Jouer aux pirates

 Cette photo a été prise à Sandown dans l'Isle of Wigh. C'était lors de notre première soirée. Je regardais mes vieilles photos de voyage il y a quelques jours et celle-ci m'a fait penser à ma propre enfance. Mon père avait une chaloupe qu'il utilisait pour aller pêcher le saumon, elle était dans la remise chez ma grand-mère. Quand il allait pêcher, il laissait la chaloupe quelques jours dans l'entrée de la maison. Nous passions alors plusieurs jours à jouer dedans, mes frères et moi. Et nous jouions toujours aux pirates. Le bateau avait à peu près la même grandeur que ce bateau-là. On pouvait passer des heures sur notre "bateau pirate," des scenarios très élaborés. Quand la chaloupe etait remisée à nouveau chez grand-maman, on continuait en faisant de la gallerie d'en avant le bateau.

Le foyer dans le pub

J'ai pris cette photo dans un pub de Sandown à l'Isle of Wight.  Le même pub sur lequel j'ai blogué plus tôt. C'est peut-êtreun peu nono de ma part, mais j'ai toujours beaucoup aimé les foyers dans les pubs, surtout les vieux pubs comme celui-là. C'est une des nombreuses choses qui distingue les pubs des bars. Non seulement ça donne à l'endroit de l'atmosphère, mais les pubs sont vraiment à bien des égards des milieux de vie: on y boit, on y mange, on y dort parfois (certains sont des auberges, bien que ce soit plus rare maintenant). Et c'est ouvert aux familles.

Boxing Academy ("Defence Not Defiance")

I found this vintage publicity in a pub (sadly I cannot remember which one) in Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Now I love old pieces of vintage stuff on a normal day, but this one I found it particularly interesting. I love it for many. First, I love the motto at the bottom: "Defence not Defiance". I find it strong and quietly assertive. It reminds me of the bits of wisdom I received during my old Krav Maga training (which I need to get back into. Then I love the old fashioned, slightly ridiculous yet dignified look of the fighters here. I also find funny the now pathetic amount of money you could win to beat Bombardier Hughes, whoever he was. Oh and for the record I know who Gentleman Jim was. I don't know much about him, but I know the name. So, yeah. In sum, I love that picture.

Fish and Chips for Good Friday

First I want to wish a happy Good Friday to my readers. Even though it is meant to be an austere day. It is not austere to me, in any case. As it is Good Friday, I am going to have fish and chips today. You know, because fasting and all that. I don't know where I will buy the fish and chips. I had the ones on that picture in a pub of Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Not sure if I can find a cod as good as the one we can find on an island, but there's plenty of decent chippy shops round here. And I haven't eaten fish and chips in months, so it is long overdue.

Countdown to Halloween

We are the first of October, so the Countdown to Halloween has officially begun. Officiously, I think I have been counting the days since last Halloween. I took this picture in a shop in Sandown on the he Isle of Wight. I blogged about that... thing here. So for a month, this blog is going to be all about Halloween and all its aspects. To each and everyone of you, old readers and new, happy countdown! Let's have a spooky time.

Orchard Thieves

I saw this bar mat in a pub in the Isle of Wight. I had already drunk my share of beer, so i did not try the cider, but I wanted to try it just for the name. Orchard Thieves sounds sovery cool. I think cider is an autumnal drink, because it's made from apples, the autumnal fruit if there is one I also associate foxes with autumn, because of their fiery colours. So I will try to find this cider somewhere, so I can drink it this season. Even though it's owned by Heineken. I'm terrible.

Seafood Dipping Platter

During our time on the Isle of Wight, I wanted to enjoy as much as possible the products of the sea, as you know. As I could not always go for fish and chips, I tried to vary my meals a bit. One dish you often find in pubs on the Isle is the seafood dipping platter, which I tried once. It was exactly what I wanted. This one had salt and pepper squid, scampi and blanchbait. Deep fried of course, so I guess it was not really different from fish and chips, especially with the Tartar sauce, but all the same, it felt very right. It's like something you eat when you are famished, yet it is almost fancy.

Fish & Chips in the Isle of Wight

During our stay in the Isle of Wight, as we were by the sea, I of course wanted to try the local fish and chips. In fact, I was thinking to have an almost pescetarian diet. If I'm not mistaken, I hadn't had fish and chips since Good Friday. So it was long overdue. I had it on our second night, in the hotel's restaurant. I was not disappointed. It was more expensive than the local chips shop and, to be honest, maybe not quite as good or the portion as generous, but it was filling enough and delicious. So that was my first fish and chips, but I actually had the same meal another evening.

