Saturday, July 7, 2012

Huffing and Puffling



The vide grenier on Sunday at Boisse-Penchot wasn't very good. The weather was iffy and that obviously discouraged people.
We remembered the place from our trip up/down the river last year. We went through the locks here.





Den (our British neighbour) has a lovely 2CV van which he left parked at the Moulin for a couple of days this week. 
He says it's an old post delivery van. It would seem that an extra bumper was attached to the rear of these vans (French driving!) causing the back lights to be realigned. It's great! I want one.


Progressed with the sorting and packing this week so no very exciting activities or outings to report. When I wasn't doing that I became engrossed with a live webcam situated down a Puffin's burrow. This is the site:
http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/puffin-burrow-cam

and these are some of the images I captured:
The little ball of fluff is the young one
There are two more live cams (click on top left hand picture) one of Puffins outside and one of an Osprey's nest. 
Puffin Loafing Ledge
A Puffin chick is known as a 'puffling'. 

Rained a good deal this Thursday and I used the time indoors  to prepare the gite for Malek who is coming on Friday or Saturday for a few days.

Vide grenier at Bagnac on Saturday and the day was dry and sunny. We had lunch first in the Commercial Hotel (although not the full works, Peter). I bought a proper copy (not a modern paperback) of Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome, in English and good condition for €2. We also bought this pub sign:

This too is in English, but what is the meaning of 'LIVERAII' on the righthand side and what was expected of the female attendants. It has been suggested that it is Irish from the 1920's but on what evidence hasn't been explained.
We though it would make a great prop for CADS. It just needs someone with a vivid imagination and the skill to write a play that could use it. 

Wildlife this week includes:
Burying or Caxton Beetle with an interest in Le Figaro
Only two weeks left!




2 comments:

  1. Irish? Because who (in Britain) would say 'Good Gillies' and then spell the word without an 'h?' And then there's 'Liveraii' - which suggests (as none of us knows what it means) that it's a word you might find in Joyce or Beckett. (My guess is that it is an Irish variant of 'Livery' meaning a place where you can keep (in this case) your fishing equipment) Also would a British pub describe chambermaids as 'female attendants?' It all adds up to the sign coming from a non-British country where they have both pubs and fishing and where a form of English is spoken. There is only one of those: Ireland.

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  2. Gillie or ghillie is a scots term.

    Any one else with any ideas about this sign, facetious or not, please let me know.

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