Criminally Good Books

 I am blogging again about our last trip to York. The more time I spend there, the more I love it. So I found out a bookshop called Criminally Good Books, which sells almost exclusively crime fiction and true crime books. When I got in there, I tried very hard to behave. My wife got very worried. But I only bought two books for myself and one for Wolfie. So I was mostly good. But yeah, I could have spent an hour more there and bought a lot more. Especially since the staff is really friendly and helpful. Anyway, this is one reason why I want to move to York.

Boréals/Boréaux

Je reviens sur le billet d'hier sur le jaseur boréal. Mon père m'a appris depuis que l'adjectif boréal peut s'écrire au pluriel boréals comme boréaux. Il a deux épellations. Plus de détails ici. Et l'adjectif boréal est notre mot du jour.

Train watching from the balcony

We discovered something we hadn't seen before at the National Railway Museum in York: they have a special balcony where we can watch trains coming and going to and from the train station. I don't think it was there ten years ago, maybe I am wrong. But it's an amazing experience. It gives a more direct, modern, dynamic aspect to the museum. I know it may sound silly, because train travel is an everyday reality here, it's mundane, but seeing the trains up close, like this, moving, it feels so much different. Like you see them for the first time, in the wild.

Jaseurs boréaux

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de jaseurs boréaux. J'ai cru un instant que c'était des gros-becs, hélas non. Mais c'est quand même joli et et ça vaut la peine de partager.

Railway Bear

During our last visit to the National Railway Museum of York, we bought a new teddy bear for Wolfie's menagerie. A teddy bear designed for the 100th anniversary of the Flying Scotsman. His cap says he is the engine driver. Cool. Wolfie and I found him very cute, but my wife hesitated to buy it, because the price was rather high (£18.00). But our son used this Wolfism to end the debate: "I already gave him a kiss and a name, so it's too late mummy." So yeah, we have a new teddy bear. His name is Scotty, bu the way.

Écureuil roux

J'ai pris cette photo à l'Ulster Museum de Belfast. Un peu parce que j'ai toujours aimé la taxidermie, mais aussi parce que j'aime les écureuils roux et qu'ils se font rares dans la vraie vie. Maintenant, on ne voit que des écureuils gris. En fait, je ne me rappelle pas en avoir vu des roux à l'état sauvage depuis mon enfance. Il y en avait un qui venait faire des tours chez nous parfois. Mais c'est peut-être une fausse mémoire: peut-être que c'était aussi un écureuil gris. Je demanderai à mon père, il a peut-être une photo de la bête.

Cate Blanchett VS leaf blowers

 Just when I thought I could not love Cate Blanchett more, she says something that makes me positively adore her. She recently said that leaf blowers should be eradicated. Yes, yes, yes, YES! I hate them, hate them, hate them! They are loud, polluting and useless. Nobody needs leaf blowers, a good old rake does the job, if a job needs to be done, and the rake does it quietly. And, it allows you to exercise. That said, I think dead leaves should stay on the ground, where they belong. But anyway, since Cate Blanchett might be retiring from acting, I think she should enter politics and promise to make leaf blowers illegal. I'd vote for her.

Cornegidouille (mot du jour)

Je partage aujourd'hui un mot du jour amusant, cordegidouille. Adverbe assez peu usité, qui exprime l'étonnement, la surprise et la stupeur. Il aurait été inventé par Alfred Jarry. Que j'ai par ailleurs très peu lu. Quant à cornegidouille, je l'ai peu lu, jamais entendu et, jusqu'ici, jamais prononcé, sauf en le lisant à voix haute.

A sort of limbo

 Well, Easter is over, we are back from our holidays, Wolfie is back at school, I am currently unemployed. I have a few interviews lined up, so far it has been a fairly busy period of unemployment, even though the job market is not great. Still, as I have no job offer at the moment and it is still early stage for all the interview processes I am in, I feel a bit like I'm in limbo. My mother's advice when I am unemployed is always the same: take it as a holiday. I try to and generally I succeed, however these days I find it a bit more difficult. Mostly because we have been on holidays, so this feels like a staycation interrupted by phone calls and house chores. So yeah, in other words, limbo.

Le temps de l'érable (et du cidre?)

Ceci n'est pas exactement un billet sur le Joli Rouge, mais je partage cette photo rien que parce que c'est une très belle étiquette et que ça fait temps des sucres. Parce que le Joli Rouge, en plus d'être un cidre du Saguenay, est un cidre à l'érable. Une idée inspirée, mais un résultat peut-être pas inspirant, en tout cas selon ma mère. Dans tous les cas, c'est le temps des sucres au Québec. Ah oui, si la température était plus clémente, ce serait peut-être le temps du cidre ici. Qu'en pensez-vous?

