Beware Walpurgisnacht!

As we are the last day of April, tonight is Walpurgis Night, a time I always mention on this blog. Because it is the Halloween of springtime and because it also marks (to me at least) the beginning of pre-countdown to the countdown to Halloween.The official countdown starts in October of course, my officious one starts in August, but truly, I spare a thought on everything spooky on Walpurgisnacht. But tonight, beware: witches, demons, ghosts and other spooky critters are supposed to be roaming. I for one might avoid the hall of a nearby village, because for some reason I suspect it might be a place of gathering. Y'know, just a hunch.

J'TE RÉSUME - Gounod/Faust

Puis que c'est la Nuit de Walpurgis aujourd'hui (enfin, ce soir), j'ai pensé partager cette vidéo de l'Opéra et ses Zouz, un canal YouTube que j'ai découvert l'année dernière et que j'aime bien, vidéo qui résume le Faust de Gounod. Quel rapport, me direz-vous? Il y a une scène complète de l'opéra qui se passe cette nuit-là, c'est en fait grâce à l'opéra que je l'ai découverte. Quant à l'opéra lui-même, c'est un de ceux post-Mozart que j'aime le plus, pour ses thèmes sombres et son atmosphère terrifiante. Sa musique fait partie dema musicographie à l'Halloween.

About peanut butter sandwiches

When I started working from home, peanut butter quickly became the main part of a quick and easy meal. Well, I had started using it again in the office of my previous job, the one I hated, but it is since lockdown that it became my main mean of sustenance, at least for lunches. It is in many ways going back to uni. I either use it on toasts, or in a sandwich, if I have a good enough bread. A peanut butter sandwich is quick and easy to make, it is filling, it gives you plenty of energy, it is also delicious. Peanut butter sandwiches have many virtues.

T'auras du boudin

 Mes parents ont fait du boudin noir il y a quelques temps et m'ont envoyé cette photo, parce que food porn. Avec des pommes, des pattes et, bien entendu, du vin rouge. Ca fait des années que je n'ai pas mangé de boudin noir, ou de boudin tout court (tiens, le boudin blanc n'était pas trop mauvais, selon mon souvenir, je le mangeais avec beaucoup de moutarde de Dijon, si je ne me trompe pas). Pas depuis 2014 environ, enfin je crois. Du boudin préparé maison, ça date d'encore plus longtemps.

I bought Lovecraft Country for £6.66

The title says it all and I kid you not: I bought Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff for the precise sum of £6.66. Actually, I do kid you, but only a little: it got cheaper than that, that said at some point it was reduced to the number of the beast and it struck me that I would have bought it at 666. I am sure it was intentional. I can't wait to read it. I started watching the TV series last year, but had to stop due to a lack of time.Anyway, I love the horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft, in spite of his racism and his antisemitism. Now I will be able to enjoy it in a work that also addresses Lovecraft's most deplorable traits. I always make sure I read some of Lovecraft's mythos, either his direct work or the work of his continuators, in my countdown to Halloween reads which I start in August. As it's going to be Walpurgis Night very soon, the countdown to the countdown to Halloween, I might start reading the novel then. Surely it is allowed to be in a spooky mood already.

Se faire des amis

Photo prise dans Les dires de Piloé, le livre de quatrième année de français que j'aimais beaucoup. Je la partage ici parce qu'elle sert mon propos. Donc, nous avons récemment visité l'école où ira Wolfie en septembre prochain. Je me demande avec un peu de craintes s'il se fera des amis et si ce seront de bons amis (je veux dire pas des petits truands ou des nonos). J'avais assez peu d'amis enfant, surtout à l'école, et moi je n'étais pas enfant unique. En ce moment, Wolfie a quelques amis de sa garderie, mais pas d'amis proches qui viennent de la garderie. Il faut dire que la pandémie ne facilite pas les rapprochements. Enfin, peut-être qu'il sera plus sociable que moi, justement parce qu'il est enfant unique et voudra créer des liens avec des enfants de sa génération.

School visit

Yesterday morning, we visited the school where Wolfie will probably end up this coming September. I said probably, because he has been accepted to it, but we wanted to make sure we had done the right choice, so we had requested the visit yesterday. It is a little primary school, with only a few pupils and a very good reputation. So we got the tour by the head teacher, who seems to be a nice and warm person. She calmed pretty much all our worries and Wolfie seemed to enjoy his time there, although he seemed a bit shy at times. I think we were all a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, knowing our little boy will soon be of school age. At least we know he is going to be in the best possible school for his education. All the same, time goes too fast when you are a parent.

