Value

I suppose that value, in the general sense, is a subjective thing.   I don't mean price, I mean the worth, the benefit that something offers, and what that represents to the individual.

My sister uses a lot of wine for cooking, and since we will be seeing her in England shortly, she asked us to bring from France all the wine that we are permitted, at no more than €2 a bottle.   It's getting harder to find drinkable wine at that price in France, but it can be done.

As it happened, we found ourselves in Laval recently, where there is a Noz, what the French would call a "hard discount" supermarket, that is, a cross between a low-end supermarket and a rummage sale.   We went in on a wine hunt.

One of the things about the French is that when it comes to wine, they tend not to drink "foreign rubbish".  This means that if you can find it, good quality non-french wine can be had at low prices.   So it turned out to be in our Noz, and we stocked up with 20 bottles of wine, portugese, italian, spanish, and some french, for about €37.50 in total.   There's a risk of some duds, of course, but it's good odds.

There was coincidentally, a wine tasting in our local bistrot the other day.   An independent producer, growing his own grapes (grenache) and making his own wine.   He told us about the different terroirs that he managed, and presented a bottle from each of three different areas, all growing the same grape variety.  The first we thought was a bit rough but as described; fruity with strong cherry notes.   The second was very pleasant, round and smooth, and the third was somewhere between the two.

Now any event in the bistrot tends to be a social affair, and after the first bottle was tasted, one of our locals decided that he wanted to buy a bottle and share it around.  Our vigneron refused to sell until he had finished his spiel and had everyone taste all three.   A small rebellion ensued and a bottle of supermarket bordeaux was opened and shared, stage left, while the tasting continued centre stage.   As you can imagine, there was an "atmosphere".

I have done some selling in a previous life, and I know that giving a spiel is easy, and closing a sale is difficult.  So when someone says, in effect, "shut up and take my money", that is exactly what you do.  Spieling can always continue later.

Anyway, the rougher wine turned out to be available at around €17 the bottle, while the stuff we liked was over €40.   I like to support the little guy and am prepared to pay a bit over the odds to help him along.  But there are limits, and I'm sure that the subtleties of a €44 bottle vs say, a €10 bottle are lost on me.   We didn't buy any.   And I'm sure my sister will get more pleasure out of 20 bottles from Noz that she would have from one bottle of grenache.

L'île Rousse, Corsica

Our second stop on the Club Med 2 cruise was on Ile Rousse in the North of Corsica.  Corsica is mountainous, and travel from valley to valley was difficult in the past, so villages in the same valley tended to form their own cultures.   Our tour guide told us (a few times) that she was from the micro-region of La Balagne, one of several throughout the island.

Politically, Corsica has been a football between France and Italy.   It had a short period of independence before France definitively took control of the island in 1793 and made it a Département 3 years later.

I was impressed by the little village of Pigna, where the locals have developed an annual music festival based around their own small auditorium.   I bought a couple of CDs that were on sale in the musical instrument museum; I figure I'm unlikely to get another opportunity to hear traditional corsican music.   Though maybe I could go to their festival when it comes around again.

A couple of other irrelevant observations.   Pigna is apprently free of carbon dioxide, so I'm not sure what the residents are breathing.   And their cats were cute.

My WISE account update

Following the difficulties in getting Wise's AI software to recognise my perfectly good proof of ID, (see here) I sent them good copies with a mugshot via their website contact page.   I told them that they could accept this proof of ID or close my account; their call, and I drained my account.

Since then, the red flashes demanding proof of ID that appeared on my smartphone Wise app and on my Wise website login page have disappeared and I can still log in to my account.   I'm not sure what this means.

I haven't tried to use it (no need yet) and the deadline for my using their AI software for proof of ID isn't until a week or so, so I will see what happens.

As an aside, I have good anecdotal evidence that French banks are rejecting 94% of mortgage applications.   Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a doozy.

Portofino

Trips from the boat to shore were made using a little tender.  The sea was calm throughout the whole cruise, and our first stop was at Portofino in Italy.   A prettly little fishing village in the past, now a tourist destination, with a row of quayside cafés and restaurants, and a castle and lighthouse to visit.   It's known for its colourful houses fronting the harbour.   No shortage of money there, either.

We sat outside enjoying a quiet cup of coffee, then I went up the long, steep and narrow stairs to the castle that's also a museum, at the top of the hill.   Fabulous views.   I came back down through the pretty museum gardens that offer different views over the countryside and town.

The good ship Club Med 2

We're just back from a short cruise on the sailing/motor cruiser Club Med 2.   A great experience, we can recommend.   The ship itself has 5 masts, and if I understood the captain correctly, has both electric and diesel engines.   And sails.   I am told that the sails, averaged over a year's cruising, save about 20% to 25% on the fuel.   Made in France.

The onboard facilities are excellent.  The cabin was spacious and comfortable.   The drinks are all included, even the very acceptable Champage that was served every evening after 6PM.  The food was as good as you might find in a very posh onshore restaurant, and available either as a buffet, or in the waiter-served restaurant.   Apéros were served from 7:30 PM.

The crew were efficient and friendly, and the systems and procedures onboard seemed to work like a charm.  Or clockwork.

We set off from Nice, stopped at Portofino in Italy, Ile Rousse in Corsica, and Saint-Tropez.  More later.

Blight

My Box hedge is in a bad way.   Apparently, I'm not the only one with this problem; box hedges are dying across western Europe.   The attack comes in two waves.  There's a moth whose caterpillar eats the leaves, and there's a fungus that attacks the leaves but not the roots.   I sprayed with a biological weapon (bacillus thuringiensis) against the caterpillars, and I thought I'd done what was necessary, but no, the blight is coming for the second wave and this one I might not win.

I understand that there's a fungicide that can cure this, but it's hard to eradicate once established, and I think it can be said to be established in my hedge.   Anita and I have spent the last couple of days cutting the hedge back and taking the cuttings to the dump.  Fungicide is on order.   But I'm not hopeful.

I wouldn't mind so much, but the Box plants were about 6 inches high when planted some 17 years ago, and they have reached the height required just about now.

Harvest process

The fig tree has produced prolifically this year, so a fig pie is in order.   Fig slices on an almod paste base.   What's not to like?

And if there's nowhere to store the squash other than a kitchen shelf, might as make an artwork out of it.