Summer blues

Those who read this blog regularly know that I am not a fan of summertime and I have not been since I no longer work in education. And even before then, I slowly became less and less of a summer enthusiast. Come summertime, I often feel melancholic, if not downright disheartened. I thought I was a rarity. in that situation, but some Google search made me discover that I am not the only one. Apparently, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) also affects some people in summertime. Summer blues, or summertime melancholy, or whatever you wish to call it, is caused by a number of factors: heat and sun setting late causing lack of sleep, expecting too much of holidays, working while others are on holidays, etc. You can read about it here. In my case, I just don't like the heat and the sun being up so late. I don't find it relaxing or comfortable. So I am glad I am not the only one. This year, I have been lucky so far, as we haven't had many scorching hot days. All the same, I dread the season and what it can bring. So I am glad to know I am not alone.

Les cerfs-volants

J'ai demandé à mon père de m'envoyer des photos de cerfs-volants pour montrer à petit loup. Il m'a envoyé cette photo de quelqu'un qui fait du kite surfing (je crois). Elle me semble familière, je l'ai peut-être vue et partagée la première année de Vraie Fiction. Enfin bref, mon fils en a fait un dans sa classe d'arts plastiques, mais c'est un cerf-volant trop délicat pour utiliser lorsqu'il vente. Je voulais lui en montrer un vrai. Quand j'étais enfant, mon père nous faisait faire du cerf-volant les jours venteux. On faisait surtout ça sur le terrain de l'UQAC, du temps que c'était un grand terrain vacant avec à peu près aucun stationnement. Mes frères et moi adorions, même si on ne faisait pas grand-chose à part regarder. J'aimerais revivre cette activité avec Wolfie. Mais il faudrait trouver le bon terrain et surtout, le bon cerf-volant.

Cobra, Crimes and inspiration

I blogged before about Cobra by South African crime writer Deon Meyer, back in 2016 when I was reading it. I love all his books, but this one is one of the best I read. I say this for a number of reasons, which I might blog about one day, but suffice to say that one of these reasons was the character of professional pickpocket Tyrone Kleeibooi (more about him here and here). And it struck me recently than both the novel and Tyrone were an inspiration to my own writing project, which features a pickpocket (more about her here). There are substantial differences between Tyrone and her, and between the plots they get involved in, but I think I came up with her in a writing workshop (I am still doing them in spite of one bad experience) because since I read about Tyrone Kleeibooi, I have wanted to write about a well-intended small-time criminal, particularly a pickpocket. I don't think I can beat Meyer, not just yet anyway, but it's funny to see that I subconsciously about what I like to read.

Paella

Chaque année, mon père fait une paella, d'habitude au coeur de l'été. Chaque année, il m'envoie des photos et je les partage ici par fierté familiale, parce que c'est toujours bien impression et queça fait de l'excellente food porn. Alors voilà, tout ça pour dire que voici la paella cuisinée cette année. J'ai une confession à faire: je n'ai jamais mangé la paella de mon père. Il a commencé à s'intéresser à ce met après que je sois devenu expatrié et je n'ai pas visité le Québec en été depuis au moins dix ans.

I want more Action Men

It struck me a few days ago, when we walked by the fancy clothes shop that used to have Action Men or an imitation of them in their window as marketing tool. I need more of them. On my birthday, I received one Action Man as a present. It is still in its box, on display in the dining room. Don't know if I'll ever take it off the box to play with it like an overgrown nostalgic child. Unboxing it might devalue this British icon. be that as it may, I want more Action Men, whether it is to have them on display like this as a collection, or to play with Wolfie. I find them far cooler than GI Joes and other action figures.

Dites smoothie

Les cafés dans la petite ville anglaise où je vis vont et viennent (allitération involontaire ici). Quand il y en a un nouveau qui ouvre, il dure un an ou deux, parfoid moins, puis il ferme. Il y en a deux ou trois qui ne sont pas des chaînes et qui ont survécu jusquici et dans chacun d'eux, ils offrent des smoothies fraîchement pressés. Je ne consomme pas assez de fruits, alors le smoothie est devenu mon breuvage de prédilection. Quand ma femme était enceinte, j'essayais de lui en faire boire autant que possible, car j'avais lu quelque part que c'est bon pour les femmes enceintes. Mais elle aime ça moins que moi. Petit loup, quant à lui, essaie d'habitude de boire ceux que je bois.

