les Davey de France

We decided to go on a free walking tour of Bordeaux from 11 till 1 on Saturday. Run by a group that advertises on Facebook, it promised the story of how Bordeaux became three times the capital of France. The rendez-vous point was at the base of the cathedral bell tower, and we arrived there about 25 minutes too early. Just the right amount of time for a quick 1€ espresso at the café Cheverus. The tour was conducted by a charming guide called Hubert who alternated between French and English as we were five tour members, two French, two Brits and a Canadian. The tour included: The monument to the defeated of the Franco-Prussian war - GLORIA VICTIS The Hotel de la Préfecture where the government was housed during the First World War. The Grand Théâtre, seat of government during the first few days of the Second World War. The Girondin Monument, sold to the German occupying forces to be melted down for munitions during the closing stages of the Second World War, but which ne...

We have a little lawn. Well, what passes for a lawn in Bordeaux. In winter it's water-logged, in summer it's dry as a cracker. But it does have classy weeds. The other day when I was cutting the grass I got a distinct whiff of mint. Strange. When the château's tractor was cutting the grass in the ditch next to our residence, that smelt of mint, too. I hunted a bit and, sure enough, we have little clumps of wild mint. This is good news, because I have never been able to grow mint deliberately. It just never works. Other people are inundated with it. I can't get it to survive. Well until now. So in our lawn now there are little unmown clumps where the mint is. But that's not all. We also have various flowers. Amongst the usual clover, daisies and dandelions we have a couple of plants of this charming little centaury.

but still I manage to lose things and find them again by accident. Like this hat, which I found when looking for a small backpack. (I didn't find the small backpack)

We have these wristband gizmos that do all kinds of things. If you're indoors and can swivel your arm at the right speed or poke a receptor successfully it'll tell you the time. Not only that, but coupled with an application on your phone it will tell you how many steps you've taken, how far you've walked or run, your average stride, the distance travelled, your maximum heart rate while exercising and your heart rate at any given moment. It's wonderful. If you wear the thing overnight it'll even detect when you fall asleep and when you wake up and tell you how long you spent in deep sleep. Every now and agin they update the software on the phone and on he wrist band. Lats time I went to the UK, because I'd be spending all day sat in a conference and travelling lots by underworld railway and bus and stuff I left the thing at home. When I cam back I charged it up, updated the software and since then it's gone nuts. Apparently I don't do deep ...

I'm not saying a lot about it. For one thing there's so much one could say: about Brexit, Trump, May, Macron, the whole kit and caboodle. For another thing there's so much rancour and aggression: about Brexit, Trump, May, the whole kit and caboodle. So I'm keeping my trap shut.

and we are thankful. We have no plans to use it until October, but we can now book those flights to Munich for the International Churches' Pastors' Conference - with Glen Scrivener.

Well that was funny. I could see that it was raining a little before I even put my shoes on, but by the time I got to the corner of the vineyard it was clear that the rain was too heavy and that it was increasing. So I turned round, went home and ate my porage.