In the woods

After a heavy weekend with my better half's family it's taken a couple of days to repay the sleep overdraft, but a good blast on the mountain bike and exploring on foot got rid of a few more cobwebs just before lunch. There's a ruined abandoned hamlet in the woods that i went to have another look at with fewer leaves on the trees. The owner might be persuaded to sell, but I wasn't sure about its siting on the hill when I first found it this summer, so I went for another look. It would need a lot of plantation trees cut down around it, but after that it could sit quite nicely, although it would get little morning sun.

Later on I passed a track that I seemed to remember headed down to a ruined mill complex alongside the Doulon. I was a bit out in my mental map, but found it anyway. It's more complex and fascinating than I first thought, and seems to have several layers of development and the remains of a small footbridge, maybe big enough for a horse but not a cart. I don't know what information I can find out about it (or water mills generally) locally or on the web. Worth a try. It reminds me of neighbours who have built their own house having failed to find a water mill in anything like restorable condition. It would be ambitious, but ...

Flickr Photos : French Landscapes Slideshow

Slideoo (found viaEmily Chang's ehub) have got this slideshow trick up and running, so I thought I'd try it here and let you see one of my photo sets from flickr; others are here.

Be yourself

It's always nice to come across another reminder to be yourself. It may be hard sometimes, but it's who you are, and if you're lucky you find a place to be yourself too. Aaaah! Should be a Friday afternoon post!

Gingerbread Haka

A fun turn on this traditional prelude to All Black rugby matches.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

My current reading. The language is dated, but there are themes that are very very current in debates I'm reading now about conservation, society and consumerism among other things.

These from an interesting passage about life and experience...

"Age is no better, hardly well, qualified for an instructor as yout, for it has not profited as much as it has lost."


"Man's capacities have never been measured; nor ar we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried."

"Whatever have been thy faliures hitherto, 'be not afflicted, my child, for who shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone'."

Walden: or life in the woods. Henry David Thoreau

New angle on photos

This photo is a new idea to me. What do you think?

Hang drum

These are great. I want one.

Ousmane Sow

What a guy. The sculptures are stunning. You look at them one way, they look not quite primitive enough. Another view, and the subtelty of the faces and postures is unbelievable. In the book I saw yesterday, some of the photos of his sculpures in African villages looked like folks were living with their departed spirits. I want to see more.

One the move

Another of my little expeditions starts tomorrow with a drive up to Caen-Ouistreham to get the ferry to Portsmouth.  After that I’ll be in Lincoln, Sheffield, Winchester, Farnham, and Newbury before heading to Stansted for a flight to Prague.  I’ll be at Europarc 2007 in Český Krumlov for a few days, and then heading back here to the hills of the Massif Central, and hopefully to some more Indian summer weather.  I think I’ve cracked blogging, tweeting and flickring away from base now, so keep your eyes peeled.

A little Carlinhos Brown to bring out the sun (No.3)

Along with a few others from my World Music Deezer Playlist ...

Evelyn

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." - Oscar Wilde From Evelyn on twitter

Pangea day

This looks like a great idea, spread the image.

Batala at Notting Hill 2007

Another clip, longer, with one of the new tunes for this year. Luvverly

Rhod Gilbert

I got a video clip sent to me of a wonderful luggage stand-up spot, and have now sleuthed enough to discover it's someone called Rhod Gilbert.

Li'l lamb and pig

Sounds a bit like that dozydotes an marezydotes an lilamsee divy etc. thingy.

In fact me an l'il lamb made a pig at the weekend. i think he turned out pretty well. Shame we can't animate him; he's got a future this guy...

Deezer

The more I use Deezer, the more I like it. Listen legally and free to streaming music.

Guerrilla eating out

A link from twitter's panmesa to this article from the San Fransisco Chronicle about speakeasy style restaurant experiences in California. The phenomenon builds on a kind of rave-like secret word of mouth network taking advantage of ad-hoc opportunities to eat together for a price. It's spontaneous, unpredictable, and seems to be getting popular. I like the idea and maybe it's worth a try here. I'll see what mrs francerant thinks.

More from the festival des creatifs

These are the two stone sculpture pieces I worked on over that first weekend of August.

