General Witterings -
Sun and Rain on Rosy

At the beginning of the week, we all thought that summer had arrived, so the paint brushes came out, and painting operations commenced.  The foredeck, with cants and hatch cover were painted, together with red, white and blue mop and brush handles.

Clare and James appeared.  They have a house down in Charente, and own a steel cruiser called "Castor".  They moved the boat up the three locks to the boat-yard, to be hauled out and have its bottom washed.  I fed them one night (turkey curry) and they fed me the next night - duck.  They keep bees at home and brought a pot of wonderfully chewy honey.

Thursday was a busy day.  There is an old man who walks up and down the quay each day.  He is shortish and slim - jockey shaped - with very fine white hair and pallid skin.  He is always dressed casually, but very neatly.  He speaks hardly any English, but we generally pass the time of day together.  Anyway, he appeared on Thursday, and invited me over to his workshop.  His name is Roger Gaillard, and as a young man he was a racing car driver.  His workshop is large, old and rambling.  There are now four single-seat cars in it, each in working condition.  He has all the tools to keep them going, including arc, acetylene and MIG/TIG welding equipment.  Upstairs he has a room full of racing mementoes - prizes, posters, helmets, overalls etc.

After the racing he took up as an electrician, specialising in lighting singers and bands, so another room is crammed full of posters and playbills.  A third room has some personal bits in it, including a big, rusty key, with a fob saying "Briare Hotel de la Poste - Room 11" (or it might be 14).  There is no Hotel de la Poste in Briare - but there used to be.  It is an old building, that has been gutted, and is now used as the back storage area for the EcoMarché supermarket.  Roger's key is the one for the room that Napoleon stayed in!!

The final delight was a set of sculptures.  A man and a woman and a dog made by welding bits of motor car together.  The man and woman have car radiators for chests.  The little dog is a strange beast - the size and shape of a dachshund, but the colour of one of Cruella de Whatnot's Spotted Dicks.

Then on Thursday a catamaran arrived with a young English couple and their three-year-old son in it - heading for the Mediterranean, and in need of a day or two's rest.  So we agreed on a Friday night barbecue.

Needless to say the wind, rain and low temperatures returned on Friday, but the BBQ still worked OK to cook the rabbit (in a honey and white wine marinade).  Finding out about them and their boat was a bit tricky, as every time I asked a question like "What route did you take from the Channel to get here?" the elderly Scottish gentleman, who was also there, gave us a lock by lock account of his 2001 cruise, plus a detailed account of why he'd not been cruising for a few years previous to that (including a detailed exhibition of the lower half of the leg that was affected by flea-bite-is (or however the medical profession spell it)).  My second question, enquiring about their sailing rig, was responded to by the said elderly Scottish gentleman describing in detail his engine, his adventures when it had to be replaced, and a step by step run-through of his starting procedure.

Many of his other stories are about countries he has visited.  But he is one of those ex-military gents who starts a story, and then cannot tell you (for security reasons, you understand) which country it was, why he was there, how he got there, or how he got back from wherever it was that he was.

Anyway, Friday's deterioration of the weather had a good side.  I could put the paint-brushes away again, and return to my life of idleness.  Hence Rosy could still do with a lick of paint here and there.

This week's joke:

Once upon a time, in a nice little forest, there lived an orphaned bunny and an orphaned snake.  A surprising coincidence was that both were blind from birth.

One day, the bunny was hopping through the forest, and the snake was slithering through the forest, when the bunny tripped over the snake and fell down.  This, of course, knocked the snake about quite a bit.  "Oh, my," said the bunny, "I'm terribly sorry.  I didn't mean to hurt you.  I've been blind since birth; so, I can't see where I'm going.  In fact, since I'm also an orphan, I don't know what I am."

"It's quite okay," replied the snake.  "Actually, my story is much the same as yours.  I, too, have been blind since birth, and also never knew my mother.  Tell you what, maybe I could kinda slither over you, and figure out what you are, so at least you'll have that going for you."

"Oh, that would be wonderful," replied the bunny.

So the snake slithered all over the bunny, and said, "Well, you're covered with soft fur;  you have really long ears;  your nose twitches;  and you have a soft cottony tail.  I'd say that you must be a bunny."

"Oh, thank you!!  Thank you!" cried the bunny in obvious excitement.

Then the bunny suggested to the snake, "Maybe I could feel you with my paws, and help you the same way you've helped me."

So the bunny felt the snake all over, and remarked, "Well, you're scaly and slimy, and you have a forked tongue, no backbone and no balls.  I'd say you're either a politician, a lawyer, or, possibly, upper management."

That's all Folks!!

Toodle pip!!

Bill