All this travelling is having an impact.

 

10 Days in France, not long enough but I did get a chance to visit the Chaudefour Valley and have a walk in the snow.

Back on-line

I've got a new laptop and can start blogging again. Not writing much at the moment. Just renovating a flat and we discovered it was much worse than we thought. We have dug up the floors damproofed everything and are now rebuilding.

We are only three weeks behind at the moment. But slippage is still possible.

Onwards and upwards.

My Laptop Died

Its been three weeks without internet access. My HP laptop died suddenly, Seems theres a lot of it going on with that type.

Work goes on though

Englands green and something, something, Something.

Back in England, I forgot just how much traffic there is on the roads around here.  T4 in Weston,  How do they manage to clog everything up.

 

Work starts in earnest tomorrow.  Wall first, but plumbing to commence.  I hate plumbing.

Weather

Well here we are in France able to use the pool as more than just a water storage device and now we are heading back to the UK where the weather has just turned crap.

 

Work to be done though and writing to read.

 

Have some summer fun.

Rain

I know talking about the weather is boring, but I am an Englishman and its what we do.

 

So - Rain - Rain - Rain - Rain - Rain.  Its raining.  No I mean really raining, water falling water, from the sky not from a waterfall water.  Its rain.  Pants, no walking today, just stuck in the house.

Today, we will live a little.

The SNCF weren't helpful at all to Jane on her own down in Cannes yesterday so she's got to drive back up here on her own.  So they get a big thumbs down today.

 

I've got to go and try to get my money back, since I already paid for my tickets for Friday.  But the short story is on its way.  There is no more that can be done to it.  Its in the lap of the judges now.

 

Lots to do today, but I have a week of next week.  Very Nice.

Coffee

I do believe in the power of coffee,  my second one and it is good.  Us English just don't know how to make good coffee,  the Europeans understand that it is important.  If a cafe has crap coffee it won't last here.

Is Summer here?

The Sun is shining and there are birds nesting in the eaves of the house.  Everything is calm.  But where is Jane?  It is nothing without someone to share with.

 

Two weeks apart, a lifetime somehow.

 

I am writing, finishing my short story which means I can now start writing poetry again.  Struggling with the ideas and then the writing and rewriting has taken all my time.  Just got to proof read and send it off now. 

Back again so soon.

The weather has improved and we have been in the pool.  A great idea after strimming the gardens, the orchard and mowing the lawn.  Now for a Gin and Tonic.

 

On the plus side my short story has finally come together and I will try to finish it soon.  But poetry has taken a slow seat at the moment.  But I have just recieved 'Seeing Stars' by Simon Armitage,  I will be reading that soon.

Here Again, and so is the weather.

I've been waiting for a good day to go out walking but the French weather can't make up its mind.  And neither can I make up my mind about how to start or finish the short story I have been writing.  Maybe a bit of hard work in the gite will clear the blockages.

 

 

In France and Living a Life

Back at Le Cerisier and getting everything up and running.  The grass is cut the wood is cut and the pool is getting sorted out.  Had some wine, some good food with good friends all we need now is some customers.

 

Stay in the Auvergnes best B & B visit www.lecerisier.co.uk for details, long or short stays, walking holidays, fishing holidays.  Let us know what you need and we can sort out the best deals in France.

 

I've started writing my story for the Weston short story competition.  Its not going well.  Maybe it will get better.

We are up and running at last.

We have finally finished the flats, at least the two for this trip.  So we can head back to France to carry on the work in the gite,  My writing has suffered badly and I have not written anything of worth for two weeks.  A real struggle just to exist.

Easter Day

I'm going back to start writing a longer piece of prose again.  Something I started last year.  I still prefer writing poetry.

 

A nice walk today along the seafront with my wife, a pint in the pub and a relaxed evening.  Out for a good walk tomorrow on the Mendips.

 

Don't eat too many Easter Eggs.

Good Friday

Its Good Friday, and we are working round the flat.  I have just heard that the site ReadWritePoem http://readwritepoem.org is closing at the end of May. Thats a shame because its been an interesting place to visit.

 

Of walking on Monday so I hope the weather is OK.  Shoulder hurts and my writing has stalled at the moment.

 

Good Friday.

 

Have a good bank holiday and don't drink too much.

On Cars, Plumbing and fitting sinks into holes.

I think the radiator has stopped leaking, after five tries. I have taken the sink back out to start again, and now the electric points have stopped working. I feel somewhere there is a conspiracy against me.

As we tried to leave last night the car stopped working. Now we have to sort that out, over a bank holiday weekend.

No I'm not paranoid - Just a little jaded today.

Paris 2008, the string section playing in the Metro tunnels.

 

Paris Metro

 

Between the noise, the shake and the doors

opening and closing, between the silence

and the noise of a thousand strangers

 

in the space of a step in a corridor

on the way to somewhere or back

there was the music we heard,

 

the singing of strings and movements

of arm, elbow and long fingers dancing

where we waited a moment and listened

 

as the noise of the people and the doors

and the trains and the rush of the air

became background to the music

 

and time was for a moment unimportant

for a few like us two, who stood together

watching and listening until time broke

 

like a spell and as silent as we came together

we left again and joined the trains and noise

and closing doors and lives with things and

 

places we needed to be as the lights flashed

in the tunnel and somewhere behind us all

a string section played on in a different time

 

with others like us, who though we were gone,

each kept a moment to use when we closed

our eyes and the noise was too much.

New blogging method

I'm hoping that the weather is good on Easter Monday as I'm going out walking.  But there is snow forecast in the Brecons, so maybe I should head for the snow as well, what do you think?

Its a good job I'm not a carpenter, 'cos I can't hang doors to save my life. I am working on the 'it's not quite square but it fits' principle.

Just watched the three chancellors on C4, it does not bode well for the next government. Or rather our choices. I thought Mr Cable came out best from that little start.

Lets watch what goes on and what the papers say tomorrow.

Another day at the office, we have done most of the big stuff in the flats but now all the little things that take so much time. And plumbing. I hate plumbing.

Waiting At The Train Station.

The blue shirt is not you,
nor the striding woman.
The tight face and make up would not suit,
and your family is grown.
You would not hold the hand of another man
so that is not you, and you will not be sad
or walking lonely on the street
so that is not you.
You are not homeless or careless,
when you come, you will be you.

Waiting for Jane at the station in Clermont Ferrand, watching the world while drinking coffee.
Seems like an age now.

If I start here will anyone look?