First presents wrapped

Here is a quick post about Christmas preparations. I am being slow, but yesterday, Wolfie and I wrapped together the presents to his cousins, my nephews, aka my brother Andrew's sons. I'm not going to blog pictures of the presents, because I am terrible at wrapping, even Wolfie told me I was hopeless. But it gets me in the mood for Christmas. Anyway, what about you, dear readers? Did you start wrapping the presents, or you leave it to the last minute?

Festin de Noël

J'ai blogué une photo similaire l'an dernier, ma mère l'avait prise dans la résidence d'une de mes tantes. C'est une représentation artistique d'un festin des Fêtes. Noël s'en vient et j'avoue que je commence à avoir hâte de me goinfrer.

A Thriller on the Swedish Railway

You may remember last year, I got my hands on  The Arctic Railway Assassin. It's part of the Adventures on a Train series, some crime fiction and adventure novel for children. Of course, I thought it would be for Wolfie, but it's really a book to be enjoyed together, father and son. It has a lot of things I love: a crime story, set in a train, during Christmastime and in a wintery landscape. What more can I ask for? We didn't have time to read it last Christmas, but we have started now. And there's another thing I discovered about it that makes me really like it: it's actually set in Sweden. What more can one want for a Christmas thriller?

Les bûches de Première moisson

 Photo prise sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Ils ont bien entendu sorti leurs bûches de Noël, qui sont un peu carrées à mon goût, mais bon. J'aimerais quand même y goûter. Je ne sais pas si je vais avoir l'occasion cette année.

Christmas Activities

Sometimes, I buy things for Wolfie, but truly, I buy them for me. I went to town a few days ago, and I saw Usborne Christmas Activities in a shop. I bought it right away. It is a great book of games for the Christmas holidays, but it can also be used as a sort of Advent calendar. It should keep us entertained until Christmas, in any case.

Village de Noël

 Nous sommes allés dans un magasin la fin de semaine dernière et nous y avons vu bien des patentes de Noël, dont ce village de Noël. C'est une condition quand vient le temps des Fêtes: les commerces montrent des scènes hivernales hyper typiques, montrant un Noël qui n'existe pas ou plus, avec de la neige, des sapins de Noël et, dans ce cas-ci, des skieurs (ou des gens qui se prêtent à d'autres activités hivernales). C'est une nécessité au pied de l'arbre de Noël également, d'ailleurs j'essaie de convaincre petit loup de bâtir le nôtre.

White the Husky Dog

 No, no, we didn't buy a dog. Last year, when we went to the petting zoo and visited Santa's Grotto in the North Pole, Wolfie had the right to build one plush toy for Christmas. It's the same every year: one toy, one plush toy, which he builds himself. Every year he goes for a different teddy. As the family's menagerie is full of bears already (and bears of all sorts), he went for the husky dog, As it seemed both original and fitting with Christmas somehow. He called him White because his belly is all white.

Les Bouquinistes durant Noël

 Photo prise sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes. J'espère pouvoir y aller durant les Fêtes...

Everything Train for Christmas

You may remember that last year I blogged about the Christmas presents you could buy at the shop of the the National Railway Museum in York. My wife spoiled me last Christmas with, well, lots of train related gifts, among them a Christmas train jumper (which you can see on this picture) and scarf. I think most of the presents she bought me were from the NRM, actually. You know how much I associate Christmas with trains. It is even more so now.

Ciné-cadeau est commencé

Je veux faire un petit rappel pour mes lecteurs du Québec, surtout ceux qui ont des enfants: Ciné-cadeau est commencé depuis le 5 décembre. Il me semble, je me trompe peut-être, que ça commence beaucoup plus tôt que quand j'étais jeune. Pas que je m'en plaigne (ou pas que je m'en plaindrais si je vivais au Québec): ça fait durer le plaisir et ça nous permet aussi de patienter d'ici à Noël. Mais sinon, dites-moi ce que vous pensez de la cuvée 2025 et si vous regardez Ciné-cadeau déjà.

