Guinness time

It has been more difficult to fully celebrate Saint Paddy's Day this year: lousy weather made us stay home, and with a young child I had to moderate myself in every way. That said, I could not celebrate without one obligatory Guinness. One pint, no more, in the afternoon. This is all I had. I enjoyed it fully. In fact, drinking it I was struck by something: I had forgotten how good a stout is, all smooth, creamy, filling. It used to be my poison for all year round or almost, when I started living in the UK. Guinness was the companion of many drunken nights, and many days of hangovers... Because Guinness is a merciless beer for hangovers. All the same, I still love it.

Corto Maltese en Irlande

Je pensais à donner une suggestion de lecture pour la Saint-Patrick, mais je ne savais pas laquelle, puis ça m'a frappé: la première association littéraire à l'Irlande que j'ai faite est avec Corto Maltese. Il y voyage dans une histoire de l'album appelé Les Celtiques, Concerto en O mineur pour harpe et nitroglycérine, en pleine insurrection. Quand j'ai lu l'histoire pour la première fois, j'avais été choqué de voir les Anglais jouer le mauvais rôle, mais ça m'a fait découvrir l'Irlande. Et comme toute aventure de Corto, c'est un vrai régal, pleine d'atmosphère, poétique, mais avec pour trame de fond l'Histoire avec un grand h. Je partage cette vignette pour vous donner un avant-goût.

Happy Saint-Patrick's Day!

Luck of the Irishman to you all, today and every day. We have started celebrating in this household, albeit modestly: little Wolfie, my wife and I are all dressed in Greek. Well, "all" might be a bit of an exaggeration. My wife hates green on clothes, so she merely decided to wear some socks with shamrock on them. A present from her grandmother when she got back from a holiday in Ireland. The shamrocks only have four cloves, it's old and worn out, but all the same, these socks look uber coo. Our family have some bonds with Ireland: both my wife and I have some Irish blood from our mother's side (albeit in my case my mother's ancestors were Ulster Scots), the wife of my wife's brother is Irish and thus our niece is half Irish and recently decided to claim her Irish citizenship. I try not to push it too hard as I don't want to come off as a plastic Paddy, but on Saint-Patrick's Day, I feel more strongly the kinship I have with Ireland and its people. So does Wolfie, apparently: he really enjoyed the Irish music I played for him earlier.

Smoothie de la Saint-Patrick

Joyeuse Saint-Patrick à tous et à toutes! Je suis toujours sobre en ce moment et je vais sans doute le rester, à part une ou deux pintes de Guinness et de whiskey (peut-être) que je vais boire lentement et avec modération. La paternité exige certains sacrifices. Petit détail qui m'est venu en tête aujourd'hui: je ne comsomme pas assez de fruits et ce serait bien que je boive quelque chose de détox afin de prévenir les effets de l'alcool. La Panthère Verte a fait les années précédentes un smoothie pour la Saint-Patrick, dont ils ont fait la promotion sur leur page Facebook. Je ne sais pas s'ils l'ont encore, mais je connais grosso modo les ingrédients grâce à leurs promotions, alors je vais peut-être m'en faire un à un moment donné. Et puis c'est d'un beau vert irlandais en plus.

The Italian sandwiches

As my readership knows, every Friday I treat myself for lunch with a sandwich made at the local sandwich shop, to celebrate the end of the working week and the beginning of the weekend. This has been the case for my current job and the previous one, albeit obviously the local sandwich shop is now a different one. Back in my old job, when the sandwich shop was closed, I used to go to an Italian grocery shop nearby that was also making sandwiches. Simpler and much cheaper sandwiches. Basically, some cold meats and cheese slices of your choice. Nothing fancy, but delicious in its simplicity. And as the staff was genuinely Italian, I could speak a bit of Italian too. Going there was a treat in every way.

Les berceuses du hibou

Photo prise au Musée de l'Histoire naturelle, je la partage ici car elle sert mon propos. Toujours est-il que notre petit loup est en pleine régression de sommeil ces temps-ci: ça prend des heures (littéralement) à le coucher. Ce qui fait qu'on a recours à un jouet, un hibou (ou une chouette) mécanique à l'allure pas mal moins rébarbative que cette chouette empaillée, qui chante des berceuses, joue de la musique et passe des images de tit hiboux et tites chouettes coiffés de bonnets de nuit sur des lunes avec des étoiles puis toutte le kit. C'est full cute, comme dirait la fille d'un de mes amis. Même si les résultats sont mitigés, ne pas l'utiliser empire immanquablement la situation et petit loup adore le hibou chanteur et son spectacle sons et lumières. Je crois qu'il aime les hiboux et les chouettes en général, en fait. Maintenant si seulement il pouvait dormir...

