Happy New Year!

 I very much enjoy Terry Pratchett's way of thinking and expressing things -

“It's amazing how good governments are, given their track records in almost every other field, at hushing up things like alien encounters. One reason may be that the aliens themselves are too embarrassed to talk about it.

It's not known why most of the space-going races of the universe want to undertake rummaging in Earthling underwear as a prelude to formal contact. But representatives of several hundred races have taken to hanging out, unsuspected by one another, in rural corners of the planet and, as a result of this, keep on abducting other would-be abductees. Some have been in fact abducted while waiting to carry out an abduction on a couple of aliens trying to abduct the aliens who were, as a result of misunderstood instructions, trying to form cattle into circles and mutilate crops.

The planet Earth is now banned to all alien races until they can compare notes and find out how many, if any, real humans they have actually got. It is gloomily suspected that there is only one - who is big, hairy, and has very large feet.

The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head.” 

― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

 

 

French Poop ~ another adventure

We were getting all gussied up to go visit something owned by the Prince of Monaco.  While not exactly trying to look our Sunday Best, we were trying to appear somewhat acceptable.

 

 

Checking to make sure everything was in order we headed downstairs and out the front door to get into the car.

Except... there was something interesting that had taken place... very interesting, in fact...

The Bird God had blessed us.  Mightily.

The Starlings that Murmur over Nice Port in late Fall, early Winter had done something very special for us.  Or to us, depending on ones perspective. 

 

 

Our car had been carpet bombed nearly to oblivion in Starling Poop.

Every side of the car except the bottom was covered in Bird Doo.  And I mean every side.  It had been a massive explosion.

The cars in front and behind us were covered, too.  The ground was neatly covered in a circle of Starling Carpet Bombing Loveliness.  It was a Ripe Mess, and our car had been the epicenter of that Mess.

We'd never seen anything like it.  One had to admire the accuracy and precision that is normally left to the Dreams of Military Generals.  It was insane how completely the area had been saturated.

 

 

There was nothing for it but to go visit the Place of the Prince as we were.  Covered in Bird Sh*t.  

There wasn't time to stop for a wash.  That would happen the next morning at a gas station up around the corner from us where they had an automated car wash named Christ. 

You can't make this stuff up.

Until then the Monegasque Peoples would need to suffer the site of us for the day.

Brush up on your French!

Les Bourguignons - Gueuleton

L'autoroute A6 passes right through the exact center of paradise.  I'm talking about Beaune.  OK?  Just saying.

 

Cépage Sorcier ~ La Syrah

This should clear a few things up.  Any questions?

The Last Laugh...

 Yes. Some Europeans find this hilariously funny.

"Je te jure que je ne faisais pas l'accent belge !"

Non, je faisais l'accent bizarre et dur.  Je parle le français comme un basque espagnol, moi.

 

French Poop ~ An Adventure

The French are more than a little grumpy these days.

Australia was happily and willingly strong-armed by the Brits and Americans into buying their submarines instead of seeing out a multi-billion dollar contract for French made sou-marins.  Ambassadors have been recalled.  Shouting has ensued.  Reactions have been registered.  Realizations have been realized.  The contract was blown up and France finds itself deep in la merde.  Europe is now unofficially on it's own.

Since we've moved into our current apartment over nine years ago, the room where our shower is has smelled from time to time like, well, there's no other way to put it, shit.

We thought that its just how things are in Paris.  Submarine contracts not withstanding.

None of the pipes were over flowing nor backing up.  All the plumbing in the cabinet where le tuyau descende and le chauffe-eau lives have always been dry and seemingly in good condition.

It smelled like shit.  That's all.  Not always, but often enough we could complain about "that special Paris perfume."

A year or so ago our old neighbors upstairs moved out and a young man who works in informatique bought the place and moved in.  He loves to talk.  His French is clipped and fast.  One has to be well on their Foreign Language Translation Toes to keep up with him.  And forget about getting a mal-formed poorly-accented mot in edge-wise.

Across the hall from M.Iformatique lives a very kindly gentleman.  Our neighbor also happens to be one of three coproprietaire representatives to the syndic in our building.  So it can be useful to wave to him and share a few words from time to time.  He worked in aerospace and has a beautifully honed wonderfully refined sense of French humor.

One day someone frappait la porte and we found M.Iformatique at our doorstep.  Long story short, it took us 30 minutes to get to the point, his place smelled like shit.

What happened next was a series of meetings to talk about the problem.  This was followed by a series of inspections of the cabinets where le tuyau descende and le chauffe-eau live in the two apartments in question.  Which was followed by a series of SMS that indicated time and date of smelling des odeurs. Then followed by an unannounced pre-09h00 visit from a plombier and M.Iformatique.

An inspection was made and a judgement rendered.  There was nothing to do but to suffer les odeurs nauseabande.  Or so we were told.  Merde happens, right?

None of us were very happy with the pronouncement.

We decided that it would be helpful to have someone confirm or deny the initial prognosis.  It was a bit like visiting a medecine and wanting to get a second opinion.  So, in a very Gallic Manner, that is to say with careful planning, forethought, and precise execution a second plombier was summoned.

