Well, I've been in a France for four weeks over the last month. Unfortunately I cannot post too often whilst in France as my Mum and Dads I.T. kit is not quite up to it!
Had a cracking time visiting my Parents who are both battling on and doing well under the circumstances. Had the fortune to spot some good wildlife whilst out there including Fallow, Roe and Red deer, my second only Red Squirrel, both Male and Female Hen Harriers, Wild Boar and even Adder!
To put the Hen Harrier sighting into context, Wikipedia states that there are only 4 breeding pairs currently in England though summer visitors swell the population to 600 - so quite rare indeed.
I also managed to capture on film 5 Great White Egrets together, another quite rare sighting.
Anyway - heres some pics...
Vines near my mum and dads - these have red grapes
Less than 5 mins walk from my mum and dads, great countryside
An avenue of trees leading to more vines - next to my friends house
A rare sight - 5 Great White Egrets together on the ground
A pair of Red Legged Partridge
An even rarer sight - a female Hen Harrier. To put it into context there are only 4 breeding pairs in the UK I have more pictures of this bird and also saw the male too
The delightful Chateau at Saint Loup Jo and myself enjoyed an unforgettable night here and dined in the private dining room of the chateau. we were hosted by the owner and his wife who both served us a wonderful five course dinner with wine. The owner is related to the Sun King, Louis XIV! Dinner with nobility!
The Chateau has a 13th century keep in which King John (the Black Prince) imprisoned the French king after the battle of Poitiers in 1365.
After a walk around the grounds i noticed the reflection of the chateau in the moat...
Our room...70 square metres of it!
Part of the grounds..enjoying some late afternoon sun
Mum and Dad enjoying a stroll around Saint Loup
Walking in some local woods ...I spotted one of it's inhabitants...
Yet to be positively confirmed..i think this is a water rat?
Always worth having a camera handy, i spotted this deer next to me on a local drive.
An amazing find. I came across this fellow strolling through some local woods..an Adder!
The Adder is venomous though fatalities are rare with only 15 known deaths this century.
the five Great White Egrets from earlier...taken off and possibly migrating.. (Quite a rare shot as in the UK there has never been more than 8 photographed together and that was only once and was this summer)
When I woke up this morning I wasn't expecting to be celebrating by this evening. But why not? It's not every day that you become a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Yup, today I have become the winner of the Nobel Peace prize, great eh!
And so have the rest of the 500 million inhabitants of Europe. Today the Nobel Peace prize was awarded to the 'European Union' , all it's member states which includes all it's citizens.
How strange? Still, as young Mr Grace used to say, we'll done everybody lol.
In the early days of this blog I used to link you to short films, some amusing some thought provoking. I'm resurecting this item again with two reccomendations ...
The first is called 'Last man on earth' about who man who takes some drastic action
This is my 2nd full day here in France so i thought I'd drop a note to let you know how it's going.
The journey here was better than anticpated. The drive down to Folkestone was uneventful and took 5 hours. I stopped at the Holiday Inn Express which is 4 minutes from the Channel Tunnel and was really useful access wise. I managed to get on a train an hour earlier than booked. The terminal didn't look that busy and I expect most trains are running well under capacity at the moment.
Once in France it was straightforward on to the roads south. I managed to cling to an audible 5-Live on the Radio until just through Rouen. Luckily I had no navigation issues and the only issues was rain around Rouen, then a pea souper of a fog between Alicon and Le Mans. Just after Le Mans there was a dog roaming across the two lane motorway which required quick braking and careful steering. However, as anyone who travels these roads knows, there is little traffic at all and so was not an issue. I arrived at Mum and Dads around 6 hours after leaving Calais which is as expected.
Unfortunately neither Mum or Dad were at home as Mum had to stay in hospital overnight as further tests and observation were needed folowing this third round of Chemo. So, after Dad returned home for night clothes etc for mum we had a quick tea then I drove us both to the hospital in the Golf.
Mum in her private room at the hospital in Poitiers
Both tired but for different reasons...but Mum is not looking too bad to say she is having the Chemo treatment...(it is being drip fed into her via the tube at her left shoulder)
We all had a good day yesterday (Thursday) and Mum was even able to chat to Val, Lynne and Oliver and she was in good form managing to do some sweeping up and keep herself busy in the kitchen. However today she is not well at all and unfortunately remains in bed at 3pm. Hopefully she may get up for a bit later but at the moment she needs rest as she had a bad night feeling sick and in some pain.
Mum and Dads car is in for it's MOT as I speak so fingers crossed it will pass without too much grief. The French Airforce has just had one it's fighter jets fly exceedingly low overhead and looked quite impressive sweeping down the valley..I'm going to resist the "where were they in 45 jokes" ;)
Anyway, keep an eye out for updates on here..Au Revoir!
