scrinson

Buzz gets into training

2008-06-04T23:09:00.001+01:00

Not the old guy. The Lightyear chap. His performance on the running machine is not unlike mine in Milan...

Martin made me do it

2008-05-26T07:38:00.003+01:00

In response to Martin's post on the Copydesk yesterday, I went looking for this KLF track, which is one of my favourites.

When I worked in Atlanta in 91/92, covering the NFL, I used this as a music bed to do the highlight package for the end of the programme. It's brilliant to cut to and this edit made my 'showreel' - such as it is - when I still worked in TV. Must encode it one of these days.

Oh, and it's also great to run to, as I prepare myself for a wet and cold 10k today...

More Disney trauma

2008-05-21T09:32:00.004+01:00

My Mum's earliest cinema memory is going to see Bambi and being inconsoleable at 'that scene'. I sent this to a friend who pointed out that her young son's book about the cute wee deer doesn't even mention the Mummy. Surely that level of re-versioning means you miss some of the pathos and drama of the whole film?

Anyhoo - the cat's cute.

Blogging your grub

2008-05-21T08:45:00.004+01:00

What is it about taking pictures of food? In the last few months I've photographed meals on trains, in restaurants all over the place and - as above - in beachfront cafes. Is it to make people jealous? To capture the moment? Not sure, but I smiled at this post on my favourite food blog, Serious Eats, this morning. Because it was spookily familiar...

Call me Mrs Corporate-Head...

2008-04-16T14:58:00.004+01:00

..but I am in love with Wall-E. At a recent Disney preview of the film's first thirty minutes, even the most hardened film critics came out raving about it. Put July 18th in your diaries...

An Ex Pat writes

2008-02-22T15:46:00.011+01:00

Found this image of the Isle of Iona on a card in Waterstones today and, after buying several to send to folk, I headed online to buy a framed print.

There are lots of paintings of Iona out there by people like John Lowrie Morrison and the Scottish colourist, Francis Cadell. In fact there are some rather lovely ones about to be exhibited in London next month by Frances Macdonald.

But this painting absolutely captures the light of the island and, in imagining the walk back into the village from the beach at the North End, I can almost feel the sun, the breeze and the air which is so fresh and clean you could chew it. This is exactly the kind of picture which makes this Hammersmith resident a tad homesick...

Wall:E & the Superbowl

2008-02-07T16:12:00.000+01:00

Great ad for Wall:E which ran during the Superbowl. The teaser itself is cute but it's really made by the addition of two familiar couch potatoes.

My new tipple

2008-01-10T20:24:00.001+01:00

Having spent the last few days coughing convulsively, often in the middle of meetings, my new best friend is this bottle of Covonia.

It actually tastes pretty ghastly - should have trusted my instincts and stuck to the original version (Covonia 1.0, if you will) but I gambled on this new and improved mentholated expectorant. After gagging at the first spoonful, I reached for the bottle to find out what on earth was in it. Not only does it contain the mysterious 'squill tincture' (something to do with fluffy-tailed park rodents?) but it has an alcohol level of 7.7%.

Which rather negates my attempts at temperance this week (no wine since Sunday, thank you very much). Could be worse though. I could be one of the 3.1 million 12-25 year-olds in the US getting high on Calpol, Tixilix and the like. Or maybe by the weekend I will be...

Grandma takes a tumble

2007-12-26T14:55:00.000+01:00

While out for a Boxing Day walk, Grandma manages to get over the muddy stile in one piece - and then slips in the field. Luckily several cameras were trained on her.

A sad farewell

2007-12-19T12:59:00.000+01:00

With Linda going on maternity leave and me leaving the BBC, it was time to find a home for the Gerbil of Death, our much-loved office pet, who first came to prominence at the office Halloween Party two years ago.

And so Designer Extraordinary, Fiona Stewart, was picked as his new owner. And, in an emotional ceremony yesterday, he was delivered to his new home on the second floor at Pacific Quay. Let's hope Fiona takes as good care of him as I did and keeps up his Facebook page. If you're wanting to be his friend (and God knows, he needs them), search for Gerry O'Death...

Oh, please no...

2007-12-18T16:39:00.001+01:00

As we try to monitor both our food and drink intake over the Festive season, here's one Christmas treat I'm glad we've never taken to over here. Egg nog.

The wonderful Serious Eats has published a recipe for the stuff. Frankly, just reading it makes me feel queazy, let alone attempting to consume a glass or 5 or 6 at a Christmas party.

