Tag: Hot

Day 16: Crozant to La Souterraine:

A day in my pilgrim,s life.

As I got up and got out of bed I banged my head against the shelf above. Some books came crashing down on me. It was 0530 in the morning. Damn I thought  I screamed. Over on the other side of the dorm I thought I heard someone say “ Mon Dieu.”

“Darn”, as pilgrims are not supposed to swear. So I go up. It was pitch darkness and I did not want to wake anyone. As I was walking, no tip toeing towárd the heads (toilet), I banged my big toe against the leg of the bed.  “Damn, merde, shit” I screamed again to myself. Owee, that hurts. I then thought I heard my dear wife whisper in my ear: “ John, not only are you a slob you are also a big klutz.” Yes dear. I thought to myself.

I made it to the head only to see or feel that some guy, er pilgrim, was sleeping on the floor by the heads. Oh yeah, I remember. This guy was sensitive to snoring so he moved his mattress by the heads. Snoring or smell? Take your pick. Anyway, I tried to be a quiet as a mouse as I opened one of the doors to the stalls:  caaaw-reeek, the door needed oil. ” Mon Dieu” I heard from th other side of the dorm. I went into a stall and closed the door only to see no toilet seat. No matter. I am a male after all and this is the call of nature for numero uno. Then I tripped on something and fell down and low and behold the toilet was not secured to the floor. With a bang it fell sideways. “ Holy shit.” I said. “Mon Dieu.”I heard again and the guy on the floor beside the toilet just grunted and turned over. Finally, I got out of there, brushed myself off and tip toed back to my bed. Then again my big toe banged again on the corner leg of the bed and I tripped and fell into the bed beside me. That guy was not amused. “ Mon Dieu” I heard again. I apologized to the man in the bed, got my things together, strapped on my rucksack and made my way to the door. I then hit a table as I was opening the door. “Mon Dieu, mon dieu, mon dieu monsieur.” I heard over again and with that I started my day. As I opened the door to leave I yelled back into the darkness of the room: “ Mon Dieu to you too, adieu.” And with that I was on my way.

They are not kind to pilgims. Crozant was at the top of a big hill by the Creuse River. A beautiful site but not to  a pilgrim at the end of the day. We made it to the top, found our accommodations, unpacked, then proceeded to the cafe. I could not believe it. We had  chickenm wings and beer. And they were some of the best wings I have even had. Great. Had some red vino as well and pickd up another bottle for later in the evening. Gawd, how I love this pilgrim life. “ Mon Dieu.”

This is Netherlander Berry. Good company. Pascal from Strasbourg, also joined us. Great evening.

In the morning when I left, the trail had us go all the way back down to the river bed to start our hike. We basically covered off over 100 meters of elevation in less that 500 meters. That was brutal. We followed the river bed into a magical land of streams, woodland and moss. It was cool and very pleasant. The water cascaded over the rocks and weirs and gave it that fresh relaxing aura. It made it even more enjoyable to the senses:

It was a hard slog again today. 24.5 km in 31 degree heat. And it was all uphill. Obviously our elevation was increasing as we headed south. Coming out of the beautiful Creuse River Valley was akin to a death  march, or as I like to refer it to as the Compestello Sweat. We did come into a few villages but I am not going to bore you with that “F” word anymore but it was Thursday after all and everything was………….

But there were also some lighthearted moments:

 

“You talking to me? Are you talkimg to me? Yeah you, you. Are you talking to me, huh?, Huh? Well are you?  Okay, then how about you guys?”

 

Pascal from Strasbourg.  He is 64.

Another great tune to listen to as you are doing the Camino Sweat March!

 

 

 

 

Day 7: Mangy Cours to Le Veaurdre

Got up and started at 0545 am. No choice. Either that or melt. Arrived at Le Veaurdre at 1300. Temp 37 C. Had a difficult time trying to pronounce that when asking for directions in my shattered French. Also stopped a few times for my new found favourite drink – Orangina. I think I had about 3 of them.  Also stopped and had lunch in an ancient graveyard. It was the coolest place in town. While munching away on my pate and brown bread I thought I heard some laughter. Were these ancient pilgrims laughing at me? I thought. I gave my head a shake. Then again, I really thought I heard someone say in my unconcious mind:

”Come to France” they said,

”Go for a walk” they said,

”You,ll love it” they said. “Just like us” they said. “ And we,re dead”they said.

Thinking about these ancient pilgrims got me to thinking about the French Revolution and how it started. I have a theory about that. Back in 1788, the church authourities urged all of the pilgrims of the day to walk to Santiago in Spain – all 1700 km. So off they went and when they got there after much personal sacrifice and hardship they found this:

They were not amused. They headed back to Paris and the rest as they say is history.

Arrived at the Allier River in Le Veaurdre and could not resist. I went down and jumped in. The water was warm but refreshing, waist deep with a bit of a current. I sat there for about an hour in that stream and could feel the hot embers that made up my blood suddenly cool. I was content and refreshed. Found my campsite – it was closed – and proceeded to fall asleep under an ancient oak tree. Wonderful. Right now I am sitting having a meal in the only place in town that is open.

