Friday, July 19, 2013

Thin ice and thick ice look the same from a distance.






Home. The last flight due to land in time to get home for dinner. It finally lands at one in the morning. Seems there have been bad thunderstorms. At immigration one unsmiling young man. The Air Algerie and Tunis Air flights also delayed. The young man is diligent. Very diligent. A solitary guardian of the French republic. Every passport carefully scanned, the photograph checked. He seems oblivious to the way the immigration queue grows and spills back towards the arrival gates. An hour and a half later I'm through. I toy with the idea of asking the young man why there is only one person on duty but think better of it.

While I'm away the solar powered pool cover finally repaired. A team of maintenance men arrive , unannounced, to install the replacement motor. They haven't brought any screws with them. They try to claim that they'd left the original screws with ' the font ' . They are soon disabused of this notion. Over breakfast they are described to me as being " To charm what a black hole is to matter ". They've promised to come back early next week with the original screws to fix the battery cover. For the time being Scotch tape will do. Bob and Sophie find the whole process highly entertaining.

Village life focused on the gathering in of the grain harvest and preparations for harvesting the sunflowers.


18 comments:

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

Uh oh, probably duct tape would have been better.

XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

Angus said...

On my way to the hardware store to get some .

WFT Nobby said...

Immigration halls. Black holes of cheer.

Jean said...

Duct tape (duck tape as we call it) is amazing stuff. It would definitely do just as good a job as screws for a while..........it will be very interesting to see how long !!
The harvest is under way in this little corner of France, unfortunately interrrupted by a huge thunderstorm last night and now it's chucking it down.

The Life of Riley said...

Is the use of "Scotch tape" ironic for Scottish Angus who knows there are better ways of doing things? We loved the action photo of Bob and Sophie running past the pool. Have a great weekend.

Unknown said...

LOL no screws. Why are we not surprised? Airports queues ...yuck. Have a fabulous Friday and stay cool.
Best wishes Molly

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

On the bright side, at least they remembered the motor--But now lets see how long it takes them to come back with the screws! Have Bob and Sophie fallen or gotten into the pool yet?


I've decided that I'm adding seeing the sunflower fields in France to my 'bucket list.' Each year you post the photos, I'm taken in by how magnificent they are.

Whispering Walls said...

Hurrah - the pool is back!

MLou said...

Romp, romp around the bigger water bowl. How does Sophie like the new depth of her plaything?

VirginiaC said...

Glad that you made it back home safely. Hope the men in dark suits are okay.
Maybe the immigration officer was the only one who showed up to work after the Bastille holiday.....
I am so happy for you that the pool cover is off finally....now the fun begins. Have the angels discovered that they can now swim in the pool as yet?
The repairmen should know better than to blame the Font for the screws that they forgot, they really don't know who they're dealing with at all.
Angus, it took for you to travel away for a few days for the pool repair to be taken care of.....do you think they're afraid of you and planned it this way??? Big smile.
How far away is the sunflower oil processing plant? I use sunflower oil all the time, and I would love a post on the processing.

Anonymous said...

Because I am from the "home" of John Deere I love seeing their equipment in your post. Bob and Sophie look like they are ready to jump in and enjoy the cool pool water. Enjoy your week-end with your flock all reunited.
Karen & Kelly Rathje

houndstooth said...

I bet the harvesting of those sunflowers will be a sight to see, but I'll miss the sunny fields in your pictures.

A friend at work and I have the idea that we could make a great deal of money by training people in the lost arts of courtesy and common sense, but sadly, the companies that hire those with the deficits don't seem to care. At least you finally made it through!

Good luck getting those screws delivered on time!

Jo's World said...

A large field of sunflowers in bloom is one of the happiest things to see, ever! Minnesota has lots of sunflower growers much to the delight of whomever drives by the fields.

Jo in MN

KB said...

That photo of sunflowers is incredible! Well done.

I love the font's way with words. We have a worker who I've described with a similar spirit but without the eloquence of the "font".

Emm said...

Your countryside is so beautiful. Chuckling at 'the font' disabusing the workmen of their pass-the-buck excuses. Glad you're getting the pool back, given the weather.

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

Love the sunflowers, great picture! Shame about the maintenance men...

Anonymous said...

I love the picture of the wheat harvest. We are dry land wheat farmers in eastern Washington state, with an annual rainfall of ten to twelve inches and about forty five bushels an acre. What is the wheat yield in your area and the annual rainfall?
Bob and Sophie are just about the most precious puppies ever. Love them sooo much!!!

Angus said...

Here it's 7.6 tonnes a hectare.