17. 09. 07. I had scattered Dad’s ashes at Kew Gardens after he died and wanted to scatter Mum’s there too. Mum has been kept in a cupboard at Julia’s since then, so today was the day. Carole and I took the train to Richmond and then on to Kew Gardens. Dad was illegally scattered in the Lilac garden so we found it again on the map and after lurking and checking no one was looking, I scattered them. Again I was amazed at how many ashes there were. I remember when I scattered Dad’s there was this huge white cloud blowing around the garden which I tried to ignore. This time there was no wind so the whole operation was more discreet. Afterwards when I was well away from the Lilac garden I had a great sense of satisfaction and of having done the right thing. As a young boy I remember being dragged off to Kew Gardens seemingly every Sunday as both Mum and Dad loved the place so its seems a fitting resting place for both of them. Today there was a new Henry Moore show on too and his sculptures work very well at Kew. Unfortunately the batteries on my camera ran out so I couldn’t take any pictures but you can see them on the highlighted website.
Journal
Regent’s Canal
16. 09. 07. Beautiful morning, warm and sunny. We had decided to take a trip on the Regent’s canal so caught the train up to Paddington and then tube across to Warwick Avenue. Walked over to Little Venice and Jason’s boats and queued up for the 12.30 boat. The trip took about 45 minutes and went from Little Venice past Browning’s Island through a couple of tunnels, under bridges, even through the London Zoo, to Camden Lock. A very leisurely trip seemingly miles from the bustle of central London until we arrived at Camden Lock and Camden market. After the tranquil canal with its overhanging trees and regency mansions the market was a rabbit warren of colour and activity. There seemed to be countless stalls selling everything from celtic jewellery to Goth gloves to sculpture withj of course the ubiquitous Starbucks. It was medieval! We wandered around here with about a million other people amidst the smell of food and the sounds of many different languages for a couple of hours before catching the boat back to Little Venice and then back to Windsor on a very crowded train.
Musée Fleury
11. 09. 07. Went to the art gallery in Lodève today which is part of the Musée de France and always has well curated shows. Today was the collection of Oscar Ghez, a French industrialist who made a fortune in rubber. The show is mainly French painters from the Impressionists to the 1930s, mostly unknown to me. Apparently Ghez liked to buy artists that he thought were good but were frequently not well known. He had a good eye and it is an interesting and inspiring show. I particularly liked Gustave Caillebotte, Armand Guillaumin and Michel Kikoine. Great ride to and from Lodève – I have now found a new route which snakes up to La Coste and then on single track roads around Lac du Salagou with great views across the Languedoc plain.
A Weekend with Marie-Pierre & Olivier
09. 09. 07. Marie-Pierre and Olivier came over from Bordeaux to spend the weekend with me. They arrived mid-afternoon bearing gifts of wine, fruit and home-made jam. After unloading we had a pastis to relax with and then dinner of Summer Pasta made with brie, basil and the local ripe tomatoes. After dinner we had a little promenade around town with a stop at the Negociants for a coffee. Saturday we had decided to go on a hike. After breakfast we drove to St Guilhelm le Desert, parked and wandered through the village. It is very much a tourist village in the medieval style. A bit too clean and neat for me but quite pleasant. At the end of the village we started our walk. It is quite a steep climb out of the village on what I think was a mule track which is also part of the Compostelle de St Jacques.
It passes through some old terraced olive groves and continues up to the Cap de la Croix. After that it climbs again through the garrigue to the Hermitage where we stopped for our picnic lunch. L’Hermitage was built in the 14th century for the monks who worked in the hospital at the abbey in St Guilhelm. It is a very shady, tranquil place to rest. After lunch we continued through some pines across a pass and then rejoined our original path back to St Guilhelm Here we replenished our water at the fountain and walked back to the car. We were all pretty hot so we decided to find a place to swim and found a stony beach just along the Herault. It was great – clear, cool water and a lot of fish. Finally we packed up, drove home and then had dinner at Le Venizia which is just nearby. Again had a walk and a coffee at the Negociants before turning in. Sunday had a kind of Franco/English Sunday breakfast with scrambled eggs, stuffed tomatoes, fruit salad with grapes, peaches, melon and figs, a baguette and again home-made jam. Delicious! After washing up had a quick tour of Lac du Salagou and the abandoned village of Celles before M-P and Olivier dropped me off and continued on their drive back to Bordeaux. It was a great weekend!
Painting
03. 09. 07 Was determined to get started today on some painting. It was a bright, warm morning so after the usual chores – reading the paper, listening to the news, posting letters, paying a parking fine etc, hopped on the scooter and headed for a hill just outside Nebian which is about 3 kms from here. Drove up and down the roads for a while checking out light, shadows etc and driving behind tractors hauling wagons full of grapes, found a spot and settled in to paint. Of course as it was more or less the first time this year, I had left some things at home but improvised. I have been using Griffin Alkyd paints which are quicker drying but they are so quick that they seem to dry up in the tube between outings! After finishing my painting had an interesting conversation with a guy who stopped by for a picnic lunch just where I was painting. We did not discuss painting at all, but scooters. He seemed to reckon that all scooters now have their engines made by the same Chinese/Korean company and the different brands just put their particular shell around the motors. Went home for lunch and then went out again, this time completely equiped and with real oil paints. Found a road looking towards Aspiran and settled in. As usual the second one was easier but it was quite hot and windy so I had to make sure nothing blew away. Lots of people in the vines but couldn’t quite make out what they were all doing. A lot of discussion going on. Below are not very brilliant photos of today’s efforts plus a painting I did earlier of my living room and another of a house near Montagnon which I painted when Julia and I went out together when she was here.