I'll stick to a good Provence rosé, thank you very much. Or some warming mulled wine.

I want one!

2007-11-27T10:15:00.001+01:00

Those clever folks at Think Geek - who have some pretty nifty stuff - have gone and created the best-ever thing.

A t-shirt which reads the level of wifi signal around the wearer. Super cool - as long as you don't walk around looking obsessively down at your own chest and, inevitably, walking into walls, pillars or other geeks who are also not watching where they are going.

Webcammery

2007-11-20T07:36:00.000+01:00

The observant amongst you will have noticed my frequent posts plugging gorgeous views of my favourite beach in the Var.

Well, the webcam site which hosts the camera at St Clair - and others in Le Lavandou - has been redesigned and I'm now a regular viewer of what's on in Quimper (location of the Celtic Film Festival in 2002), Argeles (camping trip with Nick in mid 80s) and, of course, Sanary.

If you want a quick tour de France, on sea, land and snow, check out Viewsurf.

First fire!

2007-11-17T14:12:00.001+01:00

First fire!
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket

With the assistance of a seasoned fire-starter, I lit the living room fire the other night. There were a few dribs and drabs of coal in the coal scuttle, some kindling and a few of those pressed wood briquette jobs. And it took quite the thing!

It was all so heart-warming that we had to open another bottle of rosé. Then just sat watching the flames till they went out.

Working hard at web 2.0

2007-10-19T18:34:00.000+01:00

In the Nokia room, which I think was the best place to be at the Palace Hotel. Unlike the main conference room (the grand ballroom), here there was power for your laptop, room to move about and drinks and snacks on tap.

It was also a good way to get to know your fellow-outcasts (this was meant to be the overflow room) who ranged from impossibly-young CEOs of Palo Alto start-ups, senior folk from Microsoft and French product developers from Nokia. I picked the right spot.

Shall I? Shan't I?

2007-10-19T02:29:00.000+01:00

Well, obviously, as a finely-tuned athlete I could change my flights tomorrow so that I can hang around here to run the Nike Women's Marathon around San Francisco this weekend. But I suppose I'd best get home.

Registration was taking place in a huge marquee in Union Square this afternoon and there was a great atmosphere. It felt just like the Women's 10k in Glasgow (yes, the sum total of my running career to date) - a wonderful feeling of camaraderie among women of all shapes and sizes. Good luck, girls! (And try not to think about the hills...)

Drumming

2007-10-17T22:35:00.001+01:00

I took a wander along Market Street at lunchtime today and came upon this brilliant drummer, using only a plastic bucket and lamppost. The chap on the mobile phone is a pal of his and I think he was rapping along, which was quite cool, too.

He got faster later on, but I clipped the beginning of it, sadly.

Cafe de la Presse

2007-10-17T22:22:00.001+01:00

Cafe de la Presse
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket

By luck or by design, I ended up in the French quarter of San Francisco. Actually 'quarter' might be overstating it, more like one block - but a hundred yards or so which house the French consulate, the French school and church and great eating places like this, the Cafe de la Presse. And, joy of joys, they also own the wine bar a couple of doors down - the Rouge et Blanc - where you get a fine glass of Muscadet. Although I did balk slightly at paying $5 for a small plate of smoked nuts.

Rivers of air?

2007-10-17T04:53:00.000+01:00

If you are slightly fearful of flying, let my wee brother, Captain (yes!) Colin Adair, tell you about turbulence and why Mr Boeing made his planes so sturdily.

He never told me he'd made this little film - go ten titles down to find him. Possibly because his hair needed fixed by a professional and whoever built the website couldn't spell 'safety'...

Oh, and it's his birthday today so call this a sardonic 'homage' to a great brother. Happy birthday, Cokey!!

Gay penguins in adoption shocker

2007-10-17T00:57:00.001+01:00

While wandering through the Christmas section (yes!) in Macy's last night, I came upon these two penguins. And they reminded me of the current furore here over a lovely new children's picture book called 'And Tango Makes Three'

It features the heart-warming story of two male penguins who, after unsuccessfully trying to hatch a stone, are given a baby penguin to look after. As you might imagine, it has caused something of a ruckus in the US and appears to be up there with Harry Potter and 'Heather has two Mommies' as the topic of choice of the chattering classes.

