April, 2014

Click on the arrow to see our little hide-y-hole

Last month I signed off as we arrived for a week in a little hide-y-hole of a place overlooking the sea across the bay from Marseille. It was fascinating watching all the big cruise ships and ocean liners pass within spitting distance of us day and night. We toured areas that were new to us but the highlight was a day cruise of the “Calanques” out of the port town of Cassis. 

They are the endless rocky cliff walled canyons that rise up to 360 feet (120 M) from the sea, some with private secluded beaches, allowing us to enter them by boat. It was the location where the film “The French Connection” was shot. We headed home feeling like we had just arrived in Europe when in fact we have already been here a month. We had forgotten that we left on our road trip days after arriving.

Port of Cassis

  

Click on any picture to enlarge. This one is worth a closer look.

Meanwhile, Ian, Lyne and the kids returned home to Canada from their visit to our place before we got back. Ian sent me the photo above of his visit to my blacksmith friend here in our village. It is evidence of the mixture of his rare photographic eye combined with cutting edge photographic equipment. 

He managed to capture what I have tried to describe in vain in this blog for years. A medieval forge more suited to Dante's inferno or the set of the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

News of the month

The big news this month was the 90^th birthday of Janice’s mom, Lorraine. Daughter Cassie and family drove 16 hours from Kelso Washington down to our home in California for 3 days to celebrate her birthday.

Then again, daughter Mandy announced that she was starting her PhD at the University of Maastricht in April. After spending the last 18 months finding a topic, doing basic research and preparing an outline, she now expects it will take her approximately 3 years to complete it.

Her thesis will be on “Addressing European Union recognition and enforcement of specific judgments within the realm of public policy”. Of course, I will make myself available for ‘Dr. Mandy to be’ in case she has any questions.

Post road trip activities this month included giving my buddy Loic (above) a hand in a little reno work, and entertaining friends John and Claire and her parents Bob and Chris. The irony is that the latter do the exact opposite of us in that they travel to a home they have in the US a couple of times a year then return here.

 It should be obvious that being in Europe, we are surrounded with old historical stuff at every turn. Often though, we turn a corner somewhere and realize just how old some of the events that have occurred are. In two adjacent villages are wall plaques that identify events that had happened here, back in the day. 

The first below identified a local mother of 5 kids who, during the French revolution, hid 2 priests from the rabble rousers. She was condemned to death and was promptly guillotined on the town square where she lived, in front of the Cathedral. The story I hear was that after the deed, one of her daughters attempted to place her severed head back on her shoulders.

The second is on the wall in the back streets of the village on what (for obvious reasons) is called Pillory square. It was the medieval version of counseling, behavior modification or attitude adjustment if you will. Crude, but effective.

I love seeing new gizmos

Last  year I wrote about a new vending machine we saw here that was almost the size of an airport shuttle bus. The darn thing had department store sized windows to display its contents, and you could purchase pretty much anything from condoms to milk anytime of the day or night.

This year we found three new techno gizmo's worth noting. The first was a new type of touch less snack dispenser that allows you to simply swipe your credit card by a reader to make your vending machine purchase.

No, that is not me in a gay boy skirt.

The second are the new public toilets. I had heard of these but this was the first time we have seen a few firsthand. They are  an outdoor enclosure  the size of  a large bathroom to accommodate wheelchairs. You enter and take care of business, then run your hands under an automatic soap and water dispenser followed by a touch less hand dryer. Then you leave. "So what?" you say.

Ahhh, that is when the magic happens. The door locks behind you and after a motion sensor determines that no one is still in the room, a disinfectant spray is released covering the toilet, seat, floor and lower walls to clean them spotless. Then a powerful fan attempts to dry the lot. When done, the door unlocks and is ready for the next occupant. Quite civilized.

The third is closer to my heart as it covers several key food groups. You might think we spend all our time here eating cheese and drinking wine, but I happen to know firsthand that many McDonald franchises here are no longer taking orders at the counter. 

People tend to dawdle while checking out the menu selections which is nowhere near an efficient way to run a business. Instead, customers are required to place their orders using something similar to an I Pad at ordering stations all around the inside of the restaurant. Up to 10 people can place orders simultaneously.

By the time you have paid and the machine issues your receipt with the order number, you food is usually waiting at the counter, or in some franchises, they now serve you at your table. This 'have the customer do more of the work' approach follows the success of having patrons clear their own tables, pump their own gas and use an ATM instead of tying up a tellers time. Still, I am a fan.

OK, one more quick one.

How do you like the entrance to this office?

Yes, this office. The guy that makes these sells camouflage to the military. He covers aircraft hangars with sphagnum moss then grows whatever on it. It is not only invisible (1st principle of Magic: hide it in plain sight) from a few feet away, but it is so insulating that you can't pick up a heat signature flying over it.  A great way to hide your fighter jet from the bad guys.

As I sign off for the month, we have done it again. This morning we got up, hopped in the car and drove half way accross the continent to Germany to visit daughter Mandy and Markus to celebrate his finishing his Masters degree in Aeronautical Engineering. We will surely have much more on the trip next month.

Have a great month, but please...be careful out there.