The big six-oh

My birthday has come round again, but this time I’m going up into a different decade. I’ve had lots of presents and fuss from my family and enjoyed the Happy Birthdays from my Facebook friends . It has been a good day so far.

I’ve been thinking what to say about this decade; We had “Life begins at forty” and I said myself “But it really gets going at 50”. “Sweet 60s”?!

I can still play air guitar with the best. So here, live and all the way from the Red Square in Moscow is Sir Paul McCartney and friends just to wish me – and anyone else in Blogland who has one today;

Happy Birthday!

Bordeaux revisited

Yesterday was an auction day, so we set off for the station just before 5 o’clock in the morning. We had an excellent day. We managed to avoid the rain, we had a great lunch and we managed to get the cards we wanted for a good price.

We usually go to the same restaurant which has changed hands but is still as good.

The auction house

During our wait at the station in the evening, we listened to the piano music. It was beautiful; a medley of different types of music, which continued for all of the time we were within earshot.

The train wasn’t too crowded on the way home and armed with my Kindle, the time flew by. I slept so well last night.

One day we’ll stay over so that we can play the tourist. Bordeaux is such a beautiful city.

Postcards and Pianos

We had a long but pleasant day on Friday when we went to Bordeaux for an auction. A long day as our alarm went off early as our train was before 6 o’clock. We always allow plenty of time – especially if we have an early start.

Bordeaux was just as wet and cold as La Rochelle for a change, but we brightened up when we saw lots of very good postcards at the viewing. Rob and I plan our strategy over lunch and then go back for the auction.

We were pleased with our bids and afterwards installed ourselves at the bar at the station to look at them while we waited for the train home. We drank hot chocolate to warm us up!

I’ve written before about the shopping area in the station at Bordeaux. There is also a piano. I’m not sure if the French railways have installed pianos in all of the stations, but I know that there is one in La Rochelle too. Anyone can play. I’ve tried to find the young man who was playing in November and also on Friday evening when we were there. He was brilliant.

Here is a quick piano tour of France which includes Bordeaux and La Rochelle!

Weird and Wonderful

Exceptional sites this weekend:

We live next to the ‘Mairie’, town hall and if there is a wedding on a Saturday afternoon we usually hear and see some of it.

This Saturday was different. I heard the sound of bagpipes coming up the road. Fortunately I was in my office which is upstairs and when I looked out of the window I saw this little band coming towards the house.

They are a traditional Breton band of musicians so the bagpipes are in fact cornemuses. Isn’t it interesting that one of the men is wearing what looks very like a kilt? Must be the Celtic blood.

Afterwards they went into the town hall garden and played to the newlyweds and guests.

Last night I was closing the shutters upstairs before going to bed just before 11.30 and saw a row of lights. At first I thought that they were cinders from a fire floating through the sky. I ran downstairs to get my phone and was lucky enough to take some pictures. My phone is just a humble Samsung with no smart bits.

I was facing the East and the lights were moving from North to South. They were a reddish colour and seemed to flicker like flames. Very beautiful and I didn’t feel threatened of frightened by them. In the picture they are just above the streetlight. I didn’t count them, but there must have been around ten of them. I’ve always wanted to see a UFO so I feel very privileged.

The sun sets at around 10 o’clock here so I wondered if perhaps it could be the reflection of the sunset on a flock of swans flying over. A bit late for that perhaps. Do swans fly at night?

Bits and Pieces

Recently, we’ve had snow, warm spring weather and now we’re back to cold with the threat of snow. Although we seem to be in winter still, we’re only a week away from spring. Where has the time gone?

On Monday in town I saw a hollyhock in flower.

Last week there was a small earthquake locally – it didn’t wake us up.

I watched “The Lake House” on Sunday evening. Lovers corresponding to each other from different time zones – just the kind of film I like!

Just finished “Last Night at Twisted River” in French. Dom is going to lend me it in English next time she and J-M come to visit. I’ll review it on Still Learning when I’ve finished the second reading.

Findus France have announced their recent troubles as a “problem with labelling”.

Impromptu music

Dom and J-M came to stay last weekend. We had good weather – yes, there was about one weekend’s worth. On Saturday evening we sat outside and had a barbeque. A little while before we were to start a neighbour knocked on the door and informed me that they were having some friends from Quebec. He explained that it might be a little noisy later on. I thanked him and told him that we could tolerate a little noise as he had been so polite.

We were just having a little drink while the barbeque was warming up, when I heard someone paying a banjo. A bass guitar joined in next, followed by an acoustic guitar and later some drums. While we were eating we were treated to a jam session and some blues! It was brilliant. They can make noise like that as often as they like. Once the music had stopped there was very little noise. We heard cars leaving a little after midnight. What nice neighbours we have!

I phoned Dom earlier, she was just finishing the writing of her first paper. By now she’s on holiday for two weeks. They are moving. They’ve found a new flat/apartment at the top of the road where Olivier has just moved out of. It sounds really lovely, they‘ll have an extra room that will act as an office. I hope that we’ll be able to visit them soon.

Am I the only one that thinks that time seems to have speeded up recently?