Spiced Mulled Wine

I went to a local Christmas fayre recently. Our little town has one every year, I try to go there if I can. It's pretty much the same every year mostly a night of shopping for Christmas, but it is also the opportunity to eat and drink. And, often, to drink the first cup of mulled wine. There were stalls selling it everywhere. I took a glass from The Spiced Wine Company. Not sure why this one or another, as it was a quid more expensive, but I enjoyed the drink anyway. All warm and spicy and seasonal.

Neige encore

 Une autre photo de la neige à Chicoutimi, rien que parce que.

Crime Fiction during Advent

 I found this picture thanks to Books Are My Bag. Although I did not get my hands on this issue of Booktime, its cover got brought my attention to Murder By Christmas. You know I associate Christmastime with crime fiction, so I spent Advent reading crime fiction. I am kind of kicking myself that I did not buy this book to have as my literary Advent calendar. I have been wanting an Advent calendar related to crime fiction since, like forever. Maybe for next year.

La légende de Saint Nicolas

C'est la Saint-Nicolas aujourd'hui. Je partage donc une vidéo que j'ai trouvée aujourd'hui, qui raconte la légende sinistre que j'aime tant, ainsi que bien des choses sur le Père Fouettard et Krampus, ainsi que quelques légendes locales sur Saint Nicolas.

Grieving for Mozart

Sad anniversary which I commemorate every year: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on the fifth of December 1791. His Requiem is  played all around the world to commemorate, I am doing the same here on this blog. It's been centuries, but the grief is still fresh: Wolferl died young, he died with an unfinished masterpiece. And I also thought this is a good opportunity to share a picture from our last trip to Austria. His statue in Salzburg. Sadly we didn'y visit his grave, even though he does not rest in it. Be that as it may, Requiem Aeternam, Amadeus. Dead, but truly immortal.

Neige

 Photo de la neige au Saguenay, à Chicoutimi. Elle date un peu, mais je la partage rien que parce que c'est l'hiver pour vrai au moins quelque part dans le monde.

Time for Christmascrimes

 'Tis the season to be reading, and, in my case, to read crime fiction. Especially crime fiction set during Christmas.  We had #Noirvember last month, I think there should be a #Christmascrime. But I am currently stuck when it comes to crime fiction: I am a bit bored with the novel I am reading, as I feared I would be, and it's not in season enough. So I am wondering if I should take a break from it and reread one Christmas crime novel I already read. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series has a few titlesset in the Season, including The Pusher. Just for the very first sentence, "Winter came in like an anarchist with a bomb", I think I want to get back to it. But there are so many others to rediscover. And I could check in my TBR list if there isn't one set during Christmas, or at least in winter.

Les Bouquinistes durant les Fêtes

Photo prise sur la page Facebook des Bouquinistes. Ma librairie régionale préférée se met dans l'esprit de Noël et ils observent l'Avent en faisant des tirages de bouquins, notamment. Les Fêtes, c'est souvent pour moi les librairies, surtout les librairies locales. Alors donc je vous encourage à aller faire le plein de cadeaux aux Bouquinistes, si vous pouvez.

North Star Bucks Coffee

During our last family trip to a near(ish) petting zoo, which lead us to the North Pole through Christmas magic (or so said the elves who were not very little), we made a few discoveries. Wolfie was very skeptical it was the real North Pole, but I think it was. Asit turns out, they have their own coffee shop for Santa's helpers and anyone else living there: the North Star Bucks Coffee. Not related to a certain coffee chain. Of course, the bucks are meant to be reindeers and the North Star the actual North Start. I took a picture for proof of its existence.