Batala at Notting Hill 2007

I wasn't there. I wish I had been, but I wasn't. Next year I will be. This clip, like most of its type, lacks the sound quality to do it justice. This is just the warm-up!

Sea Otters and Their Stones

While surfing through LinkedIn contacts I came across a guy called Tim, who has a website. And on this website he tells us why the site is called otterstone.

Sea otters feed on clams and sea urchins from the sea bed. To crack open the tough shells, the sea otter pounds them against a stone which it balances on its chest. An otter keeps a favourite stone in a 'waistcoat pocket', which is a fold of skin under its armpit. Otters carry their favourite stone with them at all times throughout their life no matter what else happens.

I've had one or two breathtaking moments watching sea otters do this, when I lived on the shores of Loch Etive in Argyll, but I didn't know that they kept the stone! That's outstanding! Thanks Tim.

(Credit to Mathew for the photo.)

Sketching

Been sketching with li'l lamb since she got back from her first day at school. This is my effort, it's not Leonardo but it whiles away the time and keeps the eye hand coordination in use. Lamb didn't like her effort, but I might get permission to show you a part of it. Don't hold your breath.

Festival des Creatifs

I mentioned the festival recently with a view to putting up a photo or two of what I got up to. Here's the first one. A print from a lino cut. Great fun to do, absolutely compulsive, transported be straight into 'the zone.

As yer man Fraser said, 'we're doomed, we're all going tae die'

Listening to this after a trawl through my old tapes, I found it hard to believe that when this was a round I really believed it was likely to happen ... Was that just me?

Trade a paperclip for a house

Here's the full story - chapeau, as they say in France

To be human

...

To remember
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.

...

What to remember on waking by David Whyte

Creativity

Somehow I didn't find the time to mention all the creative workshops we managed to enjoy over the first weekend in August. One of our friends organised a 'Festival des creatifs', with 25 workshops of various sorts to enjoy, for an all-in family price of 10 €. Bargain. I spent most time sculpting stone, and had a ball with that. (Photos to come when I've collected my camera from where it was left on Saturday night.) But also managed some lino-cutting and printing, (fantastic) ; and woodworking, (too many machines involved). The rest of the family did kite-making, making paint from natural colours, and scultpure using stuff from the tip. We had a great time. Being able to play and create without pressure as an adult is a rare enough experience. I have dreamed of getting some buildings together to make supported adult creative play an opportunity all year round. You know, nice place to stay, great local food and booze, and a nursery play room for grown ups and children to get stuck in and messy. What do you reckon? Should we try?

Animoto - create your own videos from stills

just came across this site, and tried this one out. Bit of a mismatch between the music and the photos, but you get the idea!

Uplifting

Music I mean. Here's a clip of Rodrigo y Gabriella, wonderful stuff. Buy it! Go and see them live! You won't regret it.



I also came across a new composer at the annual concert in the local church. Two Dutch guys, Pieter Grimbergen and Erik Lips, have put this on every year since 2002, and it attracts a full house every time. The new (to me) composer is Carlos Guastavino. I'm looking for some recordings to listen to.

And we're doing a local series of our first gigs as a Batala band - Samba Massif, at Langeac, (today), Brioude, (Saturday), and Blesle (next Tuesday).

ipernity

I also came across the Flickr-like ipernity photo sharing place, and can be found there too.

Facebook

I got onto Facebook recently, and will be putting a bit of time into that over the coming weeks. These posts should feed into it too.

Brasserie Barbaroux

Well it finally happened over the pas few weeks, Monsieur Barbaroux (RedBeard), aka Jeremy the Beer has opened his brasserie to great acclaim and high demand. Long may it continue. He is the only organic brewer in the Haute-Loire, and well worth the short diversion. The man lives and breathes his beer-making, and it shows. He brews four types, and has chosen to name them after himself, after a fashion. Hence Barbe Rousse above, followed by Barbe Brune, Barbe Blonde, and Barbe Blanche, with the expected variations to the beard on the label as well as the name.

