The man with anger management issues stops his car to tell me that he's seen two red deer in his garden. We see lots of roe deer in the village but red deer are a rarity. The pandemic has stopped the local hunters from being out and about which only goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining.
The builder drives along the lane on the way for the morning baguettes. He too stops. He's driving a new VW Touareg that's very shiny. It's the same silver metallic colour as those American Airline planes. I remind him that the stone for the new patio is still sitting in front of the house. " I'll be along soon. It's difficult planning at the moment " he says with glorious imprecision. The stone has been sitting in the courtyard for three months so what's difference does another month or so make ?
Sunday starts with our morning constitutional across the wheat fields to the stream and the waterfall. This is turning out to be one of the coolest and wettest summers on record. The stream , which is usually a mere trickle this late in the year, still flowing along merrily. Sophie has a long drink and a roll in the mud.
Oddest news of the week ? : https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/06/12/could-we-run-out-of-sand-scientists-adjust-how-grains-are-measured.html
This seems like common sense ( but with each day fewer and fewer folks here are wearing them ) : https://reason.com/2020/06/11/the-government-was-wrong-about-masks/?utm_medium=email
This interview with Fiona Hill in the Saturday FT is a delight. Of all newspapers the Saturday FT is the kindest. It is pretty dry during the week but at the weeknd is like a maiden aunt who's had one glass of champagne too many and has thrown aside all inhibitions. I hope the firewall settings allow you to read it : https://www.ft.com/content/e51f701e-aa62-11ea-a766-7c300513fe47
14 comments:
Just as a matter of interest, has France set aside is face-covering laws to accommodate the wearing of masks?
Good question. I shall ask.
I agree with you regarding the Financial Times. For me, one of the rare pleasures of business travel has been getting on the plane for a long trans-Pacific flight and reading the weekend FT more or less cover to cover (including the real estate ads!). I probably first asked for the FT rather than the WSJ on the theory it would offer a different different and broadening perspective (or something), but I must have hit the weekend issue by chance, and I still recall how amazed I was to realize that David Tang was the paper's agony aunt (I miss him). I have an online subscription now, but it is somehow not quite the same. They also sell the weekend paper at our international supermarket for an exorbitant sum, and I sometimes buy that, but that's not quite right either, too many other things calling for my attention at home. It has to be a plane to get the full effect.
Hari OM
Sadly cannot access the FT item, but enjoyed the other two... and that view across the countryside... YAM xx
I too have fallen foul of the FT paywall and have never read the weekend edition, but you and Lisa in Tokyo have certainly whetted my appetite for this publication. After the sunniest spring on record, dreich conditions this morning (and monsoon style rain last night)...
No access to the FT article either, and sadly this happens to quite a few of your reading suggestions. Something to do with where I live, I suspect!
However I have photos of your glorious countryside, a muddy but very happy Sophie and the occasional 9.5/10 croissant to enjoy instead!
The Fiona Hill interview was indeed delightful. I gained access to the story and sidestepped the FT firewall by simply "Googling" the story on my cell phone and Voila!
We certainly shall have a second wave here in US, and frankly with restrictions lifting and (quite cavalierly) fewer masks being worn, it seems to be already happening. So perhaps there will be a third wave in the fall. A daunting thought for our already twice delayed visit to Scotland. But as Doris sang...que sera sera.
If there was only one thing I could read during the week it would the weekend FT supplements. Dread to think how much it costs in Tokyo. The online version isn't the same but the real thing is more difficult to find in rural France than urban Japan.
I shall see if there's another way of accessing it.
Noted. Shall see what can be done.
The FT has a apywall but the others must fall foul of that ' not available in your country ' disclaimer that pops up on the screen from time to time.
Well done. Thank you for solving the Fiona Hill problem !
Thanks, Camille. Worked for me too.
Surprised at the difference in sand....more surprised that people study it. Fiona Hill worked for me through google...thanks Camille.
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