French music

Last time I was down in this part of France, Joe le Taxi and Glen Medeiros were at the tippity top of the Hit Parade.

And yes, I’m aware that only one of those is French. But it was the other one that was getting all the airplay on the French Exchange Trip to Dornes. A meeting of English city kids and French country folk. And Glen Medeiros.

Interesting dynamics. Halcyon days.

I loved it over there. My exchange was less happy in Sheffield.
I looked him up recently – the guy whose farm I stayed on back in 1987. He now does something in insurance in Strasbourg. I guess the urban lifestyle got him in the end.

But I digress. Often.

You came here for French music, and I’m glad to say that it’s moved on a bit since schoolgirl Vanessa and her Uber guy. Charlotte Gainsbourg (yes, that Gainsbourg) is where all the cool cats are at now.

Here’s her second offering from the album Rest. (This was the first.)

Limited French on this particular track, but plenty on the rest of the album.

C’est bien. C’est bon.

Burgundy

We’re heading south this morning. South into Burgundy country.

Says Google:

Burgundy is a historical region in east-central France.
It’s famous for its Burgundy wines as well as pinot noirs and Chardonnay, Chablis and Beaujolais. The area is crisscrossed by a network of canals and studded with grand châteaux.

Wines, castles and canals. The other holy trinity.

And in fact, home for the next seven days is one of those canals: the Canal du Nivernais.

Construction of the canal began in 1784, initially to aid the flottage (floating) of timber rafts from the forests of the Morvan national park to Paris, via Clamecy and Auxerre. However, in reality, the canal was quickly established as an important communication route, carrying timber, building stone, grain and wine out of the region, and bringing in coal.

As I mentioned some time ago, I’m less than 100% sure that this will be – if you’ll excuse the pun – plain sailing. But I am very much looking forward to it.

Again, if you’re not following my Instagram, you are likely to be missing out: this is supposed to be a very beautiful bit of France, and I fully intend to ‘tog it to bits.

Watch this that space.

Sheffield Things 1 (and 2?)

The first response to my appeal for suggestions for blog posts for while I’m away was this one.

It’s Alex Turner of Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys doing a quick interview with Radio 1 – and look what he brought along with him:

It’s a bottle of Sheffield’s own Henderson’s Relish.

You can do a lot of things with Henderson’s Relish, but I’ve never seen it used as a guitar slide before.

A sound right out of the Steel City in every possible way.

Thanks, Dr F.

Away we go

Right.

All being well, our Europe 2018 trip should be one and a bit flights in already. Are you having fun yet?

All being well, I should be somewhere over Turkey or somewhere similar as this publishes. I’m possibly asleep, listening to Ludovico Einaudi.
That is, after all, my usual MO for these sort of trips.

All being well, we should be arriving in Paris in just a few hours, assuming that the A380 operating as Emirates 073 is doing its job. And I have no reason to believe that it won’t be. The holiday starts here, and so this is probably a very good time for me to advise you to follow me on Instagram.

All being well, you probably were already, but if not, here’s the link. I intend to document much of the upcoming three weeks on there, so you’re almost certain to see regular updates. Tell your friends.

OK, so what follows is…

OK, so what follows is… well, for the next few weeks at least… is a combination of pre-written posts and juicy fresh content.

Pre-written posts because I want to have a break without having to be concerned about needing to blog every day, and there’s no way I can guarantee a decent (or indeed any) internet connection wherever we may be. But I recognise that there’s a demand for blog posts on here and I want to keep that record of a post every day going. Because I’m a bit obsessive like that.

Deal with it.

Also, I’m trying an experiment whereby I publish a post at the same time each day: 0800 CAT in this particular case (like this one, see?). Apparently, this is the best way to blog [citation required], although I tend to just post stuff once it’s written. And usually it’s not written by 0800 CAT. However, when you’re writing stuff in advance, it’s always written by 0800 CAT. So I’m giving it a go.

Oh, and juicy fresh content because I enjoy blogging, because my most important reader is me and because there will inevitably be things I will want to share while we’re away. If interest, internet and inclination ever meet (and I’m sure that they will), I’ll be popping thoughts, photos, opinions and whatever else on here.

Keep up with updates by following me on twitter or Facebook.

Weirdly (for us at least), we’re only flying out later this evening, so we’ve got a spare day to get all those last minute jobs to get done. Hair will be cut, the beagle will be bathed, the housesitters will get their final instructions, decisions on which bottles of brandy will be packed will be made (spoiler: it’s most of them).

I am trembling with mounting anticipation.