Irish Red Ale

 Well, not all Irish beers have to be Guinness or stout. So today, we went to out Henley-on-Thames and we sort of celebrated Saint Patrick's Day at the The Catherine Wheel, a Wetherspoon pub. I say sort of, because I was the only one truly celebrating. There was actually a beer festival, ending today, and as I have plenty of Guinness at home, I went for Lough Gill Brewery's Irish Red Ale. Which is Irish enough, surely. More suitable, in any case, than the green coloured lagers too many people drink on Saint Paddy's nowadays. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the day everyone.

La Saint-Patrick à Montréal

Petit rappel pour ceux qui y sont: la Saint-Patrick est fêtée en grand à Montréal. J'ai pris cette photo de l'article de la grosse Presse. Je l'ai célébrée souvent à Montréal, mais je n'ai jamais vu le défilé, ce qui est assez honteux, je l'avoue. Je m'ennuie de l'ampleur des célébrations là-bas, puisqu'ici, dans notre coin de l'Angleterre très anglais, c'était plutôt tranquille. Je m'ennuie du pub irlandais local, qui malheureusement n,existe plus depuis des années. Ah oui et une mascotte en forme de trèfle (à six feuilles?), c'est cool.

Saint Paddy's Day

Let's start with, well, how we must start today: happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! To my Irish readers, if there are any, and to any reader among you who may have some Irish blood. Which I may or may not have, my family history is kind of muddled up. But in any case, I looove Ireland. I will celebrate listening to Irish music and drinking (well of course) Guinness. I had this one last night, in preparation to today's celebrations. I usually drink it this time of year, but it used to be my poison of choice in my youth.

Gâteau aux Oreos

Je suis tombé par hasard sur une vieille photo lors d'une fête d'un ami de mon fils. Elle date de moins d'un an, de juin 2023 en fait. J'ai partagé assez souvent des photos de gâteaux aux Oreos, un peu pour la food porn, beaucoup parce que c'est un truc vraiment cochon. Aussi, sans doute un peu parce que c'est la Saint-Patrick aujourd'hui, sans doute, mais une chose m'a frappé en regardant cette photo: le Oreo a la même couleur que la Guinness.

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.

Ixe-13: des questions

Je reviens sur IXE-13, ainsi que sur la nouvelle adaptation en série. J'ai quelques questions sur le sujet. D'abord, est-ce qu'on peut/pourra voir la série ailleurs qu'au Québec et si oui, où et quand? Et est-ce que l'on revend des bouquins IXE-13, neufs ou usagés, quelque part au Québec? Quand j'y serai, ils risquent d'avoir disparu.

The Irish Pub

It is Saint Paddy's Day in less than two days and I have barely done anything about it on this blog, shame on me. So I decided that it was about time to share Irish music. Something from The High Kings. I know fairly little about them. But if there is something I love, it's an Irish pub. This song is not profound, but it's great fun anyway.

Mafalda et Susanita

Image trouvée sur a page Facebook officielle de Mafalda . J'ai voulu partager. De tous les personnages de la bédé, Susanita est celle que j'aime détester.

Beware the Ides of March (always)

Today is the 15th of March, day of the Ides of March. It is also and therefore the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar.When you love history like me, you ought to remember it. So I try to commemorate it every year on this blog. The line "Beware the Ides of March" comes from Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. Anyway, we beware the Ides of March and not only on the 15th of March. I mentioned why back in 2022. I will sum up again the lessons we must learn from Caesar's murder: 1)even the most powerful man in the world is vulnerable, especially when he made himself enemies, however subservient they may appear to be. 2)we must be wary of the power vacuum created after a coup d'état. Or whenever a tyrant, or a dictator dies or fall from power. I am well aware that these are not cheerful thoughts, but the lessons of history seldom are.

Acheter du vin

 Petite nouvelle locale: une nouvelle boutique (ou un nouveau magasin?) vendant des vins, de la bière et des spiritueux, mais surtout des vins, vient d'ouvrir dans notre petite ville. Je suis curieux d'y aller, même si mes sentiments sont partagés. D'abord, je vais déjà dans une petite épicerie fine pour acheter du vin. je ne voudrais pas qu'elle ferme parce que le nouveau concurrent, qui fait partie d'une chaîne, le batte avec ses prix et sa variété. Surtout que les magasins d'alcool qui ont fermé, il y en a eu treize à la douzaine depuis mon arrivée ici il y a quinze ans. J'en compte au moins trois qui ont dû fermer boutique. Cela dit, je me permettrai peut-être une petite visite en fin de semaine.

Beer Pong?