Just this morning we received a second unannounced pre-09h00 visit from a plombier and M.Iformatique.  I was in the shower and la madame de la maison told them to come back in a few minutes.  By the time they returned I was dry and dressed.  This time M.Representive accompanied the two who originally knocked on the door.

A re-inspection was made.  A lot of conversation was shared.  M.Informatique had more than a few things to say.  I did my best to keep up and stopped the flow of Gallic words to ask M.Plombier for une petite precision concerning the exact nature of his thoughts on the matter.  The Gallic flow of words soon restarted and we circled and swirled around the subject to the point I was nearly drained.

M.Representive and I started a side-conversation where we considered the Sou-Marin Affaire.  We agreed the French had been treated badly by the Anglo-countries.  How could everything have fallen apart so?  It was clear to us the real winners in all this would be the Chinese, and, indirectly, the Russians.

Coming back to the central sh*tty point of this missive, the Syndic will generate the necessary documents.  Devis will be prepared by M.Plombier.  Proprietaires will be contacted.  Work will be considered.  More Gallic words will be expressed and shared.  We will see what happens.

After everyone left, it occurred to me that I should send M.Representative a short SMS explaining (attended by the proper humor emojis, of course) that if he was interested I had a spare submarine to sell.

His reply - Je m'en doutais!!!  Just as I expected.

In the meantime, there is nothing to do but to suffer les odeurs nauseabande.   

Merde happens. 

 

Did the Romans laugh?

I found this an interesting read.  The Romans, it appears, laughed at many of the things we still find funny today.

 

La Poste...

 I love this stuff.  It's so silly and well thought out.

Someday I may return to more lengthy topics.  But until then, enjoy the last of summer.

 

 A view from insidele chateau de Fontainebleau

Something interesting about wealth and talent...

Many people in America believe that being near the top of the heap in a meritocracy equates to being wealthy.  It's how we justify the 80-20 Rule, where 80 percent of the people have only 20 percent of the wealth, and vice versa.  

 We tend to tell ourselves and firmly believe the bottom 80 percent aren't as talented as the top 20 percent.

Is this really the case?  Or is this just another thing we like to tell ourselves that helps us explain why we're at the various levels of wealth where we find ourselves?

"... When the team rank individuals by wealth, the distribution is exactly like that seen in real-world societies. “The ‘80-20’ rule is respected, since 80 percent of the population owns only 20 percent of the total capital, while the remaining 20 percent owns 80 percent of the same capital,” report Pluchino and co.

That may not be surprising or unfair if the wealthiest 20 percent turn out to be the most talented. But that isn’t what happens. The wealthiest individuals are typically not the most talented or anywhere near it. “The maximum success never coincides with the maximum talent, and vice-versa,” say the researchers..." 

This is from an article on wealth and luck.  I added the bold to the sentences I found most interesting.

It gives a radically different perspective, doesn't it?

 

Le Vol de la Tour Eiffel

I find these videos extraordinarily fun - https://youtu.be/i5XjvNBcQV4

 

In a world filled with lies and wishful thinking...

How do we know what is true and what is not?

I ask this in the relation to the lies and half truths that too many people believe and tell each other.

Carl Sagan had a few thoughts on the matter and I think they can be helpful.  Hence his Baloney Detection Kit.

I particularly like the following quote of his.

"...In addition to teaching us what to do when evaluating a claim to knowledge, any good baloney detection kit must also teach us what not to do. It helps us recognize the most common and perilous fallacies of logic and rhetoric. Many good examples can be found in religion and politics, because their practitioners are so often obliged to justify two contradictory propositions..."

 

Delete Facebook...

Without going into details, I've not been on Facebook for years, now.  So it was only with passing interest that I came across the following comment.

"... Facebook makes election interference easy, and that unless such activity hurts the company’s business interests, it can’t be bothered to fix the problem..." - from Technology Review

I'm very happy I'm no longer letting Zuckerberg & Co. sell my private information.

If the company can't be bothered to do the "right things", why participate in the active demise of democracy?  

 

Rome...

From: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/lessons-in-the-decline-of-democracy-from-the-ruined-roman-republic

"...While life in Rome, with gladiator battles, crucifixions and endless war was violent, for centuries Romans took pride in their republican system and political violence was taboo...

...Despite periods where the U.S. political system and established political norms have been tested and stretched—the McCarthy hearings, Vietnam, Watergate, the Iraq War—partisan violence or attempts to subvert the system have been rare. But recent events, like changes to filibuster rules and other procedures in Congress as well as increasingly heated political rhetoric give Watts pause...

...“No republic is eternal,” Watts writes. “It lives only as long as its citizens want it. And, in both the 21stcentury A.D. and the first century B.C., when a republic fails to work as intended, its citizens are capable of choosing the stability of autocratic rule over the chaos of a broken republic." 

And there it is. Enough Americans, however they have come to it, believe that the Republic not longer works.  Jobs to China.  Lack of employment.  "Socialism" is destroying the country.  Mexicans are taking jobs and importing violence.  Putin is really a friend.  "They" are coming to take your guns away. Vaccines against CV19 make you magnetic.  "They" are putting micro-chips in CV19 vaccines to control you.

Choose one insane lie or choose all of them.  

It seems to boil down to the same thing.  Just enough people want the apparent stability of autocratic rule to actively vote it into power.  

