Taking the tramway

I blogged recently about our visit to the Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire a few months ago. We spent a fairly short time there, but I very much enjoyed it. Like during our visit to old steam train, I really felt like going through another time period for a day. Tramways may not be as exciting as trains (in my opinion no other mean of transport can be), but they are clean, elegant and taking them is just such a pleasant and unique experience, especially in such an atmospheric setting. We intend to revisit Crich Tramway Village again at some point in the future.

Une falaise enneigée

Je partage ce soir encore une photo envoyée par mon père. C'est l'hiver au Québec, déjà. J'ai hâte de pouvoir en profiter moi aussi. Sinon, je sais que ça peut paraître banal pour ceux qui vivent cette réalité de manière quotidienne, mais pour l'expatrié que je suis, je n'arrive pas à m'en blaser.

Pizza Express, troubles and tribulations

I haven't been to Pizza Express since the birthday of my son. This is where we went for his birthday meal. We don't go there, yet we all love it. It's nothing outstanding, but it is a reliable chain and we always eat well. Recently, Pizza Express has been on the news and on my mind for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, it got into financial trouble. When a pizza chain is in trouble, it is never a good sign. Then, I learned that Venice is literally drowning. That looks like it is unrelated, but you see, when I go to Pizza Express, I almost always have a Veneziana. Because it is delicious and has everything I love in a pizza (see the picture) and because it gives 25p of  its price to Venice in Peril. And now I feel guilty that I have not eaten there more often, or visited Venice, for that matter. All these 25p they gave to a worthy cause, maybe for nothing. And then, the worst happened: Prince Andrew said that he was in the Pizza Express in Woking when he allegedly sexually assaulted a teenager. I know this stupid, arrogant, sinister aristocrat has a lot more grievous things to answer for, but tarnishing an honourable restaurant chain by using it as an alibi (and a stupid one at that) was downright crass. So I feel very bad for Pizza Express. I don't think they deserve all this.

Le Père Noël déjà?

Mon père m,a envoyé cette photo d'une décoration achetée récemment sans doute, d'un Père Noël qui va se ramasser dans le sapin familial. Est-ce trop tôt pour les décorations de Noël? Je me le demande, mais ici pour bien du monde, c'est tout réglé: on voit les décorations partout. Je vais donc poser une autre question: est-ce trop tôt pour voir le Père Noël, alors que l'on n'est même pas en décembre? J'en ferai peut-être une question existentielle, toujours est-il qu'on le voit de plus en plus ces temps-ci.

It's clementime!

Sorry for the atrocious pun, but I thought it would make for a remarkable title. I haven't blogged yet about clementines, and I thought I had to before the end of November. It is one thing I always loved about the month, even when I did not like the month much. I have been eating clementines and sharing them with Wolfie (well of course, he loves them as much as I do) since the beginning of November. It's a great source of vitamins C and they taste delicious. For a full post on why I love them, please read this one from 2011. I bought these ones at Morrison's. Not my favourite, but they it's kind of nice to have thhe leaves still on. And you, do you eat clementines this time of year?

Le gel au sol

J'ai pris cette photo tôt le matin hier ou avant-hier. Au début, j'ai cru pour un instant qu'on avait eu de la neige. Mais non, ce n'était que du gel au sol. Maintenant, à bien y penser, je crois que c'est pas mal à ça que ça aurait ressemblé avec de la neige. Vous voyez dans cette photo toute la mesure de l'hiver anglais. Sans rire, c'est surtout ce qu'on aura cet hiver. Pas tout ce qu'on aura, parce qu'on devrait avoir au moins quelques bordées de neige à un moment donné, mais ce sera à la mesure de l'hiver assez modeste. C'est joli malgré tout.

Planning the In-Flight Entertainment

Well, it is now official: we have tickets to go celebrate Christmas with the family (on my side of the family). So I will be home for Christmas. It also means that we will have to keep a three year old boy entertained for seven hours or so, if he does not sleep. All the same, I am very excited. Planning a long journey is always stressful, but it also bring its share of excitement. So I am already checking the In-Flight Entertainment on that day. For him and for me.

Le participe passé

La blonde de mon frère Andrew, qui enseigne au cégep, a partagé sur les réseaux sociaux cette perle d'un étudiant: "Saviez-vous que "le participe passé employé seul ne s'accorde avec personne, car soit l'accord vient après le participe passé ou il n'y en a tout simplement pas" ? Moi non plus." Ça a le mérite d'être clair. Et je me suis senti forcé de commettre en commentaire ce calembour atroce: "Pas d'accord." Avouez que ça vous fait mal rien que de le lire.

A train in the snow

You know my love for trains, a love I think I easily shared with my son, who loves al sorts of vehicles. Well, my father decided to take a few pictures for Wolfie of a train passing. It is "only" a cargo train, nothing fancy, but the images of the train in the snow are striking and I wanted to share a picture here tonight, just for fun.

Deux ans sans tourtière...

Ça m'est venu en tête ce soir, je sais pas trop pourquoi: ça fera deuc ans bientôt que je n'aurai pas mangé de tourtière. Un délai vraiment trop long pour mon plat régional. Ça devrait se corriger pour les Fêtes, mais quand même, je me rends compte que ça me manque beaucoup.

