Oh, yes, you're right. I was 14 when with my gang we made our" club" at the back of an inner city garden in old Orléans. We called it "La Caverne" (I was a fan of the Beatles, and no one suggested another name). it was an old pig den or such, dating back to many centuries ago. We scraped the cement to make the stones show, and inside, we put some "flaches" (the corked outside of beams, don't know how you call them). My friend's parents would sometimes find bones or even a skull in the garden, for it used to be a monastery, like many places around. We built a bar and a "turntable" to play music and dance. A fridge too. The trouble was when our friend's dad discovered that we had beer and whisky behind the fridge, oh my... But we had fun there. And didn't take dope or LSD. It began when we were thrown out...
What I hate is a good sign the earth is still alive : my first mosquito bites, hooray ! Er, no, there are too many now. I'll have to put some repellent on my face or tomorrow morning, I'll look like elephant man. Oh my...
Le Cercueil (Orne - France) | Relevés météo en temps réel - Infoclimat You have to play a little to get the graphic you want. Our temperature dropped so fast, it was incredible. And then got down to 13C in the night, and still only around 16C now! I was saddened to hear that there were mini-torndados up on the coast, and a kite surfer was killed, thrown into a restaurant on the shore. We had some gusts, but nothing like that.
Oh, I also use "infoclimat", but apparently I haven't explored all the possibilities of the site... ;-) We had storms on Sunday, and a few km south, on the other bank of the river Loire, a football match had to be interrupted, and everyone was seeking shelter from hail stones as big as golf balls, or even tennis balls. EN IMAGES - Une pluie de grêle impressionnante s'abat sur le Loiret
We were hoping this doesn't mean bad things for the grapes this year. Hail like that on young fruit can mean a total loss sometimes. I watched the storm on infoclimat radar heading up towards you, and missing us as always. I hope you got some rain, anyway?
Yes, a lot of rain on Sunday night (thunder and lightning), more on Monday night, and some last night. Plus the temperatures are much more bearable, 26°C this afternoon, but cooler at night. I had to get up early for some blood test, it was the kind of morning I enjoy : cool and misty... I heard on the radio that it hit some part of the Médoc badly. It should be enough for self-sufficiency of grains here, but France won't export much, or at high prices. It's sad to see how local "disasters", some of them that could be avoided, can put the lives of thousands of people elsewhere in danger of famine. But I won't blame the Canadians for not providing us with mustard seeds, I can do without mustard, and anyway it's not their fault... What do you call it, "the butterfly effect" or smthg ?...
To my surprise, it 's even hotter at 18:00, 29°C in the shade. And because of all the rain we had, of the humidity in the air, it feels tropical...
Most people onTV don't have a local accent, that's a pity. Diversity is what makes us who we are. I can hardly spot an "Indian Ocean" accent there, it would be too difficult and take too much time to explain. "Journalists" have to -are told to?- get rid of their local accents so they can be on the "national TV". We're going to have a lot of rain tomorrow : And about "neutral" accents, "BBC English" I suppose :
The BBC (and British TV in general) have a lot more regional British accents these days on the national broadcasts. Took them long enough but times have changed - maybe France will follow? Last couple of days have been mostly cloudy and trying to rain but generally failing. When the sun does come out it is extremely hot! Just been watching Khruangbin on the live BBC Glastonbury coverage, weather looks about the same there, Primal Scream are on in a minute...
Interesting, as a relative short-timer, I always assumed the neutral accent came from Tours, or maybe Versailles. True the Parisian Bourgoisie are without accent, but when you hear youngers talks -- not the issue of Henry IV -- it's another matter. My son talks this way, but when we first moved back to Paris he was mocked for his Norman accent. But really, the true Norman accent is only heard from the elder generation, who still speak some patois. American accents are evening out too, I suppose because of television. But many, thankfully, retain their great character and are beautiful to listen too. Personally, I love the Irish accent (in speaking English), but then I grew up a Dave Allen fan. My family gives me a hard time, because after a few minutes in NY my accent suddenly appears as I interact with people. They think I'm putting it on, but it's totally unconscious. I guess it's pretty strong, lol. We were at a very sad funeral this morning, and it poured cats and dogs. But only a dribble here, maybe 20 km away, our total on the day is around 5mm. It doesn't look as though there will be much more tomorrow.
