I can't remember where I took this photo. It would be nice if free dancing was in a party manifesto, so that you could vote for it. I don't mean "free dancin' " as in Express Yourself!!
Dancing is a brilliant antidote to sitting and thinking, and all that executive computerworking and headbanging! Murray Hope (in The Psychology of Ritual, I think, but I'm still looking for the reference) says it is the perfect exercise for a sedentary worker. Now that I am less sedentary, I want to dance more!
I retired on 31st December 2009. These are my reflections on my first year of the rest of my life ...
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Highlights of the Grand Tour de la Retraite... pt 1
more photos to come...
and in no particular order:

- St Hilaire's magnificent romanesque church in Melle, one of the Patrimoine stops for pilgrims on the Chemin de Santiago route
- hearing larks in the fields around Numancia, Spain
- the roadsides packed with spring flowers and the abundance of the red poppies
- Madrid's haberdashery shops
- watching bored Spanish teenagers in the old theatre in Amalgro having a lecture on the plays of Lopa Vega - fiddling with their mobiles, chewing gum, eyeing each other up, giggling in the back row, just like anywhere else!
- Orihuela: meeting Michael's oldest Spanish friends and their family, and eating the Orihuelan speciality arroz-with-a-crust
- Cordovan Patios - Fiesta de Rejas y Flores - A bit like the Brighton Artists Open Houses, the route maps take you to courtyards full of massed pelargoniums, tinkling fountains, blue pots, white walls, lemon trees, painted plates, trailing greenery, ferns and la casa des vecinos - inspiration to plant pink bougainvillea and red geraniums de lièrre in my French garden.
- staying with Jill & Alan (near Niort, Deux Sèvres) and marvelling at their plans to cycle the Camino, and thence to Morocco!
and in no particular order:

- St Hilaire's magnificent romanesque church in Melle, one of the Patrimoine stops for pilgrims on the Chemin de Santiago route
- hearing larks in the fields around Numancia, Spain
- the roadsides packed with spring flowers and the abundance of the red poppies
- Madrid's haberdashery shops
- watching bored Spanish teenagers in the old theatre in Amalgro having a lecture on the plays of Lopa Vega - fiddling with their mobiles, chewing gum, eyeing each other up, giggling in the back row, just like anywhere else!
- Orihuela: meeting Michael's oldest Spanish friends and their family, and eating the Orihuelan speciality arroz-with-a-crust- soft sand and shallow, crystal clear sea in which to swim, at La Zenia
- Miguel Hernandez and the camino de Santiago... everywhere!
- Cordovan Patios - Fiesta de Rejas y Flores - A bit like the Brighton Artists Open Houses, the route maps take you to courtyards full of massed pelargoniums, tinkling fountains, blue pots, white walls, lemon trees, painted plates, trailing greenery, ferns and la casa des vecinos - inspiration to plant pink bougainvillea and red geraniums de lièrre in my French garden.
- staying with Jill & Alan (near Niort, Deux Sèvres) and marvelling at their plans to cycle the Camino, and thence to Morocco!
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Got those bad feet blues...
Today I found out that my right arch has fallen, which explains the pain in my right ankle... oh, hobble, hobble, old age etc.
Also I am missing the sunshine of Europe and waking up to bright blue and cloudless skies (apart from in Prades!). I can't believe I've been home two days already and been woken in the night by dripping rain outside the window. Later at 4am, a wonderful birds' chorus - blackbirds singing their little hearts out.
And my eye test went well, no change, so I guess that's a little bonus. And I get my hair cut tomorrow, so I'll feel a little better... and I'll play some music so I should feel a LOT better!! Oh, OK, OK, things are looking up...
Also I am missing the sunshine of Europe and waking up to bright blue and cloudless skies (apart from in Prades!). I can't believe I've been home two days already and been woken in the night by dripping rain outside the window. Later at 4am, a wonderful birds' chorus - blackbirds singing their little hearts out.
And my eye test went well, no change, so I guess that's a little bonus. And I get my hair cut tomorrow, so I'll feel a little better... and I'll play some music so I should feel a LOT better!! Oh, OK, OK, things are looking up...
feet in sea at Berck
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Amazing clouds...
The weather here in the Pyrenées... it was supposed to be three days of pure sunshine, but we have had windy gusts and clouds of all sizes and guises... above is a sunset, layers of thick cottonwool stratocumulus, duvet-like protuberances, skeins of grey, woolly hats on Canigo, high scattered contrails, the 'piles d'assiettes' formations, and the most curious sight of not knowing which is mountain and which cloud...
a Flickr compilation will be linked from here... once I get the photos edited.
a Flickr compilation will be linked from here... once I get the photos edited.
Clermont 19 : 6 USAP
Saturday... Ceret... the final in the French Championship Rugby 15s... Perpignan played none-too-well and lost... did the Catalans celebrate or commiserate? Who knows? The massed 'bandas' did play "Those were the days..." so I guess they did:
Still, with a good dinner in the square, and most people not looking at the Ecran Geant... one man went past and muttered... "it all depends whether you want to do an Auvergne bourrée or a Catalan Sardane". At which point we looked at each other and grinned!
Still, with a good dinner in the square, and most people not looking at the Ecran Geant... one man went past and muttered... "it all depends whether you want to do an Auvergne bourrée or a Catalan Sardane". At which point we looked at each other and grinned!
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