17h00 – Well Happy Birthday to Me – 60. What a way to spend your birthday, in radiology at Gien hosptal having pictures of my chest taken. As it happens it is all clear.
The wife tells me to organize something for the weekend of 12th April, so watch out Antwerp, here we come by train.
10h00 – Went to the clinic in Bléneau this morning and had my annual blood test and a tetanus injection. Results will be at the pharmacy on Saturday.
15h00 – My hate food is soft boiled eggs well NO MORE, I would eat a soft boiled egg in preference to an ‘andouillette’. P had often warned me about this French speciality and I had avoided them. They look like a kind of sausage, I don’t mind sausages even if they may have some strange ingredients, I also like haggis. that’s got some interesting contents , BUT …
So while in Toucy I treated myself to lunch while P was elsewhere. I found a nice little resto advertising ‘coq-au-vin‘ as their ‘plat du jour‘ [dish of the day], a Burgundian classic. So I thought yes. Having installed myself in a seat near the window I ordered a glass of Leffe beer, a starter and coq-au-vin only to be informed that there was no more, I could have a ‘piece de bœuf’, pizza or andouillette. Well I did not fancy the beef it was likely to be tough and well undercooked no matter how well you ask for it to be brown all the way through. There was a pizza resto next door where I could have gone to so I selected the andouillette. I thought why not, it’s a restaurant and I’ve never had it before so being adventurous I’ll give it a go.
“Whata mistaka to maka !”, it was disgusting, the smell alone was awful and I nearly queried it then and there but the owner/waiter seemed to deliver and place it on the table and not think anything was amiss, he must have smelt it. Having wrestled with the especially provided steak knife to get into the thing, I took a tiny piece of the contents into my mouth, had one chew and put the mouthfull back on the plate. I had carefully choosen ratatouille to go with it and there was plenty of that. Other options were chips, boiled potatoes or salad. I ate the ratatouille with relish. I can still taste and smell the ‘andouillette‘ whilst writing this.
I finished off the meal with ice-cream and a strong coffee. The owner looked carefully at the andouillette left on my plate and enquired if I liked it or not !!!!!
P told me later that polite French andouille eaters even when among other meat eaters will always ask if anyone minds if they choose andouillette or andouille. It really does smell like a turd and I guess it tastes like eating one only a lot tougher, I suspect eating a turd would be more pleasant.
Oh for a soft boiled egg with soldiers for dipping – Emma !
NON merci AAAAA ou AAAAA (en Français).
Someone else’s viewpoint, a The Times article.
“To eat it, your eyes, hands and mouth must override your brain, which sends out frantic signals and alarm bells. But if you can triumph over your nose, then your palate will be amazed at the milky, nutty, sweet and savoury complexity of this king of sausages”. (Jill Dupleix).
17h00 – I have been feeling more breathless than usual this past few months so on return from my last visit to the UK, where I was getting even more breathless, I though a trip to the Doctor in order.
Besides being advised to loose a bit of weight I am now 91kg (14 st 5 lbs), a tad heavy, eat less salt (I don’t take too much anyway), I also got a prescription :-
P arranged the radiography for Friday, my birthday – 60. The cardiac appointment is on 25th May and I pee enough already so goodness know what I’ll do with the diuretic (Fruesémide – they give it to horses and I’ve seen them pee).
At the same time I also arranged my annual blood tests and a tetanus inoculation.
10h00 – Have just spent a few days in Angleterryland again, this time Norfolk and Norwich via the Ideal Home Show and Muswell Hill. I had not been to the Ideal Home Show at Earl’s Court for some years and I was interested in solar and wind energies and some sheds. What I found surprised me, many new energy companaies wanting to put photo-voltaic (PV) panels on your roof for free and maintain them. You get the free power they generate and the company gets the payback from the government. Seems like a good deal until you realise that if you could make the investment yourself you could get the 41/42p per unit from the government for the next 25 years instead of the new energy company. The feed-in tarrif to the grid at 5p per unit seems almost a pittance compared to the 41/42p. Also, should you opt for a company to use your roof, how do you get out of it should you want to later on put up your own panels.
What did I buy? A small, stainless steel, single handed, mechanical, pump action, milk
All singin', all dancin' hand whisk.
whisker / egg beater from Germany. It is great, it’s all one piece, you don’t have to plug it in, you can pick it up and use it with the same hand (left or right, feet if you must), easy pump action (like a yankee-screwdriver), no handle to turn nothing to grip hard, it self centres itself in the container and IT WORKS, whisks semi-skimmed milk straight from the fridge to a froth in a about 5 or 6 pumps, similarly 10 or 12 for soya or nut milks. To clean, nothing to take apart (dis-assemble – whatever that means) just operate it in washing up water and/or rinse it under a tap – simples.
And so to Norfolk and Norwich. I had a very full agenda visiting relations, freinds and colleagues again focusing on renewable energy and sheds. Saw a privately owned wind turbine on Halvergate marshes, the base for a sun tracking 10kW PV set-up in south Norfolk near Long Stratton and some really nice sheds at Blofield.
08h30 – Is winter over, it feels odd, no snow at the end of Jan early Feb, it’s not right Mind you we had snow in Dec, so maybe that’s it
Been in the garden a spell this week. P has been working on the veg-beds and I have been pruning apple and quince trees, I may have overdone the poor old quinces. Lots of celandines in flower and one yelllow crocus. The daffodils and even some tulips are forcing their green shoots through the grass. The forsythias near the gate are well forward, I just love those yellow leaves
Spring will be here next month but hard frosts are likely, one of the gardening issues here is the late frosts.