Duck and cover

2007-10-15T15:21:00.000+01:00

Yikes. You forget when you come to the Bay Area that Nature's perils are everywhere. And not just in the fiendishly steep hills or kamikaze cab drivers. No, earthquakes. Luckily, I checked out this useful guide to how to survive the next big one - which apparently could come along anytime now.

Only in California, though, would you get more advice from the newspaper on how to save your pets than how to rescue old people or children. But then, where else would you see endless ads for a hotel for your dog or cat? Just put them in a kennel with 15 other small animals and let them get on with it, I say...

Breakfast in America

2007-10-15T00:46:00.000+01:00

An early start this morning in San Francisco - I woke at 4 am. Damn jet lag.

I was well ready for hash browns, bacon and poached egg at Lori's Diner by 7.30. Great atmosphere with 50s Juke Boxes playing Elvis, Chuck Berry and Sam Cooke. Set me up for the day nicely.

Grape-picking dummy

2007-09-26T13:56:00.001+01:00

Grape-picking dummy
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket

Folk in Pierrefeu wear this kind of outfit most days - even the men. But at this time of year the vendange is all finished and this get-up is restricted to peasant-dancing and other frivolity.

Meanwhile, back at PQ...

2007-09-21T07:43:00.001+01:00

Meanwhile, back at PQ...
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket

Gordon Brown opened the new BBC Scotland building at Pacific Quay yesterday.

The staff came out in droves to hang over the balconies and listen. One radio producer seemed unimpressed though... While simultaneously blending into the decor.

Pierrefeu, late September

2006-09-29T09:14:00.000+01:00

Pierrefeu view
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

There'll be a break from my random and very erratic postings for a week while I go here! Warm weather, rosé on tap and a dial-up web connection. God, that modem squeal...

And, if the sun stays out, you might spot me staked out here.

A new entrant to the Blogosphere!

2006-09-14T15:55:00.000+01:00

My best friend has decided to give this blogging lark a go. A big round of applause for Rainy Day Dog Blog! Not sure what it'll be called when/if the sun comes out...

9/11 - 5 years on

2006-09-10T12:19:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged for ages but with tomorrow's anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers, I wanted to publish something I wrote the day after 9/11 five years ago. And I wanted to attach this picture specifically as it was, more or less, the view downtown I had from my appartment on West 14th St when I lived in NYC in 1990. 11 years later that view was changed forever.

Anyway, here's what I wrote in 2001...

I woke early on the morning of 12 September. Anna and I were staying in an old farmhouse in the South of France, a couple of miles from Cotignac, one of those picture-book villages you think about if you’ve read A Year in Provence – all plane trees, fountains and chiming church bells.

Only the previous afternoon, we’d heard the awful news about what was happening in New York City and had spent the evening with friends trying to make sense of what we were hearing from the BBC’s World Service radio. The short wave signal came and went, almost in time with the gusts of the mistral rattling the windows and rustling fitfully through the olive trees.

I didn’t sleep well. We had only had phone calls from friends at home and the BBC correspondents to describe the scenes in the US and, when I woke at 6 or so, my first thought was to drive down to the village to get papers so I could see what I had only imagined so far.

It was chilly at 06.30 but shops were open and the cafes were already doing a brisk trade in early morning coffees for folk like me, heading for the boulangerie and paper shop. The mood in the newsagents was sombre though. I was stunned at the images I saw – orange flames blooming from the sky-scrapers and people in suits, clutching briefcases and mobile phones, but white with a covering of ash, looking like extras in some weird B-movie. Then, on every page, the picture of the jet-liner – the same type my brother flies – heading, nightmarishly, inevitably, for one of the Twin Towers.

The young man behind the counter in the paper shop seemed as shocked as I was. But there, in this tiny village, tucked under the cliffs of the Bessillon hills, he had created his own tribute to what we were seeing thousands of miles away. He told me he’d visted Manhattan some years before and had taken one of those long, panoramic-style photos of the downtown area. And there, right in the middle, was the World Trade Centre, the twin tours dominating the centre of his picture. ‘Voila’, he said, pointing out the photo sitting squarely on his till, ‘That’s a bit of history now. But that’s how I’ll remember New York.’

So, as I walked round the corner to the gloomy warmth of the village church to say a prayer for those around the world who would be affected by all that happened on Tuesday 11^th September, I realised that that his words and that small gesture of remembrance would form my abiding memory of those few days. And, for once I didn’t need the internet, wall-to-wall TV and the addiction of following a big news story hour-by-hour. It was enough to have shared a few words with a stranger in the chill of a provencal morning, had a coffee with my papers, bought my bread and gone home.