Food festival (and a gyros)

I blogged last year about the local food festival, with stands serving various world food, some exotic, some less so. It is a world food festival. It was a huge success, so much in fact that they have decided to do it again this year. It started tonight, but we will go tomorrow and maybe Sunday as well. Last year, I had (among other things) this delicious gyros. Or at least I think it was a gyros, it was Greek in any case. Not sure what makes a proper gyros, but this one was filling and I hadn't had a gyros (or anything resembling one) in years. I haven't had one since. So tomorrow I might go Greek, or I might go for something more unusual and exotic. I will of course keep you posted about my gastronomic discoveries, or rediscoveries.

Jeux dans l'eau

Photo prise l'année dernière à peu près à la même époque de l'année durant la canicule qui a duré des semaines, voire des mois. Cette année, l'été est moins collant, plus modéré, plus endurable, et j'en suis heureux. Cela dit, nous avons eu une canicule il y a une semaine et il y en aura d'autres. Ma femme aimerait bien qu'il achète une barboteuse pour notre petit loup, en tout cas elle essaie de me convaincre. C'est vrai qu'il aime beaucoup, mais je trouve qu'il est assez gâté comme ça et les jours de grandes chaleurs, on est supposé économiser l'eau, si je ne me trompe pas. Alors je ne suis pas encore convaincu.

A bookmark for a book (but which book?)

I blogged earlier this week about the freebie bookmark I got with my purchase at the local bookshop during the Independent Bookshop Week. Here is its other side, but I am not blogging about the other side. I said in my first post about it that it is a bookmark for summertime. I think it is fitting that I use it on summertime books or, to be more precise, on books which atmosphere, topic, subject matter, what have you, fit this bookmark. And it struck me after publishing my previous post that I don't have that many summer books at the moment, not unread ones anyway, and I fear that I have no book whatsoever set on a beach or anything approaching. So I need to find a book that goes with it. If you have any suggestions, please put them in the Comments section.

Traversier, pas ferry

Photo prise à Dartmouth dans le Devon. On y voit entre autres un ferry. Ferry est le terme utilisé par les Français pour désigner la même chose que les anglais: un bateau qui traverse un cours d'eau, rivière, Manche ou autre. Au Québec, on dit plutôt un traversier. C'est beaucoup plus joli comme terme, plus francophone aussi, et c'est notre mot du jour.

The United States of (South) Africa

Today is a day to celebrate and I wanted to mention it on the blog. I don't do it every year, but decided to do it today: it is the birthday of South African crime writer Deon Meyer. You didn't expect that, did you? He is one of my favourite crime writers and from my contacts with him through social media, a bona fide nice guy. It is kind of fitting that his birthday is on the 4th of July, as in many ways South Africa has tried through history to emulate the United States of America in many ways. Or so I have been told by my brother-in-law, who visited the country a few times when he was a child, his father (my father-in-law) being South African himself. Old racial tensions, high crime, the violence, the gun culture even, but also the economic development, they are shared by both countries. So happy birthday Mr Meyer (not certain if sayong "oom" is too familiar).

"Travailler, c'est trop dur..."

C'est le 4 juillet, Independence Day aux États Unis et je cherchais à le souligner, surtout pour mon frère PJ qui y vit et travaille. Et qui aujourd'hui est en congé férié, le chanceux. Alors j'ai pensé tout de suite à cette célébère chanson du (sans doute) plus célèbre francophone américain, Zachary Richard. Je ne crois pas que mon frère soit un fan, mais c'est je pense approprié. Et puis on a peut-être de la parenté en Louisiane, sait-on jamais.