Dance of the young lovers

I had my first Christmas card this morning from my aunt. She included a newspaper cutting about my cousin Paul who is going to have his beard and hair cut off for charity in the new year. Here’s the story and a podcast.

This is one of the songs from his Blood, Fish and Bone album, Dance of the young lovers. His blog is here

Another one gone...

Sometimes you find a new blog only to find it’s gone. Today it’s the turn of Dufusdownbeat, a music blog, to bite the dust. The last post is about the Rolling Stones’ Under My thumb, with a clip from Ready Steady Go.

It made me think of one of the presenters, Cathy Mcgowan, we all wanted to be like her, all of that lovely shiny hair. My research led me to this little gem of her miming and messing about with the Rolling Stones – and don’t they look young?  Thanks to Dufus.

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April 1931 - June 2001

It’s nine years ago to day since my dad died. We didn’t always see eye to eye and I moved away and didn’t see him that often, but I miss him just the same. One of the things that I can’t get used to is finding something I know that he’d be interested in. He’d had loved my postcards. Thanks to the internet I’ve grown very fond of a lot of Gordon Lightfoot songs in recent years. I know that my dad would have liked this song. The story of the navvies that built the railway across Canada. He was never afraid of hard work well done and I’m sure that if he’d have lived then he’d have been ‘Living on stew and drinking bad whiskey’ with the best of them. My paternal grandfather was born in the US, but his parents had to return to England when he lost his fingers in a saw mill accident. So it would have been in his blood.



Canadian Railroad Trilogy, ©1967 by Gordon Lightfoot

There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real

But time has no beginnings and the history has no bounds
As to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forests tall
Built the mines, mills and the factories for the good of us all

And when the young man's fancy was turnin' to the spring
The railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
And many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay

For they looked in the future and what did they see
They saw an iron road running from the sea to the sea
Bringing the goods to a young growing land
All up from the seaports and into their hands

Look away said they across this mighty land
From the eastern shore to the western strand

Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
We gotta lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open her heart let the life blood flow
Gotta get on our way 'cause we're moving too slow

Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
We're gonna lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open her heart let the life blood flow
Gotta get on our way 'cause we're moving too slow
Get on our way 'cause we're moving too slow

Behind the blue Rockies the sun is declining
The stars they come stealing at the close of the day
Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping
Beyond the dark ocean in a place far away

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
Swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun
Living on stew and drinking bad whiskey
Bending our backs til the long days are done

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
Swinging our hammers in the bright blazing sun
Laying down track and building the bridges
Bending our old backs til the railroad is done

So over the mountains and over the plains
Into the muskeg and into the rain
Up the St. Lawrence all the way to Gaspe
Swinging our hammers and drawing our pay
Layin' 'em in and tying them down
Away to the bunkhouse and into the town
A dollar a day and a place for my head
A drink to the living, a toast to the dead

Oh the song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
On the mountain tops we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up her soil
With our teardrops and our toil

For there was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
And many are the dead men too silent to be real

Not such a raving loony - the proof

I’ve recently acquired a new pupil, she’s an ex-colleague of Rob, an ex-colleague of Dom and an ex-colleague of mine too. Her brother lives in England and she wants to be able to talk with her sister-in-law and nephew. He level is conversational, so I get paid to chat and think things up to chat about. Music is always a good subject and it turns out that we’re both fans of Kate Bush. So I told her about the time I went to see Kate Bush in Birmingham and the people I was with were supplying a light filter and we were late so the show was held up for us. I told my pupil that I’d look out the program. I expect she thought that she’d misunderstood me when I said that I’d kept Kate waiting. Going through the souvenir program I found my guest pass:



April 4th 1979 and it was the Lionheart tour.

For Nancyrowina and Tennyson’s bicentenary

This is a little thank you for Nancyrowina who lives on the Isle of Wight and, if I remember rightly, has a video of my cousin playing the saw. Nancy has been helping approving blogs on BlogExplosion and is really involved. If you’re reading this because of BlogExplosion, Nancy is one of the reasons why.

Paul Armfield is my Cousin; I last saw him when he was about 14 and a punk. It was a long time ago, but we keep in touch. He’s set the poem “Sweet and Low” to music, it’s lovely.
Jo! I’ve written to him this evening asking if he knows your cousin Emily (who also sings). If he does it means that we’re sort of related!



SWEET and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother’s breast,
Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon:
Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep

2009, off to a good start.

I feel as if I’ve been overwhelmed by the last couple of weeks. I’ve got behind with everything; all the emails I was going to send out, some Christmas cards, the ironing, postcards, blogging and visiting blogging friends and so on. I’m really sorry.

The year stats with 2 pieces of good news. I expect that if you are from the UK you will have heard about Eleanor’s MBE, so now she’s the youngest person to receive an MBE. Mum told me that she was due to go to Buckingham Palace in February anyway so now she will meet the Queen twice. Our Aunt tells me that Eleanor has remained her sweet self throughout all of this and doesn’t really understand what the fuss is about.

