Monday 27 October 2008

24 Oct 2008 Friday – I don't want a Wee-Wee

I wake up to a temperature of 2.4 degrees outside. I try out the heated towel rail to find a good setting for towel drying. Because of the way my electrics are wired up, I cannot link the various electric radiators back to an automatic timer system. I must remember to switch it off later.
I was going to do some painting but it is market day and too cold to have the windows open.
I find a hat, put on a jumper, scarf and my thick leather jacket and I am ready to roll. In the sunshine it is very hot, but in the shade it is cold. I wander around the market in the town centre. It has more stalls than usual today. There are a lot of food stalls, selling fish, meat, bread, honey, spices etc and one stall selling a selection of (I think) dried fruits. I recognise prunes and apricots but there are also whole bananas??? And other unusual items.
The usual knife, clothes, hats, leather goods, sheets, kitchen utensils, books, DVDs, knitwear, shoes, boots, basket ware etc etc.
I did not take my camera or you could have seen some of the more exotic goods like long pink eels.
I realised later that the extra stalls are from underneath the Halle au grains across the road. The Halle is a metal structure built in the 1800’s which is now closed for refurbishment for 7 months from Sept til mid March next year.
Here are some photos of what it looks like at the moment.








It is boot season, and if women are not wearing their black leather boots (just below knee height), then they are trying them on, oving about the pavement to get a good view of their booted legs in the mirror which is propped up against the shoe stall at a jaunty angle.
On the book stall there are several “Little Noddy” books. Over here however, he is called “Oui-Oui”, yes that’s right, pronounced weewee! I promise you that I am not taking the piss J I did not look inside the books to see what Big Ears is called. You can have too much excitement in one day.

In France comic books or BD (Bande Dessinees) are very popular reading material for young and old. A Tintin BD here would cost me 6 euros. Much cheaper than in the book shops.
There are also boxes of Crime, SF etc BD’s for the older reader. I must come back and buy some at a later date. I have been looking at them in the local bookshop, and these are at least half the shop price.

I cross the main road and head towards the medieval part of town, which lies in the shadow of the castle. Lots of fruit and veg stalls in the abbey square, but I don’t buy anything, I just stroll in the sunshine. The sky is very blue and there is not a cloud in the sky. Perhaps it will freeze tonight once the sun has gone?
Next stop is the bread shop for my olive bread, then I head for home and some lunch, nibbling the end of my bread as I walk along. Easy-peasey you might say, but the bread may have been in my back pocket….
Late afternoon the traffic on the road outside my house looks like this.









is at a standstill and an ambulance arrives. I didn’t hear a crash this time so I don’t know what happened. The road is reopened about 30 minutes later, much quicker than the motorcycle / white van smash a few weeks ago.

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