Le "safari"

Nous sommes allés dimanche à une ferme pour enfants avec petit loup. J'ai blogué sur le sujet hier. L'une des activités, que Wolfie a vraiment beaucoup aimé, était de parcourir une piste de "brousse" dans une jeep faite sur mesure pour lui. On aurait dit un film d'aventure se passant dans la savane, ne manquait plus que les lions et la rivière pleine de de crocodiles. Ce qui ne manquait pas, c'était de la poussière. C'est vraiment comme si on y était.

Tea outside

Yesterday, we went to meet a family of friends in a local farm, that has reopened since the end of lockdown. Respecting social distancing of course. It is the family of Uber, Wolfie's best friend. I had made a mistake befoe going there: I did not put warm enough clothes on and it was a much colder day than expected, because of a rather harsh wind. So even though it was sunny, I was freezing. Luckily enough, the father of Uber bought us all hot drinks. This is the first time we got hot drinks, or indeed anything from a canteen since March 2020. The canteen was from Kingdom Coffee Co ad if I am not mistaken it was a Clipper tea (that's the brand they advertise on the Kingdom Coffee website anyway). Be that as it may, it restored my body heat and I had a better time afterwards, not freezing anymore. And it struck me that drinking tea outside is really enjoyable, particularly on a cold day. It makes everything right.

Le marque-page du renard

Ma fête cette année n'en finit plus de continuer, en tout cas en ce qui concerne les cadeaux que j'ai reçus, que je reçois et que je vais recevoir. Enfin bref, tout ça pour dire que je n'ai pas encore reçu le cadeau de ma belle-mère, mais j'ai pu voir à quoi il ressemblait: elle a fait aucrochet ce marque-page, avec les couleurs, la queue et la tête d'un renard. Je n'ai jamais trop de marque-pages, alors j'ai très hâte de pouvoir utiliser celui-là.

My new torch

So as you may remember, I thought last month that a torch would make for a great birthday present. I thought it would make for a very useful tool, since the ones we have are cheap and haven't lasted long I do remember fondly the flashlights we had when I was a child, which we often used as a toy for our games. It could be a lightsaber, a ray gun, a generator of special effects or simply a... torch. Well anyway, my wife thought it was going to be something that makes me happy and probably useful, so she killed two birds with one stone and bought me this one. It's a really cool torch and it works really well. It's small, compact, it has various lighting options and I think it looks darn cool, sleek and elegant. It might come at no surprise that Wolfie loves it too and always finds excuses to ask daddy to use it.

Qu'est-il advenu de la Lamontagne?

Nouveau billet nostalgique, ça ne surprendra personne. Qui, parmi les Saguenéens qui me lisent, se souvient de la crème glacée Lamontagne? Qui était faite par la laiterie Lamontagne, son histoire ici. J'aii retrouvé sur les internets cette photo d'un pot de crème glacée, recyclé en tirelire. La première marque de crème glacée que j'ai connue, avec l'image du petit garçon et de la petite fille qui se promenaient devant... des montagnes. Côté branding, c'était assez naïf, mais c'était régional et je crois que bien des enfants comme moi se sont reconnus dans ces personnages. Si je ne me trompe pas, il y en avait à la vanille, au chocolat, napolitaine (ou "trois couleurs" comme on l'appelait) et au caramel. Dans des contenants de deux litres, il y en avait pour longtemps. C'est dommage que ça ait disparu.

The family tank

You may remember that Wolfie told me there was a secret present for my birthday? Turned out the secret present was the toy tank I really wanted. Way cooler in fact than the one my childhood friend had back in the days. As I expected, my mum thinks it is a tad violent for a toy (one of the reasons why I did not receive one as a child). But my father-in-law thinks it is very educational and will feed Wolfie's imagination (besides, his own father, my wife's granddad, was a WWII veteran and did travel by tank from time to time, so for him it's just another sort of vehicle). And as I expected, Wolfie adores it and it is as much my tank than his. In fact, it is a family tank and father and son have already played with it together a lot. We started moments after unwrapping the presents. I will repeat what I said before: having a boy when you are a father allows you to live a second childhood. Anyway, this is just very cool.