My second good news relates to an event in the summer. I thought I’d written about it but I can’t find it. A little dog (Like this one) went missing just before his owner was due to return home to Paris after her holiday. I kept the photo, in a recipe book because he was so sweet (and now I can’t find it). I saw the wife of the man who was helping to look for the dog this afternoon and asked if they ever found him, they did. He was wondering the roads at the other end of the village trying to find his mistress. We have had dogs and cats disappear around here in the past, supposedly finding their way into certain laboratories, I don’t know how true that is.

I’m now the proud grandma of a bonsai. Dom came home before Christmas on the train juggling her luggage, a bonsai and a glockenspiel. As she has gone away couple of times I’ve been responsible for the watering. Please keep your fingers crossed that I don’t over/under water it.

Yes, I have had a go on the glockenspiel

Greenslade

I can't work out how to do it so you'll have to make do with a link and go fom there.

Back in October 1973 I stayed up late to watch 'The Old Grey Whistle Test'on TV. That particular night a group called Greenslade was on. The next day I was on holiday from work so I went into town and bought the album. I still have it today even though I can't play it. Like Peter, I've just discovered Youtube as a way of listening to music and watching performances. I was really pleased to find Chalkhill by Greenslade. Joie de vivre is how I'd describe this one. It takes me back to happy times.

A Walk in the Black Forest

I was writing up the announcement for an old German postcard of a hotel in the Black Forest this afternoon and I suddenly remembered the piece of music called A Walk in the Black Forest. I’ve always remembered the very first time I heard it. We were in the cinema, my mum sisters and me waiting for the film, Mary Poppins to start. I liked the tune straight away. When we got home my baby brother had walked his first steps for my Granny who was babysitting, 43 years ago, time flies…

My little sister became a granny today!

Tom Jones
Every time I hear the song, S*x Bomb by Tom Jones I get the giggles. It happened this morning as I was doing the weekly shop. My mum used to watch Tom on TV on Saturday nights when I was tucked up in bed. I’m sure he must be a great granddad by now and still strutting his stuff.

Looking him up in Wikipedia, he’s 67 and a grand father and he made S*x Bomb when he was 60. He’s also a good sport, he appeared in Mars Attack and the Simpsons (well his voice did).

New music
This is a sponsored post


Where do all the unsigned bands go? Unsigned.com is a site where unsigned bands can be heard globally on the internet. Just one more advantage of the world wide web! There is now an ever-growing base of fans and listeners looking for something new to listen to. On the site artists can create their profile and upload their material. Listeners can browse away to their hearts content looking for new sounds in the genre they prefer.

There is so much to choose from like Grunge Artists , progressive, latin, world, hip-hop, hard rock, experimental, you get the idea? So being ‘old’, I looked at folk and can see that there is a choice of 60 bands and artists . I noticed that a lot of artists consider themselves in more than one category, so no need to feel stuck in a typeset. I chose The Willow Leaf to look at and listen to extracts of, simply because I liked the name. What a pleasant surprise, especially A Gentle Lullaby! There is his website too. I can see that I shall be spending more time here in the future.

You wouldn't believe how small the world can be...
I managed to survive my course, but it was hard work and we had HOMEWORK to do. The idea is that people don’t set themselves up in business only to go bust. We were told that in the US it’s considered okay to fail three times in order to build a successful business. Other than that I think we’ve had just about all the weather you can get with the exception of heat wave and snow. The strike season has started again so I’ve got Olivier and his friend eating burgers and watching some kind of film or something in his room. I can’t have my music up loud because I mustn’t embarrass my son in front of his friends.

Talking of music, I won the bid on Neutron's CD mentioned on January 26th. This morning it arrived so I’ve been enjoying that all morning. He sings some pretty romantic stuff and has a lovely voice.

I also had an email from my cousin on the Isle of Wight, he’s a musician too. He was teaching somewhere and was approached by the daughter of a couple of my friends I’d nearly lost contact with. I used to baby sit for them but this daughter was born after I left for France. We’re back in contact now which is good news. Paul, my cousin, also gave me some more info on our family tree. He’s a great letter writer so is exactly the person to contact people and has found out more about very distant living cousins.

The ‘isn’t it a small world’ syndrome continued yesterday when I was giving a lesson to a pupil I’ve been teaching for nearly 6 months. A few years ago I used to have ‘conversation’ with a girl called Lise who lived near. She’d lived in the states and her mother didn’t want her to lose her English. The family moved after about three years and I’d often wondered how they all were. On a hunch, because we were talking about school and best friends, I asked my Wednesday lesson if she knew Lise. Did she know Lise? They were best friends and still in touch.

I wonder who’ll turn up next?

A few links for today.
Pam over at New Century Notebook is researching into the why and how people blog. If you’ve got a couple of minutes please fill in her questionnaire. She’s also discovered that her Grandma kept a diary, problem: Pam and the diary are on different continents.

Willow and I went for a trip in a time machine and didn’t quite end up where planned.

Neutron is selling a CD on ebay, if you look hard enough you can hear him sing too.

Smile
Carol king wrote these words 35 years ago:

You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
And show the world all the love in your heart
Then people gonna treat you better
You're gonna find, yes, you will
That you're beautiful as you feel

I’d forgotten about this song, I think we could do with singing it again today.