The chill in the air

Sometimes, one counts his blessings, knowing it will not last. We had one dreadful heatwave and another one is forecast, starting this weekend. But since the end of the last one, we had surprisingly cool weather. With lots of rain, but not only rain: I actually had to wear long sleeve shirts and light jumpers to stay warm. It struck me a few days ago: my wife had opened the bedroom windows, it made the whole place feeling chilly and cool, and oh so fresh, it truly felt wonderful. Almost autumnal, although not quite (my favourite season has a different smell). Still, it made me forget that summer has only started. I'm really enjoying this.

Les sandales

 Petit billet estival, rien que parce que faut s'y faire. Je m'y fais très mal, mais enfin bref, c'est vraiment l'été. Et que porter en été? Des vêtements légers. Sur les pieds, des sandales. Mon frère Andrew en porte jusqu'en novembre, je crois. Bon, j'exagère, mais je regardais les photos datant de notre dernière visite à Montréal, en août 2024, et il portait toujours des sandales. Ce qui m'a frappé, c'est que 1)mon frère est la seule personne dans la famille qui porte des sandales durant l'été, 2)il porte les sandales depuis des années et 3)ça doit bien faire au moins quarante ans que je n'en porte plus.

Military 1st(?)

 I don't know what the YouTube algorithms tell me about myself, but for the last few weeks, I have been seeing adverts about Military 1st, an army surplus shop that sells, among other things, combat clothing, outdoor clothing and tactical gears. Maybe because I like olive and forest green clothes? (Ironically enough, my wife hates green clothes.) But surely, YouTube cannot know this about me. Anyway, I had a look on their website. There are a few of their clothing articles that look nice in a totally unpretentious way and, well, green, but I don't do enough outdoors activities to order any. Still, it's kind of spooky to get such marketing every time I watch a YouTube video.

Question existentielle (405)

 Question existentielle venant d'un homme qui déteste magasiner pour des vêtements:

-Peut-on être élégant sans être prétentieux ou snob? 

Qui sait, ça fera peut-être une controverse. 

It feels like autumn

We are having a very strange month of May these days: while it started hot, borderline summery, temperatures have suddenly dropped dramatically. So today and from what I can understand the rest of the week, it will be around 15 degrees Celsius, sometimes even lower. I had to put on my warm jumpers today and will do the same tomorrow. If it wasn't for the trees being green and the flowers in bloom, one would believe that we are in autumn. It feels like autumn anyway. I'm glad, as I don't like the heat and I love autumn (as you probably know if you have been following this blog for a while). I am worried things might change soon enough, so I make the best of the here and now.

Ye Olde Denim Jacket

My wife has an old, old denim jacket. She seldom wears it anymore: as far as I can tell, only a few days during summertime, when it is warm enough to only need a very light jacket. Of course, only on a dry day, otherwise the jacket is pretty pointless. Anyway, when we got it out again, we discussed about its age. My wife can't remember when she bought it exactly, but she reckon it's not much older than a decade. I, on the other hand, think it dates back from when we started dating, so must be more than twenty years old, at the very least. I remember she was wearing a denim jacket during our first dates and I have a very good memory (I'm not joking, I really have a good memory). Anyway, now I will have to take a look at old pictures to see which one of us is most likely to be correct. Moral of the story: memory is treacherous, but also serious business.

Le temps du Kanuk léger

Il fait plus doux ces temps-ci, il devrait même faire dans les 20 degrés, quoique pas très haut. J'ai regardé, et la tmepérature ne devrait pas changer, alors il est temps de troquer mon manteau d'hiver pour mon manteau d'été. Je dis manteau d'hiver, mais c'est un manteau de printemps Kanuk. Ici c'est assez chaud pour durer l'automne, l'hiver et le printemps. J'ai un manteau d'été Kanuk, acheté il y a plus de dix ans, que je mets de mai à octobre environ. Avec le harfang des neiges inimitable.

Farewell to the local Mountain Warehouse

 I learned some very sad news last weekend. As we were walking downtown, I saw that there was a closing down sale at the local Mountain Warehouse. Now I know I'm not exactly the natural target customer for Mountain Warehouse. I don't do hiking or much outdoors activities. But I still enjoy their products, especially their clothes. And their enamel mugs, and other things. Anyway, the shop os going to close down permanently at the end of May, so I have time to make a few purchases at a really good price. I guess that's one positive thing. All the same, I wish it didn't have to shut down.

Black socks on a plane

 I read this article in the Metro a while ago now. Well, a long while ago: about a month, to be precise. I am therefore very late in the news, but I wanted to mention it to you, for safety reasons. So without further ado: when you travel on a plane, do not wear black socks. Especially if you take your shoes off. As they are hard to see in the dark, you risk getting stepped on, or have a whole food and drink trolley roll over your feet. So yes, avoid black socks when you travel. I don't know when I will go on a plane, but I will now keep this advice in mind. Thankfully, I have a lot of bright, colourful socks. I even blog about them sometimes. So yeah, I should be safe. 

Sherlock Holmes on the Moors

 I blogged back in February about the first edition I read of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I took this image from the book. You can see Sherlock Holmes in his iconographic if apocryphal clothes, with a deerstalker hat, but an ordinary coat and not an Inverness cape, for some reason. Still, the hat gives him away immediately. In this image, it makes some sense that he is wearing this, as he is on the Devon's moors. Some illustrators and movies have Holmes dressed like this in the middle London, which is patently absurd. Anyway, I think it would be nice to revisit Devon, but more inland this time. Follow the footsteps of Sherlock Homes, when he investigated an old legend who turned into a murder conspiracy.