L'emballage de bières

C'était mon anniversaire il y a quelques jours et je reviens encore sur le sujet pour bloguer sur une nouvelle tradition familiale: l'emballage utilisé pour mes cadeaux de fête. Ma femme et petit loup ont travaillé ensemble et ils ont fait de l'excellent travail. Comme pour les années précédentes, il y avait des motifs de bière. Je regrette presque de devoir les déballer.

Saint George's Day (and a pub)

Happy Saint George's Day everyone!Saint George, who is of course the most famous dragon killer and the patron saint of England. I usually share a picture to go with the post, but I have none that is new, so this post will have to do by itself. Fun fact: like in many English townsor villages, we have a local pub called... George and the Dragon. This is where I would normally go to celebrate. That said: 1)since it changed ownership circa 2008, it became a pretty rubbish pub, looking kind of beige and with the poorest service among all the pubs here and 2)until the situation gets better, I'd rather avoid pubs altogether. So I will spend no time at this George and Dragon. Maybe one Saint George's Day I will celebrate in one aptly named pub, although I doubt it ill be this particular aptly named pub.

J'ai 4IIBI ans

 

Voici mon gâteau de fête, acheté à Cook parce que j'avais la flemme, et parce qu'ils font vraiment un excellent gâteau de fête. Les chandelles ont été rajoutées par petit loup. Je voulais mettre le chiffre 4, puis quatre chandelles, pour faire 44, mais il a insité pour que l'on ajoute le B. Alors j'ai 4IIBI ans(!). Pourquoi il a ajouté la chandelle en B? Il aimait la chandelle en B. J'avoue que c'est quand même bien cute.

The Flying Scotsman's card

It was my birthday yesterday and I received some birthday cards because some people still take time to write birthday cards ( I must confess that I am not one of them). One of them I really liked. You can see it here. It was sent by my parents-in-law and it shows the Flying Scotsman. Or, as Wolfie says, "It is totally the Flying Scotsman." Yes, he identified it. It is maybe my favourite steamed trains, although I love all of them. And on a viaduct as well (so I suspect my in-laws were inspired by this post). I was touched by the gesture and impressed by the care taken to choose this card. I said to my wife: "One thing is certain about your parents: they sure know their son-in-law well! Or maybe I'm predictable." Either way, this deserves to be a new great unknown line. Cool card, isn't it?

Nouvelle gâtastrophe

Je vous rassure tout de suite: ceci n'est pas mon gâteau de fête. La fin de semaine dernière, nous avons invité des amis dans le jardin, mais bien entendu en respectant toutes les consignes de sécurité et de distance sociale. Comme c'est devenu une semi-tradition depuis le début de la pandémie, j'ai décidé de faire un gâteau pour les recevoir. Gâteau blanc simple, sans glaçage et avec de la confiture entre les deux. Je saispas ce qui m'a pris, mais j'ai décidé d'y rajouter des poires en canne (coupées en dés) avec leur jus. Le gâteau ressemblait plus à ce que les Anglais appellent un pudding, ne manquait plus que la costarde. Cela dit, il était très mangeable. Alors la prochaine fois, je le servirai avec de la costarde.

A dad's birthday

Today is my birthday and I think it's going to be a special one. Not because of my age, I mean I am 44, which is still in the good side of this decade (if there is a good side to the forties). But because Wolfie, who is eleven times younger, is very aware of it now, and very excited about it. Moreso than me, in a way. He got very commited to choose and wrap up my presents with his mummy. Apparently, he even had a brilliant idea for one of them. And he worked very hard to keep everything a surprise. Yesterday he told me, very seriously: "Daddy, daddy, there's a secret present for you tomorrow, but I can't tell you what!" It is a new Wolfism and a very cute one. I think the day will be very long forhim until he can unwrap, errr... I mean, help me unwrap my presents.

Georges Brassens, "Marquise"

Bon, j'ai 44 ans aujourd'hui, encore techniquement dans la "jeune" quarantaine, je dois quand même avouer: j'ai quelques traits un peu vieux. Et comme c'est une tradition sur Vraie Fiction (même si j'ai négligé de l'observer les deux dernières années), voici les Stances à Marquise, version chantée par Georges Brassens. Avec bien entendu la fin ironique rajoutée par Brassens. Il y a de meilleurs enregistrement sur YouTube, mais cette vidéo a son sourire, qui vaut le visionnement...