A recurring theme - schools and creativity

Lots of nice stuff from TED. This one on a subject occupying my wandering mind a lot as my daughter heads for the treadmill of secondary education, already showing signs of waning enthusiasm, boredom and the hunger to create she has shown to date. Ken says it funnier than I can

Beats the pint down the pub on a wet Friday night

A little clip of fun.

Sarkozy and the children

There are many and varied responses to the recent election of Sarko, including many asides during a recent concert by Renaud. But this one made me giggle a bit.

I found it while looking through the other acts that will be at the 6th Aperos Musicales in Blesle from 10th to 14th August. It looks like a great long weekend, and one that includes our newly-formed Samba Massif. We will be leading the torchlight procession to the last night firework display.

Our first booked appearance will be a little before that though, at the 'Festival des Créatifs' on the evening of 3rd August at Domeyrat where this photograph was taken at a rehearsal in May.

Sarkozy's reign has started

France is a place for strong-minded individuals. Pig-headed, stubborn, selfish and utterly incapable of taking a collective view of the world, even at a very local level. If I've heard the expression 'J'ai le droit', ('I've got the right') once, I've heard it many many hundreds of times. Rights impose themselves upon other rights. And when they overlap, those that shout loudest, or otherwise impose themselves most effectvely, win. It is a dog eat dog world.

Which is why I think that the French state is so controlling, interventionist and even socialist at times. With such an anarchic mix of individuals battling out their rights, it would otherwise be very hard for anyone not prepared or able to fight for their right to live, eat, learn or whatever.

My rants are often about this very controlling culture. But this one is about the strident, polemic individuals, and what releasing them from their social bonds will do in France under Sarkozy. I fear a post-revolutionary anarchy in some watered-down 21st century form.

Speaking of watered-down, surely the definition of tee-total needs to be re-written after this recent display at the G8 summit.

Mobile phone masts - and mobile phone service - and politicians

The whole set came together today when one of the candidates for the legislature in France came round to the Mairie to press the flesh and listen. Some of those who want our new mobile phone mast moved to more than 500m from the nearest house were there to raise that issue. All that on the day that one of the new kids on the block in the mobile phone market, well round here anyway, started getting arsy with us for being wholly unimpressed with their complete lack of service. This reminded me of a post by Seth here.

So we've got a strategy for the mobile phone company's lack of service, either the contract never existed, since they never, ever, even for a second provided anything resembling a mobile phone service, a technical service or a customer service. In which case we will pay them nothing. Or, the contract does exist, or will exist when they supply some kind of service, and when they provide it, we'll pay for it.

The strategy for the mast is more tricky. As I've said, it's turned into a bit of an us and them stand-off in the 'commune', although we do still have two vociferous locals opposing the thing. The rest of the population, or at least the council and their fans, are not interested in any kind of discussion about it.

What's our stratgey? Well, the aim of the Association is to get the thing at least 500m from houses. So that's clear enough. As for what we do to achieve that I don't know. Finding out more is one thing. Tagging along with any other similar efforts in the country is another. And in the meantime, do we wait until anyone discovers they have leukemia? Or do we move? And what if another mast turns up there; the area still has its coverage gaps.

One thing we won't be doing is counting on the support of the local deputy who visited this afternoon. He shrugged his shoulders about that, about the elderly population's increasing isolation as services in rural areas fall away, about the 1,000 farmers (25% of the district's farmers) who are on the brink of bankruptcy this year. He shrugged his shoulders at just about everything. He's been the incumbent for the past 30 years. I must assume his constituency is urban dwellers in work and paying taxes. He's not interested in anyone else.

Do I sound cynical? I suppose I do.

Round 1 to the bullies

I'm wasn't really surprised to see the crane roll out of the village yesterday having hauled the new telephone mast to vertical while it was bolted into position. The public meeting involved well-prepared bullies shouting down any opposition with a mixture of technical language and flagrant lies. Between the demonstartions stopping the work and the public meeting, the locals in the quickly-formed association who opposed the siting of the mast within 500m of houses were also nobbled. The association immediately became incomers versus locals, and that sealed the mast's fate. The clear divisions in the local community brought a smug smile to the faces of the guys from TDF and Bouyges Telecom.