Merry Blogging Christmas!

2004-12-29T21:08:00.000+01:00

The tree
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

Happy Christmas from Glasgow! Fun and games over the Festive season included these highlights:-

A tree which was over four feet tall this year (see right)
Cooking a Christmas lunch for seven with the world's largest turkey, and getting it (almost) right
Watching the kids' faces when they opened their presents - especially Emma's 'Visual Encyclopedia'
JP's amazing Christmas Eve meal and Magnus helpless with giggles trying to tell a long, rather naughty and actually not very funny joke
Flying to London after Christmas and seeing Holly and Jamie run towards me in their wee red jumpers
Snow on Christmas Day!
Emma and I winning Disney Trivial Pursuit on DVD. (How sad is that?)

It was a great time with all the family - on both sides. However, even as we put leftovers in tupperware and took our bottles to the recycling area, the awful events in South East Asia were unfolding. I'm about to go to the Disasters Emergency Committee to donate money and help bring aid to the area. If your Christmas was as good as mine, go there too and give what you can.

It's Official - nearly 50% of Americans say sorry

2004-11-12T14:43:00.000+01:00

One of the nicest sites I've seen a long time. Americans - or at least 49% of them - say 'Sorry Everybody' for the events of the 2nd of November. We appreciate your sentiments.

What are you doing?

2004-11-06T19:40:00.000+01:00

It's Bloggercon today! Go here now to read all about it.

Move along now. Nothing to see here...

Culture Clash

2004-11-06T04:38:00.000+01:00

University Avenue, Palo Alto
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

What would you rather have? Borders or a 1930s cinema? And what, indeed, does this say about how we entertain ourselves in 21st Century?

But enough musings... Here I am in Palo Alto, wrestling with the inconsistencies of my BBC laptop and its on/off relationship with my log-in account.

Today was spent emailing, printing out masses of documents from work so that I can read and comment by Sunday night (I actually bought a pack of paper for the hotel printer at reception, I felt so embarassed at hogging it for 45 minutes in order to print out 25 documents) and doing the odd bit of shopping. Went a bit mad buying things for my nieces and nephew. Nothing too expensive - Spongebob toothbrushes, Hello Kitty plasters, weirdly-flavoured lipsalve - stuff they can't get at home.

And tomorrow is Bloggercon and an early start. Need to go and power up my multiple gadgets so that I can capture as much as I can without resorting to analogue paper and pen.

Oh, and eat... Now, I’m as open to new food experiences as the next person. I’ve tried grits and wee tomatoes in jelly and stuff like that (that’s what living in Atlanta does for you) but here’s a taste sensation in crisps I never thought I’d try – and, frankly, don’t intend to again. Lime flavour??? I suppose it’s a fatty, crunchy version of the salt-on-back-of-the-hand and suck-of-lime tequila experience. But I think you should know it doesn’t go with French white wine…

Here I am at 35,000 feet...

2004-11-05T04:07:00.000+01:00

Flying over California
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

…on a relatively quiet flight to San Francisco, with the Well Being radio channel in my ear, playing a mixture of Irish flute and whale noise.

I have managed to commandeer a whole middle row to myself and have decided to hammer away on the laptop for a bit – at least until the battery begins to falter – instead of watching the array of movies on offer in the seatback screen in front of me.

Awake at 04.00 – isn’t that always the way when the alarm is actually set for 5.15? –for the first BA flight down to Heathrow and now awaiting my no-doubt delicious gluten-free lunch. The cocktail trolley has been and gone (gin and tonic, since you ask…) and now the wine trolley is here (white Bordeaux).

Talking of which, how’s this for pretention gone badly, badly wrong? Years ago I made a film about wine, shooting in Bordeaux and the Corbieres region of France . Having travelled through the country with wine expert, Oz Clarke, tasting merrily and learning lots, I flew home with Air France from Bordeaux. The drinks trolley came round and I asked for a glass of red. Following the tradition of the previous few weeks’ filming, I lifted the small plastic tumbler to my nose to give it a good sniff and managed to inhale a large nose-ful causing me to choke, expel a significant amount onto my shirt and generally look a complete fool. Now, I bypass the nose malarkey and go straight to the mouth…

Gluten-free lunch was basically a fish-fest. Salmon salad (x 2, oddly) as starter(s) followed by baked cod. As my second fishy starter arrived, I asked – innocently – what the gluten-free pudding was. It appears that us weirdo, dietary freaks don’t get a dessert. But, two salmon starters were a bonus. And I had bought a packet of Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons and they certainly did the trick, sugar-wise.

