Cheap at half the price.

                            

Just under 2000 years ago, during the reign of Nero, a certain 'martyr' named Saint Torpes was beheaded in Italy's Pisa.

His body was placed in a rotten boat along with a Cockerel and a Dog (don't ask me why), and pushed out to sea. His remains were eventually washed-up on a beach on the southern coast of France.

That spot eventually became the small Provençal town that we now know as St Tropez.

I suppose that most people associate St Tropez with Brigitte Bardot, nudist beaches, and outrageous prices.

Back in the late 80's, someone I know extremely well (I won't mention his name for fear of his being arrested) was working just behind St Trop as the 'work experience' part of his university course.

One weekend he visited the infamous town and settled down outside a small attractive café overlooking the bay. He ordered a beer and was stunned to receive a bill of something like £12 (a fortune for a penniless student).

He thought about it for a while, drank his beer, then ordered a second. As soon as the waiter's back was turned, he 'did a runner' (I must say that I thoroughly approved of this action).

I was reminded of this story after reading that 4 Italian tourists were recently charged €120 for 4 coffees, at a café in St Mark's Square, Venice.

Something rotten landed at St Tropez all those years ago; it just surprises me that the headless Saint Torpes wasn't pushed into the sea from Venice! It seems to suit the town's style much more than Pisa's.

New Pots for Crimbo.

I am reliably informed that if one plants a 'chitted' potato in a pot in September (it's almost September), one will have a crop of new potatoes for Christmas.

Well I had just one sprouting potato sitting, looking lost, in the kitchen, so decided to give it a go. I filled a largish pot with compost and stuck it in. One week later and, voila, it's already sprouted tiny leaves.

There's no reason why we now shouldn't have new potatoes with our cold Turkey; I'll let you know around December 25th. 

Bramble Jelly Season.

The hedgerows are now filled with Blackberries, and we went on our first serious picking sortie yesterday morning; walking stick, basket, punnets.  We had a reasonable haul, and we shall go again in a couple of days time.

I had just enough for 3 small pots of jelly, plus a wee taster for tomorrow's breakfast.

Anyone who has not tasted proper home-made Bramble Jelly, just ain't lived! 

In my not-so-humble opinion it's the finest tasting fruit jelly/jam in the world.

Gibraltar.

                                  

Gibraltar (as some are aware) is where Cro and Lady Magnon agreed to love, honour, and obey each other; apart from which, it's a delightful BRITISH outpost at the delightful mouth of the delightful Mediterranean Sea.

But, what a weak, spineless, pathetic, bunch of yellow-livered, mamby-pamby, Nancy-boy, politicians we have back in the UK; in relation to Gibraltar's continued Britishness.

Those bullfighting, donkey tossing, paella eating, Spaniards are up to their puerile tricks again. Like the Argies before them, just when they can see the bottom of the bottomless pit they try to distract their anxious population with a spot of jingoism.

So Mr Cameron, if they're going to play silly buggers, what are you going to do about it?

May I suggest (for a start) that you now make 3 separate gates at all UK immigration points; EU Nationals, Non-EU Nationals, and Spanish Nationals. And guess how long it might take our Spanish friends to get through? May I suggest at least a week (during which time they would have to surrender their shameful toy-town Spanish passports for very close and painstaking inspection, and submit to a full 'intimate' body search for drugs etc)!

And what about a basic road tax for all incoming Spanish lorries, trucks, and cars as they disembark at Dover (and elsewhere). Maybe £2,000 for lorries, £1,000 for smaller trucks, and £600 for cars (per person, per day, of course).

If that ain't a reasonable enough red rag answer to their posturing bull(shit); then I don't know what is!

So get off the bloody fence Dave. It no use just passing the buck to the EU courts of injustice, pull your bloody finger out NOW.

All that, and I didn't even mention Cueta; damn, I just did!

More Boot Sale Stuff.

Yesterday (Sun 18 Aug) we attended one of the largest and best of our local 'Boot Sales', in the nearby village of Cazals (here they might even refer to it as a 'town').

No-one's mentioned candlesticks for a while, so I've remedied that by buying a pair of antique, black and gold, wooden, 33inch, ecclesiastical-looking, sticks. I also bought a piece of heavy gilded ormolu 'swaggery' which will replace the missing piece atop an antique mirror, and of course I can't resist a dark green rustic plate.   

I'm happy with my haul; especially the sticks which should be perfect for the barn (when it's finished).

The sale at Cazals is HUGE, and we only managed to see about half of it before it became unpleasantly hot, and we headed for the cool of home.

We were tempted by plenty of other things, but wisdom prevented further rash purchases.

A very pleasant evening.

 

We had guests last night.

Above is Peanut Minor, whose sister Peanut Major was also in attendance.

It was their lovely mother's birthday, and I've just noticed that we forgot to give her her birthday prezzie. How stupid can one get!

Luckily not everyone walked home on their hands and knees. 

It was a gorgeously warm evening; perfect weather for eating outdoors.

Go on... you're allowed to say aaaaaarh.

As Warm as Soggy Toast.

If you can be bothered to enlarge this photo, squint a bit, and use a magnifying glass, you will see that the temperature shows just slightly above 28C.

When we opened the pool just before the beginning of June (and found pure green sludge), the water registered 21C. Almost at once the outdoor temperature rose, and we had a long spell of above average warmth. It wasn't long before the green slime was banished, and the pool temperature rose enough to allow swimming.

This year's long hot summer seems to have been universal, and the water has remained at around 28C almost since our first dip. We do have a 'Solar Cover' which not only preserves the water's temperature over night, but can actually increase the temperature if left on during the day. It certainly seems to have done it's job this year. My neighbour's larger, but permanently uncovered pool, has been at a miserable 21C for weeks; brrrrr.

One of my insistences when swimming is that I exit in warm sunshine. If the water temperature is perfect but there is a cloudy sky, I remain a landlubber. However, if it is hot outside I will even suffer lower water temperatures than I usually otherwise demand.

We've had a really wonderful swimming year so far; one of the best ever.... long may it last.