Crowning and gritting teeth

Summer is definitely here, perfectly timed for the bank holiday Ascenscion weekend. Sunshine and temperatures in the high 20s. Yesterday was the bank holiday here, with today being un pont, a bridging day for the weekend when a lot of people get the day off too.

Once again we're almost alone in the building, with me (and flight prices) to blame for not escaping somewhere. I'm off to Blighty on Saturday evening for the season's final game of any importance, so we've had a truncated long weekend. La bienheureuse has been feeling a bit off-colour anyway, and constrained to get some work done at home. Thus we've limited leisure activity to a gentle stroll and sandwich in the park yesterday, and lunch along the river today, though as I write ma bien-aimée is out stomping round the park while an empty printer cartridge and uncooperative airline website get me frustrated indoors attempting to check-in online. I've calmed down now...

Other event of note for the week was the third visit to the dentist in 3 weeks, to get a new crown fitted to a tooth that had almost entirely disintegrated. Long story and lots of money, though social security and la bienheureuse's company health insurance should cover most of it. The former pays for 70% of the supposed 'conventional tariff', which is about a third of what the dentist charges. The French national health system ain't all it's cracked up to be...

Here comes the summer sun...

26 degree sunshine in Lyon today, shutters closed against the heat for the first time this year. Summer has arrived, and the elite police unit were using the passerelle to do their rappelling training when I went out to do the chores this morning.

It was warm, but not that warm, over the weekend, pleasantly sunny. The discovery that we currently have Canal+ unencrypted because of the accidental erasing of cable TV subscriber details led to a match in Manchester keeping us (me) indoors at home until mid-afternoon on Saturday. Otherwise I'd have been indoors in the pub.

Afterwards we trekked down the river to go indoors again to watch the original space voyagers boldly going where no man had gone before. Very entertaining it was too, and we were out in time to stop off at a restaurant on the way home. Les Compagnons is somewhere we've tried to get into a couple of times before but been turned away due to its popularity. This time there was no problem. The credit crunch does have occasional advantages and the food & wine were excellent.

Sunday was occupied by a continued clearout of the flat and a stomp round the park to clear the head and get some exercise. In the evening, with Canal+ still en clair, I watched OL redeem a little pride from their season by beating Marseille in their own bicycle stadium. The victory of Bordeaux the previous day meant however that Lyon have definitely lost the championship for the first time since 2001.

La bienheureuse took a 3 hour train journey to Brussels yesterday, leaving me to finally get my first book published. Self-published that is. Still, will be nice to see it looking like a real book at last. Now all I have to do is get round to sending out the other two...

Hangovers, cocktails and jazz

The visit to Cheshire ended with a visit from la soeur and the occasional appearance of la nièce ainée. The drive back south-eastwards was followed by delicious dinner chez J&C and a visit from the JeB bearing alcohol. Dangerous. A stiff caiparinha and several glasses of wine left two old men asleep in front of the telly while little Ms Beaucoup and the cocktail mixer conversed incoherently. Apparently. The latter then shunned a carefully made futon and cycled drunkenly home on a flat tyre.

The following day, worst hangover since, err, the last bad hangover inflicted by home-brew peach schnapps in southern France. And the hangover continued all day, made worse by a visit to the home of football, where, despite creating chances aplenty, the red & white heroes crashed to defeat at the hands of the blue Russian mafia from the posh end of London. Nonetheless, managed to summon up enough enthusiasm to venture out in the evening to the pub to watch some excellent jazz in the company of the Margarita man and the Jon-E boy.

Quiet day of recovery on Monday, almost missed train to airport on Tuesday, but made it back to the comforting warmth of Lyon by mid-afternoon. Then ventured out for more football, of the OL variety, in the company of le voisin en bas while la bienheureuse was out to dinner. Les gones finally got back on the winning trail with a 3-0 victory against a Nantes team struggling in the relegation zone. Sadly, the championship seems likely to slip away south or west...

Nightmares do come true...

Tuesday, flight to Gatwick on time, day spent meandering along the Thames, rendezvous in pub with J&C for quick, tasty burger. Arrive, stadium awash with noise and colour. Seven very enjoyable minutes. And then malchance strikes...

Since, a day in Cambridge nursing wounds, a drive up to Cheshire to see les nieces et neveux leading their own lives, and a day in a house empty bar the cat and dog. Been doing some work to pass the time, weather too changeable to risk venturing out for long. The weekend will soon be here...

Au revoir au huitième...

The end of an era approaches. Olympique Lyonnais lost 2-0 to Valenciennes ("we were rubbish" was the frank assessment of defender Cris) on Saturday and now languish seven points behind joint Ligue 1 leaders, Marseille and Bordeaux, with only four games left. Baring a remarkable turnaround in form, OL's run of league titles will stop at seven.

Another era is also coming to an end in Lyon, with the transfer of 436 inmates from the decrepit prison bang in the city centre to a brand spanking new facility on the outskirts. A mere 900 gendarmes and security personnel were deployed in a top secret operation to transfer the entire prison clientèle in a single day. The old prison, just behind the main line terminus of Perrache now lies empty; with its future uncertain.

Meanwhile, a less notable anniversary passes with a certain amount of comment today. Two years after the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as prèsident, a poll published today finds that 65% of French people are 'disappointed' by his actions, and barely a quarter satisfied. Pas une grande surprise...

Bank holiday sunshine

The 1st May jour ferié in France falls on the day itself, so we had Friday off here rather than today. And for a change we were the sole stay-at-home inhabitants of our building while all the neighbours escaped the city. And a very pleasant weekend it was too. Warm, with more or less dawn to dusk sunshine. A lazy Friday with only a stroll out for a lunch at a riverside café was followed by a slightly more active Saturday. A meander through town, a comfortable afternoon's football viewing in the pub, then a wander along the river for an early dinner and some escapist mutant cinema. Only downside, OL's loss which leaves them a long way from the eighth title in a row.

It was another warm, sunny day yesterday, but la bienheureuse got an attack of spring-cleaning madness so much of the day was spent sorting and throwing out 7 years worth of accumulated junk. Mostly accumulated by me. Well, you never know when those 27 empty cardboard boxes might come in useful. We did make it out for another riverside stroll and drink in the late afternoon sunshine.

Next stop for me, Blighty, abandoning ma bien-aimée for a week to subject myself to some nervous football watching...