Buffy took a digger

Buffy got her bike wheel caught in the tram tracks, and blam! scrapes and bruises all over. Including a nasty dent in the ego, and a bruised pride, it was very public. She is well and safe and I didn't laugh till I knew she was OK.

The enviable state of French politics

Not sure if you are aware but theres some French general elections on at the moment. Not amazing in itself, and certainly not amazing to most jeded english peole, but its of GREAT interest to French people, and an astonishing amount and cross section of French people, I even heard some typical ;yoofs' dicussin who was better, Segolen Royale, or Nichols Sarckozy, and seriously, they were discussing issues, as well as who would win in a fight.

At the office, the two youngest employees spent over 15 miniutes dicussing the various metis of the different candidates, its refreshing.

Bens family

Bensfamily
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

A brief introduction to the members of my family. Might help with some of the introductions, maybe we could do the whole wedding by email and blog... and fed-ex cake and mimosas to everyone, then we could all dive in a skype chat and video webcam everyone in!

Or we could press the flesh, communicate non verbally and get our flabby white asses of the couch and go be somewhere else for a while! yay face to face!

And now there are 3

And now there are 3
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Me, Mark and Julia and Lukas, taken by Buffy. nice. Mark and Julia have just recently moved to France, to a little pretty town called Meymac, near the auvergne mountains, smack in the middle of France, they have bought a small gallery, with a flat above it, they are going to sell art and photos of the town, please stop by if you are in the area!

Cookies for christmas

Cookies for christmas
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Mmm perfectly browned, new recipie macaroons in pyramid shapes ready to be dipped in chotholate! these are for taking to the peoples houses we got invited to, we have some very generous friends.

Christmas gouté

Oscar and Fergus
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Our Firneds Eoin and Linda came over for a snack after a strenious bout of christmas shopping they brought their kids, Oscar and Fergus and we had a pizza making party, always fun.

Our christmas tree

Our christmas tree
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We are spending Christmas in France this year, we figure a three year rotation will keep as many people happy as possible, incuding us. This gives us a chance to try a few christmas traditions of our own, in case we ever have any of you people over. up for consideration are:

1. Lobster instead of turkey
2. 20$ gift limit (in year of wedding especially helpful.
3. doing nothing on Christmas eve (difficult)
   

It happed very quickly, November, it just flew by, not leaving much room for December, this combined with our recent addiction to Gray's Anatomy , Arrested Development and stuff that greases the wheels - work. So it turns out we have been less than pro active about our necessary commitments to show our interests in the Christmas spirit. To make up for it the next few posts have a christmas theme. And we WILL be doing a card, but it will be a new years card.

Just to be sure....

PA090312
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I was at Satnstaed airport waitng for my flight back form my first trip to england... whcih I have yet to blog about actually... and I was reading the draconian anit terrorism restrictions thwey were placing on hand baggage, and still at that point wanting to take my luggagae on as hand baggae I wanted to document that I had actually bought the requested product for Buffy, and was not just bluffing it ("I also got you some perfume, make up, and some babys food, but they took it all away form me!!!"). Then After throwing my shaving foam and new ttothpaste away I realized I could just check the bag and save myself the pain of worrying about it being discovered. Idiot. So anyway we walked past this very well made up and nice smelling airport employyee who was collecting all manner fo things fomr passengers ini a big clear plastic bag....

Best Picnic evah

Best Picnic evah
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We went to Lyon on a day we both had off, and swore to try and have a picnic on the way back, we went off the beaten trail and drove for miles, Buffy totally lost faith that we would find anywhere suitable, and just as we reached the end of our tether, voila! this place appeared, lake, shelter with BBQ, frog chorus that lasted about 15 mins. fishes and stuff, all good in the end.

Cool French School Architecture

Cool French School Architecture
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

The French enjoy putting effort and money into public buildings, which means all these great well designed public buildings that are obviously still loved and used, it restores faith in the modern movement, yay le corbusier!

Grape Picking

GrapePicking
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is the only, but yet worst, picture from our grape picking charity weekend. It was on the West side of the Cote de Brouilly, in the Beaujolais region, about 50km north of Lyon, we were on the fields of the chateau Thinvin, owned and run by the Geoffrey family. The head of the Grenoble South rotary club was walking through here and got chatting about a possible charity weekend, and I was one of the volunteers that he managed to round up, (Buffy works for him). We showed up at 9am on Saturday and were in the fields within 40 mins, after a breakfast of bread, ham, sausage cheese and coffee. All served in the basement room of the chateau, a building started in 1387, and added onto constantly until the 'new' wine making shed from 1975. We walked across the small valley you can see here and started on a patch on grapes, part of an entire hillside, and big once you stand over a small bush that comes up to your waist, and realize that once this one is done there are more for as far as you can see.... but the whole grape harvets only takes about 2 weeks.
We worked till 12.00 and retired for a very hearty lunch overseen by the very glamorous Mrs. Geoffrey, and a staff of three of four, the bread came in 4 foot high paper sacks and was dispatched with very quickly, the cooking was hearty and very good, super slow cooked beef in a rich fragrant sauce, wine made from the grapes picked in the very same spot last year, fermented in the barrels in the next room, and bottled in the shed next to where we gathered after every session of picking to clean the crud of out hands at the long, old sinks. We cut the grapes with small, hand held scythes, basically thick steel wire wire flattened out into a razor sharp 'C'shape at one end, and with a loop for your little or ring finger on the other end. These were called Serpets, there was also the option of Seceteurs, but everyone that used the seceteures seemed to cut themselves, you basically cup the bunch of grapes in one hand, letting go if you feel any dry or rotten grapes and if all is good and firm you wiggle it, and cut the stalk where you feel the apex of the wobble, no need to actually see the stalk. Mr. Geoffrey and his winsome daughter were in the field with us all the time, they naturally picked about twice as much as us and seemed to de-grape an entire bush by the time we had bent down and cleared away the leaves to find the first 'grape' the French word for a bunch, what we would call grapes are called 'raisin'. At the end of the first day we all went and found beds in the Gite, next to the chateau, very comfortable and accommodating, we were 8 to a room, and silent exchange students aside everyone was great company, I unfortunately didn;t sleep well, with my head next to the door because we were the last to arrive and got the worst cots, and my fear of being spoken to and not knowing what to say conspired to make me not sleep at all. damn brain.
That same evening we had a tour of the rooms that are used for cleaning and squashing the grapes, they use gravity to cruch the grapes, and for fermenting the juice. They have a classic long barrel vaulted cave with huge wooden vats for fermenting the wine, we were shown around by the deputy picker, one of the nice, but harsh guys you know you don't want to piss off. We had another huge meal, and a lot more of last years wine, very nice, but quite young, brash almost, not hugely fruity, but quite spicy and big in the mouth, high tannins and a short but clean finish. The meal finished with a short but moving speech by our leader about the charity we were raising money for, a blood disease research foundation, there were a couple of the researchers there, and they told us about some of the people we would be helping, One of the wives of one of the Rotarians there was also an organizer of the huge rotary student exchange program, and they told us all about that. it really bonded us all for what would be a hard day on Sunday.
We were in the fields by 7.30, after another hearty breakfast, we were doing a different type of grape that morning, it was trained up chest high wires, and was smaller and less red than the grapes from the previous day, and also much easier to pick, the plant was essentially flat, so the grapes grew on one side or the other, more on the side that got the sun, perhaps not surprisingly. We broke about 9.15am for a second breakfast of Wine, chocolate and sausage, with more excellent bread. The wine was an unlabelled rose from the last year and sat surprisingly well, and was a new PB for 'earliest drink ever' of which a part of me is quite proud of.
The morning lasted a long time, with a few steep parts of the hillside being done, and more of the scrubby low growing bushes that seemed to have not got quite enough herbicide to stop weeds getting all over the place. We were told we had picked over 4 tons grapes the previous day, which has ok, said a shrugging Mr. Geoffrey. Maybe this was supposed to motivate us, but we picked a lot less on Sunday. We all had quiet large open buckets to put our grapes bunches in, when these were about half full a 'porteur' would come round, and take your grapes off you, these have guys have the shitty end of the job, they have huge tapered buckets on their backs and have to run up and down the rows collecting everyone's grapes and dashing up to the truck at the top or bottom of the hill and back to do the same, the bucket getting more and more heavy, and responding to the calls of 'Porteur!' or 'Soue' (bucket) indicating there were full buckets that needed emptying, you get paid 2 Euros extra per hour for doing that.
We broke for another excellent lunch around 12.00 and continued until 4.15 and then it was more wine and a quick dousing with water to get most of the grape crap off our hands and into the car, I had another allergy attack at the end of the day and ended up having to wipe my nose on my shirt, rough. A quick Mac Donalds espresso on the way home and we were all good. We earned about 120 euros each for the weekend, there were about 30 of us, nice work.

hole in the kitchen

hole in the kitchen
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is a hole that is currently in our kitchen, and it means my French is getting better.



WE had a visit from our neighbor downstairs, M. Jean Marc Babouchkine, who is currently renovating the apartment directly below us, he explained, using slow and simple words once he ascertained that I did not speak perfect French, that there was a leak in the corner of his kitchen just below our kitchen, and he wanted permission for a plumber to come in a take a look at the problem. He showed me the leak in his kitchen and some damage on the landing that was also caused by the same leak.

Then the plumber called, or rather the plumber controlling lady, first she called at 7.45 in the morning, waking me up (I had over slept because my phone is not working so well since I got a load of water in it..) and once she found out I did not speak excellent French, and after asking if there was anyone there who did speak French, was say things louder, and quicker, in a high pitched whine. leaving me to repeat what I thought were the important screeches, and her to correct me as if I were an idiot, "No! not Tomorrow, Thursday!!!!" She has had to call back three or four times to arrange for this hole to be made and for other people to visit, I dread her calls.
Our neighbor however is welcome anytime, especially as he has the most amazing moustache.

the smugness of life change Bloggers

I did a search on Blogspot for other people who had moved to France and were blogging about it, the tone of the feeds almost universally was 'look at us we made the move from blighty and now we are better than you' they seemed to present an image of everyone’s life being idyllic in France, that all problems were banished by having the courage to move to a new country, and start living in some other way. I only hope I haven't communicated this in any of my posts, but I fear I may have. Yes life is better, I have my own place, a job I enjoy, some nice new friends, and above all am living with the girl I love. But if these things had happened in the UK I would be brimming with smugness. And yes life is different to life in the UK, but life in the UK is great too. I emphasize the good things, quality of life, great scenery round here, the relaxed attitude etc, as this blog bears witness, but as with all things there is a balance, and after a year of good living I feel I have a little perspective to offer.
I think in an earlier post, way at the beginning that learning French was the hardest thing I have ever done, and that stands tall as the one thing that separates me from truly living here, and the one thing I am determinate to work hard at and kick its ass, I WILL be able to drop comments to random strangers that talk to me on the bus, I WILL be able to join in the Monday morning conversations about crap we did at the weekend. Its not like I'm not making progress, I can be understood when I say quite complicated things, I ordered Buffy’s ring in French, and felt like a god when it came out looking like I wanted! and I understand more and more, but the ease of communication is gone, the picking up of casual comments is not happening, overhearing snippets of women gossiping on the tram doesn’t happen, making a witty comment to the supermarket girl to try and ease her day, just is not possible yet.
one of the things I consider myself quite good at is taking in English, I enjoy it, I like language, and words, and having that taken away from me is a bit like having your tongue cut out, and having to will each cell to grow back by remembering words and unlearning a lifetime of wit and humor, and phrase and unconscious grammar. But I will succeed. Its not all wine and cheese. But my life is better.

microwave in new home = Ben the electrician.

kitchen2
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Moving the microwave to the rack, its new home meant putting a new plug in behind the rack, and tapping the wires for another socket further round the kitchen, behind the washer. After much consulting with my esteemed and very wise Father I decided to do it the quick and dirty way, as they have in other places in the apartment, I should have run another spur from the 'consumer unit' in the hall, with its own fuse and therefore isolator. but after a bit of digging around I found another occasion where they had just tapped an existing power socket spur for two plugs, and just bi-wired each socket, which is what I did, there was enough slack in the conduit, to make the live and neutral stretch up to the plug and the earth was extended with another section of cable, perhaps not the best way, but its only the earth, no current. Nice.

New washer = end of trips to laverie

Kitchen1
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

And the washing machine in its new home, plumbed in, working, on a flat surface, and looking great, again, not much to show for nearly a days work...
I had tpo raise the work surface by a paltry 2.5 cm. instead of drilling new holes in the wall, I just added spacers all round, including the foot next to the bin, andgave it a sencond coat of varnish while I was at it. CONCLUSION: the best part of DIY is tidying up after a job well done.

The (not steep) way to the top of the dente de crolles

The (not steep) way to the top of the dente de crolles
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

We went for a walk up a local hil(mountain) a couple of weekends ago, the Dente de Crolles, (tooth of Crolles) its a 30 min drive from home up to about 1200 meters, and then a realy steep walk for another 40 mins up to the base of the toothy bit, then you have to decide, steep or even steeper, being not so fit, and very hot and half way through being eaten by some nasty flies, we decided to go the not so steep way, this is another 30 mins inot the not so steep way, to the Left is a sheer drop to the valley floor a few hundered meters below, and to the right is the back of the mountain which has come away form the main rock in places and its these splitss that make up the bit before you get to the top. the not steep bit had lots of wirers anchored to the side of the mountain to help you get up, and splits you had to crawl through. also we walked past the mouth of a cave, out of which a steady current of 5 degree air was wafting, such nice relief. I was later told that the steep way was not as ardious, and owuld explain the large amount of young children playing on the gentle grassy slope at the top.

My day at the Tour de France,

TourIndex
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

I was luck enough to be a VIP guest at the Alp d'Huez stage of the tour de france on the 18th July, click on the pic to be taken to the Flickr Set. Ben

Buffy and Ben are engaged!

Buffy and Ben are engaged!
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

A couple of weekends ago I proposed to Buffy, she said yes! I gave her the traditional token of betrothement, an old shiny rock embedded in a metal loop. How strange we are. but it all kind of feels right.

Vespa white with Side car

Vespa white with Side car
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

This is outside the Vespa dealership next door, they do other less cool mopeds to keep the Italian youth population mobile and expressivley patriotic with their feeble horns during sporting victories. But its the Vespas that draw Buffy like a moth to a flickering LED replica flame. THis is a particularly cool version, but becasue they do service and parts there are always different versions parked outside.
its the old ones that I like, like this one. but I can just imagine a collision between this and any carelsessley driven SUV, and the prospect casts a shadow over my entire being, a pall of grey and dark, and a well of emptyness creeps into my stomach. This I feel is only a small indication of how a world without Buffy would be, and one reason why I will discourage buffy to get one, no matter how cute she would look. And also leads me onto the next post....

Shopping arcade in Torino

Shopping arcade in Torino
Originally uploaded by Ben from England.

Turin to some, Torino to others, great shopping for everyone! must calm down, sorry. not much to say, but we drove to Turin. We went the long way, over the alps, (it snowed in May) and came back the short way, (big long tunnel, under a mountain) nice trip, lots of driving. lots of hills, lots of fun, went with Ted And Kristen, over to stay for a while, nice to have their company on my week off, did lots of things I would not have done otherwise. nice.