Dark

The sea

The moon

And ships that pass in the night

This was intended to be a post for the Photo Hunt, but a surprise family visit intervened.  If you'd like to see what other people did in a timely fashion, visit TNchick's site to find out more.

Orange - a medley

As far as I know, this is the third time the theme of "orange" has appeared in the Photo Hunt, and the second time this year. I'm running out of pictures! These are from here, there, and everywhere.

An orange door from the south of France  Now that I've added other pictures, it looks much more yellow but it looked orange enough when I started.

HMS Victory in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in the south of England.

Back to the south of France, and an arcade in the Place Nationale in Montauban.  Like nearby Toulouse and also Albi, it is built mainly of brick.  Toulouse is called the Ville Rose (pink city) but I think this looks more orange.  Well, I will for today anyway.

Orange parasols by the Mediterranean Sea.

A marmalade cat but its name is Caramelle.

If you'd like to join in and find other other players, visit TNchick's site to find out more.

Season of mists

Today dawned clear and cold, another of those days when as soon as the sun's rays touched the river, mists rose. I couldn't resist going out to take some pictures.

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And this last picture to show that I do really know what the poem is about.  One newly picked pear, and one that I didn't notice soon enough.  they are beautifully sweet and juicy, and the birds know it!

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Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.....
... And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core....


If only cars would run on pear juice.

Miniature .... person

 Almost a clone.

This week's Photo Hunt.  Visit TNchick's site where you can find more entries on this theme.

What have they done to the river?

During the summer they started cutting down trees on the river bank.  I thought they were just tidying up because all the remaining trees were pruned hard.

But when I got back this autumn, I could see from a distance they were reinforcing the bank down by the old mill.  the whole of that area was cordoned off so I couldn't get any closer to see what was going on.

 

Then today, they took away the barriers and this is what I found.  They have completely "remodelled" the river banks in this area.  Very strangely, they have put in double rows of wooden stakes in some stretches but not everywhere.

And here, they have  put in steps down to the old ford where previously the bank sloped down much more gradually.

They have done it to stop the river eroding the bank and presumably also to halt the subsidence causing the old mill to crack so badly.

It occurs to me, on this Blog Action Day, that there is a huge discrepancy between the efforts to protect what is ultimately only a leisure area, a place for picnics or for walking, when in other areas in this world the efforts made are merely to obtain some water, any water.

A billion people in this world don't have clean, safe water to drink.  42,000 people die each WEEK from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions, and 90% of these deaths are children under five.  Just access to clean water could save 21% of these deaths, sanitation alone could save 37% and hand-washing alone 45%.   


So water is just the first step, after that must come hygiene and education.  We can all help.  Any sum donated can yield as much as 12 times that amount in economic returns, and it doesn't take a lot: $20 can provide clean water for one person for 20 years.  Compare that with the costs of shoring up our river bank.

Letters

I don't know that these really need much explanation. Letter boxes in doors (two from France) and letter boxes (post boxes) where you leave your letters for collection.

In my enthusiasm for old doors I find I have several letter boxes. This one was in Canterbury where a house was being renovated.

The Royal cipher, GR, shows that his wall box is a George V 1910-1936 box.

From France, a letter box in a red door.

This one is a Victorian letter box at the historic dockyard in Gloucester.  I don't know whether it applies in this case, but some of the older boxes have been listed in the same way as protected buildings.

Finally, from France, a letter box in a very old door.  Letter boxes in doors are very common in the UK but much less so in France.

I'm tempted to go into details about the different types of post box: pillar boxes, wall boxes, lamp boxes, but I think I'll stop while the going is good.

This is yet another very late entry for this week's Photo Hunt.  Visit TNchick's site where you can find more people who have joined in at a more reasonable time.

PS Part of the reason I'm so late posting is because it's taking me at least three times as long to create a post because of some Blogger problems: uploading pictures takes forever and line or paragraph spacing goes crazy at the drop of a hat.

Vallée des Fresques

The Valley of Frescos.  A fair while ago I went to visit the Abbey of Saint Savin sur Gartempe, a beautiful abbey church decorated in the most magnificent frescos.  While I was there, I took a short walk along the river and noticed a sign indicating that if you followed the river far enough you'd be able to visit several other churches with similar frescos, hence the name, Vallée de Fresques.  I made a mental note that I should do that before long.

That was 18 months ago, but the other day I finally made it back.

This was not a successful trip.

The idea was to start at Montmorillon because there I could see three things at once: a church, a chapel and an octagon.  Apparently.  From the car park I could see a church but I never actually managed to reach it.  The two other places had no sign posts to them at all, so I didn't see them at all, never mind reach them.

The river looked pretty and I could see the church from here too.  This was just about as close as I got.
Onwards.  Plenty of other places on the list.  Next, Jouhet.

The river at Jouhet, the same river, the Gartempe.

This is the funerary chapel.  I went to the church first by mistake, which was shut.  However on the chapel door there was a notice to say that if you wanted to see it, the keys could be found in the bar.  Or, if the bar was closed, they would be in the Town Hall.  Well, it was a very small chapel and there were still plenty of places left on the list....

The church at Pindray .... was shut.  There was no indication of any keys anywhere.

They appeared to be having some difficulty in the surrounding graveyard, with rainwater washing away the earth.  Many of the gravestones had fallen over or were propped up at odd angles.

Pretty fountain, though.  Maybe it overflowed into the graveyard?

It wasn't until I got home that I discovered I should have been looking at the nearby château and not the church at all. I didn't lose anything though, because the château isn't open for visiting.  So that's all right then.

From flickr

On to Antigny.  Antigny appeared to be open - as we sailed past.  It was by now lunch time and my chauffeur was rapidly losing interest.  So I noted the open door for future reference.

And it was back  to St Savin itself for a bite to eat in the only place serving food for miles around.  Wednesday.  Why was everything shut?  There was only one more place left on the list, St Germain.  I didn't hold out a great deal of hope, and it was just as well.

It was shut.  You could collect the keys from the Town Hall, if you happened to know where that was.

The side entrance was locked too.  The church was very clearly recently renovated, possibly over-renovated?  It all looked a little too perfect for a mediaeval church.  The surround for the side door looked as though it had been painted on but it really is stone.  It will be pleasant when, if, it's allowed to weather a bit.

Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and I found that the river here gave one of the better views of the abbey itself.  All was not lost.  Lunch was OK too.  Ice cream for dessert. :)