A Private Security Company

I saw an unusual sight last week, walking back from town: a dark grey van with a tag on it, the one of a private security firm. It had a phone number and a website address at the back. It got me curious: I have never seen a security company vehicle here before. In big cities, yes, but not in a small town like ours before. So I checked online and yes, it's a thing, and very local too: it has its offices in a nearby (bigger, much bigger) town. The town where I used to work some six, seven years ago (the job I hated). Anyway, it provides all sorts of security services, including commercial and residential, and well, all sorts of things. I might use this sight and the company as inspiration for one (or more) of my crime fiction stories. I think I could come off with something interesting and modern.

Auberge de La Fontaine

Petit souvenir d'une de nos vacances montréalaises. Un souvenir maintenant lointain: il date de 2009. Enfin bref, c'est la dernière année où nous avons passé un séjour dans un hôtel à Montréal (si l'on excepte la nuit passée à l'aéroport durant les Fêtes). Mes parents avaient réservé pour ma femme et moi (petit loup n'était pas encore né) une chambre à l'Auberge de La Fontaine. Un petit hôtel dans le coeur du Plateau Mont-Royal, assez discret, qui ne paye pas de mines, mais vraiment sympathique et accueillant. J'y reoturnerais bien. Si vous l'avez visité, dites-moi comment a été votre expérience.

Almost an autumnal breeze

Well, we are not, technically, in a heatwave anymore. But it's still quite hot: 25 degrees today. I was really hoping for rain. We had clouds sometimes, but no rain came. That said, maybe, just maybe, I can be hopeful for the future. And by future, I mean after the next heatwave they have forecast. So yeah, all day today and right now, there's been a breeze. Oh, not a cold breeze, but cool enough, given the circumstances. It feels borderline autumnal. As if the next season is on its way. Maybe. I know it's going to be a long wait, but it might come sooner than expected.

Question existentielle (407)

 Une question existentielle qui me vient en tête en ce moment, puisque c'est dimanche:

-Les dimanches d'été, surtout durant les vacances, en quoi sont-ils différents des autres dimanches?

Personnellement, je me sens aussi mélancolique, mais peut-être que c'est juste moi. 

Aquila on Ancient Civilisations

Wolfie does not get mail very often, but when he does, he usually receives the best mail. And I know we are late in July, but I wanted to share this month's issue of Aquila Magazine. Don't judge a magazine by the cover, but what a cool cover it is. Although I'm not sure what this statue comes from. Inca? I would be tempted to say yes, or at least South American, but I really don't know. Be that as it may, if this July's issue is not entirely sold out and you have young kids, go and get a copy. It's great fun.

"À la Sainte-Anne, les bleuets sont mûrs..."

 "À la Sainte-Anne les bleuets sont mûrs. C'est le raisin de chez-nous, fils du feu; du sol humble et pierreux c'est l'offrande; c'est le miel des crans sauvages, le frère des éricales dans le royaume infini des sphaignes et des tourbières."

Menaud maître-draveur, Félix-Antoine Savard

 Chaque 26 juillet, lors de la Sainte-Anne, je partage cette citation de Félix-Antoine Savard. J'ai lu Menaud il y a de cela à peu près trente-cinq ans. Je me rappelle des grandes lignes, mais ce qui me marque le plus, ce sont les passages sur les bleuets (comme je suis du Saguenay...). Enfin bref, il faudrait bien que je revisite le roman un de ces quatre.

Horror Hotel

 I took this picture in Brighton. More specifically, at the Brighton Pier. During what people now call Summerween, in the middle of a hot day, as I am getting more and more into a spooky mood and longing for Halloween, this is a lovely sight. As a child, I used to love to go to such place, although my parents rarely allowed me to. Haunted and cursed hotels are great settings for horror stories, by the way. I might work on one. Be that as it may, this sight gives me a pleasant shiver.

Paella sur table

La paella annuelle de mon père, servie sur la table. C'est énorme, dans tous les sens du mot et il fallait que je partage.

Future Train Journeys

I took this picture at the National Railway Museum in York and I'm sharing it today because I'm blogging about trains. Again. If I'm not mistaken, it's the Old Coppernob. But I just added it because it looks nice. So now that Wolfie is on holidays, we are thinking about our next holiday destination. Which means that we might travel there by train. I hope so: for me, travelling by train is part of the fun, sometimes I even prefer it to the destination. Even if we travel by bus or plane for our next holidays, there is always a future train journey at some point to look forward to.

Paella annuelle

 Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de sa paella annuelle. Celle-ci quand elle cuisait. Avec un homard complet. Sa paella, il l'a fait chaque été. Je n'en ai jamais mangé.

Italian Speakers in the Library

Something interesting happened last week during my Thriller Writing Course in the library: as we were discussing about, well, thrillers, an elderly man from the group a few tables away came and kindly asked us to be quieter, as they had difficulties to hear themselves. I thought we were fairly quiet, but anyway. We were very polite and told him we would be careful. We chit chatted briefly, and it turned out they are the Italian speaking group I blogged about in September 2024. So I took the opportunity to speak a few words of Italian, little I knew. The elderly gentleman was really impressed. Apparently I have a great pronunciation and accent. I even managed to converse with him in Italian, albeit it was a pretty basic chat. So I am thinking maybe I should meet that group, even though my Italian is basic. Practice makes perfect and I haven't practised in a long while.