Des rennes

 Noël ne serait pas Noël sans quelques rennes pour tirer le traineau du Père Noël. Même des rennes artificiels. Enfin bref, lors de notre dernière visite à la ferme pour enfants, où nous avons semble-t-il magiquement voyagé au Pôle Nord (petit loup est sceptique sur ce dernier point), j'ai pris cette photo des rennes qui tiraient un traineau immobile. Avec les sapins en arrière-plan, ça fait plutôt joli. Qu'en pensez-vous? Mais bon, j'ai hâte d'en voir des vrais. Je partagerai les photos dès que possible.

Wishing Tree

 Last weekend, we went to a nearby(ish) petting zoo for their special Christmas event, which included a visit to the North Pole to see Santa. Wolfie loves it. We think it might have been the real Santa, but we cannot be sure. Wolfie thinks he was, but he thinks this wasn't the real North Pole, even though the helpers told us we got there through magic. Anyway, there were many wonders there, including this WIshing Tree: you pick up the North Pole snow at its base, you blow it and make a wish. I don't know why there was a bear in the branches, but why not. Maybe the bear was the guardian of the tree? In any case, I'm sure this was a real magical Wishing Tree.

Murale de Noël

Photo prise sur la page Facebook de la Bouquinerie du Plateau hier. Je crois comprendre que la librairie a réouverte. Mais je partage parce que leur murale, même si elle est visible à l'année, est vraiment une murale de Noël.

Roasted Nuts for Christmas

 I love the products of  Rebellion Beer. I love their beers all time of year, but especially come Christmastime, because they really have perfectly seasonal ones. So yesterday, we went to a day out at the petting zoo, our first Christmassee day out, and I saw they were selling Roasted Nuts. Roasted Nuts is available all year round now, but it truly is a Christmas beer in my eyes. So I had half a pint, because that was the only format they were selling it into. On a cold day like yesterday, it's a pleasure.

La Marche des Rois

Comme le veut la tradition sur ce blogue, je partage La marche des rois. Je le fais parce que c'est le premier décembre, premier jour de l'Avent (en fait non, officiellement c'était hier, mais bon, ça n'a pas d'importance,pour tout le monde ça commence avec décembre).

The Marlow Donkey (the railway line)

I took this picture in one of our latest trips to Marlow. Before the Marlow Donkey was a pub near the train station, which was bigger than the one they have now, it was the affectionate nickname given to the branch line. I love all things trains and their history, big or small, so I wanted to share it here. If you increase the image, you might be able to read about the line's history.

Série Noire pour l'Avent

 J'ai blogué à plusieurs reprises sur Un beau cadeau, un polar publié par Série Noire. Le roman a cette originalité d'être un polar de l'Avent, donc un roman qui se lit comme un calendrier de l'Avent, un jour, un chapitre. Il y a de ça environ trente ans (je crois que c'était en 1998) que je l'ai vu pour la premièr eet dernière fois. Je regrette amèrement jusqu'à ce jour de ne l'avoir pas acheté. Mais je l'ai mis sur ma liste de cadeaux de Noël et j'espère pouvoir le lire pour l'Avent de l'an prochain. Il doit bien se trouver quelque part.

Christmas in the Jewellery

Is it too early to talk about Christmas? I guess not, although I try to avoid the topic until December, or at least until very late November. Well, it gets hard, as Christmas comes earlier and earlier. So anyway, you may remember that I blogged last year about a jewellery in Marlow that had really nice decorations. They did it again this year, with this big teddy bear and sort of slide of presents. It's very cute. Last time we went into Marlow, I took this picture so I could share it here.

Beaujolais pas nouveau

 Bon, c'est le temps du Beaujolais nouveau. Je ne suis pas un grand amateur de vin, ni encore moins un connaisseur, mais j'aime bien parfois suivre la tendance et les vieilles traditions, enfin bref, il m'arrive de boire du Beaujolais nouveau. Ma femme en a donc commandé lors de notre dernière épicerie. Je me suis rendu compte que c'était du Beaujolais de... 2023. Je l'ai bu quand même. Pour être honnête, je ne fais pas la différence.