So we have a new generation mobile phone mast capaple of delivering TV and streaming video to mobile phones locally, and of course transmitting signals around 20 miles to the others in the network. The nearest houses are 200m away, while in other parts of the world a precautionary distance of 500m is increasingly being recommended or imposed as part of planning consent.

The question now is what we do here. The association still feels that it's worth trying to inform the rest of the local community about what research we've found about the biological effects of these things, not least because there are still places where there is no coverage that will no doubt see the siting of more masts in the coming months. Some also feel its worth starting or contributing to a national campaign to get a precautionary distance of 500m set at national level.

Mind you, this is the country that denied for years that there were any effects from Chernobyl on France. The cloud somehow mysteriously passed throughout Europe, leaving France completely untouched. I'm not optimistic that they will go for a 500m exclusion zone for mobile phone masts.

If folks are interested, I can post links to the research we've found...

Wave good bye

Consternation reigns. Over the past few weeks there has been much discussion and debate, recriminations and disaccord in the village.

A temporary mobile phone mast has appeared about 200m from the houses, and the installation of a permanent one started. And stopped. By the judicious placement of tractors. And a hitherto unkown type of French legal person called a "huissier", which is apparently some kind of bailiff.

The local council have been happy to sell the little patch of land and give permission to install the thing up until now. And then one of the holiday-home visitors turned up and took a different view.

Since then we've had several meetings, an association has been formed, two articles in the local papers, and a petition started. And the work stopped, as I said. In terms of campaigning, this seems pretty good.

But there has been a fair bit of fall-out too. Public arguments between family members, tears amongst the families of local councillors, and lots of people turning away from the issue as a result.

This kind of process seems to be the way of things in France. No prior consultation. People wake up and find something's happened that they know nothing about. No time to find information, no time express an opinion, the panic is on to mobilise and demonstrate. Then the bad feeling, inconvenience and inertia start to kick in. And there's a very rapid demobilisation. The protestors back down, and the deed is done and put down to experience.

Bullying, imposing, destructive and unpleasant.

We're in the middle of the process, and maybe my theory will not apply this time.

But I've been digging around beyond the headlines on the issues of microwaves and their effects and have concluded that:

There isn't proof yet of direct links to cancers or other illnesses.
There IS proof of various biological effects of mobile phones, mobile phone masts, TV masts and wireless networks on the human body, including non-thermal effects at low intensity.
I recognise some of the symptoms in our experience here over the past year.
The international guidelines for public protection only deal with thermal effects.
Around the world, various public authorities are adopting the precautionary principle, and recommending or requiring a zone of 300 m to 500 m between mobile phone masts and schools, hospitals, houses and workplaces.
I want to see that applied here.
My wireless router is going and a non-wireless modem is coming.
In the meantime I'm using my router for three short periods a day.
If the mast stays, then we will go somewhere a bit further away.

Samba Massif - Massive Samba

With a little help from our friends in Portsmouth - those of the donkey riding fame - we have successfully started Samb Massif, one of the two new Batala kids on the block. Four rehearsals later, we're having a lot of fun and it sounds pretty good to me. We're hoping to confirm our first gig at Blesle when the organisers come and see us rehearse sometime in the next few weeks. that'll be at their 'Aperos musicales' on 14th August.

The other new kid on the block is in Washington DC, where I passed some interesting time while involved with the MASSE project.

Your life is what you do

I've had a lovely couple of weeks. Friends visiting, new friendships starting through a shared interest in music, and lots of time in my garden. All that with work mixed in too. A pleasant phase in my work-life balancing act.

As the land begins to transform the views in response to the lengthening days and rising temepratures, it's been a pleasure to rediscover the simplest of sensations. A warm breeze on my face, early morning sun and bird song, and an outdoor fire to help make breakfast a bit more interesting. All shared with children and their delight at sometimes new, sometimes familiar, but always simple experiences.

I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I see children abandoning the DS (the Nintendo not the Citroen!) for a toasting fork and some bread. When the 'Bang-bang' of plastic guns and the 'Mummy mummy' of plastic dolls is replaced by the 'What a wonderful day!' , I am reminded of the reasons why I took the hard steps to move here. I remember why I travel back and forth to sustain this bizarre work-life balance.


