The signs of the coming autumn

 This post is another autumnal chronicle or, rather, a pre-autumnal chronicle. Because for the last few days, I have seen the signs of the upcoming autumn. I have made a list here, because I am in an autumnal mood already (being my favourite season and all that) and because I want to savour each moment, each manifestation heralding its arrival:

-After weeks of heatwave, the temperatures have finally gone down. Oh, it's still in the lower twenties and it's not auutmnal yet, but it's a welcome change from the year. And you can feel a coolness in the air, especially in the evening, that really feels autumnal.

-The breeze. It gives you a slight shiver when you feel it, and it smells moist and ever so slightly not quite summery.

-Dusk. The sung goes down way earlier and you can finally see it. Even my wife noticed it yesterday. 

-The leaves have already started changing colours on some trees.

So there you have it. We are not there yet, but I am starting to feel the season coming. And that makes me very happy.

Les enseignes de Salzbourg

 De retour de Salzbourg depuis deux jours, je me permets de mettre sur le blogue quelques photos de voyage. C'était la première fois en plus de trente ans où je mettais les pieds dans la ville. Elle n'a pas vraiment changé, enfin selon mes souvenirs. Sauf pour une chose, circonstantielle: c'était très pluvieux lors de ma première visite alors qu'il a fait une canicule cette fois-ci. Mais il y a une chose qui n'a pas changé: les enseignes des commerces dans la ville. On dirait que Salzbourg est un peu figé dans le temps.

Mozart Everywhere

"Oh my God, the dude's everywhere!" This is what my wife said on our first day in Salzburg. She was referring to two things: first, the iconic image of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which was indeed everywhere, albeit mostly in a dignified form, tall, handsome, commanding. Not exactly how I imagined the hot kid from Salzburg to have been in real life. Second, the Mozartkugeln, which are sold everywhere, in every shop, in every form. With Mozart to promote them, of course. They use his image shamelessly. And, I must confess, we bought the chocolates shamelessly. But anyway, what my wife said deserves to be a new great unknown line and I will not end this blog without a bit of Mozart music. So here's the fourth movement of hos Jupiter Symphony, which I think I never shared until now. Enjoy.

L'affiche du Salon du livre 2025

 J'ai été en vacances ces derniers temps, alors je n'ai pas eu le temps de bloguer sur un sujet qui est maintenant peut-être une vieille nouvelle. Enfin bref, j'ai appris via la page Facebook du Salon du Livre du Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean qu'ils ont leur nouvelle affiche. Et franchement, je ne suis pas certain. Celle de 2024 m'avait laissé froid, mais celle-ci a l'air vraiment désuète. J,avais vraiment aimé celle de 2023, j'imagine qu'elle était difficile à battre, mais quand même, celle-ci,on dirait un catalogue d'un magasin des années 50. Enfin, qu'en pensez-vous?

Back from Austria!

 Well, home sweet home, we are back from our holidays. If you were wondering why I was blogging more sporadically, it is because I was busy being away: we spent about two weeks in Salzburg and Vienna. I'm glad to be back, but the holidays were in a way too short. We really enjoyed it there. Anyway, I will blog more about it these coming days, so watch this space, as there is a lot to tell. I will try not to turn this blog into a travelogue or a tourism blog, but I think I will speak about Austria fairly often.

Gelée de pommettes

Signe que l'automne approche: mes parents ont fait de la gelée de pommettes. Il m'a envoyé des photos. Si j'étais chez eux, j'en mangerais sur mes toasts le matin et je commencerais à rêver à l'automne qui arrive.

Lovecraft

Today is an important date in my personal countdown to Halloween calendar: it is the birthday of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. The father of modern and of cosmic horror. I first discovered him via the role playing game Call of Cthulhu, based on his work. I will try to read him today and in the upcoming weeks, it's one of my reading rituals in the months leading to Halloween.

Autriche/autruche

Je sais que je vais commettre un autre calembour atroce, mais je l'ai en tête depuis un bout. Toujours est-il que j'avais enfant un camarade de classe que je n'aimais pas beaucoup. Il était un peu (beaucoup) nono.  Il confondait la Grande et la Petite Bretagne, notamment. Quand il a appris qu'il existait un pays appelé Autriche, il l'a appelé Autruche. Il n'a jamais été foutu de comprendre que l'Autriche n'avait pas le nom de l'oiseau. Et même alors, je le trouvais crétin.

News about my godson

I spoke to the mother of my godson recently, via messenger. I hadn't taken news from her in a long, long while and I thought it was about time. I learned that my godson, who turned 20 this year, is going to study engineering in another city, a few hours away from his mother. I know I'm not his dad and I'm already living an ocean away from him, but it shocked me all the same. On the one hand, I'm really proud of him. Nevertheless, it's hard to know he grew up so fast.