In the USA last election cycle just three million people tipped the balance away from continued autocratic rule.  Yet the model for this kind of rule is now in place.  Who will exploit that to their advantage?

 

Meanwhile, in the civilized world...

Carl Sagan said...

Back to politics.  The following quote is verified (see Snopes).

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American[s] is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites... lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

 

You asked for it ~ more Marmottes!!!

I can't help myself.  I love watching these little guys and gals from France3

 

Compilation Marmottes France 3 hiver été 2019

Other animial friends in France...

... and it's not just Marmottes.  It's all manner of interesting animals that can show up on France3.

 

Bel été sur France 3 (TV spots publicitaires)

Furry little French friends...

Each year during the tour de France bicycle race we try to tune in early.  

Why?  Marmottes!

We start by watching le tour on France3, where the special kind of fun is found.  

France2 picks up the broadcasting about half way through the stage and is a more staid affair.

While broadcasting on France3 and when they break for commercials our favorite Marmottes! show up.  They bookend commercial sequences.  One clip at the start, and another at the end of the commercial block.

They're cute, aren't they?

 

France•3 - Marmottes Été 2021

How good can fireworks actually be...?

Each year the French celebrate the storming of the Bastille with a great big fireworks show.  They can be truly spectacular.

 

Firework Paris 2021 / Feux d’artifice Paris Tour Eiffel 14/07/2021

Plonk et Replonk

Now that we've had our fill of fabulous food, let's turn our attention to a bit of relaxation and entertainment.

We first saw Plonk et Replonk at le musee de la Poste over near Montparnasse.  They had a series of videos playing as part of an exhibition and we sat and watched.  It was serious silly good fun.

We never knew where they were from, but assumed they must be French.  Alas, no.  Plonk et Replonk are Swiss.

Such a wicked sense of humor.

It's sad, but they won't allow other websites than YouTube to share their videos.  So you'll have to follow the links in this article if you want to see what I'm talking about.

But, they have an entire YouTube channel.

 

"L'Addiction s'il vous plait ?!"

Here is Chicandier's YouTube Channel.

His stuff cracks me up!

I've found it worth my time to turn on closed captions and to stop the video to read and translate and to sometimes think hard about what he says as he says it.  

Very educational stuff, this.

 

Encore! et a table!!

If you enjoyed les Gueuletons, check this out.  Chicandier is well known, too.

Turn on the closed captions and you can follow what he's saying in French.  

I find this very complex stuff pour les etrangers.  There are innuendos, redirections, and more than a few gros mots. It's hilarious.

Do you think these guys are passionate about their food, or what?

Until you've tasted these kinds of things in situ there's no way of knowing just how good it all tastes.  

There is no American reference for this level of quality and flavor.

Back to something French...

 OK.  OK.

Enough politics and hand wringing over the collapse of democracy in the US.

Let's get back to more important things, shall we?

These guys are awesome!

 

I've always said..

I've always said that if you get enough people together believing something that they will take their "beliefs" as truth.

How can democracy in the U.S. survive during times such as these when lies and distortions and beliefs are given equal, and sometimes greater voice and power than truth and reality?

Yet here we are.  Trump supporters are the very incarnation of what I'm talking about.  And the GOP refuses to raise a finger against those lies, distortions, and ill-formed beliefs.

Is there no price to be paid for working to destroy a democracy?

 

 

And if you think I'm nuts, check this out.

Can it get any worse?  I'm almost afraid to ask.

... and... it's outta here!

Nous sommes en deuil et, en mème temps, nous allons garder des beaux souvenirs. La Smart est morte. Quelle tristesse. Quelle souffrance. Quel... 

... um... what am I talking about? She has gone to a better life. Or so we hope. :-) 

You should have been here to witness the extraction of the Little Car from the parking. It was an amazing event.  Really.

Two gentlemen arrived with their camion/remorqueur.  We descended into the cave to extract an old vehicle.  But... the poor Little Car would not demarre. Pas de tout. Elle ne veut pas faire se bouger, meme avec un strong "jump-start." 

It turns out, the key was not communicating properly with the starter system.   It was dead.  Dead. Dead as a parrot. Dead as Monty Python's very own parrot. 

So, they unloaded a BMW Mini 4x4 that they had just picked up, drove it down into the cave, put it behind the Little Car, and pushed the Little Car up and out of the parking.  

*poof* and out she debouched from le parking.

It was incredible to watch.  I'm just glad no one was on the sidewalk nor in the street in front of the garage at the time.

We did some paperwork and I took a few photos.

After the gents were gone I rearranged our new Prius in the parking to have her sit where the Little Car once was.

What a morning!!!

 

 

Of oxcart tracks and other steep places... Cinquieme Part

We recently felt we'd reached our James Watt limit of Village Perche'.  Seen one?  Seen them all. And, yes, we still hate that idiot James Watt.  But that's not the point of this tale.

We were coming down to the end of our Winter Stay along the cote d'Azur.  In the interest of keeping the Prius' battery charged, we decided to get one more visit in before heading north to certain re-confinement dans la region Parisienne. 

There was a magazine in the apartment where we are staying has a nice little article on the village perche' that surround Nice.  We looked at one called Peillon to visit.  It's just 20 minutes from the apartment.  Further up the Alps is a sister village perche' called Peille.

