New Year Day's Picnic

It had to be a quick picnic. At midday, I decided it had to be then or never, as it was freezing! Getting the bike out from the store was tricky ... but arm strength has improved and I managed to lift it above two mowers.  Attired for the weather, I grabbed a paper plate, serviettes, tea towel and a picnic of smoked salmon gifted to me by a friend with her fig and anise chutney, two cherry tomatoes, rocket, crackers, two clementines and a posh caramel yoghurt, plus I filled an empty 25cl wine bottle with apricot juice and Armagnac... just to keep me warm!  There was sunshine by the River Gartempe but benches were in shade, so I nestled myself in the fork between trees for the Selfie.  I made myself cycle the circuit instead of returning home by the 15 minute route.  I walked the bike up the hill, past the bull, then saddled to Etranglar and back home.  It was an exhilarating ride but difficult to make breathing regular in such cold weather. It was wonderful to shriek out loud "Yoohoo" when there was no one else out on the high, empty agricultural plain.  I worked up quite a sweat in the glorious sunshine and cold air.  It was a lovely first day of the year.   I love these kind of picnics!

 

 

I took first footing gifts to my friends' house - a silver coin, bread, salt, alcohol, oak instead of coal for good luck, financial prosperity, food, warmth and good cheer but in fact I was the second person to have arrived that day.  After a family walk to the river and back, we had Christmas Pudding with my gifts of Armagnac and Cremant d'Alsace.   There was just a little red Chinon 2003 left which I tasted...mmmm. Following that were oysters... I ate two... they make the forehead feel funny!  Later, bread and Stilton cheese and Brebis. Nice!  Back home I ate the miniature yule log that I had bought on the Ile de Re and started to listen to War and Peace!

Nomads

I have seen about three or four of the Chatellerault Christmas spectacles since living in France, but I had thought they'd been axed... so it was a great pleasure to know that these circus events are being continued as a free gift to residents of this region.  The best I saw was Transhumance in 2007.
I found this video of it because I don't know where my photos are!
For those who do not know:- Transhumance is the description of when cattle, sheep, goats go to the mountains in the Spring and are brought to the lowlands in the Autumn.  Of course it is a time of movement, of travel, of nomads and by extension could apply to many animals and people of the world.
Here is a video I found on the internet.
It is the troupe of modern troubadours in procession.  The procession is a representation of the Transhumance in the southern parts of France. I shall look for other information to display here...
Here is another link.
I would also like to wish a very happy feast to my former partner who is currently travelling in Australia, after 3 months in Malaysia and 3 months in Taiwan.  Soon he goes to Laos! A very brave and courageous man.  I don't know if he knows about this blog as he has never asked and so I have never said!  He is 'un petit nomad'. 
I too have a need to travel!

Fête de fin d'année

Sunday evening ça bouge à Châtellerault... but we could not get near enough to appreciate the moments... HERE ...you can see professional photography of the group Remue-Menage based in Paris and whilst you look at the photos 'vous faire rêver!'- l'objectif de la compagnie. Scroll down on their site for the videos which were not quite what was performed. The 45 minute apx show ended with fireworks.  These are some of my better photos but I was way way back in the crowds with a zoom lens that could see what I could not see. One needed binnies! Unfortunately, the parade was just the three angel/bird stilt walkers so we didn't have the pleasure of that for long as their long legs had gone as soon as we'd spotted them and they were being led by security! We had not arrived early enough to stake our patch near the front and the children were restless as they couldn't see! The music was very good. Garden chairs would be best to install in a premium position if such a spectacle occurs next year!  The Maire should have considered an even higher platform to justify the expense of this spectacle so that more people could DREAM of the JOY that was being performed!
Go HERE for the press review in French the following day but with a good photo!

The huge balloons came floating along the boulevard helped by audience push and I managed to push one too! Later, I saw one being carried home by a teenager as a trophy, whereas another burst in the trees!