Perhaps a little less travelling and a little more local work wouldn't go amiss. That would be a nice thing to look back on at the end of they year. Along with a successful debut year for a new member of the Batala family, if that all comes off.

The biggest tree in ...

OK OK, I did say it was the biggest tree in the world, but I didn't mean it. I corrected myself to the Auvergne, and maybe just the Haute-Loire. Even that was a wild stab in the dark since I'd only seen it twice, and have no idea what else is knocking about the region in the way of big trees. But it looked very big to me. No-one believed me, but everyone seemed to be happy to go and see it anyway. And here it is - a sequoia or giant redwood ...


Not easy to appreciate its size this way, but how about this one?



Still sceptics, I decided to have a wee scan on the Interweb thingy, and guess what? A marvellous site about notable trees in the Auvergne. And our tree is listed at about 250 years old, a circumference of 7.8m, and a height of 42m. From the list it appears that there are two trees up in the Puy de Dome in La Bourboule that are 43m high. But otherwise, ours is the tallest! And who measured them and when, that's what I'd like to know. I was probably a bit too chuffed with myself at this discovery, but since no-one else seemed to be in the least impressed I quickly lost the self-righteous glow that developed ever so briefly.

Splodges

Our regular Wednesday (no-school) extra curricular activities involved splodging paint this week. We resisted the temptation to get our fingers in amongst it, unfortunately. ('and make up for the sobriety of my youth')

Anyway, here are the results, numbered, which are Chloe's and which are mine?

Number One

Number Two

Number Three

Number Four


We're seeing all sorts of things besides butterflies, and with a bit of tinkering with the graphics tablet, we might be able to get a few other animals out of them. Any suggestions?

throwing it about some more

Chloe had her first judo tournament yesterday, and the difference from the last collective session apparently couldn't have been greater. I couldn't be there because I was travelling back from the UK; not something I allow to happen usually, but it was a positive choice to be able to watch a friend perform in a show on Friday night. No regrets there. In fact, given the stress of the event, and the thought of watching people attack my only daughter, it was probably a good idea I wasn't there. It would have been hard holding myself back from launching onto the mats and giving her attackers a good slapping. Anyway, tough as it was ...


... the pride is almost palpable. That's my girl!

Sand and lots of it

The last week or so took me down to (and up and down and up and down) the Dune de Pyla - the largest sand dune in Europe near Bordeaux.

Done and eating!

It took another hour or so, cost me a new blister, a few scratched knuckles and a soggy knee from kneeling on the grass; but we got there, and Chloe's delighted. We started feeding him from the mountain of compost material that's been piling up in the garden for three years. he's called Clifford by the way. Not the big red dog, but the huge orange pig. As Chloe said, it beats watching TV.

the rolypig has arrived

Chloe and I entered a competition to win a rolypig composter. We're putting it together in true three steps forward, two steps backwards MFI/Ikea fashion. But we will win, and we'll have a photo up here soon!

Hitting the spot

Taken at last week's Batala Portsmouth rehearsal. I get there whenever I can, but my back's been too dodgy to strap on a drum for the last few months. Still, it's fun. There's a bit of interest in the idea of a band here in France, and I'm planning to run an afternoon workshop to give people who've expressed an interest a go at hitting the spot. If that goes well, I'd hope to run a short project of say 10 weeks, aiming to perform in public once or twice. Since talking about it, we've had two offers of gigs and one of a workshop. And we haven't even started yet!

Throwing it about a bit

Chloe's judo club had the parents in for a bit of a demonstration at the weekend, and this is one of the shots I've played with since. I decided not to show the ones of Chloe tackling the massive black belt 2nd dan, but this one, who she actually managed to throw. Once. I don't think he underestimated her a second time. After all you don't learn anything the second time you're kicked by a mule. (Country boy's law.)

Snow at last

It makes the investment in my snow tyres a little easier to bear! Although I don't suppose the daffodil has any such positive sentiments. Chloe on the other hand ...

Daffodils instead of snow

Taken a couple of days ago; where there should be snow, there are flowers thanks to an exceptionally mild winter so far.

Happy New Year

Celebrate with this CAS podcast ...


Click here to get your own player.



Cheers to Angus 45RPM for the link

More doing

Progress report on another element of the exhibition - 'real' sunflowers preserved in 'exhibition cases' on a background of re-used brown enevelopes...

Done is good!

Maybe 'doing is good' is better. I don't know. I'm sitting here pretty shocked that I've made it to the end of November without falling asleep at the wheel, or getting carted off on a stretcher from some meeting, or having a heart attack on a plane. OK OK I'm maybe exagerating a bit, but it's been a long long year, and I've been trying to do too much as usual.

Anyway, a health-imposed break from the mad running around has been an opportunity to get some stuff done, rather than just doing it.

Of course I'm still enjoying a few blogs of a morning and came across this post on gapingvoid, where hugh mcleod is collecting 500 word manifestos. Hallelujah. Making is good. But to avoid never finishing anything, (who me?), done is good.

On the road again

Long trip. Late at night. Torrential rain. Roadworks. And just to cap it all, suicidal French drivers. Time to be afraid. Very afraid. It's the best way to stay alive under these circumstances.

Autumn and still more Strawberries

Yes I know, these aren't strawberries, but when you've seen one you've seen them all, and you saw one last time. But we did just have another few this morning, and very nice they were too. But instead of another photo, here's a shot of the first beech leaves turning taken in the luvverly sunshine.

Global warming?

We picked this in the garden yesterday. October 7th at 750m altitude. It looks good enough to eat. Which is of course what we've done.

A rainy day in Swansea

That's all I have to say about that.

Sunflowers on canvas

I ordered a few sheest of different fabrics for inkjet printing and have been trying them out. Getting the printer to take up the thick sheet is a challenge, but it sort of gets there with a very subtle bit of encouragement. Choosing the print setting is hard because there isn't one for the kind of stuff I'm using, so I'm having to test a few to see what works best.

The idea is to be able to add other media to the sheets, like this first one is canvas, and I'll be adding fabric and acrylic paint to that.

The next experiment is getting the right adhesives ...

On the tarmac again

Off to Swansea this afternoon for a couple of days, back here late Friday and (probably) off to the southeast of England next week. I expect to clock up 14 or 15 hours on the tarmac this week. I'm thinking of getting my own plane. Smaller of course.

Sunflowers and window frames

As some of you will probably know, I've been working on a photography/multi-media project this year. So far the ingredients are sunflowers and window frames. The central idea is about how framing affects what we see, and our choices in that. As I've been looking at framing in its widest sense, I've been wandering off into issues of preservation and decay, aging and the cycle of life. But I think I'm now seeing all that as a different project. Maybe the sunflowers will feature there too, I don't know yet.

Anyway, acquiring and experimenting with the window frames was the first stage, and I think I'm pretty happy with all that. I'm still photographing sunflowers, even though they're looking pretty old and tired now. My current stage is experimenting with different printing techniques and materials for the image, and the paint and other media I'm using too. I've found some A4 sheets that go through my inkjet printer that are made of a whole range of materials: canvass, silk, linen and cotton. And I'll be sending some images to be laboratory printed onto canvass too.

The plan is to be able to show some of this work to the local town councillor for culture and see if I can get a date for an exhibition in the art gallery some time next year.

Fishing and wood

We caught some little fish. Well, they did. I was just enjoying the spectacle and the sunny afternoon alongside the Allier.


And, as I said, the wood's in ...


There's something primieval about a pile of wood and an open fire.

Wooden walls

Given last year's disaster stacking wood for the winter - I'm pleased to report a successful morning stacking logs of oak and one or two other bits and pieces. Last year, Bunny passed on the planks from his rotten barn for us to burn, and they were full of nails. I almost stood on one, twisted to avoid it succesfully, but then lost my balance and dislodged a pile of unstacked logs onto my prone body. Very painful. No planks, no nails, no twisting and no pain.

Which is just as well since me an my li'l lamb are orf fishing this afternoon. Not that I have any idea about fishing, but I know a man who does. I'm planning to take some photos along the river and in the woods, although the weather doesn't seem too encouraging.