Consulting the maps and considering the terrain, we saw that both are rather steeply situated.  After visiting Sainte Agnes we were a little leery of goat paths narrower than two goat rumps in width.

Using Google maps street level I took a virtual drive up to Peillon and wow! that's one narrow and steep road.  The road to Peille, on the other hand, looked to be bit, if only a little, more "do able."  So Peille it would be.

We passed Peillon on our way out of town and were very glad we'd not tried to climb that road.  That's one seriously "perched" village!  The way it juts out into the valley high up  on granite crags is very impressive, even from the road below.

Perhaps we'd made the right decision?  We squeezed past at a roaring 2km/hr an on-coming dump truck that was decending the goat herd path.  It was a little dicey.  But nothing was damaged.  Nothing was scrapped.  We are slowly getting used to this kind of thing.

It turns out Peille is one of the nicest village perche' we've thus far visited.  It feels lived in.  It's empty of Bobo Super Chic art galleries and Michelin Starred Restaurants are either hiding or are simply not there.  It was like a breath of Fresh Alpine Aire.

The Principality of Monaco still has influence there.  Parks and paths and memorials to the Prince and Princesses were surprisingly numerous.

Being the geeks we are, Judith and I were more impressed by the fact that the early langue d'Oc is still spoken there.  A man who learned the langue d'Oc from his mother now, in turn, teaches the language to schoolchildren.  

What makes this a geeky subject is that the langue d'Oc is a very close descendant of plebeian, working class Romans.  Of course Italian, French, and Spanish are descendant languages of Latin.  Perhaps the langue d'Oc hews closer to the original Roman language?  It could be interesting to find out the answer to that. 

Wouldn't you know it?  The very next day it was announced that all of France would require attestations to travel farther than 10 kilometers.  Sure, if you tested negative to CV19 you could climb on an airplane and fly to any country around the world that would accept you.  But travel more than 10km regardless of test results?  No can do.  C'est interdit.  Zut!

The question was, do we head north to uncertain restrictions and changing circumstances or stay in Nice for another month.  The new restrictions were to last at least three weeks.

For the second year in a row and for the very same reason (ie: we're in the middle of a pandemic) we decided to extend our stay in Nice.

 

 

[see here for more images from Peille]

The Essential...

Having lived in France for over nine years, one begins to pick up and the subtleties of life and power and politics.

Being "locked down" has recently meant that all "non essential" businesses are closed.  All "grands surfaces" (the big stores) are limited to selling food.  All other areas are either cordoned off or outright closed.  All restaurants remain closed, though take-out food is allowed. 

"Essential businesses" are clearly listed.  But the list has, oh, how shall we say, "evolved" over the past year.  It's easy to imagine the arm wrestling going on over who gets to make money and who gets to remain on the public dole.  

One of the things that has helped France get through the pandemic without too many public demonstrations of discontent is the size of the public dole.  Money, it appears, can calm the beast.

Life and living, business and take-out food can only happen between 06h00 and 19h00 weekdays.  On the weekends we need an "attestation" (basically "our papers" that show we have a valid state-approved reason to be out of the apartment) where the curfew starts on Friday at 19h00 and ends on Monday 06h00.

It was a joy to see on the morning news something delicate and light.  France's Prime Minister, Jean Castex, received a gift in the mail.  It was a small gift.  Nothing much, actually. But it was something that might help him reconsider his list of "essential" business.   

When he opened his little bubble-wrap envelope he found a pretty pair of women's underwear.

Have we mentioned recently how much we enjoy living in France?

Stories from the Third Confinement...

 

 

Here's a little story...

I woke up a little funky from the Astra-Zenica vaccine the morning after I'd taken the shot.  Nothing bad.  Just feeling like I wanted to lay low and do basically nothing.

... except... the starter battery in our new used Prius decided it was End of Life...  it expired... no electrons left to share...  and once I got the ball rolling to get her a new battery...

After having been told that the tow-truck driver would haul the car to the dealer for repair I had her jump-started.  And to the dealership?  Ah.  No.  M.Remorquer decided I could drive the wounded beast to the dealership myself.  Without turning her off I ran upstairs, grabbed my things, told Jude what was up, and dashed out the door.

I spent the afternoon at the dealership service bay.  

 

Got a scare when the indicators said there was something wrong with the hybrid system and that the power battery pack would need replacing. In the end, it turned out all she needed was a new starter battery and the hybrid electronics reset to a known good state, just as I thought to begin with. 

 

There was a ton of traffic coming home. Then Jude told me it's Easter Week and everyone and their dog is out and about.

I was pretty wiped out.

 

 

Here's another little story...

We've seen this again this winter here in Nice.  Our apartment is close enough to the port that we can watch the ships and boats as they come and go.

While most of the comings and goings  have been pleasure craft and cement ships, there have been at least two large ships that have pulled into port.  These ships unloaded and loaded no-so-small pleasure craft.  It's been like watching an automobile transporter, but on a much larger scale.

This gave rise to our common comment that "the rich do whatever they want."  Even, and particularly during the time of this Covid-19 pandemic.

It should come as no surprise that word officially leaked that *gasp!* the rich were acting like there was no pandemic.  The maitre d' even said so at the door.  500euro a plate got you access to the back room of various high end restaurants up in Paris.

 

In France all restaurants are closed.  Unless you're rich, that is.  If you're Well Heeled, you can do anything you want.

It appears that two of the rich bastards who organized dinners at the Palais Vivienne have been arrested.  Is there justice?  Not enough of it, really.

One last story...

European countries have restricted travel within and across boarders.  

 

However, there has been a loophole.  If you test negative for CV19 you can climb onto a plane to go anywhere that will accept that aircraft. 

The Hot Spot for Young Party Crowd has been Madrid.  Restaurants and bars are open.  They are doing outstanding business as a result.

There have been interviews with Spaniards who are pissed.  Really pissed.  Why?  Because these partying types tested negative and they could fly to another country.  Yet the locals are not allowed to go more than 10km, even if they test negative to CV19.

The topic came up just yesterday on the French news during an interview with a minister to the EU.  The man had no clear, satisfactory response as to how to resolve this glaring inequality.

If you have money, you can do what you want.  You can buy an airplane ticket and fly away to Madrid.  You can move your boat anywhere around the world.  You can escape local restrictions by simply being who you are at your economic level.

For the rest of us, we have to toe the line.

Of oxcart tracks and other steep places... Quatrieme Part

Studying the map and visiting a few websites revealed a potentially interesting little place just west of Vence and north of Saint Paul de Vence.  All extended incoherent babbling harangues aside, les Tourrettes sur Loup would be our next adventure destination.

 

We packed our lunch and hit the road around 11h00.  The route was becoming somewhat familiar.  We'd already visited les hauts de Cagnes and Saint Paul de Vence and the path to les Tourrettes re-covered some of this territory.

Vence is another village perche' that comes recommended, but on entering that village along our way all we could see were modern residences and to experience our first honest to gawd traffic jam.  And here we thought we were in the middle of nowhere.  Ugh.

It was market day and some of the vendors were closing down their stalls and moving on.  But we didn't know this until we'd finally beetled our way up to the intersection where we would meet our goat path to les Tourrettes.

 

We have the impression that a lot of people live in the hills up behind Cagnes sur Mer. Even in the dead of winter and in the middle of a rather strong pandemic there are people in motion.  Houses and swimming pools dot the area in surprising density.  If one were trying to get away from the Great Unwashed, this wouldn't be the place to do it.

Still, our visit to les Tourrettes was very pleasant and there were few people in the village perche' itself.  This seemed a consistent theme.  People might be out and about in their vehicles going hither and thither, but all of our visits to these hilltop towns have been quiet and nearly devoid of other human life.

 

We bought what turned out to be a wonderful  loaf of bread from a les Tourrettes boulangerie and hit the road back to Nice.  With the 18h00 curfew there tends to be a bit of traffic starting around 16h00.

There'd been no one around when we turned onto the goat path toward Vence, so we were surprised to hear a *honk* and to see in the rearview mirrors a late-middle-age woman giving an exasperated gesture (throwing her hands up in the air).  

She was Clearly Annoyed.  We were blocking her rapid progress.  The speed was clearly marked as limited to 50km/hr.  We were doing, um, yes, 50km/hr. Not good enough, I guess.

Fortunately for all concerned there was a short straight just around the next corner.  We could hear the big VW 4x4 V8 spool up as she blasted by and disappeared around the next (somewhat sharp) bend.

Wherein we learn that the locals know their roads better than the French authorities who are responsible for public health and safety as well as signage.

It is certain this will not be the last time we Clearly Annoy the locals.  

 

[more photos here]

Of oxcart tracks and other steep places... Troisieme Part

Finally getting the hang of this driving around the French Riviera thing, we struck out for the pretty little border town called Menton.  We'd heard that things might be a little dead there, what with Covid sprouting out all over this part of France, and such.

Tappity tap tap tap into the GPS goes an address and the English accented bint starts telling us where to go.  So go we obediently did.

 

Taking the Upper Corniche to avoid the really twisty narrow roads that snake their way along the coast.  There were still  plenty of things to see inland.  Take pine trees, for instance.  Hadn't seen pine trees like these in forever.  Scrawny little things.  Hunched against dry granite hills.

Off the A8/Upper Corniche and down the valley into Menton, with the Lamborghini repair shop just off the street on the right.  Two or three cars were parked on the sidewalks, no doubt waiting attention from either owners picking them up or awaiting repairs inside the garage.  Pretty little things, those cars, though a bit out of our budget range.

Left turn onto a narrow narrow snakey shaped track and up onto the heights of Menton we go.  In the narrowest parts we have, again, inches of room to spare on each side of the rear view mirrors.  Someday we'll get used to this.

The view from the Old Chateau was reputed to be something special, so that was our destination.  

We'd been in Menton around the lower portions of the town last year.  It's where we might have caught Covid.  The regional train, actually, there and back had been filled with coughing/hacking/wheezing folk and, well, little did we know how dangerously we were all living at the time.

The road around that part of town was good for one car going either direction, but not two.  Passing and being passed could've been an interesting exercise had it not been for the lack of too many people being out and about.

After a spot opened up we parked the Prius and took the easy walk into the cemetery of Menton at the Old Chateau.  The monuments are typical Italianate nearly Roccoco structures.  The colors, when there are some, are garish.  The wrought iron is nearly always twisted into pretty shapes.  The view is fabulous from up there at the top of the hill.  Things (and people) were, indeed, more than a little dead up there in the brace sea fresh air.

It made us wonder how it is that the dead got the best views in town and the living had to huddle against the hill and in many cases see practically nothing.

[More photos can be seen here]

Of oxcart tracks and other steep places... Dieuxieme Part

When last we left our Heros, they had successfully slithered, wriggled, and shimmied their way down the hauts de Cagnes, their new (to them) Prius unscathed, and shocked at how narrow old medieval streets were back in the day, and well today for that matter.

Since we'd failed to meet our simple normally easy to grant wish of finding a place to park, and knowing we weren't going to walk up the hill to les hauts de Cagnes, we chose a different destination for our next adventure.

We flung the arrow high into the air and *thud* it came down on a pretty little hill town called Saint Paul de Vence.  Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder were married there.  Yes.  This is true.  I'm pretty sure other important things took place there over the years, but I can't recall exactly what at the moment.

So off we went on a well chosen Friday.  It was the day before the Hoards of Paris invaded the cote d'Azur for the winter school holiday.  We anticipated a Covid-19 style wild week ahead.  Masks seem to be optional down here and red marks the region on maps of where people are dying the fastest.  We hoped to avoid such unpleasantness by going before the mob (Parisians, not Mafia, though some might argue the distinction) could arrive.

The little hill town does, indeed, have good and proper places to park rather near the entrance to the village.  I can't tell you how happy we were for this.  Climbing up and down and walking long distances just to see something isn't on the menu for these two old folk.  Been there.  Done that.  Yes, we, too, were young once.  I think.

Shock of shocks, wandering the old town and no one was home.  Sure, a small group of old guys were playing petanque in a park just outside the old village.  And there were perhaps 5, maybe 6 inhabitants who scurried from one door to another like cats trying to avoid being petted.  But tourists?  Non-existant.  Such things are bliss and paradise made of.

As you might imagine, the place was quaint.  It was clear it was well monied, too.  There were a lot of hipster gallery spaces and really nice looking restaurants.  All closed until une nouvelle ordre (due to CV19).

After seeing what there was to see and enjoying the peace and quiet, we started our way back to our nicely parked car.  Down a very narrow stone path from one narrow medieval street to another took us by a small "incident" that was unfolding in real time.

An old guy (older than I, that's certain) had gotten his VW 4X4 stuck.

He'd been trying to get up a narrow goat path sized medieval street when he felt he could go no further.  So what to do but to back up.  Right?  Except the poor driver was flustered.  

His wife was out of the car trying to direct him back down the hill.  He had less room on each side of his car than we had in les hauts de Cagnes in our Prius.  It was well and truly stuck.

To make matters worse, just a few minutes of effort later, his rear left tire was 1/2 off a granite drop-off.  The poor guy.  For all we know he's still trying to back his 4x4 down the street.

Two things.  First, we're not alone.  Second, I'm glad that wasn't us.

Have I mentioned how tight spaces can be here in Yerp?

 

 

More photos from our adventure around the village can be found here.

The swallows arrived today...

Here we are on the 12th of February around 1pm in the afternoon and a large gathering of swallows has made landfall here at the Nice port.

There were a couple of swallows that look like they had wintered over.  That seemed a bit unusual.  But what do I know about birds and France?  Practically nothing.

It's really quite fun seeing all these birds in the sky.

Of oxcart tracks and other steep places...

One of the reasons we purchased a car here in Nice was to visit the surrounding area and, most of all, to visit a few harder to reach by public transportation hill towns.

We would begin our adventures with a hill town that is very close to Nice, les Hauts de Cagnes.

Before going anywhere new to me I like to use Google Maps streetview to see where we are going.  It helps me anticipate, even if only a little, some of the details of where we are headed.  In this way I thought I'd pretty well "mapped out" the trip and parking spaces around les Hauts.

It was a complex drive.  Here in France the spaces and distances are much narrower and shorter than in the States.  The travel times can be shockingly long, too.  It took us an hour to get there when it was noted on Google Maps that it should take only 30 or so minutes.

Finally reaching the top of les Hauts where I had noted parking would be, there was none.  No space at the inn, or should I say, no space at the chateau fort.

OK.  There was nothing for it but do head back down the hill and make another tour to see if we couldn't catch an empty parking space on the backside of the hill.

Up and over the road next to the marie (city hall) at the chateau fort we went.  Only to find that the street narrowed.  Dramatically.  With granite steps from doorways encroaching into the, um, lane. And a full sized camion (van) parked blocking the descent.

We're not backing up this steep, narrow ox-track.  No way.  No how.  We patiently wait.

Things eventually clear and we slowly make our way off the hill, around the backside for a second time, up the hill and we find a parking space.  But it is a long steep hike up to the top just to see things.  And the hour is late.  Rush hour traffic is piling up on the roads due to a 18h00 curfew that has been imposed on us country-wide due to Covid 19.

OK. OK.  We'll let the GPS guide us off this thing and back to Nice.  Maybe we'll come back another day.

Retracing our first ascent was quick and easy.  When we get to the plaza next to the marie the sweet-talking GPS lady tells us to turn left and follow the road down a slightly different way from when we first ascended.