Only in France are there such surprises

At classical music concerts in small but beautiful venues in France I am aware of being absorbed by sound, especially if I can watch the hands of the pianist or player.  It is a form of meditation - concentrating, listening to melodies, support melodies, harmonies, rhythms, phrases, rarely counting or trying to analyse musical form, which I have forgotten entirely. The black sequined culottes  twinkled! One pianist played with facial gymnastics. Was she talking, breathing, or in ecstasy, subsumed in the music, whilst fingers, hands, arms, body and even her foot not touching the sostenuto pedal were dancing in delight as sounds composed sounded on stage! I watched her most of the time as I was on her side of the theatre. She was lovely! They were in raptures. They had no idea of the history of the theatre, spoke English but not French, so I helped out ... a bit!  I'd heard and watched Marina Friedman and Gaby Talroze play four-hand duets before at Bonneuil-Matours.  Russian, yet had emigrated to Israel when teenagers. 

Theatre Blossac Ticket price17e. Programme 2e. Seat number: C6.
The programme included:
Brahms: Variation on a theme of Haydn
Ravel:     Mother Goose Suite
Schubert-Liszt: Soiree de Vienne
Rachmaninov: Suite no.2
They replayed part of Rachmaninov, part of Brahms, then some Bach, (I didn't hear the title) as a wonderful and generous encore.

Afterwards the audience was invited on stage to look at the magnificent double piano by Pleyel - a rare instrument. I have never seen one before!  Only about 30 were made and only about 12 remain. This one resides in the house of its owner in Chatellerault as part of his instrument collection. He was there, explaining a technical aspect of the piano to the pianists who had no idea that it did that! It weighs 700kg and flooring had to be protected as well as re-inforced and made perfectly horizontal as a stage falls to an audience!

Only in France are there such surprises! Lights upstairs, so when I saw those who were sitting next to me ascending, I followed. A long yellow clothed table was presented with plastic glasses filled with red wine, white wine and non-alcoholic drinks, a tray of white sandwich bread adorned with charcuterie and another laden with salmon, oeufs de lompe et tuna. The fresh salmon ones were so delicious that I enjoyed three! Discerning others did too!

 Only in France are there such surprises! A further pièce de resistance was a local biscuit, called a Broyé du Poitou which means ground or crushed. It is delicious and I have had them before. In fact I buy them in the winter to sustain my coffee break but only eat half each day as they are about 10cm in diameter! The steward lady told me that it is a local tradition to break the biscuit with a fist. The pianists and the mayor of their town had such fun! Look how large this one is!

Perhaps symbolic of the breaking of the bread for the Lord's Supper!

 This video will explain in French about the company Goulibeur

It was lovely to be out and about with people and at an Autumn musical concert, to take a promenade around the town beforehand and drive home late at night. Once arriving at the fields of France,vehicles were few at thirty minutes before midnight!
What joy when a window of opportunity opens! Only in France are there such surprises!

This custom is lost, but the ground remains synonymous with conviviality and celebration. Indeed, after the feast (marriage and communion), it was convenient to share in his pocket to snack later and also relate to those who could not come to the meeting, children, ancestors committed; each was entitled to his share of dry cake.

Partytime!

Life is strange and full of coincidences.
It was a spookydooky occasion when disguise was appropriate.
This last week I delved into unopened boxes packed extremely efficiently ten years ago and other boxes packed four years ago, some not quite so well. In fact some stuff just packed into the box muddled! Within the last four years some boxes have been opened and strewn in a muddle in my attic when I had searched for something but lazily or in a hurry didn't re-pack the boxes correctly. Likewise the books boxes... I keep discovering more books which need to be assigned to their place!
The coincidence is that I found silver jewelry that could be worn to the party which hadn't been seen for aeons. I found masks used at Hallowe'en events once in France with the kiddies group I used to volunteer with and previous to that at fantastic Hallowe'en parties in England at my neighbour's house! Out came the red scarves, masks, feathers but no hula-hula skirt.  I could have worn that red sequined Monsoon top that I re-discovered exclaiming "WOW"! It had been forgotten, only ever worn the once when I discovered a thread of sequins required replacement. I think I wore it to a Hallowe'en masked ball some 17 years ago, or maybe I bought it because it was fabulous at the time and still is!... ...  ... and another wow, I found art prints from that evening, needing as ever, to be framed! So many memories have been opened in the last week that have made me laugh and tell a story to my Workawayers from California who commented that if only they have such memories and identity when they are my age then they will have known that they have lived!
Sex Pistols played 'Anarchy in The UK' and The Clash played 'London Calling' whilst almost 40 yr olds and some over 50s and moi 65 danced in smoke machine mist...whilst kids galore laughed and danced in the cloud.  It was wonderfully warm for an al fresco bonfire party and fireworks. Evidently Surrey was the warmest place on record in England for October 31st - 22.5 Celsius at about 4pm time!

