozen puddles making pretty patterns in the ice.

A touch of snow

We had a little snow yesterday, as the forecast had promised.  I went down the road to take some photos, thinking I would be the first to venture out in this bit of remote-ish contryside.   Not a chance.   But I still got some photos.

A drained lake

I was getting a bit bored with the local walks around here so I decided to go a bit farther afield and walk around the lake at the Gué de Selle.

It's a pretty lake and I havent been there for a while.  It's  great place in Summer; there's sailing, a bit of canoeing, and even a small sandy beach where you can picnic.   There's a fine hotel nearby where, in more normal times, you can grab a coffee or meal.   The trouble was, the lake was empty.

I don't know what work they were doing, but it wasn't espcially pretty to look at.  I guess it must be necessary, but I wonder what happened to all the fish?

Tourism and handicap

There's legislation in France that requires businesses that the public can enter (us) to be accessible to handicapped people;  it specifies a minimum set of things that you are required to provide.  If you are in the tourism sector you can go farther and qualify for a special label, "Tourism and Handicap" if you like.

We get mostly family groups in the gîte, for significant birthdays, wedding anniversaries and so on, and often there's gran and grandad, their kids and the grandkids, sometimes great-grandkids.   Gran and grandad are often getting on a bit and suffering from the general problems that come with age.  So we decided to go the extra mile, and with the help of some excellent advice from the local tourist board, we made the changes and got the appropriate label.   They inspect you once every few years, and they're coming tomorrow.

This was a spur for a little bit of work today.   One of the things they check for is anything that might trip or catch out a visually impaired person, and we recently installed some new parasols.  The bases are weighted down by decorative concrete slabs, but the bases stick out a bit from the slabs, so I had to shorten them.   

Cue some noisy work with an angle grinder.  There were three bases to deal with, so the job was done in half an hour or so.   I was surprised and pleased at how much better the whole thing looked afterwards.