Only to find this shockingly steep path.  It was very likely made for goats or sheep.  Maximum two-wide.  How man or beast or cart ever made it up this thing is well beyond me.  If anything or anyone was headed downhill, they'd better have had outstanding brakes.

Ooooo... things are getting tight, now.  The passenger is getting squeamish and isn't liking the "look of things."  This is our new car, afterall.  We don't want to scratch nor damage it during our first serious outing.

Yikes!  Look at this, will you?  We have a comfortable inch, maybe two, on either side of the rear view mirrors and the hard rock walls of the buildings on either side.  One front tire gently brushes one of those damnable lane encroaching stoops.  Whee... everyone take a deep breath, shall we?

I've driven some crazy routes in my life, but this takes its place near the top of my list of Insane BatNuts Crazy Adventures.

Wherein we relearn that nothing is ever as we expect nor hope, here in France where the women wear no pants.  We just have to go with the flow.  Even as it hurtles us down a path unfit for animal life.

For obvious reasons, no photos were taken during this adventure.

Of birds and fish...

Retired philosopher professor friends of our recently shared something interesting.  They said that we were to watch where the seagulls fly, swoop, and feed over the Bay of Angels here in Nice that we might also see dolphins.

We didn't realize that dolphins worked the area and were excited to try this dolphin spotting technique out.

Yesterday was a very stormy day, here.  We had wind.  We had rain.  We had storm like we hadn't seen since last year when we were here.  By early morning the strum und drang had moved on and the skies were clear and still.

This morning after sunrise the seagulls were flying, swooping, and feeding just on the other side of the breakwater of the Nice port.  We could see them from our apartment.  There was a lot of activity over and on the water.

We grabbed the binoculars and watched.

Sure enough, leaping up out of the water were, um, huh, not dolphins in this case, but rather large silvery flat sided fish.  

Yes, they did leap.  Some nearly completely out of the water.  Most just broke the surface in a dramatic fashion.  It was very entertaining.  All it required was a little patience.

We'll talk with our friends and compare notes.

20 January 2021 was a very good day...

On one day two unrelated events took place.

Yesterday was an important day in the US.

Many here in France sighed a sigh of deep relief that the USA had uninstalled the orange haired diaper pooping would-be autocrat.  

Earlier, when things looked bad after the audio recording of the conversation with the Georgia Secretary of State came out, and after the Capitol had been stormed by insurgents, French President Macron came on national TV and talked about the importance of defending democracy. 

This morning Segolene Royale shared her thoughts about America (France 2 TeleMatin).  It is clear the Europeans know they need to "get on with it" and can't rely on former US stability on the world stage to help the world become a better place.  Though they'd like to feel they had a good friend to walk the path with.

Here are a few of our favorite quotes from Joe Biden's speech.

"We'll press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibility."

"A cry for racial justice, some 400 years in the making, moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer."

"We see the first woman in American history elected to the national office, Vice President Kamala Harris. Don't tell me things can't change." 

"This mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."

"We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this, if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts."

 

Yesterday was an important day for us, too, and our small lives here in France.

One of our own meager efforts at helping make the world a better place has been to live car-free for nearly 9 years.  We could get many places by TGV, RER, Metro, taxi, and rental car.  But, with the arrival of Covid-19 coupled with the realization that some of the places we would like to see are not easily serviced by public transportation, Judith and I made a decision to buy a car.  We took delivery of it yesterday.

Of the many interesting and wonderful things that happened on our way to taking possession of our first car here in Europe there was one that stands out.

Before we could take delivery of the new (to us) used (in reality - 4 years old) Prius Hybride we needed to purchase automobile insurance.

I thought we had everything we needed to show we had coverage in the US.  Our USAA insurance policy includes cards that, I thought, showed we were clear and "good" anywhere we went.  Alas, no, that was not at all the case.  The French needed to see what they call a quittance.  Our situation was complex enough that separating out the auto portion out of the overall policy was impossible.

This meant in the French system I would be considered a "jeune conducteur" or a young driver.  This after decades of automobile ownership in the US that included Jaguars, Fiats, Chryslers, Fords, and Toyotas.  The price difference between being able to prove three prior years of coverage and not is rather significant (400-Euro-ish versus 2500+Euro).

As we worked through our situation with an agent local to Nice (where we currently are for the winter) I came to the realization that this was going to cost us a bit of money.  Of course this all took place after we had paid for the car.  Had we known, right?

I explained and shared all the documentation we have and learned how the French system works, and what it needs to be properly aligned with all aspects of an automobile purchase.  There seemed no way "out."

Unexpectedly on the day we were resigned to pay whatever we had to pay, the agent called and we talked.  She said that having to pay for insurance as a young driver was unjust.  That word, unjust, is a powerful word here in France.  It has the power to move mountains and to plumb the depths of an ancient legal/social/cultural system.

She said "here's what we can do..." and made a very reasonable proposal to which I gratefully accepted and complied with.

It is one of the things about living here that never ceases to amaze us.  Just when things feel blocked, just when things feel like there's no going further, the French help us find a way.  

Justice. We love it.

... on to better things...

A better topic.  

Sun.  Balcony.  Kitty sunbath. Bikini Bottom Flats. Cote d'Azur.  13 and 14 January.