PS Actually, this picture probably wasn't taken at 35,000 feet as I THINK it's the Cascades and we're well into our descent over Northern California. Anyone recognise it??

The People have Spoken

2004-11-03T14:00:00.000+01:00

And no one in this country can quite believe what they've said. In voting Bush back in, I have to ask myself if the American people are HAPPY to be lied to? They're content to let this happen for four more years?

We're trying to understand it - but it's hard...

And you have to figure the country will be even more divided than it already is. And even more isolated from the rest of the World. A sad day for what used to be a great Nation.

Sex for Votes scandal

2004-10-21T17:33:00.000+01:00

I know it's often hard to get folk to go out and vote in the US but surely this is taking incentives to extremes?No sex unless you vote, darling ...

Morning in St Clair.

2004-10-20T08:57:00.000+01:00

Morning in St Clair.
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

This is where I was a month ago today, at about this time. St Clair beach, near Le Lavandou in the South of France.

Weather in Glasgow today - dull, damp, autumnal.

Mmm. Where would I rather be?

Ever been flown by a six year-old?

2004-10-19T09:43:00.000+01:00

A flying boy!
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

Here is my small nephew, taking the helm of a Piper Cherokee when we went flying over the South coast of England on Saturday afternoon. Okay, he was only in control for a minute or so (felt longer, believe me…) and my brother (ex RAF, currently Boeing pilot) was keeping a very close eye on him but I thought this picture was a bit of a hoot. Note, if you will, the top of his teddy bear’s head in his lap. What pilot do YOU know who flies with a bear called Barnaby?

We took off from Shoreham Airport, the UK’s oldest commercial one, it would appear. It has an amazing thirties feel to it and lots of small aircraft and helicopter activity. We flew out towards the Channel, over Brighton and then inland to the South Downs before heading back. It was a real kick. For me and my niece and nephew. And for someone who generally doesn’t like flying, that’s saying something.

Here's where I'd rather be...

2004-10-18T14:32:00.000+01:00

Plage Notre Dame
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

It's cold in London and rain threatens. Here's an option.

Half an hour from Pierrefeu and a ten-minute ferry ride. Hire a bike, cycle through the sandy tracks amongst the pine forest and you're here.

On the map it's the Ile de Porquerolles. I call it heaven.

Sloe Gin recipe

2004-10-17T13:38:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year. Here's my brother's patented sloe gin recipe.

Gather the berries before the first frost from lovely English hedgerows - ideally before everyone else gets there.

Wash them and put them in the freezer for one night. This simulates the first frost of the year and makes them juicier and makes them more permeable to the gin (you can tell he's a scientist...).

Take one empty gin bottle. Fill two thirds with berries, add a generous handful of sugar (getting less scientific now) and same again of sliced almonds.

Top up with gin. Shake daily over the course of one week. Leave for three months. Sieve out all solids and filter into another bottle.

Store until the next Christmas at which point you can delight your friends with this delicious beverage. (If you've not had had this before, it's best drunk as a digestif or liqueur.) Slainte!

World on Fire

2004-10-14T09:23:00.000+01:00

Courtesy of Stupid Simple Blog, I bring you the new Sarah McLachlan video. Now I like Sarah M but this video really sticks with you. And, as my company enters a soul-searching look at value for money, the captions about the kind of things Hollywood pays for as standard in any of its productions, compared to what that money could buy in the real world are pretty thought-provoking. Oh, and it's a good tune too. Check it out.

Soups I have Loved

2004-10-13T14:32:00.000+01:00

The easiest - and tastiest - Minestrone Soup you'll ever make. And from an authentic Italian, my Mum's friend, Gemma.

Gemma's Minestrone Soup

Fry 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 2 onions in olive oil for about 2 mins. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and cook, covered, for a further five mins. Add 4 carrots, , broccoli, cabbage, parsnip, mushrooms (any veg really), leek, peppers or whatever and a tin of baked beans. Add a chicken stockcube. Simmer for 3/4 of an hour and add a handful of pasta (small conchiglie or macaroni) towards the end.

Serve with lashings of freshly-grated parmesan and a light red wine (a Beaujolais or Gamay de Touraine).