The Orient Express Puzzle

You know I love trains, old steam trains and luxury trains, so of course I love the  Orient Express. Since the first time I saw it, some two years ago, I keep seeing it again in posh local shops and it keeps taunting me. I don't even like puzzles all that much, but this one has class. I have it on my present lists for Christmas this year, maybe for my birthday next. In any case, I think it looks very stylish.

Vers un Noël blanc?

Nouvelle météo d'un intérêt certain, on prévoit un hiver d'antan cette année. Enfin! Ce qui veut dire qu'on aura sans doute, je l'espère, touchons du bois, un Noël blanc. Photo prise à Chicoutimi, par mon père, où nous serons pour les Fêtes.

A Lamborghini in the wild

A few days ago, as Wolfie was in a friend's birthday party, my wife and I went to one of the local shops. We saw parked by a Lamborghini, which obviously was drawing all sorts of attention. It was the first time I have seen a Lamborghini, at least in the wild. It is an impressive car, but to be honest, I think it is a foolish purchase here in the UK, given the state of the roads here. It's not exactly meant for cars built for speed. The Lamborghini truly is a car designed to impress rather than be truly practical.

Spaghetti tunisien

Depuis que je suis sans emploi, je fais plus souvent la cuisine. J'aime cuisiner, pour autant que la recette soit simple et familière. Sinon, c'est souvent une catastrophe. Mais enfin bref, ma femme aime quand je fais ce classique qu'est le spaghetti tunisien, même quand je n'y vais pas de main morte avec la harissa. La photo n'est pas géniale, vous ne voyez pas les échalottes ou les champignons, mais ça vous donne une idée. Il y a des restes, alors on en mange encore ce soir.

The Italy Badge

My wife has a Fitbit. I used to have one too, but it had a ridiculously short battery life and I could not sync it, so I stopped using it after a while. But anyway, yesterday she received from her Fitbit a special badge, an "Italy Badge". It means that she has now walked the equivalent of the lenght of Italy. Not sure since when. And sadly, it does not mean that we walked in Italy. I guess it's not the same as being there, but it's a nice milestone all the same. I want to go back to Italy, she wants to go there once, so it's on our list of holiday destinations. Until then, she has the badge.

Deux sopranos du Saguenay

Petite nouvelle régionale et mélomane d'un certain intérêt: les sopranos Élisabeth Boudreault et Marie-Ève Munger seront de retour au Saguenay. Région d'où elles sont originaires, tout comme moi. C'est pourquoi je suis leur carrière depuis un petit bout de temps. Elles vont jouer dans une production de l'Opéra du Royaume de Cendrillon de Jules Massenet. ce sont deux cantatrices de calibre international, je suis donc très fier d'elles, je suis aussi heureux de savoir qu'elles pourront se faire découvrir et redécouvrir par un public local. Je vous invite donc à aller voir la production.

Socks: lost and found

I blogged recently about gloves and socks. The only way I can enjoy clothes shopping is if I buy new socks and gloves. Well, I have a new anecdote about socks, believe it or not. Something that happened recently. Anyway, a few years ago, my mum bought be some really nice, warm socks, Thinsulate ones, the best of the best. I really liked them: they had a nice forest green and ochre colours. And after my last Christmas visit home, I think it was during the pandemic, I lost these socks. For years. I thought they had been eaten by the washing machine, then I even thought I might have imagined the whole thing and never owned the socks in the first place. Well, it turned out that they were stuck behind a drawer. So yeah, long story short, I now have really good Thinsulate socks that are six years old, yet they look brand new. I'm very happy. Moral of the story: warm socks make me happy and they make my day better.

Complainte pour Ste Catherine (à la suédoise)

C'est la Sainte-Catherine, je partage donc une chanson québécoise (comme je le fais chaque année), chantée ici par des Suédoises.