If that's the question, then the answer is YES!!!

Who could imagine while Paris sits in the low digits temperature-wise centigrade (near freezing, in fact) that we'd be out sunning ourselves down on the south coast of France?  

When the sun comes around to the west-facing side of the apartment we're out on the deck soaking up the rays.

It's really crazy, but my wife and I actually get our tans during the winter.

 

Les Etats-Unis ~ just to be clear about something potentially important

 I grabbed this out of the comment section in one of the subreddits -

 

"...From the article:

"Trump violated 18 U.S.C. sec. 2383, which prohibits incitement of rebellion or insurrection. It provides for 10 years in prison for anyone who “incites … any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto.” If convicted of this crime, Trump “shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States"...

"...Trump also committed seditious conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 2384, by conspiring “to oppose by force the authority [of the government],” and “by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States.” Seditious conspiracy carries a 20-year prison sentence."

..."Trump could also be charged with solicitation to commit a crime of violence, that is, murder, under 18 U.S.C. sec. 373. It is a crime to solicit, command, induce or endeavor to persuade another person to commit a felony involving the threat or use of physical force. If prosecutors can prove that whomever killed Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was incited to violence at the rally where Trump exhorted his followers, he could be convicted of inciting murder"...

Add to all of this that the Deutsche Bank wants to repossess his assets and properties because he defaulted on loans to them for hundreds of millions of dollars. So unless he flees the US before he can be detained he will die in prison from dozens of unpardonable state crimes he is guilty of...that doesn't even include the felonies..."

 

Relatedly, here is an interesting article from the right of center website Politico. 

Historically, this is not the first time huge whopping lies were believed by far too many people. A good recent example are the German generals who at the end of World War One said that German had _not_ lost the war (contrary to all evidence).

Les Etats-Unis ~ troisieme part

 

 

My brothers and I grew up watching Arnold take various bodybuilding championships.  Never thought he'd marry a Democrat, be a Republican, and be Governor of California... a life has a long arc... sometimes...

... before I let this blog-post end...  

... I feel it should be recognized the value of one single man...

Les Etats-Unis ~ deuxieme part

Very recently I posted a rant about what happened in the Capitol building. Without explanation the post probably looks rather political.  So I wanted to take a moment to explain something that is potentially very important to American ex-pats.

To the outside world the storming of the Capitol building in Washington DC has come as a shock.  It was terrifying to watch.  

America the strong.  America the brave.  America the solid.  America the country that helped liberate France twice in the 20th century.  America the country that quite nearly collapsed into a lie-believing supply-side Jesus white supremacist Confederate flag waving the South Will Rise Again strong-man Trump loving heap of an emerging world-style mess.

"..."Thank god [the coup d'etat] didn't work because I can't imagine how hard it would be to sanction the US financial system," said the official. By sanctions, he means the imposition of the usual diplomatic, military, and trade blockages that democratic nations usually reserve for dictatorships..."

This, right here, is why Americans living overseas have every right to be terrified over what happened in Washington DC.  

Many of us rely on easy, quick access to our financial resources back in the States to live.  Social Security deposits, IRA, savings, and 401K plans can be our only but usually reliable lifelines.  If the United States is suddenly registered on the list of backward nation states, of third world counties, of regions controlled by dictators who ignore, subvert, and crush democratic elections, then we ex-pats have severely limited means of contributing to the local economies we've integrated into.

The Almighty Dollar would suddenly be nothing more than a pip-squeak backwater currency of little to no value.

I imagine that the adults in the room (CEOs, politicians with consciences, bankers, and policy makers) in the US are working overtime to reassure the world that America can handle this little problem and that the US is actively working to put itself back on the world stage in a solid, consistent, meaningful way.

It will be a topic of critical interest to many of us off-shored people watching how the adults deal with this.

This is no laughing matter.

Les Etats-Unis...

Et voila les États-Unis sont arrivées desormais au monde moins développer.

The news of armed militants storming the Capitol has spun the world.  

This morning there have been long, serious discussions on French TV about the fragility of American democracy.  These were not in the tone of "we're better than that."  Rather they were deeper philosophical discussions of what democracy means and what it enables and the dangers of its collapse.

How is it that a sitting President is allowed to encourage what to many around the world see as a coup d'etat, and there are no hard, real world consequences?

The contrasts between how anti-fascists, Black Lives Matter, and Trump supporters are dealt with is all too telling to even the most casual observer.

UPDATE 18 January, 2021 - So this is what the birth of a Third World Country looks like?

[From the original post]

There is of course more...

Police let insurrectionists come right on in

Enabler cowers as the Capitol is stormed by those he enabled

The Confederate flag finally made it into the core of the Capital

Police remove barriers so insurrectionists can take "selfies"

And just a bit of irony thrown in

... with something that's no better than aged milk

Is civility too much to ask for?

UPDATE 19:47 -

'Today I am briefing my government that we believe with a reasonable level of certainty that Donald Trump attempted a coup'

 

Nice ~ swallows on 5 January 2021?

Last year we noted the very early arrival of a flock of swallows here in Nice at the port.

This year I just saw a swallow flying around the courtyard of the apartment complex just in front of us.

The main migration of swallows isn't normally expected before March.  Yet, here we are.  Swallows in early January.