A chum at work has blagged a recipe from his super-talented girlfried for Beetroot soup which I might regale you with another time. Any other suggestions from the Soup Massive?

Quite literally...

2004-10-07T16:11:00.000+01:00

People say the funniest things (copyright: Reader's Digest (c) 1972). Consider these:

- I quite literally laughed my head off

- I quite literally jumped out of my skin

- Quite literally, you could have knocked me down with a feather

What does this MEAN? Answer: nothing.

But it's quite literally one of the most amusing things you hear folk say. Keeps me giggling anyway...

The 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Pierrefeu

2004-10-06T21:19:00.000+01:00

D Day – in Provence

The siren went off at exactly 6 o’clock in Pierrefeu. In this little Provençal village, the prompt timekeeping was impressive in itself. But the crowd flocking towards the centre of the village was also something I hadn’t seen before – young and old, teenagers, grandmothers and tots in pushchairs.

Monday, the 16th of August was sixty years to the day since Pierrefeu was liberated in World War 2. The previous day had seen the pomp and ceremony of medal-giving by President Chirac, fly-pasts by the French equivalent of the Red Arrows and re-enactments of the landings on the beaches along the Var coastline. These had been led by sections of the American and French armies (made up, mainly, of African troops from France’s colonies), almost ten weeks after D Day in Normandy. The fanfare over, it was now time for this village of five thousand souls to commemorate its own little piece of history.

I managed to get a prime spot by the main road at a little table in the Bar Central (aka Chez Michelle) and ordered a glass of chilled rosé as I prepared my camera and notebook to capture the events of the evening.

It was the older folk I was watching. The old lady who sits, knitting, at the narrow house at the foot of the old village had just walked by. She’s the one who’s kind of the village grandmother. Everyone talks to her and she has a faltering, rather fractured french as if she has trouble talking. I wondered what she made of it all.

A woman of loose morals is liberated
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

A few minutes after the siren, a motley selection of jeeps, ambulances and troop carriers drove through town, manned by locals in period dress and sometimes carrying rather unlikely-looking passengers, like the small boy wielding a rifle and a lady of a ‘certain age’ whose costume suggested she might have been more at home at the Moulin Rouge…

After some waving and cheering, it appeared we were liberated! Michelle who runs the bar told me that, actually, it took almost as long sixty years ago. There were a few shots from the bank opposite the café and a cannon was fired at – or from, she wasn’t sure - Chateau Something-or-Other. And that was it, really. Funny, as my elderly neighbour, Simone, had a different tale, speaking of bombings that made everyone scurry for their wine cellars and attempted sabotage of bridges. And a builder I’ve met talked of only hearing distant gunfire from miles away towards the coast.

But, having done my Liberation homework, these diverging accounts sort of sum up the war in Occupied France for those who lived through it. No one has quite the same story or the same recollections.

What is not in dispute, though, is the impact on the village of having its menfolk deported to snowy labour camps in Germany or the tragedy of losing those who died at the start of the war or in the resistance fighting around the area in 1944. Down by the Mairie a little exhibition about the Liberation contained various archive letters, documents and newspapers of the time as well as authentic accounts from surviving ‘resistants’ who were present. I was gratified to read that, on the day the village was liberated on the 16th August, it was the Quartier Sainte Croix (where my house is!) which took the lead in the revelries, initiating a rousing, acapella version of La Marseillaise ‘au milieu d’applaudissements frénétiques’. The crowd then processed down to the market square and partied on until the small hours.

Which was exactly what appeared to be on the cards sixty years on. A Glenn Miller Tribute band wowed the clientele of the Café de Commerce while several villagers gave an energetic – and impromptu - jiving demonstration around the now-parked jeeps. Later, after a firework display, which would have given Edinburgh at Hogmanay a run for its money, the crowds partied on in the market square and the sounds of Europop boomed around the village hillside.

What I remember from the evening, though, was not the sound and fury of the disco or the fireworks. It was the old folk of the village quietly walking around the exhibition at the Town Hall, pointing out old friends in the blurry black and white pictures and recalling those who didn’t come back. And the story told by the elderly resistance fighter who, as the eldest son, was more or less sent off to join the Maquis by his father. He tearfully remembered his father’s parting words to him. ‘You were born in this country, you will free this country. Don’t be rash but be brave. And come home again.’