Mince Pie Day

My wife said earlier: "Isn't today Mince Pie Day?" It is and her question deserves to be a great unknown line. And don't for it on Google, this is not the official Mince Pie Day, which was actually yesterday here in the UK. But today is Mince Pie Day in our household. If you have been following this blog, you know what I am referring to. One evening a few years ago, back when I was studying at uni, I was bored and feeling peckish, so I went to the residence's kitchen to eat a mince pie. Then in walked an English girl, who was visiting a friend, housemate of mine. The English girl, of course, was Veggie Carrie. And this was our very first meeting. Since then, I always eat a mince pie on that date.

L'hiver, la neige, etc.

Je partage une autre photo prise par mon père. Parce que c'est déjà l'hiver à Chicoutimi, ce dont je me réjouis. Avec une fierté toute saguenéenne, dois-je ajouter.

Socks and Gloves

It has been cold these lastfew days. Properly cold I mean, around and below zero, like a proper winter. Well, a proper English winter that is. I am a strange beast, I actually enjoy colder days. As long as you wear proper clothes, it is actually quite enjoyable. I don't like shopping, particularly clothes shopping, but I do enjoy from time to time stopping at the local Mountain Warehouse for clothes. Essentially to buy two things: socks and gloves. For myself and for my family. I enjoy other products, but they are the things I buy the most. It is the only instance when I enjoy clothes shopping.

Le Salon du Livre de Montréal, 2025

Annonce d'intérêt public, pour ceux qui peuvent: c'est encore le Salon du livre de Montréal aujourd'hui et demain.

The 87th Precinct for #Noirvember

As we are getting near the end of November, I thought I would make another reading suggestion for #Noirvember. It is one of the novels from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. It is a personal favourite of mine, Lady, Lady I Did It!. I read it more than twenty years ago, when I stumbled upon a second-hand copy of it,on a cold November day, when I was in a forced convalescence. So it had a Noirvember feel to me before the term and the hashtag even existed. It starts on an Indian summer day, when a massacre is committed in a local bookshop. There are multiple (random?) victims, among them Detective Bert Kling's fiancée. So yeah, it's Noir all right.

Fil enneigé

 Photo envoyée par mon père... Un fil tout enneigé (glacé sans doute un peu aussi). Je la partage parce que.

From Russia With Love

As I am reading spy fiction for this year's #Noirvember, it just struck me that some James Bond novels would be really suitable for it. And more enjoyable than what I'm reading, as Ian Fleming is a genuinely good writer. He writes more colourful and itneresting characters, in any case. Anyway, one of the Bond novels I would suggest for Noirvember would be From Russia With Love, which may be one of Fleming's darkest. Not to spoil anything, but its ending is dramatic and very different than one you would expect if you have only seen the movies. It's borderline Noir. Oh and, on a side note, for train afficionados like myself, a fairly lenghty portion of the action is set on the Orient Express. That last point is not Noirvember relevant, but it just makes the novel even cooler.

Il neige. Mettons.

Il a neigé hier. Enfin, un peu. Hier matin, on prévoyait du verglas, on nous avait avertis, puis finalement, ça été trop doux pour la glace. Mais juste assez froid pour qu'il tombe une neige fondante. Ici, dans le sud de l'Angleterre, on est chanceux si jamais on a de la neige à quelque moment que ce soit en hiver. Que ça tombe en plein novembre, même de la neige tombante comme celle-là, c'est presque de la science-fiction. Je ne me plains pas, en fait ça a fait ma journée. Je m'ennuie de la neige à chaque année.

Bourne: The Montreal Connection

As you may remember, I started reading  The Bourne Identity for #Noirvember. As a spy thriller, it's very solid and it keeps me entertained, if nothing else, even though I pretty much know what will happen. As a literary experience, it's a mix bag: Robert Ludlum writes too many words and his dialogues are often stilted and not very natural. He's better at writing plots (albeit with a high number of contrivences) and develop interesting concepts (a man who lost his memory is pursued assassins) than creating believable characters. But anyway, there is one thing that caught my attention, one element that was absent from the the movie adaptation: Marie St-Jacques, the romantic interest of Jason Bourne, is actually French Canadian and studied in Montreal, at McGill. She's a bit bland (then again, so is Bourne, and many others), but I thought this was funny. It's nice to have Montreal being mentioned in a famous spy thriller.