Same here too, a few drops of rain in the afternoon, but there should be more tonight. It's never the right weather when you take a friend to her or his last place. the last funerals I attended were a friend's mother, and later, her sister's. I helped her choose the music, Eric clapton's "Give me Strength" was a "good" moment if any moment can be "good". Among the songs that I would like to be played when my friends are weeping, before getting to the nearest bar and drinking happilly sharing all our stories. He was a poet, his songs were telling stories. My sons whether they like grindcore, or play digerrido like him :
Brilliant, of course. Sadly totally illegal now in France to scatter ashes or be buried outside of a sanctioned area... I did a duet gig long ago with a didgeridoo player, the thing fashioned from a PVC drainpipe but sounded pretty good. He taught me to make it sound, but I never successfully did the circular breathing. We got about 4mm rain today, but it seems over now. Looks like lots in the Loire valley.
Hot, hot, hot, and it will be even hotter at the weekend... This thermometer is down the garage way, about 2 meters under the garden level, and is always in the shade. It's the coolest place in my garden, the most protected too in winter, that's where I put my most fragile trees in winter. For our American friends :
Here in England they are saying 40°c could be hit at the start of next week. All very worrying, not just for our trees. Drove home yesterday evening from our daughters, headlights on, many years back there would have been thousands of insects splattered on the front of the car upon arriving home. Yesterday 'NOTHING'. Each morning we sit in the garden for our morning coffee listening to the dawn chorus, These days all QUIET. Not a single bird !! So everything is changing before our eyes.
It's the same here, but since I haven't mowed the "lawn" for months now, there are plenty of insects. I've seen two butterflies chasing after each other, white ones, like the small light blue ones that are quite frequent here but it was the first time I've seen white ones here. The thermometer in the basement way at 17:00 : The one on a table, 0.80 m from the ground, in the shade from 3:00 : I'll have to water my trees twice a day now, in the early morning and in the evening.
So are my cans and I'm not sure it's good news... ;0) Joking apart, I've never seen such a hot, dry summer before.
The scientists are saying it will get hotter every year. So our trees will have to adapt or die I'm afraid. I looked at our population in the UK for 1976, (the last big heatwave) and it was 10 million less than we have now. No more reservoirs have been put in place and the demands for water has grown incredibly. If we want lovely gardens and trees we must all collect rainwater in the cooler months. Sorry to hear your cans have run dry.......but there is always a remedy for that at least!!!!! Lol
The summer of 1976 was when I started my schoolyear as a French language assistant in Dundee. At that time, most households in Scotland (and perhaps Britain) had a bath but were not equipped with showers. We heard on the radio that people were advised to take showers instead of baths to save water. When we moved in with my flatmates, we had to buy and "adaptator" so we could fix it to the cold and hot taps of the bath. We French people (and a German guy) much preferred showers anyway...
In the South of England in 76 we had to go to the end of our road to a standpipe and fill a bucket if we wanted water. It sounds like London is heading that way by the sound of reports for next week. At least in 76 the rationing was in late August. I see Europe is in the midst of wildfires, could get worse next week according to news reports. So a few sleepless nights here in England doesn't seem so bad....
As many of you are no doubt aware, the UK is gearing up for possible record breaking heat on Monday and Tuesday. The Met Office are saying there is a 50% chance of exceeding 40 degrees celcius, as the same warm air that has caused problems in Iberia and France finally reaches us. A red warning for extreme heat has been issued for an area covering London and much of Central England. I live pretty much slap bang in the centre of the red zone and am concerned to see how bad it will be. I may even break the habit of a lifetime and water the maples on two consecutive days on Monday and Tuesday!
My maples are not liking 30°c atm. But 40 + will cause some to turn up their toes. What to do if this the shape of things to come!!!!?? Good luck for next week M.
Global warming without borders... 33.6 this afternoon. The only good things : no mosquitoes, or almost none because it's been so dry. But lots of butterflies and other insects, so the bats that visit us every evening will get fatter. I don't like grey squirrels, but I love bats, I never heard of anyone being bitten by a (local) bat. ;°)