Question existentielle (398)

Une question existentielle sur un mois parfois mal aimé, y compris par moi:

-Quels sont les aspects les plus plaisants du mois d'août?

Je crois que je ne l'ai jamais posée...

Caffè Nero (coming soon)

I blogged back in February about the Caffè Nero that was going to open soon in our town's high street. Well, in six months or so, it hasn't opened yet, which is kind of baffling. That said, word of mouth said the opening is now imminent. It's official enough that there's posters announcing it. Some residents are cynical, because we already have plenty of coffee shops. It's not like we needed another. That said, I'm welcoming it, because I quite like the atmosphere in their shops. Also, the building it is going to be in has been empty for at least a year, so it's going to fill an empty space that looked pretty depressing. Anyway, I'll probably blog about my first visit there, so I'll keep you posted...

Retour sur un calembour atroce

Je reviens sur mon billet du 16. J'avais alors commis un calembour atroce: "mi-août, miaou". En fait, c'était pas le mien, mais le calembour involontaire (mais quand même atroce) de bien des connaissances quand j'étais enfant. Or, j'ai vu que Stéphane Laporte l'a commis dans une chronique, La nostalgie du présent. Et en plus, il l'a commis volontairement. Je ne sais pas quoi en penser, sauf ayoye. Outre cela, je ne suis pas vraiment d'accord avec ce qu'il pense de ce mois-ci ou du suivant, mais ce sera (peut-être) pour un prochain billet.

Summer Blast

How's summertime where you are? In continental Europe, it's been akin to hellfire. And I mean, really. There's been a heatwave that has been doing my head in. I read that it's the same in Québec and in many other places in the northern hemisphere. I was hoping to have a cooling month of August, like we sometimes have. Instead, we got a proper summer blast. Anyway, I hope it cools down soon.

Des requins blancs dans le St-Laurent

Grosse nouvelle pour les baigneurs et les amateurs de requins: on a observé l'apparition de requins blancs dans le Saint-Laurent. Je ne sais pas si la nouvelle vous remplit de terreur, mais moi je la trouve fascinante. 

£5 on a book

Wolfie and I went to the local bookshop about a week ago or so, just so I could buy him a book for the holidays. I ended up buying him two, but never mind that for now. I saw a young boy and his dad, the boy must have been five or six, all happy about purchasing a book of his choice with the £5 bill that his father had given him. I don't think you can find many books at this price range nowadays, even children books, but I applause this family policy. It reminds me of my own childhood: my parents often gave us a few dollars to buy a new book at the beginning of a holiday, to celebrate it. It's a good tradition, which I intend to follow. 

Mi-août, miaou

Nous étions hier la mi-août. Que je prononce mi-ou. Mais quand l'étais jeune, il y avait des camarades de classe qui disaient "mi-aou". Comme miaou. Je trouvais la prononciation un peu colonne et le calembour, bien qu'involontaire, partièrement atroce.

New (?) local police station

I noticed it recently when I was walking through the business estate: we have a new police station there. Well, I say new, maybe that's not quite right, but it's the first time I noticed it. A bit less than a decade ago, we used to live near the "old" police station, which was a rather quaint and old fashioned building. It looked really nice, but not exactly the kind of place I would expect to have a professional constabulatory force, working against crime in a small English town that can surprisingly... I'm not sure of the word. Criminalised? If you read this blog, you know what I'm talking about. It can be a dark place and the ideal setting for a crime novel or two. But anyway, this new (somewhat new) local police station looks suitably modern, from what I could see from the outside. Which is kind of reassuring. I think it's also at a more strategic place, giving a police presence where there was none before. So yes, good news. And if I need to find inspiration for my stories, I know where to walk by.

"Le 12 août", etc.

Un rappel de l'expatrié que je suis pour tous ceux qui peuvent. Oui, c'est vous là, mes lecteurs du Québec. Ma mère, mon père, mon frère et sa petite famille et c'est sans doute pas mal tout. Enfin bref, le 12 août, achetez un livre québécois. 

Catholics VS Protestants (Derry Girls)

 Has anyone here watched Derry Girls? I'm late to the party, but I discovered it recently on Netflix and binge watched it with delight. Really enjoyed it. The sitcom first caught my attention during our trip to Belfast last year. There was this chalkboard a the Ulster Museum, which I thought was funny. It was taken from the show. In context, it's absolutely hilarious. Anyway, you can watch it here. But I cannot encourage you enough to watch the full series.

De la broue

Mon père a acheté de la bière de la Brasserie Port-Alfred. Celle-ci est une Blonde de Soif. On ne le dirait pas sur cette photo. C'est beaucoup, beaucoup de broue.