All of these closures reminds me of when my wife and I did the Route 66 road trip. The ghost town trip from Santa Monica to Chicago. Everything was boarded up. Earie. If this part of France isn,t careful the same outcome could occur here.

This song was a favourite of my wife and I. We stood on that corner in Winslow Arizona.

https://youtu.be/mSScV6Rt_6s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Too Hot Baby

Hey, check out my first novel published on Amazon. “Kurofune: The Black Ships. A Novel of World War II.” Getting great reviews. Click on the link at the top right of this page and check it out….thanks.

Love this from the UK:

‘I’m not having children because I want to save the planet’
What’s the best thing you can do to help save the environment? For Anna, a cycling instructor and writer living in Bath, it’s to have fewer children. She has chosen not to have any at all.

First of all why does somebody need to pay someone to teach them how to ride a bicycle. Isn’t that what dads are for? Oops sorry for the white privilege.

Secondly, I say great, the world doesn’t need more offspring from some idiot that could potentially taint the gene pool. After all that is why we have the Darwin Awards.

She / they say that the world’s population is exploding therefore people should be having less or no children. Well this plays right into Islam’s ideology. “If we can’t overrun you by the sword we will destroy you demographically.” Islam poker match:

“Hey I see your 2.5 kids and will raise you 10. My call”

LA is treating its streets with some sort of “white coloured film-over” to combat climate change. Hey isn’t this a white privilege initiative? Black Lives Matter were all in a tit-shit over this latest move by the LA city council.

Speaking of so called whiteness and idiocy / stupidity. Some journalist from Macleans / Globe and Mail reported on the Humboldt Tragedy  “Go Fund Me” initiative (SDA):

I’m trying to not get cynical about what is a totally devastating tragedy but the maleness, the youthfulness and the whiteness of the victims are, of course, playing a significant role here.

Unbelievable! Would she say the same thing if they were black, or Asian? So racist, so utterly callous, so utterly bullshit. She should be fired for her callousness but she won’t. That only happens to white males here in Canada!

On the “how do these idiots ever get elected” file comes this. Again from London:

“Led by London Mayor and notably weak-kneed coward Sadiq Khan the British nation has now decided to fight back against knife violence… by a new campaign that should be called: Ban the blade. It could be called: Forever chopsticks. In truth, it’s called: knife control.”

Now, Benson continues, you are going to have to show an ID card before you purchase a carving knife. But, it’s not just carving knives. The new rules are also going to restrict the sales of plastic knives. But, the enquiring mind wants to know, what about forks? And, what about pitchforks? And what about Fork-lifts?

And:

British Parliament is also set to take up heavy “knife control” legislation when it resumes this week. The U.K. government is expected to introduce a ban on online knife sales and home knife deliveries, declare it “illegal to possess zombie knives and knuckledusters in private”

Zombie knives? Are you kidding me. Don’t they know that zombies:

Image result for pics of zombiesLike this guy.

ARE ALREADY DEAD!  A knife can’t hurt them! I can’t make this stuff up. Someone added: “how are we going to eat our food now? Especially lobsters.

“Fingers just don’t cut it” someone else remarked.

No, it’s all a plot for this:

See the source imageNot a knife to be seen. Or box cutters.

“No we use our knives and box cutters for more important things.”

Why most of Meghan Markle’s family will not be at the royal wedding:

While Prince Harry’s family will turn out in force for his May 19 wedding to Meghan Markle, the same can’t be said for the bride’s family.  That’s because the Markle family is a tangle of half-siblings, multiple divorced spouses and their children. The dysfunction, feuds and recriminations in this middle-class American family with more than its share of good and bad fortune are such that it’s hard to keep her family tree straight.

Hmmm, must be the direct descendants of Henry the VIIIth!

From Journalistate comes this bit of fluff: Angelina’s daughter used to be gorgeous. Now she looks insane!

Yeah, just like her mother!

Things you would never hear 20 years ago:

“Sometimes becoming a parent feels out of my reach. My wife and I both have uteruses, and sperm costs too damn much.”

You got that right Virginia, Virginia. About $250K according to today’s parent. Poor kids! No father. Damn that SJW, white privilege rhetoric again!

Gotta love this one. From a Christian abortionist (isn’t that a Christian oxymoron?):

Quote of the year!: “Aborting babies is my Christian calling”…say what?

He says he is “quite comfortable talking about the moral and spiritual center.” He calls it “dignity restoration.” It’s okay to sin, so long as you convince yourself to feel good about it.
As long as it feels good it’s okay. Psychopaths are in a tizzy over this one!
I mean that’s why the Catholic Church invented Confession isn’t it? Just go in to the Priest Cave once a week to seek atonement and absolution, and voila, the slates clean so you can now go out and sin again, and again, and again. So very, very righteous. These guys were geniuses. Like you car, your soul needs a tune-up and a wash (with wax) every once in awhile.
And, and, the Pope now says that hell doesn’t exist and by its own corollary, Satan, or the devil him / her, zir, zey, zits, titz… self can’t exist without his own dominion to look out over.
It was getting too hot in the kitchen I guess…….Geeesh
The world is getting crazier and crazier. I love it as it keeps my blog relevant.
Have a Happy Friday and weekend. Read ya Monday.

 

SJ…………………………….Out

Song of the day: