RolloTreadway

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Storm has gone. Things are a bit wet.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

It's finally raining!
Some huge claps of thunder from inland, but not overhead.
The birds on Bird Island are huddling in the scrub.

(In the picture of the lagoon that I posted a little earlier, the low narrow island in the lagoon is called l'Île aux Oiseaux.)

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I think I know why we have no storm. There is some kind of weather god here who is deflecting it away.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Forecast | Reality

A view across a lagoon, with a beach and a courtyard with trees and shrubs in the foreground. A small low island is in the middle of the lagoon, barely above the water. The sky is light with some slightly dark clouds to the right, high light clouds in the middle, and blue sky too the left.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Still no sign of the promised storms. The town council here cancelled today's Heritage Weekend events because the forecast was so bad. Suspect some people might be getting a little perturbed.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

#SilentSunday

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I went out to the boulangerie, and also to the convenience store because I needed some milk and some juice.

Accidentally spent a fortune on a hundred things I don't need. Oops.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Bonjour tout le monde. Awaiting the storm that is apparently on the way. Although perhaps I should get up and go to the boulangerie before it arrives.

Hope everyone is doing well.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I've had lunch. I've had a snooze. And now I'm going to go for a swim. Holidays, eh? Such a hard life.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Gah! Just had a message from the landlord (as in, my landlord, owner of my home back in Britain). That kind of thing is too scary for when I'm trying to unwind.

Fortunately, turns out it's nothing to worry about. He's having someone come round to fix up the bargeboards at the front of the house (they're in a bad way). I explained nobody will be home, and apparently that's fine, the work will only be outside.

Still, doesn't help my anxiety.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I am back from my jaunt to Narbonne. Went to the archbishop's palace museum, looked at some art (that wasn't really my cup of tea), looked at a display about the history of the palace and read a lot of information panels in French (as best as I could, quite happy with how much I could understand, but all the translation made my head hurt), and watched some historical swordfighting reenactment people.

And I went to the market. Big and busy. But a good market. Winner of Best In France 2022, apparently. Struggled quite a bit, but did come away with bread and cheese, even if I couldn't manage to buy any charcuterie (which I'd been hoping to do).

Now to eat, and then I think a swim later.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

As much as I love this place, as I said last night, one thing that does annoy me is the lack of live times for the buses. Come on, Citibus Narbonne, it's 2024! Especially annoying given the buses aren't exactly frequent.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I'm going to go into Narbonne this morning. Main plan was to go to the market. But I've just learnt that it's Heritage Weekend, here and in many places across France (and I think across Europe).

On the downside, this will mean everything is even more crowded than I was expecting for a normal Saturday.

More positively, though, might be interesting? Reading through the programme for the weekend, it seems to be your usual medieval festival stuff: living history, displays, free museum access, things for kids, you know, all that kind of thing which you routinely get at least once a year if you live anywhere at all historical.

I'm only going for a few hours, though, so even if it's chaos I can just come back.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Bonjour tout le monde. Didn't sleep especially well. Had some dreams which weren't bad, as such, just dreams of better days in the distant past, when I was still a person with friends and hopes.

Mind you, I also slept quite a lot in the daytime yesterday, so maybe I just didn't need that much sleep.

Hope everyone has had or will have a good sleep.

Earworm this morning is Last Night by Arooj Aftab. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX1ResoIGc8

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Been thinking about just how much I like it here (in Gruissan). It's kind of ideal for me. The food is great, reasonably priced and easily obtainable. There are lots of nice places to walk, and everything is set up to be pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly, not car-oriented. Also, the buses are really cheap.

It's touristy enough that people are used to dealing with idiots who don't know what they're doing, but not overtouristed, and also not at all anglicised - this is very much an area where the tourists are overwhelmingly French. So it still firmly feels like France, not some generic tourist resort.

People always seem friendly and relaxed. And where I'm staying this year, I'm beside the old people's beach. This really appeals to me. I don't have to feel self-conscious, as I would amongst young and beautiful people, nor do I get annoyed by children. There are no bars or entertainments on the beach (there are other beaches for that sort of thing). Everyone who uses this beach is older and relaxed and just wants to have a swim in the calm waters, and/or catch some rays.

I'm sure it wouldn't be for everyone - no doubt many would find it boring, or insufficiently edgy and exciting, which is fair enough. But it's ideal for me. I can just have a nice quiet time.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

#food I'm having lunch at the big hot sandwich place I enjoyed last time.

I am having spicy chicken with Algerian sauce
What is Algerian sauce? I have no idea.

Also feel a bit happier because I dealt with ordering (and a bit of idiocy when I banged my head on glasses overhanging the counter!) so much better than with my efforts this morning.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Bonjour tout le monde. Today's forecast is not so great - warm and overcast - so I think I shall just saunter around the old town a bit this morning, then spend the afternoon relaxing. Have a swim, have a read, that sort of thing. Maybe get lunch out - there's a very nice place just around the corner, which I remember from last time, that does big hot sandwiches.

Hope everyone is doing well, even if you're not in a very pleasant corner of southwest France.

