Monday 27 August 2012

Canny cool after the canicule

Yes - we recently experienced the canicule here in Chamberet.  Le canicule is probably best translated as a heatwave and we had that heatwave from what I now remember for at least a week.  The heat does befuddle your head!  The calculation of the canicule is apparently calculated differently in different parts of France, but the definition is based on day and night temperatures when they both exceed a certain temperature for a defined period. Certainly here it was in the low to mid 30s for a few days, with the night temperatures being very uncomfortable for sleep.  We didn't allow ourselves to utter a word of complaint though, since we came here among other things for the heat, as well as the more relaxed lifestyle, wine, cheese, etc.

So, on Saturday gone, we were a bit miffed to experience cool temperatures, grey skies and driving rain.  This was the day we had decided to do a 'Vide Grenier' - 'Empty your attic', ie the English equivalent of a car boot sale - at our neighbouring village or hamlet named Soudaine-Lavinadiere.  As family and friends know, we have a lot of 'stuff', some of it very interesting, unusual 'stuff', as well as new, interesting,  French stuff found in the house here.  Soudaine-Lavinadiere is a very pretty hamlet, with a large archaeological dig going on at the moment with a whole team of archaeology students.  We didn't notice them flagging in the rain and descending temperatures, but they are probably well used to everything that nature throws at them on their digs.

We arrived at the Vide Grenier at 8.00, which isn't bad for the Tylers on a Saturday morning.  We set up everything but the books and postcards which were wisely left on display in the back of the car.  As the morning wore on, our lovely ceramics, the fox hunting teapot set (which my mother once won at the bingo - honest!) and remaining royal souvenirs from 1977 and 1981 were suffering, and the showers became more prolonged, colder and heavier.  We are just off 'the mountain' around here and the clouds seemed to be clinging everywhere.  I must say that the punters kept coming - maybe they hoped for sunnier skies as well - and were all very sympathetic to us and the community association which had organized as whole day of activities.  But sympathy didn't keep the cold or wet away, or encourage the punters to by, so we reluctantly packed up all the sodden articles, including ourselves and were back here by 12 noon.  (I should add I was also getting over bronchitis - the first time in my life that that was ever diagnosed!  So much for our new warmer life!)

Other stallholders kept saying how the weather would improve in the afternoon, but we were too cold, wet and miserable to wait that long.  Sure enough it did improve in the afternoon, with April type skies and showers - too late for us to muster up the enthusiasm to venture forth anew and display our soggy items for sale.

So, now it's Monday.  Yesterday, Sunday, turned out lovely as well, and today it has been about 29 degrees!  Cool in the morning and now in the evening, so no longer a canicule, but another scorcher during the day!  Our friends arrive tomorrow from sunny Kenton Bank Foot, near Newcastle Airport, so we hope they experience some canicular weather as a change from back home.


© Marie Tyler, 2012

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Chamberet Journée du Livre, jeudi le 9 août 2012

La commune de Chamberet a organisé sa traditionelle journée du livre le jeudi 9 août 2012, avec la participation d'auteurs de la région, éditeurs et lecteurs.

Je suis maintenant une chambertoise, donc j'essaye à participer dans les animations variés et divers dans notre village.  Avec une autre residente gauloise, j'ai décidé de participer, et d'expliquer que j'ai un blog - qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, pourquoi je l'ai fait et comment on fait un blog.

Qu'est-ce que c'est un blog?

Blog veut dire web-log - un type de journal qu'on peut écrire et n'importe qui peut lire sur l'internet ou sur leur portable.


Pourquoi j'ai écrit un blog?

Nous avons acheté notre maison ici à Chamberet dans le mois d'août l'année dernière et nous avons déménagée le 1 octobre.  Notre famille et nos amis en Angleterre s'intéressaient dans notre nouvelle vie en France et voulaient savoir tous les détails.  D'abord j'ai écrit beaucoup de lettres, puis mails.  J'aimais bien ça mais ça a pris beaucoup de temps, donc j'ai décidé de faire un blog sur l'internet.  Comme ça notre famille et nos amis pourraient suivre notre vie en France! 

Comment on fait un blog?

Il y a quelques sites, mais le mien j'ai fait par le site http://www.blogger.com.  C'est facile à faire si on suit les instructions.

Bonne chance avec votre blog!

Merci à mon mari, nouveau artiste chambertois, Harry Tyler, pour son assistance avec mon blog!


© Marie Tyler, 2012



Tuesday 7 August 2012

Journée du Livre, Book Day, Chamberet, Thurs 9 August 2012

As part of our continuing immersion in community life here in our new home in Chamberet, I have volunteered to take part in the annual Journée du Livre (Book Day) this Thursday 9 August 2012.  About 30-odd regional authors take part on the day and there are children's activities and this year presentations on bookbinding, French songs and novels, and the experiences of a French chef.

Last year's Journée du Livre took place when we were here in Chamberet to sign for our house.  We were surprised at the number of local authors who were there with their published works.  It was a very friendly event and we had an interesting conversation with one of the author's of lovely children's books, who had been a clown in a former life!

I offerred to take part and decided to present something about my blog 'Busy Days in Chamberet' and decided to explain how I have created my blog, how easy it is to set up, and how to go about setting one up on here on blogger.com.

The information I intend to present is:

What is a blog?

A blog is a web-log - a type of personal journal, which anyone can set up on the internet and can be accessed by all.

Why did I start doing a blog?

We bought our house here in Chamberet last August (2011) and moved here permanently on 1 October 2011.  Friends and family were keen to know all about our new life here in France, and in the first few weeks when we had no internet, I spent a lot of time sending personal letters.  Then when we were originally set up with the internet, a lot of time sending emails which again I personalised.  Although I have always enjoyed writing and have been a great letter writer (something I inherited from my mother) it meant I was spending a lot of time repeating the same information, so to save time, I thought I would write a blog!


How to create your own blog?


Creating a blog is easy - all you need is a computer and internet access.  Go to this site:  http://www.blogger.com and follow the instructions. 



 I've just recently noticed there are all sorts of features, most of which I haven't used yet, but hope to use them in future postings.  One feature is that your blog can be viewed on a mobile phone.

The Journée du Livre takes place in the Salle de Fetes, Chamberet,  this Thursday 9 August 2012, from 10 h to 19 h, entry is free and all are welcome.

Thanks to my husband, Harry Tyler, now a Chambertois artist with paintings in the current exhibition in the village, for his help with presenting this blog.


© Marie Tyler, 2012