2012 April 18th - August 6th UK, France UK, Sweden
Dateline: May 27th, 2012, Sigean, France.
La Belle France and the angst of The Uninterrupted Void, plus pending pensioning
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Much like my trajectory through life, this is the result of the pots of bulbs I
gave to both my secondary teachers, Bill Evans and John Mordue back in January
Both now sadly, missed. This pix from Bills significant other upon his death |
I have, not for the first time, run away. I'm hiding, again. I've had enough of living on my own for long enough to actually do something about it. Again
I have my laptop
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A refugee in all but economics and passport
I'm totally at the end of expecting care or to be cared about
UK, Newt household, out back
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April 22nd. Up early for our drive to Dover
Ferry to France, then down to Sigean |
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Millau bridge, just around sunset
It's a long gruelling drive from Calais
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| And the day after. Another mini excursion |
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But next day, and we're out on the hiking
paths. We both love these mini treks |
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Lindy jets in and life settles into our usual retirement
in Sigean mode
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Narbonne market.
No one comes even close to the French lifestyle like,
well, the French of course
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Carcassonne Castle
There's lots of these in the
Langue'Doc
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The car, the house, the patron and the freeloader
Comedy or tragedy? Who can say?
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Peter is very proud of his boat
He built it himself, and nursed a derelict motor back to life for it
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Unfortunately, the motor needed a second opinion
before , not during show time |
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there is no best place for Huitres here. All of them are best.
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This one is at the end of the line in Gruissan
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Holly drops in for a day or two and we picnic on the
Canal du Midi |
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Lindy and Holly return home to blighty
We set out in the general direction of Bilbao
Here, heading through the snow swept Pyrenees
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| Here, more of the Pyrenees |
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Camping in Andorra
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Quite the place. Lots of cheap booze,
especially Gin |
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| On the road. Rustically supping |
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We are camping near Ainsa in Spain and hear
a jolly racket. We head up to the old town
above us and its a full blown festival going on
Everyone welcomes us and we are given anything
we want, except the young ladies of course.... |
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| Pamplona, without the Bulls, so far |
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Camping in the Basque region. Lovely place, dreadful wine
Itxaspe |
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We are doing the tour after all.
Man's inhumanity to Man, as modelled by my Man, Newt
Guernica Mural, as in Picasso |
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The Guggenheim in Bilbao. Our destination.
Our research could have been better
We arrive on the day it's closed |
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The Guggenheims version of participatory art
or just a rendering of Shelob?
We may never know |
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I've always wanted to come here and mock
the believers |
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| Lourdes. Filled with Sad and Desperate people |
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Grotto's and sacred everything's
Funnily enough, I was not hit by a
thunderbolt, or started preaching in
tongues. Well, no more than I usually do |
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More than just a place of miraculous recoveries
A total tourist trail for the easily led |
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The glorious limestone cliffs,
the speciality of the Langue'Doc |
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Looks like winter again, a hike around one of our
favourite treks, Peyriac-de-Mer |
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Yes, VERY butch dear
Every year (since retirement anyway)
whether I need to or not |
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Back into serious retirement mode
We motor around the E'Tang to a remote deserted
spot, which is immediately invaded by a party of other misfits
Hey! We got here first... |
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After a hike up the local cliffs,
La Franqui |
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Living the Joie d vivre lifestyle
Beach Leucate, post Huitres |
 | Our final sunset, with culinary delights,
as per the resident chef
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We have to get this into the car for our return to UK
tomorrow. Only a small fraction of this is mine
This is just the wine. The swag from Andora is somewhere else |
Have not had a sunburnt face for many a decade. The haircut (pretty bad eh?) is standard annual May issue, but the facial designer stubble, well, that's a more recent trend
Off bright & early tomorrow (Monday) back to UK. It must be time to go as I don't take pix of me eating dozens of oysters any more.
Had an alternate, culinary festive, adventuring, interesting and informative time here, not to say repetitive in a loose, non retirement kind of way. Newt constantly plying me with great food, and of course, plenty of wine.
I'll miss that when I become chef and need to do this myself.
Have not cracked the retirement conundrum so far, even after managing to down at least a bottle of wine a day. Glad it's much more expensive in UK.
Will start bumming off some other willing or otherwise victim next week. I can try out some new recipes on them. Maybe I can be directed to some suitable retiring Nirvana. Maybe it will be the other way around and I will be expected to supply the same conceptual advice services ........
Not ready to give a seminar on retirement just yet.
Southern France life styles for the gentility enabled more my style.
How do you like my office? Its OK, it's not like this every day, sometimes I have a beer :) ....., typically G&T
We are bringing back about 150 litres of the best of southern France, and a few litres of duty free stuff designed for tonics.
Maybe some London culture beckons
Ok, may be boring everyone by now
Happy working and other lifestyles
Moi
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I have had some fun times here, but also a lot of heartache, not because of the company
I'm totally lost, just for a change. A very painful and lonely time |
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Switch to the top most lookout of St. Pauls in London
Two days later |
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I'm looking for my initials which I carved here in the
handrail in the summer 1968 when I snuck off work, hitch
hiked up to London in the hope of getting the University vibe.