Le thermostat québécois (printemps VS automne)

Il y a quelques jours, une amie a posté ce meme dans un chat que nous avons. Il m'a bien fait rire. C'est bien entendu authentique. C'est drôle parce que c'est vrai. Bon, j'ai vu des memes semblables ailleurs, enfin qui parlaient du même sujet, ce n'est pas exclusivement une réalité québécoise, mais quand même. C'est vrai que notre rapport à la température dépend des circonstances. Même ici, j'ai souvent un sentiment d'horreur quand la température monte jusqu'à 15 degrés. Bon, je ne porte pas de t-shirt, mais je m'habille plus légèrement. Plus légèrement, dans tous les cas, que lorsque la température tombe à 15 degrés pour la première fois en automne. Mais c'est lorsque c'est trois degrés que c'est le plus frappant: si ça monte à trois degrés au printemps, après un long hiver, j'ai (trop) chaud. À l'automne, c'est un bonheur incomparable.

La garde-robe

Bon, ben, il faut se rendre à l'évidence; le contenu de ma garde-robe commence à se faire vieux, voire ancien. J'ai reçu un gilet à Noël de ma mère, acheté une chemise en septembre dernier, autrement mes derniers vêtements datent pour la plupart des semaines avant la pandémie. Sauf les bas: je les use à la semelle, alors j'en achète plus régulièrement. Mais enfin bref, moi qui déteste magasiner du linge, je vais devoir le faire bientôt.

Mitaine perdue

Les joies d'être un parent dont l'enfant est d'âge scolaire: des fois on trouve des vêtements perdus sur le chemin de l'école ou lors du retour. Ou sur le terrain de l'école, parfois. Je le mentionnais il y a peu de temps: on trouve pleins de gants. Et des mitaines aussi, comme vous popuvez le voir. Petit loup et moi, nous avons fait nos bons Samaritains et nous l'avons donnée à la directrice. Je ne sais pas si elle a trouv. la propriétaire (j'imagine que c'était une petite fille, je sais que je suis genré, mais bon elle est rose, quoiqu'on sait jamais.) Je l'espère, parce que l'idée d'une fille de maternelle qui pleure parce qu'il lui manque une mitaine me fend le coeur.

Black and Blue

 Yesterday, when we picked up Wolfie from school, we saw that the dad of one of his classmate was wearing a suit instead of the usual sloppy dad clothes we dads all wear on school runs. A black suit and a blue shirt, no tie. I said to my wife he probably went to a job interview. I was brave (or reckless?) enough to ask him: "Black suit, blue shirt, that's a dead giveaway that you went to a job interview, am I right?" I was right. Thankfully, I was right and he was not back from a funeral or something else. Anyway, I think that deserves to be a great unknown line. I knew he was wearing a suit for a job interview because I did the exact same thing last week, also a black suit with a blue shirt. It's perfect for interviews ad you appear professional, but the blue is not an agressive colour, so you come off as friendly. It's also perfect for all formal occasions: funerals, weddings, baptisms, first communions, etc. But especially for job interviews. Oh, and for the record, he got the job. I didn't.

Safari Outfits in South Africa

At the moment, I am rereading South African crime writer Deon Meyer's novel Blood Safari. I know I have a huge pile of TBR, however I was in the mood to revisit this novel as it features one of my favourite characters of Meyer, troubled bodyguard and sort of private eye Martin Lemmer. And sometimes rediscovering novels you enjoyed years ago (more than a decade for this particular one) is just what you need. Anyway, so rereading Blood Safari, I discovered that one of the characters, a middle aged barmaid who is attracted to Lemmer, makes an observation about tourists in South Africa, the very same another character of Meyer made in another novel (more details in this post from 2016). She notices that among tourists, "(...) the foreigners wear safari outfits." Ouch. If I ever visit South Africa, which I hope to do one day, I swear I will not commit that faux pas.

$500 on boots/books

I found this meme recently and it made me laugh, so I thought I would share it here. Funnily enough, I did spend good money recently on boots (although not quite that much) and I regret nothing, but yes, I could be wild enough to spend that much on books. Although I would probably need to go to the bookshop alone and hide my purchases once I get home, as my wife would be mental if she saw me with $500 (£250?) worth of books.

Vieux chandail vert

Quand je reviens chez mes parents, je redécouvre des vieilles choses. Comme ce vieux chandail vert, qui a environ 25 ans d'âge. Il est vieux, troué, mais il me fait encore et est toujours très confortable. Ma femme déteste le vert comme couleur, surtout comme couleur de vêtement, pour une raison quelconque. Mais je songe à l'expatrier avec moi. Sans doute que je vais le garder ici: j'ai en masse de chandails chauds à la maison et celui-ci commence sérieusement à défraîchir. Quand même, je le porte toujours avec plaisir.

Christmas Yeti

'Tis the season to be wearing. When Christmas comes, we wear Christmas clothes. I have mine, my wife has hers, and Wolfie too. I think Wolfie has the coolest one, at least for a little boy. It's my wife who found it: a Christmas jumper with a yeti on it. And well, it's just really , really cool.

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.

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.