Le Salon du livre en octobre

J'ai trouvé cette photo sur la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. L'édition 2026 est donc déjà annoncée et elle aura lieu en octobre cette année. D'habitude, c'est fin septembre. C'est vraiment le meilleur temps de l'année pour tenir un Salon du livre. Allez-y si vous pouvez, moi j'aimerais pouvoir y être.

About the last day of school

Today is the last day of school for Wolfie. Actually, it's only a half day: we are picking him up straight after lunch. So he is now on holiday. First, I want to get two observations out of the way: 1)school breaks way too late in this country. I mean, late(ish) July, really? That's at least two weeks too long. It also means that the gap between the beginning of the holidays and the new school year is very short. 2)I say all this this, but time goes way too fast. As for every end of school year, I am bittersweet about today: it means I will spend a lot of time with my boy, yet it also means he is growing up. I will try to keep him entertained every day. When I was his age, I had lots of things to look forward to during the holidays: the family pool, lots of free time reading, etc. I am very conscious that we are building his own childhood memories. No pressure.

Bientôt: le chocolat aux bleuets

Photo prise sur la page Facebook des Pères trappistes il y a quelques jours. Peut-être que cette information lorsque vous la lirez sera déjà passée date (j'écris mes billets de blogue de plus en plus d'avance). Alors enfin bref: les chocolats aux bleuets seront bientôt (sont déjà?) disponibles. Si vous le pouvez, achetez-les.

United Dairies Milk Tank

I took this picture at the National Railway Museum in York. My favourite museum ever. I share it today because, while I have seen many cargo trains in my life, I don't think I have ever seen a milk tank like this one. I mean, not on a train. I have seen similar things in the back of a truck, but never elsewhere. I wonder if they still transport milk by train. Anyway, I also share this picture to remind myself that trains are still used to transport goods. I mostly think of them as public transport.

Colline en juillet

"Quand la plaine est fumante et tremble sous juillet," chantait Brel. Ici, ce n'est pas un plat pays (l'Angleterre est très rarement un pays plat), mais les collines fument et tremblent quand même sous la chaleur. Enfin bref, photo prise lors d'une promenade.

Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife (Signature Weapon)

This is my new post in the Signature Weapons series, about weapons that are or could be, well, signature weapons for protagonists and/or antagonists, heroes and/or villains in crime fiction, spy fiction or adventure stories. So today we are talking about the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife. Okay, so a knife is a knife is a knife, but this one was first used by the British army during World War II. It's a sleek knife with a slender blade, it looks deceptively simple and sober. It does not make it any less lethal. Because it was used by an Allied force in World War II, I would tend to think it is more suitable for a hero, either in historical fiction or in a more modern setting. Although I think the F-S fighting knife might have been the weapon of choice of one very nasty villainous character in one episode of a famous British TV series. It might have been another sort of knife, mind you. Be that as it may, for a hero with a military background, particularly a British hero, this could be his signature weapon.

Il y a trente ans, le Déluge

Bon, je suis en retard d'un jour dans les anniversaires, mais je me devais de le souligner: c'est depuis hier le trentième anniversaire du Déluge du Saguenay. Je l'ai vécu, ce qui ne rajeunit personne. Je m'en rappelle encore. Pour mes souvenirs, vous pouvez lire ce billet qui date de 2016, pour les anecdotes des membres de ma famille, vous pouvez aussi lire cet autre billet du vingtième anniversaire. Ah oui, et pour ce que je pense du journaliste maintenant politicien Louis Lemieux, vous pouvez lire ce billet de 2017. Le Déluge, c'est aussi son avènement comme célébrité journalistique ("Godzilla régional surgi des eaux," j'ai quand même parfois une belle plume bien acérée). Des fois la tragédie prend des allures de farce.

The Strangest Pizza

During our time in Brighton, we went to a pizza place called Pinocchio. A family place with a typical Italian restaurant menu, nothing fancy, but honest food. That said, their trademark pizza, named (of course) Pinocchio Pizza, might have had the strangest mix of ingredients. It had mushrooms, olives, sweet peppers, prawns, anchovies, sausage and artichokes. So it was like a combination of two or three different pizzas. Of course, I had to try it. Quite an experience. Surprisingly, Wolfie wanted to try it, so I had to share a few bites. And he liked it too. Moral of the story: you can get creative with a pizza.

Un bateau vu de haut

 Photo prise à Brighton, du haut de la tour Brighton i360. J'ai blogué sur notre expérience à i360 il y a un mois. C'est trop court, mais c'est assez plaisant: on voit la mer et la plage vues de haut. Et aussi beaucoup de petits bateaux. Je n'ai pas pris de très bons clichés, je dois l'admettre, mais quand même, c'est toujours impressionnant de voir un bateau à partir d'une hauteur. Enfin bref, c'est ça, j'ai pensé partager cette photo de voyage, rien que parce que.