Early autumn already?

Half of May is already over, but it does not look like it outside: for the last month or so, it has been cool, often even cold, I have been wearing my warm clothes almost non stop. If the trees were not all green, you would think that this not spring, but autumn. And to be very honest, I don't mind one bit, since autumn is my favourite season. I guess for many this month of May is far from ideal, but I kind of hope (without expecting it, as of course it will change) that it remain like this for the weeks and months to come. If September is going to be like this, I will be a very happy man.

Séisme de 4,0

Voici une petite nouvelle sismologique qui a attiré mon attention hier: un séisme de magnitude 4,0 dont l'épicentre était à Joliette a secoué la région métropolitaine. Un tremblement de terre, même modeste, c'est toujours digne de mention, mais je dois dire que j'ai connu bien pire. Tout de même, c'est digne de mention: la terre à tremblé dans la région de Montréal.

Keeping secrets from children?

Like I mentioned yesterday, we went for a walk with a family of friends. The parents have two children, a boy and a girl, both older than Wolfie. And theytold us recently of a question their son asked them: "Do you keep secrets from us?" The mother reply: "We don't keep secrets, however we don't not tell you what you don't need to know." That was a good answer and a funny one and they asked me to add it to the blog (I didn't know they still read it) as a new great unknown line. I am very happy to oblige.

Bière à la framboise

Quelqu'un à part moi connaît les bières de saisons de la Brasserie McAuslan? Signe que l'été arrive: leur bière à la framboise est de retour. Je ne suis pas le plus grand fan des bières fruitées et l'été n'est pas ma saison préférée (pour la bière comme pour le reste), mais j'ai un assez bon souvenir de leur St-Ambroise à la framboise. Je suis peut-être biaisé parce que c'est ma microbrasserie québécoise préférée. Mais ilme semble qu'un jour d'été, elle était assez agréable.

I need Wellies

Today, we went for a walk with some friends. It had rained a bit, but thought nothing of it. It was a big mistake. I wore my shoes, see, and we went to some very muddy paths, so soon I had my shoes covered in mud and my jeans as well. Our friends were wiser: they all had boots. I looked ridiculous and ridiculously urbane. As my wife said it: "You know how to dress for cold weather, but after all these years in England you don't seem t be prepared for wet weather." She is right of course. So from this moment on I am on a mission: to buy Wellington boots or, as the Brits call it, Wellies. Of good quality of course, it will cost what it will cost, but I will have my Wellies. Which is the word of the day. It is not the first I make the mistake I made today, so I'll make sure it's going to be the last.

Une famille de faucons pèlerins

Ceci est une nouvelle locale sur nos compatriotes ailés. Vous vous rappelez peut-être qu'un couple de faucons pèlerins ont élu domicile dans l'une des églises de notre village. Ils ont eu des petits tout récemment. Nous avons donc une famille de faucons pèlerins bien à nous. Enfin, quand je dis à nous, je veux dire à la communauté.

All About UFOs

I blogged before about All About Monsters and very often about All About Ghosts. There is a third book in the old classic Usborne books series about the paranormal: All About UFOs. My brothers and I did not have that one, for some reason. I think my mum thought it would have exposed us to too much pseudoscience if we had it. She would have been right: the Usborne's World of the Unkown series was not exactly good tool to develop skepticism and critical thinking. But my best friend had it, so I was exposed to it anyway. When I saw that it has recently been reedited, I had to purchase it. It is still as good, or as bad, as it originally was. Not exactly educational, but still gives me a few pleasant chills, the kind a science-fiction story would, when it has a few horror elements in it. I think it may be the weakest book of the three, but I might say this because I prefer horror to scifi. Now if they could only republish the third book, I'd be a very happy man...

Rions des complotistes

Mon petit frère Andrew s'est fait vacciner récemment et a publié une série de messages hilarants sur le sujet sur sa page Facebook. Je les partage ici, rien que pour rire de ceux qui voient un complot ourdi par le BigPharma et Bill Gates pour faire vacciner le monde: 

-"Malgré toutes ses dysfonctionnements évidents, Outlook est la meilleure application de courriel."

-"Ça va clairement nous prendre 8 doses de vaccin."

-"On est dû pour un grand "reset" de l'économie mondiale."

 -"Je vais faire installer une tour 5G dans ma cour."

-"Saviez-vous que la suite Office comprend tous les formats de fichiers propriétaires et leurs spécifications idiosyncratiques dont l'utilisation hégémonique sera obligatoire par votre employeur ? Microsoft est vraiment le meilleur producteur logiciel avec lequel vous n'avez pas le choix de faire affaire."

 

J'avoue que la dernière surtout m'a beaucoup fait rire.

I lost a post

I am not too happy about Blogger right now: my blog post of the 15th of October disappeared as I was adding a link to it. This will teach me to update old posts. Frustratingly enough, it was one of these posts I was quite proud of. And a Halloween post, to rub it in. I tried to recover it, so far without success. My brother PJ told me that this may be temporary, as Blogger seems to be having some issues at the moment. I hope this is the case, otherwise I will be very angry. Since they have decided to upgrade the interface last year, there seems to be always some issues.

Un lapin

Bon, nous sommes déjà passé le lieu du mois de mai. C'est tranquille dans mon coin de pays et nous nous tenons occupés de la même manière qu'il y a un an: en marchant quand la température nous le permet. Il y a pleins de petits sentiers à visiter, lesquels ont souvent des lapins. Alors je suis devenu un demi-spécialiste de la photo de lapins. Je suis de moins en moins mauvais. En voici un, pris lors de notre promenade de la semaine dernière.