I guess it worked. No initials left though |
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I'm back freeloading in Reigate with Peter
& Shem. They have invited me to their friend
near Winchester, so I tag along
Theoretically, this is the original "Round Table"
as marketed by King Arthur, Circa 9C maybe? |
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Still lost, angry, hurt, depressed, empty etc
I start doing incredibly long walks around
the area |
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I have another Date with Destiny
The wife is heading over, so I've hired a car
to get us around. Cut to dropping in on Sue
on my roundabout trip to Heathrow |
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And Ray
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We do the tourist sites in Lincoln
This may be quite a treat for these folks |
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A cup of tea out at the local spa
Note full commitment |
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All part of the grand tour before
I pick
up the missus at Heathrow
Yes gentle reader,
I have cracked, again |
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Alex still pursuing his dreams of
half marathon fame |
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So, with a freshly hired vehicle, we are off to do the
UK freeload, here with the Hannis' on a trip
including Corfe Castle |
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One of my childhood heros, or at least the movie was
T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia lies here
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Catching up over a high tea near Moreton
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We head into deep Wales
Here's what's left of Pembroke Castle |
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| It pissed down and we were glad to get back to our B&B |
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We have decided to head to Wales
This being St. Davids in Pembrokeshire |
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The coastal defences at Fishguard
It's still wet |
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Hereford Cathedral
With art |
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Dave & Frances, and Ben. Hereford
I was their best man back in 1970. Yikes
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From Stanstead to Sweden
Unfortunately, as it was Ryanair, our ride went to the main airport in Gothenburg, we did not
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Evi & Hanns eventually arrive at the correct airport
(probably nothing to do with me), and we head off to Skovde
We get there pretty late and are glad of anything that looks like a bed |
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The sister (well, half sister) Ilge did not know about
until after their mother died |
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| Traditional even |
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No, not their house
This some ancient dwelling village as it was
during the Swedish renaissance
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| Your correspondent, Evi and Hanns |
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Always up for a parentally sponsored trip anywhere
Kayla arrives complete with lost bags in Gothenburg |
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We start our freeloading in Gothenburg with Anfres & family
Kayla is, of course, totally relaxed with freeloading |
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| A tour of the city, of course |
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Stockholm, bound for our overnight trip to Tallinn
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Andres is off to Estonia to work on his house in Saaremaa. The ancient family estate
We are invited along, so I book up a 2 day cruise out of Stockholm to Tallin
I book it through the English language part of the cruise line website
Andres wife goes berserk when she hears how much it cost me and gets on the phone to complain. Upon arrival at the boat, we are given lots of vouchers which means that we get a full dinner buffet. Yep, unlimited herring, again
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Our host and driver, Andres, a cousin maybe, us and his
baccalaureate daughter, maybe Liisa? |
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Old town hall,
like really old town hall
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Says it all
Town record book, 1338. Rebuilt C16 |
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| Old town, old churches, Tallinn |
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Really ancient stuff, mostly original
from 14th, 15th? Century |
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| Tallinn from the old town fortifications |
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The town is very recognisable and has a
fantastic laid back, yet modern feel and atmosphere
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I believe we have met and said goodbye to
Andres. I stride out to take in various
churches in the old fortress
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We are only in town for about 8 hours
It's Monday, it must be Tallinn etc |
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A quick trip back to Stockholm on the ferry
Then train bound to Annelis in Norkoppin |
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We are now freeloading at Anneli's place in Norkoppin
Another Smorgasbord of herring, boiled spuds and Schnapps |
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While we are here, we get to see the original Wallander
Wow! What an amazing insight. Real art
The English version isn't worth watching.
You can keep your Branagh crap
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| Anneli has a little cottage out in the boonies |
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Downmarket, but a cute little place
for a BBQ |
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A friend turns up and
invites us
for a swim in the local lake
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No swimming gear?
HAH! This is Sweden, no one has swimming gear here
And so us brave ones strip off and jump in |
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A communal family trip to Soderkoping for a hike and
buckets of ice cream |
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Seems like these buckets of ice cream are
de rigueur during the summer months |
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Evi, type 2 diabetic is not going to
let sugar
get in the way |
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Immediate family in Swedish outback
post ice cream |
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| Extended family, similar Swedish outback |
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A really ancient tower in Soderkoping
I climbed up it of course |
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Anneli's man is constantly taking hits from
these vending machines. Apparently it's
the drug of choice, A version of snuff I believe |
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And as we have our flights out, we need to head
back, yet again to Stockholm. We say our goodbyes to the Koplimae side of the family |
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Back to Stockholm and we check into a waterfront hotel
And the living is easy
We do some big walkabouts. Ilge needs to sit down
every 200 metres. I think new knees will be required soon |
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We head to the harbour hangouts and I invest in the most
expensive Sangria I will ever (hopefully) buy |
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And rent the local bikes next day
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So Kayla can head out to the local ferris, or whatever wheel
It's just an excuse to bike around town
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And then, back to UK to re freeload at the Alexanders in Reigate, yep, again
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The olympics are on in London so we head up
to London, but all we end up doing is watching
tennis on screens at a bar on the Thames
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I'm hopeful of some spare tickets to,
well, anything. But not to be, so we
do not much and end up freeloading
at the Newts for the night
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And of course, I really do need to
see his
latest project made flesh etc
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Then back to our usual freeload home, complete with
the entire family this time, prior to our return to Toronto
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And with one mighty leap, we are heading back homeward
That's this trip and recapitulation. So be it
From Your Correspondent