Cinderella disguised as The Red Witch made it home before the pumpkin arrived and she didn't lose a slipper, malheureusement! English jacket potatoes finished in the bonfire embers plus grated cheddar and baked beans was soooooo good! There were English sausages plus mulled wine... called vin chaud en France! Toffee apples, ghostly cakes, skeletons, bats, cats, and ugly, scary faces made it all fantastic. Great Party. Great friends!

Lucy

I like to go to the cinema and a few weeks ago I saw "Lucy" in French without sous-titres!

Lucy was a fun, light-hearted film, unlike ‘Under the Skin’, which is one of my favourite films. The visual effects were wonderful and like Under the Skin uses an eye motif within the film. It was an entertaining evening!

Young French adolescents arriving late in the cinema were particularly annoying with their mobiles flashing with light as a distraction to us oldies, whilst receiving phone calls, taking pics of the screen, and greeting friends in true French style, cheek to cheek!  Five later arrivals greeted five who were restlessly already present! Eventually, un homme called "Arrête". The ten snuggled down in their seats and we heard no more from their popcorn-eating antics until they all laughed out loud at an animal mating scene!!!!

 “Lucy” was released in 2014. It is a French science fiction film written and directed by Luc Besson. The film was shot in Taipei, Paris and New York. Starring Scarlett Johansson, other stars were taken from cultures across the world. Johansson portrays a woman who gains psycho-kinetic abilities from a drug absorbed into the bloodstream. As a drug mule she saves the planet from destruction by destroying three other drug mules and in turn she is destroyed and scattered everywhere.

An animated film version of Lucy Australopithecusin was used in the film to connect to the dawn of Man sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey."  For more information go to    http://www.detectingdesign.com/earlyman.html 

St Savin - Une nuit romane

The weather became crazy when at about 21h huge gusts of wind, thunder and rain sent spectators running to their vehicles.  We also returned after we had sat it out on a blanket under umbrellas, until they turned inside out and our anatomy became somewhat wet!  However, the evening was not cancelled as we'd imagined. Once we'd ditched one wet blanket for a dry one, we returned to the riverbank, ever hopeful. The organisers told us that the pianist would be cancelled but the firework illuminations would happen! When glimpses of blue sky returned, the pianist did play and the company GroupeF specializing in pyrotechnics created an incredibly beautiful and stunning spectacle after technical delays. A speech by Ségolène Royale to open 'Les Nuits Romanes' for this region was cancelled so she disappointed protesters concerned about unemployment.  Several people wearing fire suits that illuminated in the dark were like gorillas! They set sail on a boat that roared and created fire! The abbaye was illuminated with images of slavery, monkeys and coloured patterns. At one time fireworks ricocheted like a machine gun along the row of trees on the other side of the river, whilst rainbow coloured flares shot up on the diagonal this way and that!  The silver-lighted-dotted people came off the boat, climbed in the trees, crossed the bridge and operated fire puppets as well as the Catherine wheels on their backs. 
It was almost a two hour performance, or felt like it, and when it was time to depart,  our feet were like blocks of ice, our necks were cricked and it was hard to walk across the grass then along the road to return to our car! Most of the people and traffic had gone; a charming policeman pointed us in the right direction as blocked roadways prevented access to the bridge and other routes!

No, not us and No not Glastonbury! Between the squally storms.
These people gave me permission to take the pic... then I did so with their camera!