Le nouvel arbre derrière chez nous

Nous avons comme voisins d'en arrière un édifice à bureaux ou, pour être plus exact, le stationnement d'un grand édifice à bureaux. Je crois qu'il n'y a qu'une seule compagnie qui y réside. Enfin bref, l'avantage d'avoir des employés de bureau comme voisins, c'est que c'est tranquille les fins de semaines et le soir. Depuis la pandémie, c'est encore mieux: le stationnement est presque vide à l'année longue. L'ennui avec eux, cependant, c'est que pour raison quelconque ils ont abattu les arbres qui longeaient une partie du stationnement, juste derrière notre jardin. Alors nous étions un peu exposés, ce que je n'aimais pas. Sauf que j'ai remarqué il y a quelques jours ces branches au dessus de notre clôture. Ils en ont planté un nouveau. En espérant qu'il grandisse vite.

A Praise Of Our Neighbourhood

Yesterday, I went to my writing workshop. It was a great time, but this is not what I wanted to blog about. As it was in a different place as usual, I got a lift from some of my fellow writers. After the fairly short journey from my house to our host's house, my lift told me that he really liked my neighbourhood. At the end of a quiet road with lots of trees, surrounded by them in fact, he really thought it was a great place, just far enough from the centre. Oh, and from a walking distance of a country pub he likes. I knew of the pub, I had been there a few times, but didn't know it was from a walking distance from us. Good to know. I never thought someone would say this of our neighbourhood, which we always thought wa slower middle class at best, so it felt good to hear it.

Progress on the work front

I have some fairly good news to announce today: if everything goes well (touch wood) I should be starting a new job this Wednesday. I say "fairly good news" as this may not be permanent and it is only part-time, something I was not really aiming at when I started job hunting. But it will provide me an income, it will patch a hole in my CV that was getting a bit too wide for my liking and it is working from home. The job itself is fairly easy, something I have been doing well in the past and it is a decent pay. And it should give me a lot of free time, which is always good. So I am a bit nervous but overall happy with the developments.

Return Home Away From Home

 In case you did not guessed, we are back home. I say "back home", and truly we are in our house, but not in the country that I call my home. I still feel like a foreigner in England, even though my wife and my son are English. I am jetlagged, tired, the house is cold, but I am glad to be back, because holidays are exhausting. I am still sad about all the things we missed, all the things we will be missing here, and of all the things I wanted to do there but did not have time. So many people to see. Anyway, it is back to normal for me today, I will try to get through the jetlag and keep myself busy.

Une cabane à chauves-souris sous la neige

Petite découverte hier lors de notre sortie dans la neige: mon père a installé une cabane à chauves-souris au sommet du mur de la remise. J'ai vérifié et la cabane demeure inhabitée. Dommage. Pas de chauve-souris qui y hiberne. Quand même, j'aime avoir des chauves-souris comme voisines. J'espère que la cabane sera habitée le printemps venu: les chauves-souris, c'est pratique pour contrôler les populations d'insectes. Dans tous les cas, c'est une jolie image avec le chapeau de neige.

Bat House

We went to a local fayre about two weeks ago, one of my favourite ones because it's in my favourite time of the year. In one of the stands, they were selling various bird houses as well as bat houses. I love bats, for many reasons, one of them is that they eat insects. And I know we have them around here, I oftens ee them flying in the evening. I don't see them much, they are very elusive. But I considered buyingone house for them. The only problem is that I don't think I would be able to install the house properly. So I decided not to buy it. But I regret it now.

Back to work today

So as the title of this podt states, I am back to work today, after a long holiday break. As it was a bank holiday yesterday, I am starting on a Tuesday and the working week will only have four days. And thankfully, I work from home. So I should not complain, things should go fairly smoothly (touch wood), especially since I had a very long holiday break. As always, I am kind of anxious about what happened in the office while I was gone, I always feel like this. It was the very first holiday I took since I started in my new job and so it is my very first return from leave. Otherwise, I don't go back to work with a feeling of gloom and doom like I was with my previous job, not for now anyway. Which is always in itself a positive sign.

Jour du Déménagement (le mien, le vôtre)

 Nous sommes le 1er juillet aujourd'hui, ce qui, bien entendu, veut dire... le Jour du Déménagement. C'est le cas au Québec en tout cas. Incidemment, c'est le 1er juillet 2016, il y a quasiment dix ans, que nous sommes devenus propriétaires, quelques mois avant la naissance de petit loup. Nous avons emménagé dans la maison le lendemain, mais on a livré quelques boîtes la journée même. Je ne fais pas de grandes célébrations comme je le faisais lorsque l'on fêtait l'anniversaire de notre arrivée dans notre ancien appart. Surtout qu'aujourd'hui, l'anniversaire tombe en pleine semaine. Mais je trouve ça assez amusant que, même en Angleterre, j'ai "déménagé" à la même date qu'au Québec on déménage.

First day at the "office"

 When you will be reading these lines, I will have started my first day at my new job. First day at the "office", although this is only technical: I work from home again. Which is one of the good sides of the new job. It has some drawbacks, however: mainly, long working hours and a ghastly early starting time. But it's an interesting company providing an interesting service (completely new to me), the team seems really nice and I will be required to use my French on a daily basis. In fact, I will be using French most of my working day, both with my colleagues and my clients. I think I might be able to get some flexibility regarding the starting time. In any case, I am employed again.