Congratulations to the Ospreys for last night's trouncing of unbeaten Premiership team Gloucester. It's not before time, and let's hope there's more of that to come.

Cheers

Flying and spitting feathers

I've been jetting across the channel more than usual this month and it's had its moments I can tell you. The worst was coming back to this little corner of paradise on 12th September just in time for my daughter's birthday. I got to check in about five minutes after it opened and joined the back of the already impresive queue. It took a full hour before I got to the desk and got checked in. I spun round the corner to get through security, only to find the queues just to get into the queues stretching right back past the check-in desks to the front doors of the terminal building. I tried in vain to explain that this was going to take more than an hour and I'd miss my plane. "Join the queue sir." It was stressful, but I eventually got into the plane some 20 minutes after it was due to leave and they shut the door behind me. Phew.

Spitting feathers? Why? I'm convinced that this was a conspiracy by BAA and the airlines to put pressure on the government to relax the security measures. Which they did indeed do, up to a point, the following week. Ryanair had launched court proceedings against the government to 'make a point'. And BAA, struggling to maintain higher security staffing levels for an extended period were no doubt happy to reduce the number of security lanes open and watch the queues grow. It was a mess. I was lucky, but many weren't.

So at least I got here in time to enjoy my daughter's 9th birthday. And a good time was had by all.

Intent

I used to believe that intent and some degree of focus had a sort of momentum that carried me roughly where I wanted to go. I'm beginning to have doubts. Here I am three years after moving to France spending more and more time in the UK. My downshifting plans, more self-sufficiency, less impact on the planet etc. is looking decidedly rocky. Two return flights a month, 250 miles round trip at the French end and seemingly endless miles in the UK. Although when you take a family approach to the question, we don't do too badly on the fresh produce from the garden front. Still, we don;t own our house here yet, so some of the more dramatic insulation and building innovations are on ice. And busier in Blighty means less time to generate stuff here.

Well it's called francerant, so the odd rant is par for the course.

On the up side, we had a fantastic contribution from the Pompey Batala crew to put some rocket fuel samba in front of the local public, and there's a small core of folks willing to give it a try. And I'm getting more and more interest in my photos, (see the Flickr link on the right there).

I plan to spend October not going anywhere and with that intent and some focus hope to get roughly where I want to go. Which is right here.

I can't believe it's not Blogging

Last post on 2nd May? Another era. A symptom of having more work involving more travelling and not yet getting on top of the wireless or at least mobile Internet access. Then I could blog from anywhere. So far I know that I can e-mail in to my blogs, but haven't got into the habit. Easiest option maybe. Then there's wireless hotspots at the airports I fly through every month, and the Starbucks I pass through occasionally. My mobile card wireless system is not forgiving or intuitive, but I suppose it should work. Certainly the Orange or Vodafone wireless dongles seem pretty expensive for my purposes - I couldn't justify it 'just' for blogging. But there's nothing stopping me from blogging from the internet cafe's or friends' and family's PCs. Except the way I've been working this year, especially the past two or three months.

Trying to keep trips away from home to a minimum, and to maximise the work (and other) return, I've been pushing myself a bit too hard. Driving a hire car 2,000+ miles in ten days maybe Ok once in a while, but it's not a good way of life. Staying with friends is great too, but a different bed each night has been tiring. Being a sensitive sort, I miss my own space and my own time. I don't need much, but it's often hard to find the half an hour a couple of times a day I do need when this is what I'm doing.

So, with one more trip before a decent summer break, I'm piling ideas and thoughts and observations into a (portable) melting pot to reflect on here in my little corner or paradise. Ideas like looking for a space to call my own while in the UK. Enough but not too big or homely. This is my home, with my small but perfectly formed family, and I don't wish it otherwise. So maybe renting/borrowing a room from family or friends. Somewhere to leave a ditty bag of toothbrush and shower gel, a suit, and a few good books. Somewhere with web access, and of course, not too far from work and family.

The journey's got a little longer now, since Ryanair first stopped services to Clermont-Ferrand, and, in June, to St Etienne. Now it's Lyon. Which is more than 2 1/2 hours away. The plus side is that there are more companies and more destinations back to the UK. So I don't have to get up at ungodly hours to get to Stansted for 6:30 am flights. Big plus side in fact.