A Lighthouse(?)

 Here is another picture from our time in the the Isle of Wight, taken from the beach at Sandown. It's a lighthouse, or at least I think it is. It might be a landmark for all I know. I don't remember seeing it lit at night, but then again we didn't really go out when it was pitch black outside. It's not a great picture (might not even be a good one, I'm afraid I am a terrible photographer), but you can see the very English white cliffs. Maybe it's a lighthouse that is no longer in use, it does look quite old.

A new bookmark

We buy all sorts of things when we visit places on holiday (or just on special days out). When we stop at the souvenirs shop, I often buy bookmarks. It might not be as complex as collecting stamps or butterflies, but bookmarks are very useful and from experience, one can never have enough (not in this household anyway). It also makes for nice souvenirs: every time you use the bookmark, you take a moment to remember your visit and unlike many other souvenirs, it barely take any space at all. So when we went to Wildheart Animal Sanctuary on the Isle of Wight, I bought myself this bookmark. I love the lush dark green colour with the gold lettering. Oh yes, and if you cannot see it: on top there is a heart and a lion. Very fitting because, you know, it's from Wildheart. Anyway, I lov my new bookmark. Now I need to find a book for it. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

Wight Squirrel

During our time on the Isle of Wight, I had to try some local beauties. By that I mean local ales, of course. It took me longer than expected, actually, as we only went into a local pub a few days into our stay. On one of these occasions, I drank Wight Squirrel from Goddards Brewery. An aptly named red bitter. Red squirrels are apparently still fairly common in the Isle of Wight, unlike other parts of the UK, as it is an island and it kept the population of red squirrels isolated from competing species. But anyway it's a really nice beer, dark and full of flavour, just like I love them.

Un Traversier pour Wolfie

Lors de notre séjour à Sandown dans l'Isle of Wigh, nous avons acheté quelques souvenirs, surtout des jouets pour Wolfie. Ce n'est pas son premier bateau, mais c'est son premier ferry, enfin traversier comme on le dit au Québec. Il tenait beaucoup à l'avoir, moi je l'aimais bien, mais j'étais sceptique: un peu gros pour les valises et je craignais qu'il ne se casse. Finalement, il est intact, après des heures de voyage. Et j'avoue que je l'aime bien. Vous le voyez ici dans le bain de notre chambre d'hôtel, avec de l'authentique sable de la plage. Maintenant, je veux qu'il dise traversier et non pas ferry. Parce que.

The Jolly Roger

One of the things I noticed on the Isle of Wight is the presence of the Jolly Roger. This picture was taken at Sandown, but you can really find them everywhere. It is as if the whole island had been taken over and run by pirates. I guess that it cannot be worse than being invaded by tourists all the time. And I'm not sure that the island has much if any history with piracy, it's just the romantic and exotic notions of piracy these flags remind us of. But I enjoyed their presence all the same.

First Sign of Halloween

One of the happy things I found during our holiday on the Isle of Wight is the very first sign of Halloween in the window of an antique or thrift shop in Sandown. A pear shaped Jack O'Lantern used as a sort of engine by a two ghosts, one of which has the head of a jack o'lantern and a pointy witch hat. Not sure how old that is, but it is very much second-hand and looks uber cool. I know it's just an old thing, but still, if it was worth putting on display on the shop window, it means Halloween is coming for other people too. Be that as it may, I like the way the owner thinks.

Beach Hut

Something struck me early on during our stay on Isle of Wight: the beach in Sandown had lots of beach huts. I have been to beaches before, in the UK and elsewhere, but never noticed them, or at least never noticed them that much. They seemed quite friendly, with their colourful, well, colours and their signs saying "Hire me!" (like this one). But we never rent one: Our hotel was right in front, so that would have been pretty useless (rather expensive too). Still, they looked quite cute.

Back from the Isle of Wight

If you were wondering why I was not blogging this last week, well, as I mentioned in my French post, we were on the Isle of Wight on holiday. We got back today. So expect a few posts about it in the upcoming days, with plenty of pictures. This one was taken at Sandown where we stayed. The town was a bit rundown at apparently has seen better days, but hey, we were right in front of the beach and we had plenty of attractions to visit. We didn't do nearly as much as we could have done, but on holiday sometimes you just need to chill out. And it was our first holiday away from home since 2019, so just for that they were very enjoyable.