I found this game in a local charity shop. I was intrigued, because it was a drinking game and more precisely a beer drinking game. But I did not buy it. I've never been a fan of ping pong. I never had the patience for it. I had a friend of mine who had a table and liked to play, but it was more for the pleasure of humiliating me, as I was pretty bad at it. But that is not why. I love beer, for one and this game seems to involve a lot of spilling. And I hate to waste beer, even cheap, tasteless lagers. I find it morally wrong. So yeah, this game seems to be a terrible idea.

La Saint-Patrick au...Café Cambio

Bon, nouvelle rérionale qui m'a à la fois étonné et réjoui: j'apprends sur la page Facebook du Café Cambio qu'ils organisent un brunch pour la Saint-Patrick, avec musique puis tout le kit. Les détails sur cette affiche promotionnelle. Je ne me rappelle pas avoir vu des célébrations de la Saint Paddy's au Saguenay du temps où j'y vivais. J'ai commencé à m'y intéresser à Montréal, pas avant, surtout parce que justement, je n'ai jamais vu qui que ce soit souligner la Saint-Patrick à  Chicoutimi. Mais bon, les temps changent, parfois pour le mieux. Je ne sais pas si la musique sera authentique, mais au moins, on peut fêter l'Irlande à Chicoutimi.

NOT Dracula's Castle

I know we are a long way from Halloween, but what the heck. I'm also a fan of Dracula, my all-time favourite horror novel. I saw this meme recently on my Facebook feed. I think I recognised Bran Castle. My answer: yes I would but no, this is not Dracula's Castle. Read Elizabeth Miller's work to understand why, but grosso modo, Bram Stoker knew diddly squat about Bran Castle, or indeed any Romanian castle. He invented one for his vampire and that was that. Okay, rant over. Or are you guys otherwise?

St-Ambroise à l'érable

 J'ai pris cette photo sur la page Facebook de McAuslan, rien que parce que. Signe du printemps qui s'en vient, qui est peut-être même déjà ici: leur Saint-Ambroise à l'érable est disponible. Je ne l'ai jamais essayée. C'est bon?

Night Trains

I recently read this article (thank you Google feed) about night trains making a comeback in Europe. And that is, well, very cool. Great news, in fact, as the more railway travel, the better. Those who have been following this blog for a while know that I love train travel and trains in general. I rarely if ever get bored by train travels, except a few commuting days when the railway service was sub-par for one reason or another. Otherwise, I just love being on a train. On holidays, it is often my favourite part of it. The journey, not the destination. However, if I often traveled by night, I have yet to take an overnight train, with a cabin and berth and so on. it would be a dream, although I'm not sure I can sleep in the same room as some strangers. Otherwise, if time and money were of no concern, it would be my dream holiday.

Mafalda (et sa maman) siempre!

La page Facebook officielle de Mafalda a partagé cette image lors de la Journée internationale des femmes. Je suis en retard sur les nouvelles et les commémorations, mais j'ai cru bon de partager. En un seul gag, Quino fait un commentaire à la fois drôle et percutant.

Fixing a runway in Antarctica

I recently read this article, which for some reason came on my feed on Google. I found it quite interesting. It's about people working in Antarctica, grosso modo. I am not nearly technical enough to do this job, let alone liking extreme weather. Even tidying this house is a bit of a challenge to me and I struggle to keep myself motivated enough. So I admire these people and I also envy their skills and resilience. And when things get difficult at work (not very often in my current job, thankfully), I might take a moment and spare a thought for these people fixing runways in the most unforgiving place on Earth, in the worst weather conditions ever.

Cymbidium

 Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de ses orchidées. Un cymbidium.

Early Mother's Day

 It is Mother's Day today. Or rather it was, as it is late and well, pretty much over. Mother's Day in the UK comes in March, usually the third Sunday of the month. Or so I thought until now. That shows how little I still understand about the traditions of my country of adoption. For me, Mother's Dayhas always been a May thing. But anyway, this year it came earlier, because it's the fourth Sunday of Lent, apparently. So yeah, it came earlier and, to be honest, far too early for my taste. We didn't celebrate much, because we wanted to do house work. But as Wolfie was sick yesterday, we did not prepare anything at all, or indeed did much housework. Yet it might be fitting: being a parent is all about, well, being a parent, so taking care of our children when they are not well. So it was a fitting way to remind my wife that she is a mother.

Un mirador dans Charlevoix

 J'ai lu en diagonale cet article dans la grosse Presse, à propos d'une maison avec mirador dans Charlevoix. Mais la photo, oh la photo m'a fait grosse impression. Une énorme cabane, on pourrait dire un manoir, avec mirador en plus. Je veux cette piaule. Je ne peux pas me la payer et je vis loin, mais c'est be en tab...