Two years in the office

Today is my second year in my current job. It is my working anniversary. I do not say "my new job" anymore, as after more than a year, it is no longer a new job. I said last year that I don't celebrate work anniversaries. I will make a quick confession here: this year I don't feel like celebrating anyway. I had issues at the office in the past, mainly due to a nasty colleague who no longer works there. But I still often feel demotivated. And I know I am not the only one feeling like this. Even though I have a managing position, I feel undervalued, ignored by the decision makers and overall bored. I also don't like the pettiness of office politics, the lack of flexibility, the inefficiency, the lack of communication. I cannot help feeling that if my nasty former colleague spent about four years in the company unopposed, it was because the bosses let him do what the heck he wanted. So today, like every other day, I will do my very best, work as hard as I can, be very professional, because I am the breadwinner in the family, trying to discreetly look at the clock from time to time, because my heart is not into it.

Petit loup et le ballon rond

Nous sommes allés récemment dans un évènement caritatif. Il y avait des stands et une aire de jeux pour les enfants. Les enfants n'y étaient pas, trop occupés je crois dans le château gonflable plus loin, alors notre petit loup a eu l'aire de jeux pour lui tout seul. Il a aimé bien des choses, mais il changeait de centre d'intérêt à tout bout de champ. Ce qui m'a étonné le plus, c'est que ce qui l'a intéressé le plus longtemps est ce genre de filet fermé avec des ballons de soccer. Ou de football, comme on le dit ici. Je ne suis pas très porté sur le foot, une vraie religion en Angleterre. Il semblerait que notre petit loup va suivre le sentiment national.

Jack O'Lantern on a wall

Last Saturday, we visited another preschool on an open day. I don't think we will send Wolfie there when the time comes, as he loves another one very much (more on that in another post, maybe). That said, there is one thing that caught my attention: this picture of a mean looking Jack O'Lantern on the outside wall. The Halloween obsessed and eternal child that I am loved this very much, like a perpetual reminder of what is coming. There is not so long to wait now, come to think of it.

Question existentielle (348)

Une question existentielle que je ne crois pas avoir posée, du moins je l'espère:

-Que représente le mois de juillet pour vous?

Bond 25's first footage

I haven't blogged in a while about the upcoming Bond movie (aka NOT Shatterhand) and I wanted to do it tonight as they released the first official behind the scenes video last weekend. Taking into account that I am very much biased as a Bond fan and that I love Daniel Craig's tenure so far (yes, even Spectre) as well as his take on the character, I find this bit of footage very promising. The aesthetic looks great, it has a feel of the early Connery movies and it oozes exoticism, sensuality and violence (Bond is all about Eros and Thanatos). I can't wait to watch. Now if only we knew the title...

Pelleter à Fermont

Je partage ce soir une nouvelle photo de Fermont datant des années 70 que m'a envoyé mon père, parce que petit loup a une fascination pour la machinerie lourde. Quand j'étais enfant et que les maisons se construisaient dans le voisinage, j'étais très impressionné par les travaux et la machinerie utilisée. C'était la pelle mécanique que j'aimais le plus, allez savoir pourquoi. C'est aussi le cas pour mon fils, qui en a quelques unes en version jouet. Je ne sais pas si c'est l'hérédité ou un hasard.

Summertime Bookmark

This year's Independent Bookshop Week is already gone, but I did find time to stop at our local independent bookshop when it was going on and make a few purchases. I also received as a bonus this cool bookmark. (By the way, that is one thing I love about buying from a bookshop instead of ordering online: you get a free bookmark with your purchase). They made the bookmark it very summery looking, showing the image of people reading on the beach they put everywhere in their promotional material. When it was going on, it was not very fitting, and it did not look like summer was here. But now that the season has come back in full force, this bookmark just fits perfectly with this time of year. Which means that I now have a new summertime bookmark, to use for the light and maybe not so light reads of the next few weeks.

Le Jour du Déménagement, trois ans plus tard

Photo prise à Totnes dans le Devon, que je partage ici avec mon billet, de manière un peu arbitraire, rien parce qu'on y voit des toits. Tout ça pour dire que le premier juillet, c'est ce que font bien des Québécois: ils se trouvent un toit. Nous, le hasard a voulu que l'on devienne propriétaires le 1er juillet 2016. Ça fait trois ans que l'on vit dans notre maison. Je ne sais pas trop comment célébrer notre pendaison de crémaillère, mais on va essayer de le souligner.