Saint George's Day

I almost forgot: it is Saint George's Day today. So happy Saint George's Day everyone. Nobody notices it or cares about it in England, ironically enough, not even my son, who is a proud Englishman. I used to celebrate it a bit more, at least on this blog. But I have come to neglect it too. Which is sad: we talk about a patron saint who is associated with a fight and a victory against a dragon. It always appealed to me, because I love folklore, myths and legends and, well, dragons. I should really make something about it on Vraie Fiction, a real blogging event.

Le principe de l'oignon

 Ceci est un nouvel épisode sur le proverbe "En avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil". Parce que le temps est un tantinent schizo ces jours-ci. Et ce, dans une même journée. C'était encore pire à York et encore pire lorsque nous avons dû voyager de chez nous (où il faisait doux) à York (où c'était froid), puis de York (où il faisait toujours froid) à chez nous (où il faisait encore doux). Et puis aujourd'hui, on dirait octobre, soudainement. Pas que je m'en plaigne: j'aime le temps froid. Mais je dois donc appliquer le principe de l'oignon: je me mets plusieurs couches de vêtements que j'enlève dans la journée, pour les remettre quand le soir tombe.

Crime Routes

 The articles I read on my news feed. So I recently found this BBC article about the routes of cocaine smugggling from Ecuador into Europe. Smuggling which is growing, by the way. Oh and the Albanian mafia is heavily involved. I have a macabre fascination for these kinds of stories and find them interesting for many reasons. First, it shows that organised crime is not merely an Italian thing. Second, because it gives insight to how the drug trade works at an international level. As you probably have guessed, when I read this, I think there's a couple of crime fiction stories to write from such source material. I will check if something has been written about it already, otherwise I just might have to write something myself.

Tempête dans un bénitier

Je crois que c'est de circonstances...

 

Gigantic Hot Cross Buns

 Okay, so this should be my last Easter post for a while. I took this picture at the shop of Bettys in York. Bettys is a legendary tea room there, one so famous that you need to queue to get in. It's worth the wait. For Easter, they were selling these gigantic hot cross buns. A single one feeds a family of three for breakfast. I know because we bought one for Easter morning. We had enough to spare the next day. Some days I think we should move to Yorkshire. We would never go hungry.

La légion romaine

 Je sais que Pâques est terminé (terminée?), mais je n'ai pas eu l'occasion de bloguer beaucoup sur le sujet, alors je continue. Cette année, si le dimanche de Pâques a été tranquille, c'est toute la Semaine sainte qui a été active, puisque noussommes allés à York. Notre voyage a eu une certaine connotation pascale. J'associe Pâques à la Rome antique, notamment, et York avait parfois des airs de peplum. Nous sommes allés aux Roman Baths, lesquels sont situés dans un pub. Expérience assez unique, on se croyait parfois dans un camp retranché romain. Dans tous les cas, ce fût une très belle expérience.

Is Cate Blanchett retiring?

 I wanted to commented on some recent news (although they might not be so recent now) that got me sad, or at least worried: Cate Blanchett is considering retiring from acting. I don't know if it is a serious and permanent decision or merely bad moment (everybody can get tired and fed up from their job from time to time), but I hope we will see her again. She does not need to work, she has nothing to prove anymore, she's been snubbed every time she was nominated for a price she didn't win (no but seriously, I am still angry that she lost the Oscar for Best Actress in 1999), yet it would be a great loss for us all if this was her final decision. SoI am potentially devastated.

Le sinistre papabile

 Je le craignais un peu en apprenant la mort du pape. Je le craignais, mais je m'y attendais: le cardinal marc Ouellet est papabile. Je n'ai pas blogué sur lui depuis plus d'une décennie, moins je pense à lui, mieux je me porte (et moins il pense aux Québécois, mieux nous nous portons tous), je pensais qu'il allait finir par s'étouffer dans sa propre insignifiance. Mais non: il est encore là, malgré les allégations qui pèsent sur lui, il est encore influent dans l'Église, il pourrait encore devenir pape. Le premier Québécois,  et il n'y aurait pas à être fier. En plus d'être une très mauvaise nouvelle pour le Québec, pour les raisons que j'énumérais déjà en 2013. Je nommais Ouellet un sinistre ensoutané, je devrais maintenir un sinistre papabile.

48 today

 Well, as the title says, it is my birthday today. I am 48. It seems that my forties are going so quickly. Each birthday feels like coming faster than the previous one. Only two years, and I am in another decade. On the plus side, I am a father, I will have a nice birthday with my close family, especially Wolfie, who always make it fun. Getting older has its perks, as long as you don't celebrate alone.

"Marquise, si mon visage," etc.

Bon ben j'ai 48 ans aujourd'hui. Tradition oblige: