Thirsty Thursdays

It seems that sometimes, any excuse is good to drink alcohol, even an alliteration. This is what I thought during our last visit to Marlow, when I saw this billboard by The Chequers, a local pub. I don't know if it's a new tradition or just a promotional stunt, but I like the idea. Although I only drink at weekends nowadays.

Preparing for Easter

We are Maundy Thursday, which for the religious among you (although I doubt many if any read this blog), means an important celebration in the time right before Easter. For the Godless heathen that I am, it is... well, it is the last working day before the Easter holidays and the moment when I start panicking before I haven't prepared enough for Easter. No, just kidding, I think we will be all right, albeit I do find that Easter comes a tad too early for my liking this year. Anyway, I will take it easy this evening after work and maybe even tomorrow, but I will also make time to get things ready with Wolfie. When you are a parent, Easter is all about the children.

Jeudredi Saint

Hier en après-midi, le ciel s'est soudainement couvert de nuages noirs. Nous avons ensuite entendu un coup de tonnerre. Il s'est ensuite mis à grêler. La photo que j'ai prise ne lui rend pas justice, ça tombait comme des billes de glace. J'adore les orages, tant que je suis au sec à l'intérieur. J'ai simplement trouvé ça étrange que ça arrive un Jeudi saint et non pas un Vendredi saint, ça aurait été plus circonstanciel. Alors nous avons eu un Jeudredi saint.

One month in lockdown

Today it has been a month since this country has been in lockdown and one month since I started working from home. So far, so good, touch wood. I cannot say that it has been great and there are lots of things I miss, but overall for the reasons stated in this post, I have been pretty happy working from home. Tonight, as every Thursday night, we clapped to show our support for the people working in the NHS. Wolfie stole the show hitting a pan with a spoon. I like this little display of solidarity, it brings people together, figuratively speaking. For a minute or two, we don't feel so locked down.

The Last Supper, Cthulhu style

We are Maundy Thursday and I thought I would sort of "commemorate" (as I'm a Godless heathen) on my blog with a bit of humorous sacrilege. I shared this picture on the blog last year in French. You can recognize the Last Supper, parodied with Cthulhu and other creatures from the Mythos. I guess you must read Lovecraft to truly appreciate, but it's hilarious.

La Dernière Cène, version cthulienne

"C'est fête aujourd'hui
Pour tous les amis
Qui ont répondu
À l'appel de Cthulhu"

Pour la mise en contexte des vers plus haut, veuillez lire ce billet. Sinon, l'illustration que vous voyez ici, je la tiens de mon frère Andrew. J'ai pensé souligner le Jeudi saint avec un peu d'humour blasphématoire et j'ai trouvé que ça faisait parfaitement l'affaire, parce que la Communion et tout ça.

Plus qu'un jour...

Demain, ce sera le Jeudi saint. Le dernier jour de travail avant les vacances de Pâques. Et je me rends compte que j'ai comme besoin de petites vacances. Je sais pas pourquoi, je veux dire je n'ai pas particulièrement beaucoup de travail, moins que je pensais en tout cas à ce temps-ci de l'année. Je pense que tout le stress lié à la recherche (jusqu'ici infructueuse) d'un nouvel appart commence à me peser et ça m'épuise moralement. Je croyais que Pâques arrivait trop tôt cette année, je n'en suis plus si certain. Donc, demain c'est Jeudi saint et j'espère qu'il passera vite et sans emmerdes.

Easter at the door

It is Maundy Thursday today. So Easter is at the door. Lent is nearly over. Often I barely feel the time leading to Easter. Easter just happens. On the way there, the many Easter decorations on display in the shops. (By the way, the picture on this post was taken in a shop in Henley, which I think has a fitting name for a post on Easter.) Sometimes it happens too fast, especially when Easter is in March. This year, since it comes in early April, I find it coming at an adequate time. Anyway, Maundy Thursday evening is the beginning of the Easter holiday, the moment when you can really start looking forward to Easter. The whole forty something days before, it is a long, long wait.

Question existentielle (257)

Bon, c'est Jeudi saint, Pâques arrive bientôt. Je songeais écrire un billet sur mes souvenirs du Jeudi saint (de mon enfance catholique il va sans dire) ainsi que mes impressions sur la journée, mais je suis un peu fatigué. Tout de même, c'est Jeudi saint, alors allons-y pour une question existentielle:

-Quels sont vos souvenirs du Jeudi saint?

Question existentielle (224)

J'ai regardé ce soir un nouvel épisode (enfin, un nouvel épisode ici) de The Big Bang Theory. Et ça peut paraître bête, mais ça m'a donné en tête une question existentielle:

-Pourquoi est-ce que les sitcoms sont souvent présentés le jeudi soir à la télé?

Le blogue au plancher

J'ai lu les statistiques de mon blogue et l'achalandage aujourd'hui, je le reçois chaque jeudi. Ca m'a un peu découragé: 37 visites en moyenne par jour cette semaine. Ouch. Je faisais beaucoup plus par le passé, dans les beaux jours de Vraie Fiction il pouvait y avoir jusqu'à une centaine de visites par jour. Il va falloir que je donne un coup de barre (mais comment?), ou alors le blogue va s'étioler et je risque de fermer boutique. Ca ne vaut pas trop la peine de bloguer pour soi-même.

La Criminelle de la Voie Maltée

Petite plogue régionale et brassicole pour ce jeudi soir, jour des 5 à 7. Lors de mon dernier séjour à Chicoutimi, j'ai rencontré un ami à La Voie Maltée. J'y ai essayé trois bière, dont la Criminelle, que vous voyez sur la photo de gauche. Une bonne stout bien consistante, qui se boit très bien une journée froide. Mon père m'avait dit qu'il n'avait pas aimé outre mesure La Voie Maltée, mais je dois admettre que j'ai bien aimé y être. Peut-être que c'est parce que j'étais au Saguenay, dans une microbrasserie locale, même si sur le Boulevard Talbot, ce n'est pas l'endroit idéal où loger. Mais bon, la Criminelle, c'est une bonne bière.

Thor fights the giant Hrungnir

I know that for my American friends, we are Thanksgiving. But for me it is merely Thursday. Which means the day of Thor. I am referring to the Viking god of course. So I decided to commemorate this Thursday with an image from this book. It represents the story of Thor fighting the giant Hrungnir. You can read tellings of of the story here and here. But I much, much prefer the version of Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology. It was simply more dramatic, made you feel like you were there, watching the fight. The impressive drawings of Giovanni Caselli did help the narrative. It is one of my favourite stories from Norse mythology. I was so impressed by it that in high school, I made an oral presentation on it that bored stiff the class and my teacher. We were supposed to do an oral on an adventure story, the teacher was strongly recommending to take one of those real life stories from the Reader's (In)Digest. I thought what is more of an  adventure than a duel to the death with a giant. After the oral presentation, my teacher had said, with a condescending smile: "Well, it's complicated, your story." Idiot. I had a good mark, but I thought it was a way for him to make sure I'd stay off his back. Moral of the story (mine, not the Viking one): school often sucks big time and does not care one bit about education.

Tomorrow Friday the 13th

This morning at work, there was a technical issue when I punched in. I said: "And we are not even Friday the 13th yet." Which made my colleagues laugh. Not the greatest unknown line, but a great unknown line nevertheless. So we are only Thursday, Friday the 13th is tomorrow, and I don't mind because it is still Friday. And I already have an idea for a blog post.

Thor's Journey to Utgard

It is Thursday, which mean's the Norse god Thor's Day, which is a good excuse as any to upload on Vraie Fiction another image from Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology, another beautiful drawing by Giovanni Caselli. I really wonder how an Italian artist can draw Viking mythology so well. This is one of the bookmark-like image that are at the beginning of every chapter/story of the book. The story in question was titled Thor in the giants' stronghold and was about Thor's journey to Utgard, a giants's fortress where Utgard-Loki reigned (not to be mixed with the God Loki, also featured in the story). You can read an version of the adventure here. There are others you can easily find if you Google. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that in this story, the great Thor seems that he may have met his match. it is a rare thing to see Thor struggling against his sworn enemies the giants and here he struggles to the point of defeat. But nothing is as it seems in mythology. In the image, you can see Thor and his companion journeying into Jotunheim, the land of the giants, surrounded by "typical plants of the northern woods". You can see at the back the mortal Thialfi, his sister Roskva, then Loki the Mischief Maker (gotta love those nicknames) and of course opening the way Thor the Thunder God, holding Mjolnir. Somehow, it reminds me of a players characters party in Dungeons & Dragons, when they venture in a forest.

Dernier jour de janvier

C'est le dernier jour de janvier, enfin, au moment où j'écris ces lignes la dernière soirée de janvier. Janvier au travail est relativement tranquille, alors ça n'a pas été une fin de mois trop difficile. Tout de même, il y a toujours une certaine fatigue qui vient à la fin du mois. Et le mois se termine un jeudi, ce qui donne une certaine nature à la fin du mois: une certaine énergie en réserve parce qu'on n'est pas tout à fait la fin de semaine. Je dis sans doute n'importe quoi. Cela dit, j'aimerais entendre votre avis là dessus.

Thor's Day

After a blog post on the Day of Odin and the Day of Tyr, I had to write one about the Day of Thor, Thursday. The picture at your left is of course taken from this great book and was drawn by Giovanni Caselli. It is the first uploaded picture of 2013. I thought it would be quite fitting as a transition post, after the Christmas holidays, as I associate Viking mythology with Christmas and winter. I am not the only one: my brother read the book during the holidays. it is no more Christmas, but it is still winter.

So, what to say about Thor's Day? About the day and the god, in fact. I have more to say about Thor himself. Thursday is for me the day where the weekend is so close, yet so far. Thursday is also Jupiter's Day (Jeudi as we say in French), who is of course the same god, only with a different name than the Norse's version, and a different place in the godly hierarchy. Thor was an important god, but he was below Odin. I like him enough, but less than Tyr, whom I find more admirable. I do enjoy a lot, however, many of Thor's adventures. I think it is for me the main appeal of Thor: the adventures he lived. They are more interesting to me than the character himself. The image I uploaded is a representation of an episode of Lokrur. I will not spoil the story for you and tell what is in the giant cup the giants have given him. Let's just say it is maybe the ultimate drinking challenge. I hope you enjoy it.

Question existentielle (158)

Je me sens très productif ce soir, je ne sais pas pourquoi. Cela dit, mes billets en français ne sont pas commentés très souvent. J'espère que cette question existentielle saisonnière changera la donne. Je pensais poser une question sur la première neige, mais je me suis rendu compte que je l'avais déjà posée (la 89).  En voici donc une autre, à portée profondément philosophique:

-Quel est votre état d'esprit habituel un jeudi soir?

Miseries of the end of the month

"See you tomorrow", a colleague said as I was leaving the building. "If I am still alive" I answered. It is not very original, but in the context I think it qualifies as a great unknown line. It was such a long, exhausting day. The end of the month is always a busy time, but more so when the week is at its peak, like on... a Thursday. I am tired, I feel like I have been running all day, I barely have the energy to focus on anything. So I am rambling. Am I the only one who feels like this on a Thursday when it is the end of the month? I should be satisfied: I got paid, I made money, I mean I didn't work for nothing today, it was not a frustrating exhaustion. But i just feel tired. So anybody else feels like this?

The usual treat

Tomorrow I have Friday off again. So I will take it easy again and try to finally get over that cold. But this means that my end of week sandwich treat was, this week again, on a Thursday. So I had the usual: smoked salmon baguette with horseradish sauce and all the trimming, cashew nuts and Coca Cola. Nothing spectacular, but it was needed as my working day was exhausting. So the sandwich was good. I am not sure I enjoy the sandwich shop as much as I used to. They used to be all serviceable and friendly. They used to call me "sir". Now I am just a usual client.