The Ides of March... on the stage!

Today is the 15th of March, the Ides of March, also known as the day Julius Caesar was murdered. It is an anniversary I commemorate every year on this blog. The date and the name is also famous because of the famous line "Beware the Ides of March" from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Which I have neither read nor watched in its entirety yet. I could have the chance to see it no later than this month, as the National Theatre has the play in production and will broadcast it live on the 22nd of March. It is a fitting time of year to show the play. And a fitting time in British life as well, due to current events, which I don't intend to dwell on for now. It seems that we must indeed beware the Ides of March.

On annonce de la neige...

Photo prise dans le parc près de la job, c'est joli et ça sert mon propos. Tout ça pour dire que malgré le temps doux des derniers jours on annonce encore de la neige pour en fin de semaine. Et on est à la moitié du mois de mars, pratiquement au printemps. J'en ai comme un tantinet ras le bol, surtout qu'ici, ils ne savent pas gérer ça. Morale de l'histoire: même ma nordicité a des limites. Et il faut se méfier des Ides de mars.

A Clockwork Orange in Liverpool

Everybody knows the movie, not as many people know the original novel by Anthony Burgess, but there is another medium to (re)discover A Clockwork Orange if you are in Liverpool: on stage. The Everyman Company made its own adaptation. First I have a rhetorical question: why wasn't such project made when I was working and living in Liverpool? If I didn't have family obligations, I would probably take time off to go and see it. Having lived there for a year, I have an attachment to it, I also consider it a very fitting place for a stage adaptation. It's a Northern city with a history of violence. Burgess loved it almost as much as his native Manchester. In fact, the story of A Clockwork Orange could very well be set in a nightmarish Liverpool. Anyway, it's from Saturday the 14th of April to Thursday the 12th of July, for those lucky enough to go and see it. And here is the video of their rehearsal. It does not merely make me want to see the play, I want to be back on stage just looking at it! Or better still: I want to be on stage, in Liverpool, playing a role in an adaptation of something by Anthony Burgess.

Les armoiries de McGill

Petit préambule: j'ai déjà blogué sur le même sujet ou à peu près, mais ça fait longtemps. Voici donc les armoiries de l'Université McGill.  Avec en dessous la devise latine Grandescunt Aucta Labore ("Tout s'accroît par le travail"). C'est bien mcgillien, avec le rouge, le blanc, les tit oiseaux et tout le kit. Il y a une autre devise, dans l'écu lui même, tout en haut au centre: In Domino Confido inscrite dans un livre. Cela dit, de droite à gauche, ça se lit "In ConDom Fiino Do" que j'ai traduit par: "Fais-le dans un condom fin." Morales de l'histoire: 1)je suis un impie, 2)j'ai l'esprit mal tourné, et 3)c'est vraiment un calembour atroce.

Hou Yi and the Ten Suns

I took this picture from Dragons, Gods & Spirits from Chinese Mythology. This is Hou Yi, one of the few legendary Chinese heroes I know and one of the few I liked. This illustrates the story of his mission to free the earth from the ten suns that were turning it into a oven. He had to shoot down nine of them with his arrows, then to fight the monsters which were roaming the earth due to the heatwave. You can read one version of the story here. In a way, Yi is like the Chinese version of Herakles.  Don't know why I blog about him today, maybe because I don't like heat and long days, so Hou Yi is my kind of hero. Maybe because this image is beautiful and elegant yet has a subdued violence. Yi is killing the suns there. And maybe because I am about to finish reading the book and wanted to share one of its lush images that bring the stories to life.

Question existentielle (323)

Une qui me vient en tête à chaque fois que j'ai à les utiliser:

-Pourquoi les services en ligne, au lieu de nous simplifier la vie, nous la rendent si compliquée?

Je dis ça, et j'ai déjà eu un emploi où je donnais des services en ligne, que ce soit au téléphone ou sur un clavardage.

How to celebrate St Paddy's?

In less than a week, it is Saint Patrick's Day. One of my favourite holy day, celebrating a nation I deeply love. And I really wonder how to celebrate this year: the local Irish pub is now gone and I am now a father, which limited me considerably last year. I think I will mostly celebrate it on this very blog, as I always do in any case. This is here that I share my past experiences with drunkenness, her, I mean, partying, here where I share what I learned about and from Irish culture. I might sound like an old man, but I do think I have a few memories and thought that do deserve to be put in writing here. And my liver cannot take as much abuse as it used to. Come to think of it, this might be quite an interesting St Paddy's, albeit lived mostly virtually.