And of course it's not just work, it's work I like and is interesting. Work I'd be hard pushed to find here. So far, three years down the line, it's do-able, but making it sustainable is a fine line. So that's the kind of thing I'll be mulling over from the end of July, before heading back over the Channel at the end of August. And being here for a few weeks in a row means I'll be able to spend more time on my photography, my garden, and my blogs.

A new map of the world

It's not quite cruise ship mentality. I haven't (yet) said - if it's Tuesday it must be Cairo. And the day I do seems far away. In fact living and working across two countries seems to be pretty good. I got back on Saturday from the latest foray into old Ingerlund. That was a long day - setting off at 7.30 am and getting here at midnight after the ferry crossing and an eight hour drive. But after a couple of days of a Bank Holiday weekend to recover, I'm back into the swing of things here in this rural French backwater.

My day spent following up last week's meetings and developments, with my office shared for a couple of hours with my 8 year old daughter doing her homework on my laptop. She interupted me less often than work colleagues often did in my previous 'employed' life. It's not hard to be in a good mood at my desk, with the sun shining outside, the birds singing, and the swallows doing acrobatics in the courtyard. Lunch out on the terrace, a ten yard stroll into work, tea and hugs on tap. And after work we all wandered down to l’assemblée to carry on the cleaning inside. Still a bit to do before Sunday when we plan to get together as many of the village as possible for a short prayer to the virgin saint and a chat. I'm not religious myself, but many of the older folk are, and it will be good to all get together again. Some of the younger ones are more interested in a chat and a wee drink. But apparently 'twas ever so!

My digital camera is missing between the seller and my house, so I still can't bring you any photos of progress. I've got some films to be developed, so we'll get them up here at some point.

Anyway, a new map. What's all that about? Well, when I was commuting to work, I had two different lives effectively. Work and home, two different cities, two different social groups. And yet a normal enough life these days. My journeys to work aren't the same, sometimes much shorter, sometimes very much longer. But I still have a 'twin' map in my head. It's a new map, but has much in common with the old one. But the experience of living in the places on the map is very different. I like it a lot. As for my ecological footprint, well, that's another question. And one I'll try and answer. But not yet.

L’assemblé

We have a little place called L’assemblé or La maison de la Béathe, couvent, chapelle (amongst other names) in the village. And it's got a bit neglected over recent years. But, as I mentioned some time back, some folk here used to go over there from time time, especially during May. Well the thoughts about doing something to clean it up dust it off and use it again are coming to something. A few folk met up here on Sunday afternoon for a chat over coffee and cake, and we decided to go for it a week Saturday, and try and meet up once a week during May. George even put a little article in the weekly rag about it, and the other idea of opening up a neglected lane in the village too.

I asked if folks had any old photos of the place, but it doesn't sound too promising. I'll make sure and get some this time around.

Bin a sheety sort of week

I got back on Sunday from a 12 day sojourn in the UK, covering three different projects, mother's day, an under-6 rugby festival and a two-day delay in my return flight due to a French air-traffic control strike.

I won't get into all the debate about what the French strikes and demonstrations are about - it's several essay's worth, and I'm not sure anything would be clearer anyway.

The under6 rugby festival on the other hand was fantastic. Around 34 kids under 6 playing rugby and having a fab time. On a Sunday morning. England should be the best in the world in about 15 years time.

One of the two Lincoln teams having a morale-boosting talk by the coach between games.

The three projects are all very different, and I love having the diversity. One is a 'main' one, in the rural service development field (no pun intended), one is an environmental leaflet on Ecological Footprinting, and the third is photographing four secondary school heritage projects around the country.

The Severn Bridge, by one of the school's pupils, after a visit.

Since I got back, I would say I've had a sheety week, first my septic tank was emptied, and then our neighbour delivered several cubic metres of 'fumier' for my gardens. I'd forgotten how heavy this stuff is on the end of a fork.

The friendly septic tank man on the job.

I think I'm going to get some delivered in the autumn for next year - this is a bit fresh and full of straw. So guess what I'll be doing over the weekend?