Give a Ghost a Home

Is it too early to think of Halloween? No, it is not. Most definitely not. So anyway, I found a new bookshop in York that also sells... Ghosts for adoption. It is the Little Apple Bookshop, if you want to know. It's a quaint little place, really lovely. Of course, when I saw these little ones, I had to buy one. I wanted to buy more ghosts, but my wife wouldn't let me, which baffled me. I mean, it was only £5. We could have adopted more. York is reputedly very haunted, so the city has plenty to spare. So anyway, I guess we are now the happy owners of a haunted house.

Le solarium

Mes parents ont fait refaire l'extérieur du solarium. Je le trouve un peu austère, sans les plantes grimpantes autour. J'ai toujours aimé notre solarium, lire ce billet de 2013 pour un peu plus de détails.

La cheminée

 Je l'avais blogué le 3 octobre, je pensais faire une mise à jour aujourd'hui: mes parents ont fait réparer la cheminée de la maison. Ils vont enfin pouvoir faire des feux de foyer, un plaisir automnal qui me manque beaucoup. Je me rappelle les soirées, parfois les journées, à s'asseoir au coin du feu. Sans oublier les vins et fromages ou les moments de farniente... Cette cheminée a une histoire et elle a été l'agent de bien des souvenirs.

Refaire la cheminée

 Nouveau billet de chronique automnale (mettons): mes parents font réparer la cheminée de la maison. Qu'est-ce que ça a à voir avec l'automne? C'est en automne que l'on commence à faire des feux de foyer, d'abord. Et il n'y a pas beaucoup de choses plus plaisantes qu'une soirée froide d'automne au coin du feu.

Se sentir misanthrope

 Bon, les deux filles de la voisine font le party en ce moment. Je crois que ça se passe dans la maison d'à côté en tout cas, donc que ce sont elles, mais ça pourrait être plus loin. À tout prendre, c'est peut-être la voisine, mais je crois que les voix que j'entends sont jeunes. Et c'est proche. Je sais, je sais, je passe pour un vieux grincheux: c'est vendredi, elles ont le droit de faire le party, je ne devrais pas me plaindre, mais je n'y peux rien. Je m'entends assez mal avec la voisine (longue histoire), je pensais avoir une soirée calme à lire et peut-être regarder un film. J'espère juste que ça ne continuera pas jusqu'aux petites heures du matin. Il y a des soirs comme ça où je me sens misanthrope.

Les escaliers de Montréal

 Photo prise pas plus tard que cet après-midi sur le Plateau Mont-Royal. Lors de notre promenade juste avant la pluie. Je la publie parce qu'elle montre un élément assez unique de l'architecture montréalaise, l'escalier extérieur tournant. Typique d'ici. Aussi parce que nous sommes le dernier jour du mois d'août et que l'escalier pour moi représente justement une transition. Alors voilà, je crois que c'est une excellente photo pour terminer le mois et notre séjour à Montréal.

Anniversaire d'un déménagement

Nous sommes le premier juillet, ce qui veut dire, pour tous les Québécois le... Jour du Déménagement. Ici, ce n'est pas un jour férié, mais quand même, c'estun anniversaire pour notre famille: c'est aujourd'hui il y a huit ans que nous sommes devenus propriétaires, quelques mois avant l'arrivée de petit loup. Je le souligne à chaque année. Nous avons emménagé le lendemain, mais je souligne à chaque année le premier juillet même. Enfin, je le souligne ici. Je ne le célèbre pas avec de grands sparages comme je le faisais avec les anniversaires de notre ancien appart. Sans doutes parce que la grosse affaire, en 2016, c'était la naissance de petit loup quelques mois plus tard. Devenir propriétaire, c'était important, mais sans commune mesure. Tout de même, devenir propriétaire de sa propre maison, cela mérite d'être souligné.

A railway in the garden

Here is a bit of anecdotal news which I have been wanting to comment on. My wife recently found this article about a home in Oxfordshire that has a railway in its garden. It is up for sale. The railway has been built by a railway enthusiast, obviously, in a country that is full of them and thankfully full of engineers (professional or amateurs) too. The tracks were built in 2007. Anyway, you read the article. Sadly, while we are not far from Oxfordshire, we are not nearby either and at more than a million of course we cannot afford it, but doesn't that sound like a dream house? Well, dream garden, more like. That garden is a proper playground. If I had the house, it would encourage me to tend its garden, even though I am lousy at gardening. Anyway, I know it won't happen, but one can dream.

September Cottage

 A few days ago, we were walking near the old apartment where we used to live when a house caught my atention. Or rather, the name on it. Because yes, sometimes, even a common house in this country has a nice name. This one was "September Cottage". And that is a lovely name. September is of course the first month of autumn, my favourite season. This sign does not look very autumnal, what with its flowers, but all the same, I love the name.

Four years later

 I know, today is the equinox, but it is to me a very special anniversary. A similar one to many people living in the UK, but slightly different in my case. So four years ago, it was leaving the office of my old job for the last time, as the government had ordered total lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was going to work from home for a while. I naively thought it might only be two weeks. Unlike others, I was really looking for it: I hated my job and I hated spending time in the office. Until I found something better, working from home, with no boss breathing down my neck, no petty colleagues, close to my family, it felt like a borderline extended holiday. And it did, until I got furloughed in May 2020, then lost my job in June... To find another one soon after. Four years later, I am happy in my job, I still work (mostly) from home and well, things are much better. So the 20th of March 2020 marks the day I started feeling good again, work-wise.

Living in a Rovos Rail train?

I got this picture from the Facebook page of Rovos Rail, the South African luxury train company. If time and money were no objections, spending time there would be my dream holiday. Wolfie's too. He saw this picture and gave me another Wolfism: "I want to live there, even if it's just a train!" A train, but not just a train. Living in a train, especially a Rovos Rail train, now that's an idea. This view is way better than what we have in our living room, in any case.