Thursday 18 June 2015

France 2015 Day 3 - Perfect Morning in Sete.

Last night's Dinner:


Rabbit and cous-cous

Early morning drumming session by the Med:

The trudge to the drumming spot.

Wait a minute, I don't remember this sign being here yesterday -  does a yellow disc symbolize a drum?

Another lovely day

I use the shadow to remind me to raise my left arm.....

....... and my right arm.
Perfect Morning in Sete.

Drove along the coast to the busy port of Sete.



Found a little bar and ordered a large white coffee - or as I have learned to say in the last few years - "un grand creme".





Spent half an hour taking some notes
But all the time my attention was drawn to a busker across the square.





This man was highly talented. He sang blues classics and some French ballads of a similar ilk. But it was his delivery that was so alluring. Laidback on the guitar (less is more) and a lugubrious voice somewhere between Tom Waits and Big Joe Williams.

He dominated the square across from the bar without even trying.

A coffee, Sartre, sunshine, a French town and a completely unexpected and really special musical experience equals a perfect morning for me.

And, then add the following three elements into the equation:

1) Bustling fish counter:


2) Spotless toilets in the market:


3) Fascinating ancient engineering structures:

A road bridge with a metal grid for the road surface




And a swing bridge for the railway.



Then another late afternoon cycle along the banks of the Canal du Midi.








Currently listening to:

Junto Club from Glasgow

This is all I know about them from some publicity blurb.

"Next up on Optimo Music is the next wave of unique talent to emerge from Glasgow, once again recorded in the near-legendary Green Door studio. Four tracks of highly original, impossible to pigeonhole, dancefloor-not-dancefloor music. Junto Club are four men from Glasgow who have remained friends since they were teenagers through creating music they love. Whilst learning new instruments during a long winter, their sound was fashioned unexpectedly with sporadic melodies overlaid on taut drum machines, synthesizers and bass guitar. Many humble dance moves followed as the band began to carouse behind closed doors with their newly-found rhythm."

You can hear Junto Club here.

https://soundcloud.com/optimo-music

Currently reading:

Same as the last few days:










Wednesday 17 June 2015

France 2015 Day 2 - La Nausee

Drumming at the beach:


The Mediterranean at 7.30am

The trudge to the secluded spot

Really windy this morning.
A Cycle to Vias:


Crossed the iconic Canal du Midi

Entered the church of St John the Baptist, Vias

Checked the times of Sunday Mass




A nearby wall.



Then Coffee plus Sartre:


This could have been a photograph from 2014 or even 2013.
Today's Lunch:




Poulpe
 Then in the afternoon cycled through idyllic rural France to Agde.






Agde is quite a good looking town

Superb trompe d'oeil


Currently listening to: 





 Currently Reading:

Bewitching

A sentence a day
Actually took some notes from this.





Tuesday 16 June 2015

France 2015 Day 1

Resuming this Blog on a daily basis for the duration of this 4 week stay in France.

If any French Model Railway incidents occur they will of course be recorded.

Otherwise, it will be the usual mix of  self-important trivia.

Yesterday:

7am    -     Edinburgh Airport

Over Marseille
11.35am   -    Marseille Airport

The terminus building at Marseille is a classic - a perfectly proportioned cuboid. It is well named a "Hall".

It has the feeling of a Stalinist University Lecture Theatre - utter simplicity - Ich Bin Meine Maschine


Main Hall Marseille Airport

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Last night's dinner:

I'm most at home in modest French restaurants.

The set menu was £12.

The wine local.



Cuttle Fish

Early this morning:

The drum awaits beside the Mediterranean

South of Beziers

I really must get a bigger head.

*********************************************************************************
Currently listening to:

General Ludd on Soundcloud - endlessly inventive.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Currently reading:

Eeerie, urban and deep.

A sentence a day.







Sunday 7 June 2015

Vacillating Over Vacillating Over Road Surface

Pretty pleased with the current road surface in front of the station.





But previously I had tried a mad experiment with a pattern taken from a 1960s pop-art lampshade.




What drew me to using this pattern was the impression I hoped it would give of a wet, murky city asphalted road surface - the swirls suggesting the reflections of a wet surface.

But alas, I deemed it unsuccessful.

Today, I tried the pattern again but reduced the scale of the swirls.






Still not sure.


I wish I could make up my mind about these things.

Is it not perhaps the nature of the human mind that it is never fully satisfied with anything and one should just accept that the only way to avoid the consequent and inevitable infinite regress is to at some point make a decision in the knowledge that, by definition, the solution is never going to be perfect?

*********************************************************************************
Currently listening to:


A Blast from the Past

From the 1964 album "Beatles For Sale"
And here's the youTube link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uk_6WWy0RA


A Hardy Perennial

Released in 2006

This Week's Addiction

"Ich Bn Meine Maschine" from 2013
Here's the youTube link;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mIy71QLMP8


What I love about "Ich Bin Meine Maschine" is that its only lyrics are "Ich bin meine maschine".

It reminds me of "Little Fluffy Clouds" by The Orb; its only lyrics are "Little fluffy clouds" - perfect.



From 1990

Find it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHixChYgGRI

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Currently reading:

A passage a day.


Re-reading this.


Dipping into these - yet again.