The Donkey Faire

Monday 12 May, 2008
Today is the BIG DAY! The donkeys are coming, the donkeys are coming! I was up early to witness the arrivals, donkeys from everywhere in France in one’s, twos, tens, tied to rails in the Champ du Foire (Fair Field). Beautiful, noisy and a cause to celebrate Asses of the 4 legged variety. Our hope this year was that the weather would be nice instead of the storminess of last years version. Up early, at dawn, for no good reason (part of ageing) I looked out the comp rm window and the skies were clear. Whoopee! Even before dawn the trucks were lining up to deliver thier braying hoards onto the Champ (shaw-mp). I grabbed my trusty Nikon Coolpix S10 and set it to movie and left the house bound to see the beginnings of todays Big Event in Lignieres. The movies are in two parts, each about 5 minutes in length. Just click the links below.

The Donkey Faire Continued:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbBHfJCNu2U

Too big to upload? Who knows, I’ve tried three times now to no avail so just click the link and watch it on YouTube. Sorry.

After the 2nd video (about 11:30) I returned to the house to prepare for our late afternoon lunch for 10. My grand idea for this gathering was to have the group make thie own sandwiches. Well…that’s how I set the table up, you know…plates of onion rings, tomato slices, pre-cut bagettes, lettuce leaves etc. and a big salad. This was to be made easier by the addition of leftovers from the meal the night before at A&R’s place. Easy to do, fun outdoor-sy at our now long table with the additional length furnished by my library table which I just completed. Sure. Wine by the bottle was soon flowing among the gathered group and conversations went off like firecrackers in every direction. I thought I made to announcement re:making your own sandwiches, but the second the plate of meats (chicken and pork) were deliverred to te table the group swarmed on them like hungry wolves. What sandwiches? Oh well, best laid plans and all of that. Much wine was drunk, the Vouvray Sparkling was especially delicious and made for a festive occassion. The party moved indoors with the coming of the late afternoon rain and we raided the bar closet for samples of the many bottles. Great fun was had by all as usual, Our Little Supper Club.

Tourist Office to the rescue

log Entry Saturday April 26th, 2008
Well I might as well break the silence on my “little(BIG) problem”. I STILL have no Internet, the DSL indicator on my LiveBox (HA!) is just blinking away, resetting it does nothing. Yesterday I went BACK to my dearest friends at the Tourist Office and asked their help ONCE AGAIN in contacting France Telecom about “Our Little Problem”, which CM promptly did. After much re-dialing and correct-number-getting, she reached a FT person who told her that the “Problem” was one of IDENTITY! It seems Mr. Theodore Berry is named on the telephone line’s account as it’s owner and the application for DSL indicates one Kelly Lute. So in the infinite wisdom of FT instead of telling us that problem via a letter or perhaps a smoke signal, they just put the application on HOLD. Ah! So after some quick clarifications by CM via my dearest Kelly about who was who on the account and how it got that way (?!) it has, apparently, been ironed out…that wrinkle, whether it results in an actual DSL connection is yet to be determined (supposedly Tuesday or Wednesday next week). So there is some hope I hope. This morning it blinks.
The sun is shining thru the cloud layer over our little village in the heart of France! Yippee! Life here is soooo very much easier with a bit of dryness, warmth and sunshine. Indeed!