Well, another Grand Final and the World of Super League watch and wait for the inevitable, another Rhinos title. Just to put it into context, that's two titles on the bounce, five titles in the last six years, six titles in the last nine years and the last two coming from 5th place in the league table. The Rhinos are truly THE big game team of the modern era.
So it was that yesterday, around 3pm Des and myself set off on the annual jolly boys trip to Scumchester (all vaccinations duly taken) to watch yet more lambs to the slaughter. The difference being that for our last five titles we had spanked St Helens, imagine being a Saints fan, five finals against Leeds and lost them all - ahh those loveable scousers. So after the Saints dismal record against us they decided to throw Warrington at us as they had beaten us on three occasions this season, they couldn't put Wigan against us as we had already dumped them out the previous week - ahh those loveable pie eaters. This would be Warringtons first ever Grand Final and their fans had bought all the flags, all the t-shirts, were singing their victory songs before the game -bless em eh. Then the Leeds machine kicked in, and at 7:45pm it was business as usual as Sir Kevin Sinfield stepped up to lift the cup as the Wire fans sulked off home with the beginning of hangovers and shock of meeting the Rhinos annual steamrolling of all comers in the one match that means all. And as they trudged of into a dark chilly Salford night they would have heard the strains of 'Marching on Together' reverberating around the sty known as Old Trafford..On on on
A few pre match wet ones in the lancashire County Cricket Club pavilion..."Yorkshire, Yorkshire, Yorkshire!"
Des's turn this year..
There was even a woman floating around the ground under a balloon - hope sh'd finished all the washing up first!
Not a bad view..
The lads celebrating with the cup....CHAMPIONS!
Click on the video above for scenes of celebration
This weekend myself, Ollie, Jo and a few friends took a trip over to Grassington to enjoy their inaugural 1940's weekend. It was a very successful weekend, hundreds of people were in period costumes, there were many displays and the weather was good. We parked in a disussed quarry and used the park and ride scheme to get into the village and were transported there and back in vitage busses!
Lots and lots of 'tourists' were taking photos and it was strange to be seen rubbing shoulders with and having a drink in the pub with the French Resistance, Wehrmacht, American, British and Russian Soldiers. There were many 40's civvies too and ollie was a mix between child evacuee/Resistence fighter!
Anyway, here's a few pics of me and my Pals!
Some of our group outside the Devonshire Arms, Grassington main street...
Taking 5...
It could almost be the 1940's....
My favourite shot, Ollie and myself 'Patrolling' the main street
Whilst I was out in France i took the opportunity to do some astro photography - the night sky in Chouppes is fantastic.
My favourite shot. Taken on a 30 second exposure from the garden of my Mum and Dads house. You can make out the milky way cutting through the night sky and through the constellation of Cassiopeia.
I took this one to show the Pleiades aka the Seven sisters. The above shot shows what they look like normally..
On this shot you can see the grouping better. There is slight 'star-shift' on this shot as it is zoomed in and on a timed exposure.
This shot is looking over the roof of my Mum and dads house and you can make out the 'W' shape mid picture of the constellation Cassiopeia
In this shot Cassiopeia is more clearly defined. It looks like a 'W' on it's side.
This constellation is called 'the cross of Deneb'. As you can see it clearly makes the shape of a cross or crucifix in the night sky. The star at the top of the cross is Deneb which gives the constellation it's name. The Bright star on the right of the cross is Vega.
I took this shot to show what the cross of Deneb looks like normally with the backdrop of the other stars
Everyone knows this constellation..The Plough, aka Ursa Major, aka the Great Bear.
I took this one as it showed the different colours of the stars. Without light pollution the stars take on a different look and feel. Cassiopeia is visible on the right. (Tilt your head left and look for the flattened 'W'.
This is the same shot as above but I have annotated it to show where the Andromeda Galaxy is. It is one of the furthest visible objects to the naked eye on clear moonless nights and is a brilliant object to observe with binoculars.
It is a spiral galaxy approximately 2,500,000 light years away and is the nearest galaxy to our own, the Milky Way.
Just got back from visiting my Mum and Dad in France. Went out for 10 days and am shortly to be returning. Mum was in very good form and Dad was a happy chappie too! As usual, ate too much and drank too much but also had time to visit some chateaux, wander through woods and countryside and visit friends. Here's just a few shots..
Mum looking amazing!
A duel in the park...
Enjoying the afternoon sun at Richlieu
Our friends Val and Andrew invited us all over for a BBQ..
It went on...
..and on...
and on! It was well into the night before we left...full and sloshed! It was great though eating al fresco and chatting under the stars..and vines!
Mum watching Dad collect conkers for Ollie
"Here's one!"
Mum and Dad strolling...this is the day after chemo!!
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