La photo mignonne du jour

C'est lundi pour tout le monde et j'imagine que, comme moi, beaucoup d'entre vous doivent trouver ça pénible. Pour rendre votre journée plus agréable, j'ai pensé partager une photo mignonne, que j'ai prise à Branféré. C'est d'un bébé wallaby (enfin je crois). Il est adorable, dans tous les cas. J'ai déjà eu une certaine fascination pour les wallabies (lire ce billet). J'imagine que ça ne m'a pas complètement quitté.

The hare on the bottle

I blogged before about the Gem from Bath Ales, a beer I really like and drink far too seldom. That said, it was yesterday evening's poison. What is interesting is that it was actually Wolfie's choice: I showed him the two beers I bought and asked him which one I should have. He enthusiastically pointed at the Gem. Then tried to grab it, then got grumpy because I wouldn't let him take it. Must be the hare on its label. And the colour: Wolfie, just like me, loves darkish orange and amber colours. I don't want to get him too enthusiastic about beer at such tender age, but this was a funny little moment.

Le Manoir du Saguenay

Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi, j'ai récemment songé au Manoir du Saguenay, sur lequel j'ai blogué en 2013. On allait parfois y bruncher lorsque j'étais enfant et son architecture et l'atmosphère qui y régnait avaient le don de stimuler mon imagination fertile. Depuis mon billet, j'ai lu deux articles sur le Manoir, tous deux venant du Quotidien: celui-ci et celui-là. J'espère qu'il est encore parfois ouvert au public, car j'aimerais bien le revisiter et voir si mes souvenirs sont exacts.

The Action Men are back!

I blogged before about this local fancy clothes shop which used in its window to advertise Action Men, a classic brand of action figures, the British equivalent of GI Joe, very popular here (my brother-in-law apparently was quite fond of them as a child). After a couple of weeks in the window, they were gone, which saddened me, as I had gone quite fond of these small models, with their military demeanor, their scar and their overall coolness. I guess is triggered the child in me, there is something about them that reminds me of my old make belief games and the dangerous adventures I dreamed about. And they are British, so they are also classy and somehow different from what you would u.

And today, as we were walking in town, I noticed that they were back! Some of them holding banners proclaiming "100% Made In Britain". It makes sense that Action Men advertise
old-fashioned, posh British clothes. We had lots of things to do, but I took a few moments to take a few snapshots. Not very good ones, but still. I really find them uber cool and wish they could keep them on display all year long, displayed differently depending of the time of year. I wonder why they show up now. In any case, I will take a look at them again. One day, when he is old enough, I might buy some for Wolfie.

L'enfant et l'armoire

Il semlerait que les jeunes bambins ont une relation particulière avec les armoires et ce qui s'y trouvent: ils veulent absolument ouvrir la porte de l'armoire et en connaître le contenu, dont ils vont faire l'inventaire immédiatement, même s'ils ont des jouets dans le salon qui ont coûté une beurrée et qui devraient les divertir amplement. Mais non, c'est ce qu'il y a dans les armoires (et sur les étagères, et dans les bibliothèques) qui les intéresse. C'est du moins mon expérience de père. Tout ça pour dire que petit loup a décidé de vider le contenu d'une armoire de la cuisine ce matin. Au moins je sais maintenant qu'on a trois bouteilles de vinaigre balsamique.

Crime (fiction) report

I learned recently that South African crime writer Deon Meyer (one of my favourite crime writers) is working on a new crime novel with recovering alcoholic police detective Benny Griessel as protagonist. His sixth appearance as main character. The book should be available in English in... October 2019. That is a long wait. I hate waiting that long, but that means circa November 2019, after my Halloween reads, I will have a new Deon Meyer to read. Now when the author made the announcement on social medias, I could not help but ask him if we would see bodyguard Martin Lemmer, my favourite of his creations (more about him here). The author's answer (I can say it since he gave it publicly): "You never know". Which seems to indicate we can see Lemmer again. I also asked about pickpoket Tyrone Kleinbooi (more about him here and here), another one I really liked, but I have no answer for this one yet. Still, Griessel, possibly Lemmer, maybe eventually Tyrone... I can't wait to meet them again. They really feel like old friends.

L'escoufle sur une branche perchée

Ma femme a pris cette photo l'année dernière. C'est un milan royal, que l'on appelle aussi, enfin qu'on appelait anciennement escoufle. Je préfère cette dernière appellation et j'ai donc décidé de l'utiliser dorénavant. Si vous trouvez que ce billet vous semble familier, c'est que j'ai assez souvent blogué sur les milan roy... les escoufles. Ils sont fréquents dans le coin de l'Angleterre où l'on demeure et je les appelle nos voisins ailés. Alors je blogue parfois sur eux, parce que c'est un rapace que j'aime bien. Cette photo n'est pas géniale, on le voit à peine, mais ça donne une idée de leur proximité avec nous.