The Tramway Bookmark

Some people collect stamps, some people collect rare coins, I collect bookmarks. It is not as glamorous, I know, but it is not nearly as expensive either. So during our last time in Derbyshire, we visited Crich Tramway Village, which was really fun. I don't love tramways as much as I love trains, nevertheless it is a nice, elegant means of transport, and stepping in that village was like being in a different time period for a day. I decided that I needed to buy a souvenir from the place, and what better souvenir can someone buy than a bookmark. It does not cost much and it always comes in handy, when you are like me and you read books the old fashioned way, the ones with pages and no batteries. So I bought a bookmark, the one you can see on the picture. It is now one of my favourite. Now my favourite is the bookmark featured in this post, as it features trains, but still, a bookmark with tramways on is pretty cool.

La neige qui tombe

Mon père m'a envoyé pleins de photos de la neige qui tombe au Québec. J'en partage une nouvelle ici, rien que parce que j'ai le mal du pays et parce que je me sens dans un état d'esprit, disons-le, hivernal. C'est quand même beau.

The Last Hunt for #Noirvember

Cool news for my #Noirvember read: I received yesterday The Last Hunt, which is the latest Deon Meyer novel! I started reading it almost as early as I got in. Well, as soon as we could put Wolfie to bed at least. It is the latest novel featuring Bennie Griessel, which is great news in itself, but there is something else that makes it an exciting read for me: it also features Rovos Rail, a luxury train company. I did not know anything about it, until I started reading. Trains, crime, violence, a modern setting, it's just so perfect for my #Noirvember read, it's like the book I was hoping to find this year.

La cuvée 2019 de Ciné-cadeau

Petite nouvelle d'intérêt: ils ont déjà fait connaître la programmation 2019 (et début 2020) de Ciné-cadeau à Télé-Québec. Après un rapide coup d'oeil, je sais que je vais y trouver mon compte, grosso modo, et je vais essayer d'en voir un ou deux avec petit loup. Un bon nombre de classiques, mais seulement ceux qui reviennent chaque année. Outre ceux-là (Tintin, Astérix), ils ont joué de prudence avec des films pour enfants plus modernes. Ah si, j'ai cru voir un film d,animation norvégien et un film japonais. Chapeau pour avoir osé, quand même! Mais j'aimerais qu'ils fassent preuve d'un peu plus d'audace. Et vous, que pensez-vous de la cuvée 2019?

Manga Portrait

My wife had her birthday recently and on this occasion,like it is the case every year since we've known them, we had the visit of Blonde Tickler and her mother. Blonde Tickler is now a teenager and has developed an interest and a talent in drawing manga characters. SO she gave my wife the best birthday present this year, or certainly the coolest: a birthday card with her manga portrait, as a manga character. With cat's ears because, well,because I guess mangas can sometimes be human-animal hybrids. I am not a specialist of mangas, but I found this extremely cool in any case and isn't it the sweetest present?

Première photo de la neige

 Mon père m'a envoyé cette photo, à ma demande. C'est la première photo de neige tombée sur le Québec cette année que je partage sur le blogue. C'est plus qu'on aura ici pendant tout un hiver. J'ai hâte d'être au Québec et de pouvoir enfin en profiter.

Knife Attack (very local crime news)

I learned something that was quite scary today. In fact, it was just as scary as it was revolting: the evening before, so yesterday, there was a knife attack on our street. Just at the entrance of it. Thirty minutes before I walked home. Apparently, it was a case of conjugal violence, the ex partner of a woman in her late forties who stalked and assaulted, but so far the details are very sketchy. I did not notice the police or the ambulance as I take a different route and get home through a small pathway, not via the main street. But I was shocked when I heard about it. I know it could happen everywhere, but it takes a different meaning when you know it happens almost literally on our doorstep. I am glad I learned Krav Maga, because this reminds me that it might come in handy one day. I hope that I will never need to use it, yet if I do need I hope that I will remember my training and that my instincts will kick in. This also makes me think that I need to get back to training as soon as possible.

Il neige au Québec

Alors que l'on communicait avec eux sur Facetime, mes parents nous ont montré (surtout à petit loup) qu'il neigeait. Je commence à avoir envie de refaire l'expérience des neiges québécoises. La neige en novembre, elle donne de la couleur au mois et le rend plus agréable. Et puis quand il neige en novembre, surtout quand elle reste, c'est un peu l'hiver qui est déjà là. Enfin bref, j'espère pouvoir partager des photos bientôt.

Mademoiselle from Armentières

Today is Remembrance Day and I wanted to commemorate it here on the blog, not knowing exactly how. I have done so in the past, pretty much every year, and I have said pretty much all I could say. Then it struck me that since I watched the documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, there is a song that is sung in the closing credits and that I now associate a lot with World War 1 and army life (which I know nothing about). It is of course Mademoiselle from Armentières. It is a raunchy song, but it also shows a certain camaraderie in war and a certain fondness about army life that is quite heartwarming. It is, in any case, a very catchy tune.

Le petit loup, le banc, les chouettes

Je partage ce soir une nouvelle photo de Wendover Woods, rien que parce que... Ben elle est jolie, d'abord. Et puis ce fut un autre moment où notre petit loup a été complètement fasciné. C'est pas mal le banc public le plus cool que j'aie vu, je crois. En tout cas, il est dur à battre. On ne s'y est pas attardé longtemps, en fait on ne s'y est même pas assis, petit loup était trop occupé à admirer le design de la chose. Il aime plus les objets techniques, surtout les véhicules et les engins de construction, ça me rend heureux de le voir s'intéresser à ce qui reste un morceau de bois et des animaux. J'espère que ça lui permet de diversifier ses intérêts. Depuis hier, il a en tout cas une curiosité renouvelée pour ses toutous.