Earworm that I've woken with this morning is Lost On Yer Merry Way by Grandaddy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUaFnu_frqM

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Went for a walk through a nature reserve beside one of the lagoons. Then I came back, and took a very refreshing dip in the cool waters of the lagoon beside my accommodation. It's nice here. Can recommend.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

A quick #ThursdayFiveList on the subject that @neurothing has given us - #TheMarch - before I myself go for a walk.

Bobby Paris - I Walked Away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5o7K5zgjE

Sam Morton ft. Alabaster de Plume - Let's Walk in the Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1TteiivpRQ

The Magnetic Fields - When My Boy Walks Down the Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amy7LoYNIZA

Mitch Mitchell - Never Walk Out On You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaXOgkxhSbI

The Young'uns - Three Dads Walking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OEx5t748rY

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

#food update: I'm not sure what the cheese I bought is, but it has a thick grey rind that smells of death, whilst the cheese itself is creamy and rich and a little sweet and really very nice. And the pastry I bought was a small lemon meringue thing. I am now going into a very happy food coma.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I have successfully obtained fruit and veg from the greengrocer, and also some cheese. There wasn't a huge choice but it looked interesting, and I bought something about which I know nothing, that I shall have for lunch.

At some point in the next couple of days, I'll go to the market in the old town, where they have multiple fromage sellers with local produce.

I also bought bread from a boulangerie, obviously, and a cake. Called a tartelette. Stupidly, I asked for a tartiflette, and she looked at me like I'd come from Mars. But the words are so similar! Even if they refer to very different things.

Also got myself a very reasonably priced pack of bus tickets so I can go hither and thither.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Morning everyone. Trying to sum up the strength to go to the greengrocers (which is just across the road at the back of the building). I want to see what cheese they sell - whether it's the kind of generic stuff you get in a supermarket or something more interesting. But, even though I've been there before (last time, I didn't notice the cheese), I'm very anxious because I might have to deal with people talking French.

I'm so inept at this. My writing and reading of French isn't so bad (I've been studying), but my speaking remains limited, and when people talk to me it just sounds like vowels.

(This is also a bit of a problem for me in English, mind you. Although more consonants in English. But still frequently difficult for me to understand, especially older folk in my local area.)

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Oof. I didn't think I was all that exhausted from my travelling. But my day today has been:

Sleep much later than I ever normally would
Pick up a few things from the shops
Sleep another couple of hours
Swim
Sleep a couple more hours

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I bought some bread and cheese for tea, but I'm still full of noodles.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Here I am.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Good news: I found somewhere to have lunch, and I had lunch.

Extra good news: it was a very nice noodle place, that I found out about in a Toulouse foodie blog.

Extra extra good news: the portions are enormous, way more than I'd make for myself at home, and I'm greedy.

Bad news: I'm so full I can hardly walk.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Shiny pink church.

The same church from a different angle, a pointy steeple looming over a tree with pink flowers.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Bonjour tout le monde. My plan this morning was to store my bags and then go get some breakfast. But I absolutely don't feel like eating. Perhaps because it's half six UK time and I usually eat around nine. Hmmm.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

We're moving! My first time lying down on a train. Feels a bit odd

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Woohoo! They did indeed open the doors 45 minutes before departure. And I am now LYING DOWN. Phew. It has been a day.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I don't know when the doors on my sleeper train are likely to open. But 'two and a half hours before departure' is pretty unlikely, right?

Je suis mort!

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Bonjour la France. Je suis très fatigué.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

On a busy train to that London. Here's Newcastle right before said train arrived.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Nice to see this poster still up at the station! :blobcattrans:

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Off I go. Wish me luck!

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Why yes of course my first train of the day has been cancelled. Why wouldn't it be?

(fortunately the least important of them; I'll just leave twenty minutes earlier and catch the previous train to Newcastle, but I'm still pissed off, and stressed too - I hope this is the only failure, not an omen of things to come)

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

I've repacked a bunch of things this morning. Or, not so much repacked as removed. Why did I think I needed that many shirts when I'll be able to wash them? Why did I feel the need to have so many snacks when I'm going places with shops that sell food?

My bags are much better now and I feel happier.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Okay, I've half packed. I think I deserve a sit down with a cup of tea and a Tunnock's caramel wafer.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Bit of a panic: I had everything organised in my mind, about where I was going to eat (my main meal of the day) near Kings Cross, in the gap between arriving there and checking in for the eurostar. And then, how I was going to find a snack for tea when waiting for my sleeper train in Paris.

But I've just checked the train times and I've got it all the wrong way round. I don't have much of a gap between arriving at Kings Cross and checking in for the eurostar (half an hour at most), but I have several hours at the Paris end, so will have to find my main meal there.

I think I've got it sorted in my head now, I've researched food I might be able to get near Gare du Nord, but this is still way more stress than I was planning for and I wish I'd organised it differently.

RolloTreadway , 6 months ago to random

Say hello to my adorable BFF, the Co-op Cat, who hangs around at the entrance to the Co-op loudly demanding attention and occasionally getting feisty with the local birds.