Happy Birthday Queen Cate!

Here is something I celebrate on Vraie Fiction every year, or at least I try to: today is the birthday of Cate Blanchett, my favourite actress. Those who read this blog know that I discovered her with Elizabeth.I even remember hearing about her from the first time in a conversation I had at uni with a fellow undergraduate student: we were discussing the Oscars and she said Cate Blanchett should have won for best actress. I had heard her name before and was curious about the film, but she had not really caught my attention. Then I watched the movie and was blown away. I cannot remember when she became my favourite actress, or at least when I was conscious that she was. But it must have been around that time.

Petit loup fait le renard

Je ne sais pas ce qui a pris à Wolfie récemment,mais il s'est mis à faire une obsession sur les renards. Ou, pour être plus précis, s'identifier à eux. Il a déjà une serviette de bain de renard et un manteau d'été de renard, avec la couleur rousse et les traits de l'animal. Alors parfois, il joue à Wolfie le renard. C'est comme si c'était devenu son animal totem. Le manteau est devenu beaucoup trop petit pour lui, il le porte depuis qu'il a un an et demi et maintenant les manches ne lui arrivent même pas aux poignets. Il lui en faudra un autre. Parce que bien entendu, il ne veut pas autre chose qu'un manteau de renard. Ma femme a trouvé celui-ci pour remplacer l'ancien, c'est sans doute celui que l'on va acheter.

Bring a book, take a book

 I found recently a new local "library", no bigger than a bird's house. It could have been a bird's house, or a postbox. It is very pink, a tad too much for my taste, but I find it a nice idea to promote reading. It may not be as ipressive as a phone booth, but we never have enough places to share books. I have plenty of books here, I might bring one or two there, if they can fit in. Not sure if I will take any for now though: I have already so many books to read here.

À propos de Saint-Prime

Quelqu'un ici connaît la municipalité de Saint-Prime? Je ne sais pas, enfin je ne me rappelle pas si j'y ai jamais été. Mais je connais un calembour atroce sur l'endroit, que j'ai appris récemment: "Question: comment s'appelle le quotidien de Saint-Prime? Réponse: Le Journal Saint-Prime." On va se dire les vraies affaires, c'est épouvantable.

New Job

I have been keeping quiet about the work front these days, but today I have some annoucement to make: I will start a new job as of tomorrow. First it will be from home due to COVID, then at some point it will be hybrid: I will be working mostly from home, but will need to go to the office twice a month or so. The HQs are fairly far away, but since I don't have to go there often, it should be doable. Why am I changing job, you may ask? Because, while my current one is with a good company and one of the best employers I've had, it is a temporary position that would have ended in August. I was lucky enough to have my contract extended until August, as it was meant to end around January this year. That said, with no guarantee of further extension or permanence, I needed stability. So I got this one, which is in a smaller company, but considerably better paid. And permanent. Same time last year, I was officially employed but furloughed in a job I hated for employers I hated. When I got made redundant, I was a bit worried, but relieved. I feel that I have come a long way since then and that things have changed for the best.

C'est la poulette blanche...

Vous connaissez sans doute la berceuse. Berceuse qui, soit dit en passant, ne fonctionne pas du tout. Mais enfin bref, mon père m'a envoyé cette photo. L'un de mes oncles a un poulailler et une poule blanche, qui ne pond pas dans la grange, mais pond. Je crois comprendre que ses oeufs sont genre bios et de grande qualité. Mais je aprtage ma photo ici parce qu'elle est blanche comme dans la chanson et qu'il ne m'en faut pas plus.

The Jab

Quick post for some health news: I got my vaccine jab yesterday against COVID-19. More precisely, AstraZeneca, which kind of worried my wife, but so far so good, touch wood. I feel fine. Touch wood again. I wished I could have received another one, but hey, at least I am one step closer to be immuned against COVID. I was never terrified of the virus like some people have been, but I have always been conscious of the danger it represented. Receiving the jab, I feel like I am doing my part to put an end to the pandemic. I am participating to the war effort, so to speak. Anyway, this is one thing done, I even have the selfie to prove it. Because yes, I was silly enough to take a selfie when I received the jab.

Le cadeau de Wolfie

Je reviens encore une fois sur ma fête, même si elle date un peu, parce que je voulais montrer lecadeau que Wolfie m'a donné. En fait, il l'a même fabriqué lui-même, de ses propres Duplos. Les Duplos sont des Legos, mais pourles moins de cinq ans ou quatre ans, enfin pour les moins de l'âge requis pour jouer aux Legos. Il a des Duplos neufs et des Duplos de seconde main, achetés dans des marchés aux puces et des ventes de charité, ainsi que données par des amis et de la famille. Enfin bref, il a fait ceci, un petit bonhomme qui tient des ballons sur un piédestal. J'ai trouvé ça très mignon et je l'ai mis sur mon bureau.

Return to the local bookshop

Here is a bit of news of some importance, even though it is at fae value rather trivial: last Saturday, I went to the local bookshop. It as the first time since last November, before lockdown.. I behaved myself (mostly) and only bought three books, two of them were really cheap. And I even got another £5.00 voucher, which I used right away, so it did not cost me much. Even with masks and with the rather oppressive ambiace this pandemic brings every time you go out in the town centre, it felt good going back in the bookshop. It is the business that I had missed the most.

Une autre grosse machine jaune

Comme je le disais jeudi dernier, mon père m'a envoyé des photos de gros véhicules. C'était pour son petit-fils, qui aime les gros véhicules jaunes, ceux utilisés pour la construction. Celui-ci est un bulldozer, enfin je crois.