Le retour du pain choco-canneberge

Bonne nouvelle trouvée sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson: ils ont remis sur les tablettes leur pain choco-canneberges. J'ai déjà blogué sur le sujet en 2024. C'est plus un gâteau ou une brioche, en tout cas (entéka? atocas?), c'est un dessert en bonne et dûe forme. Je suis un fan depuis que je l'ai découvert il y a p;us de ving ans et j'espère pouvoir le faire découvrir à mon fils un jour.

730 Posts

 Well, well, well, this is my 730th post on Vraie Fiction this year. So it means that I posted for every day of the year already, one post in French, one post in English. I know blogging is now the least popular of all form of social media expression, but obviously, I really enjoy it and I try to write daily. I guess I pretty much succeeded. I also find that the more you blog, the more you find inspiration to blog. Anyway, I wanted to mention this benchmark today.

La neige au Saguenay

 Autre photo prise par mon père de la neige au Saguenay.

Bradley's Railway Guide

We went to the local bookshop today, just for a quick stop to see if we could find any present ideas for Christmas. Yes, it's early, but Christmas will come soon enough and it's nice to be prepared. Within two minutes, I saw two books about trains that I would love to have. One of them being Bradley's Railway Guide. My wife told me: "You are really too easy to buy presents for." I think it deserves to be a new great unknown line, although she might have said it before. In any case, a quick visit to the local bookshop should get her sorted regarding my presents.

Ciné-cadeau 2025 (observations)

Je voulais commenter à propos de la cuvée Ciné-cadeau 2025. J'ai trouvé le calendrier en ligne, grâce à la page Facebook Souvenirs de Ciné-cadeau. Vous voyez l'horaire ici. Tout d'abord, ça a vraiment changé depuis ses débuts: quand j'étais enfant, il y avait un film Ciné-cadeau en soirée, offert en reprise le lendemain dans l'après-midi, pour ceux qui l'avaient manqué. Maintenant, Ciné-cadeau commence dès le matin. Et ça commence très tôt: dès neuf heures. C'est moins une émission de soirée, d'ailleurs le film de soirée arrive tôt lui aussi. Il y a aussi beaucoup plus de films de nos jours, enfin une plus grande variété. Ou c'est peut-êtreune fausse impression. Dans tous les cas, le format de Ciné-cadeau a beaucoup changé. Qu'en pensez-vous? Vous pouvez me faire part de vos observations dans les commentaires.

Aquila on gemstones

I know I said it before, but I am saying it again: Wolfie receives the best mail. So, yes, he received this month's of Aquila Magazine (tagline: "Big ideas for inquisitive kids") issue and I have been wanting to blog about it for a while now. And this November's Aquila is all about geology. There is a whole section about gemstones, which is pretty cool. He's already been through it more than once, so I can now pick it up and read it myself. Wolfie might not become a geologist, but he loves learning about diamonds, rubies and emeralds, not to mention gold and other metals. So this issue was a winner. Again.

La remise sous la neige

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de la neige qui est tombée, dont celle, obligatoire, de la remise. Une banale remise prend tout un cachet sous la neige.

The Helicopter Heist (#Noirvember read)

I blogged on the 8th about Netflix tv series The Helicopter Heist for #Noirvember. It's a Swedish caper thriller based on a novel by Jonas Bonnier. The novel it itself itself by true events. Since I blogged about it, I found out that The Helicopter Heist has been translated in English. Obviously, the adaptation is giving it a fair deal of exposure. So if I enjoy the series enough (so far I am), I might get my hands on the book. Not for this Noirvember, but maybe next year one. Scandinavian crime fiction is maybe one of the genre trend I have most neglected, so I intend to correct this. But if you have other suggestions, please let me know.

Première tempête de neige à Montréal

Photo prise par mon frère PJ de la neige après la première vraie tempête de neige. Comparez avec sa photo prise la veille. L'hiver prend vraiment le pas sur l'automne. Et ce n'est pas moi qui dit que c'est une vraie tempête de neige, c'est la météo. Et le 11 novembre, il paraît que c'est tôt, en tout cas pour Montréal. Il fût un temps, quand j'étais jeune, où une bordée de neige pareille ce n'était pas inhabituel au début de novembre, en tout cas pas au Saguenay. Dans tous les cas, je commence à me permettre d'espérer qu'elle durera et que ça ne tombera pas en sloshe. Qui sait, on aura peut-être un hiver d'antan cette année.

Narco-Sub

I do like to read a bit of crime news from time to time, and one caught my attention a week ago and I wanted to blog about it: there is a narco-sub that has been intercepted by Portuguese authorities in the middle of the Atlantic. By narco-sub, you must understand it as a submarine carrying 1.7 tonnes fo cocaine. A submarine. Carrying drugs. It's not the first time a submarine carries drugs, but it's rare enough to catch my attention. I am not saying it is cool, but busting certainly is impressive. And this could be the basis for some really neat crime thriller. A bit like an helicopter heist. I would read a novel about it for  is #Noirvember, if there was one.

La neige à Chicoutimi

 Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de la neige qui est tombée sur Chicoutimi. J'en suis vraiment heureux: nous ne sommes même pas encore au milieu de novembre et il neige. C'est pratiquement hivernal au Saguenay.

Poppies in Wallingford

Today is Remembrance Day. I commemorate with a picture I took recently in Wallingford. They had figures like this of soldiers with a poppy at the breast. Simple, beautiful and touching.

Première neige à Montréal

Mon frère a pris cette photo dimanche dernier (je crois). Une première neige est tombée sur Montréal. Nous sommes encore le début de novembre, même au Québec, ou en tout cas à Montréal, avoir de la neige en novembre, c'est un peu tôt. Je ne m'en plaindrai pas cependant, parce que ça pourrait annoncer un hiver blanc. Et puis j'aime ces moments en novembre, de plus en plus rare de nos jours, où l'hiver commence à se montrer et l'automne est toujours là. Ce moment de transition qu'amène la première neige.

Travelling to Antarctica

No, no, don't worry, I don't intend to do it. Not yet anyway. But you may remember back in May 2024, I mentioned that I discovered thanks to Where'd You Go, Bernadette? with my favourite actress Cate Blanchett that you could take holiday trips to Antarctica. Well, a few days ago, during the school run, I heard on the radio an advert about such holiday. I didn't hear much about it, except that they were advertising travelling to Antarctica, but it must have got some traction to be advertised on the radio. If you have ever been, or are considering it, or have seen similar adverts, please let me know in the comments.

La cuvée Ciné-cadeau 2025

 Bonne nouvelle: j'apprends aujourd'hui que la cuvée Ciné-cadeau 2025 est maintenant disponible. Je suis tombé dessus par hasard en googlant, mais c'est bien officiel. Elle a été dévoilée aujourd'hui, ce qui est assez tôt. et elle commence le 5 décembre, assez tôt également. Je vais commenter plus en détails dès que je peux, d'ici là je vous encourage à la consulter et à commenter.

Bourne for #Noirvember

Maybe I'm taking the easy route, but for #Noirvember this year, I have decided to read The Bourne Identity. Yes, I know, I know, Robert Ludlum is an airport novelist and this is not exactly great prose, not even within the genre of spy thriller, but all the same, I have been curious about the original novel since I watched the old TV miniseries back in the late 80s, then the movie adaptation which gave the character of Jason Bourne a second life. Anyway, since I now have plenty of free time, I thought I might as well read something big, but not too demanding. And for all its limitations, it's a pleasant read, with lots of action and suspense. It's not exactly Noir, but it's dark enough.