Things I've noticed about blogs and bloggers

2004-10-06T20:35:00.000+01:00

I've been doing my research since I had my blog epiphany last Friday. First off, I can reliably report that most folk's reaction to the creation of these web wanderings are variously:

- Don't put your photo up there, for God's sake! Anyone could see it!

- Okaaaay. That's a bit geeky, isn't it?

- What on earth do you write about? (Still trying to figure that one out myself...)

- Why don't you just send an email to people if you want to tell them what you're up to?

Mock posts from cynics include:

Dear Blog

Today I went to work. Talked to some people and did some emails. Had lunch. Planned my hotel and flights to California and bragged about foreign travel to sceptical colleagues. Anyway, that's all for now.

Bye, Blog.

PS Is anybody out there???

The folk who DO get it have been great and very supportive. (And my huge thanks go to my two expert advisors, Martin and Tom who answer my ridiculously stupid questions and make me feel as I've joined a good club and not a collection of saddos)

But in looking around at what's out there, here are my first impressions of Blogland -

- The ones I pass straight over are the ones which are a bit techie or 'under the bonnet' (that's 'hood' to any US readers) and leave me cross-eyed. Feeds, patches, code - I'll stick to words, thanks.

- The ones I find gripping are the political blogs - although I am yet to find one that supports Bush not Kerry. Not that that's who I back in this Election, but the overwhelming trend in the blogs I've read to date is liberal.

- Also, voyeuristically, I DO enjoy the blogs which just detail the day-to-day of someone's life and links they've found. One I came across today had a great story about Haddock (herring?) farting and how boffins seem to think that this is how they communicate. Hysterical.

- Finally, the real gems are the ones which are totally off the wall or slightly specialist. Try One Million Footnotes ,for example. Posts are simply short, cunningly-crafted sentences which paint amazing pictures in your head and somehow stay with you long after you've logged off.

Blogging. Dontcha love it?

This blogging thing has taken hold

2004-10-04T19:28:00.000+01:00

How obsessive am I now becoming? Reading Rebecca Blood's (two) books on how and why to blog, checking out the suggested links and - as of today - sorting out flights, hotels etc to head from cold, rainy Glasgow to sunny Palo Alto, CA for BloggerCon in early November.

I'm fascinated by the political dimension which Dave Winer mentions in his intro to the conference and the timing of the event - just after the US Presidential Election - will make it all the more interesting. Which means, though, that I need to do a bit of background research on the kind of political blogs which are out there. All suggestions gratefully received...

That's one area of interest. The other is my team's experiment with user-generated blogging via Island Blogging. This came about when the islands of North Argyll in Scotland were all given a pc and internet connection by local government. Once they'd worked out how to use the kit, we moved in and suggested they create blogs of their daily lives. While the interface is a bit quick and dirty, the community element of linking island to island, island to mainland Scotland and island to the World has been amazing to watch. It's not until you read comments about wind farms, beached whales or meteor showers from Florida or Australia that you realise how compelling the minutiae of folks' daily lives can be when written down.

And tonight, Matthew...

2004-10-01T20:21:00.000+01:00

So, in the space of just over twenty-four hours, a blog is born, pictures are added and it's renamed. Yes, already Pierrefeu has become Scrinson. Anyone rash enough to have bookmarked this little collection of online ramblings (yeah, right...) will be well and truly lost.

But I care not! I simply thought that, although France, Pierrefeu, the wee village house etc will still be writ large in this blog, I might want to widen my musings out beyond all that. And so voila! Scrinson appears.

Scrinson - for those not in my immediate family - is a word which emanated from one of my (two) brothers and is used to define a doodad, thingummy, whatdyacallit etc

And, as this blog is likely to equally ill-defined in what it will become, Scrinson it is...

Julie outside the French House

2004-10-01T09:39:00.000+01:00

Shutters, washing hanging out the front, a copy of the local paper after an expresso in the village cafe. And warm enough for shorts at nine o'clock in the morning. Hurrah!

Background note - the house is 250 years-old and in the oldest part of the village which is entirely car-free. Pierrefeu itself is perched on a rocky outcrop, overlooking vineyards on one side and hills on the other. It's a working village so you won't get a Peter Mayle Experience here!

Julie outside house.JPG
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket.

This is me, then

2004-09-30T18:36:00.000+01:00

These are the irregular musings of a Francophile (that's someone who LIKES France...) who has a house in Provence, misses it and being there and decided to create a blog all about it. The house is in Pierrefeu (Sunday name = Pierrefeu-du-Var), I'm in Scotland and this is all about us.