Montpellier
30. 08. 07. I went into Montpellier today to take Carole and Daisy to the airport and also to drop the car off. It was even easier this time with the drop-off – the Renault lady was waiting for us in the parking lot. Took the Navette from the airport to downtown Montpellier €4.7. It takes about 20 minutes and drops you off at the Place d’Europe at a Tramway stop from which you can go to the station or bus station. Very impressed with the Tramway which is clean, efficient and easy to use. One ride is €1.3, all day €3.5 and a family €5. Dedicated lanes and you buy the tickets at the stops from a machine that makes change and even takes Visa! They also have Velomagg which is a bike rental service. You can pick up a bike at several central stations and rent them for as little as 1€ for 4 hours. Aluminium bikes which are chainless apparently. I will try one the next time I’m in Montpellier. I walked from the Place d’Europe to the Musée Fabre where I saw a show of Impressionist paintings mainly from collections in the US. A good show with a number of pieces that I had not seen before. I also hadn’t realized that the bulk of Impressionist paintings were in US collections because the nouveau riche, turn of the century, American industrialists bought whilst the French were still deciding whether this was art or not. After a morning coffee I then took the tramway to the Gare St Roche where I caught the bus back to Clermont – very civilized and gave me a chance to look at the paysage. All inspired with the show, I decided to begin painting the room that will become my studio. After finishing that, a quick piperade omelet and then to bed in a very quiet house.
Trois Fontaines
25. 08. 07. Daisy has just completed her week at the Trois Fontaines stable. For the first few summers here she went each week to the stable at Villeneuvette where we led her on a pony through the woods for an hour. She enjoyed this, although after a while we all knew all the trails through the woods by heart! A couple of years ago the stable moved north to the Larzac plateau so we have been looking for an alternative ever since. This year we discovered les Trois Fontaines at Canet which is about 10 minutes from here on the scooter and enrolled her for a week. She was in a class of 4 with one French Canadian girl and an English girl in the afternoons. The class is from 9-12 in the morning and then from 3-6 in the afternoon. Her progress has been spectacular. She started on Monday riding on her own for the first time and ended up Saturday having learnt to canter, and do small jumps. En route she has also learnt to stand up on a moving horse, kneel on a moving horse, ride backwards and hack through bush and a river. We are very proud of her! The horse in the pictures is her beloved Frou Frou.
Aqualand
14. 08. 07. Each summer Daisy has a choice of a special place to go for the day. This year, like last year, she chose a day at Aqualand at Cap d’Agde. We arrived just before 10 along with the rest of the world and queued for our tickets. As a senior you are either a Mammy or Pappi and get in free if accompanied by a paying child or adult, so not a bad deal. It was the perfect day for it, hot and sunny and no wind. Daisy of course went on many rides but I kept to the more conservative ones this year. I went on the Crazy Race last year and I think cracked my ribs so I confined myself to the Rapides, the Congo River and the pool with waves. I did not go on the new ride The Wave but for thrills I did go on the Colorado with Daisy and Julia. This entails sitting in a three person rubber raft, hurtling down a tube in absolute darkness only to be flung out on to a very steep flume high in the air and then down into a shallow trough which amazingly actually stops you! Exhillerating! And frightening. After all this excitement Chris took us all out to a wonderful dinner at Le Tournesol.
Fireworks
10. 08. 07 Last night was the big firework display here at Lac du Salagou, which is about 10 minutes from the house. It has no sponsors nor does it celebrate any special event – it is just a celebration of summer. We left at about 8.30 and joined the steady stream of cars to the lake. Once parked we walked down to the beach and waited. The sky darkened, the stars came out, bats swirled around and then at 10.15 it started. Three barges had been moored out in the lake and these served as launching pads for 15 minutes of spectacular pyrotechnics. Fantastic.
Up early this morning with Daisy to pick up Julia and Chris from Montpellier airport on the red eye from Stansted. Heard from France Telecom that I will have a ligne fixe installed on Monday so may have internet at home sometime next week!
The Scooter
01.08. 07 I have been looking at motorcycles and scooters here all week and had finally found a second-hand Peugeot Satellis in Beziers for 2700€ which seemed to be in good nick and was the right price so decided to go back today to buy it. En route I remembered a dealership in Pezenas so dropped by to see what they had to offer. Super Bikes was the name of the store and the young men who were lining up all these big, blue (don’t know why but all the bikes seemed to be blue) macho bikes in front of the store didn’t raise my hopes of finding a wimpy scooter! Surprise, surprise, they had a Yamaha Majesty for 1000€ less than the dealer in Clermont and they had a Syn GS125 brand new with a 2 year warranty for 2999€ and they threw in a helmet and lock! Went home, had lunch and then went back, bought it and picked it up this afternoon.
Drove it home without mishap and have even been out with Daisy on the back this evening. She loves it. It is only 125cc but what a difference to the 125cc Vespa I drove in the late 50s! It is a four stroke, liquid cooled with fuel injection. No gears or clutch – nippy and dead easy to drive. All finished in sexy, glossy black. You ride it like a Harley – rather than laying on top of it like a café racer – very comfortable.