Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The Tour Reaches Chateauroux

Today was our day at the races...the velo races actually, the Tour De France came to Chateauroux only a 30 minute drive west from Lignieres. I checked the race schedule and as usual the 5 pm hour seemed most appropriate to be there.
___
In the morning we had our coffee and then Kelly set out to cloth over the rest of the north wall of the old dining room with the new striped material. I went to work on the rooftop rack designed to carry the 300-400lb gate back from Provence this coming Sunday. Measure Twice Cut Once rule firmly engaged in my mind. The Avensis has never had a rooftop rack and with her all curvy roof this is quite a challenge. She has a line of hard rubber imbedded in each side of the roof, only about 3/8" so I decided that I HAD to line up the rails of my rack to this small surface some way. I checked the demensions several times and set the pine boards on the roof to work out the geometry well enough that I could cut something, and cut I did. It tapes slightly wider by 2cm in the rear and I used adjustable mounts on rach corner with a 3/4" dowl to set into the hard rubber areas on the roof. I think it'll work fine, the overhang is not severe side to side at 1.54 meters and the length over the front and rear windows seems ok as well, it's certainly no worse than a mattress in size but it is heavy (about 300lbs) and needs support throughout the roof. I decided to use softer pine pads and cover them with the fuzz from the wall to protect the paint as best I can. I'm being quite cautious.
___
We went to Chateauroux down the inner ring road and turned left about a block before the Rt De La Chatre where this leg of the famous race was going to finish up todays 232 Km run.
A parking place presented itself down the road a bit and I parked, got out and locked the car. We walked west a block to the roadway they were going to come down and settled in for the 2 hr wait till they arrived. A great crowd scene ensued, people of all ages gradually showed up and lines the street barriers on both sides. The CARAVAN that proceeds the cyclists themselves is a treat for everyone, wierd cars made up to look like every kind of commercial good...coffee cups, tires, beer bottles, youy name it and it has representation as a sponser of the race. They throw out samples of each product to an agressive and active audience. We got several key chains and a bottle of Vittel water which was very welcome in the late afternoon sunshine. Kelly and I shared it eagerly. Great fun had by all! Then came the motorcycles that have riders in back that film the segment, they raced by at alarming speed, then a pause and here they come! Going like hell's fire! 60 mph over the ground on the very slight upgrade! Amazing! The leader flew by, then second place and then the PELOTON (group). Wow, just a woosh! another woosh and they were gone into the distance towards the finish...it lasted but seconds. Exciting? You bet! Right here in your face! Here's the link for the current standings and course locations: http://www.letour.fr/2008/TDF/LIVE/us/600/etape_par_etape.html#zone1
and another about the result of todays LONG stage (longest of the tour this year):
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/09/sports/TOUR.php

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Aw, what's the use?

WELL...last night went well UNTIL I brought a nice balloon glass of red upstairs to ease the evening into oblivion with my sweetheart and my computer. SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY RIGHT TURNED INTO WRONG and I crashed into said balloon full of the fine red juice of the grape and l'viola!, crash, bang, tinkle, tinkle...right into the keyboard and onto the floor. Nice (Not the French City). Shit! So clean up the myriad of broken glass shards, stem intact yet and use a can of air to rid the keyboard of it's 4 oz load...then off to bed, enough for one day don't you think?
Up in the morning, off to school! ...no...computer...to see a CMOS screen up and all sorts of random events happening simultaneously. Oh Shit! Keyboardosis! It was running amuck! Oh noooooo. So shut it down and took the keyboard apart to REALLY dry it out with tissues, dry air etc. No use, the whole bottom row is inert. Blast! So off to Champion to pick up a cheap replacement French keyboard (uhhhhh) with all the keys somewhere else...not a QWERTY one, something else entirely. Nope, none there. So remembering I had a small computer job to do for L I wondered if she brought the fine Scottish keyboard with her. So off \I drive to her house to investigate. She and lil' Nik are home and up and perky. We discuss the computer issue they have and I tell them of my keyboard disaster. They just want the data (images) from the HD, I can HAVE the bloody machine for spares! Yippee! They saved my skin! So Nik loaded the machine in the back of the Avensis and I was shortly homeward bound. Home I disconnected the keyboard of death and installed this one...it's only problem for me seems to be the location of the uppercase key and the keylock key...reversed on this one making me TYPE uppercase once in a while when I don't want to. Otherwise...fine now, just fine.
___
Downstairs I went to work putting up the fuzz on the wall in preparation of the cloth hanging by Kelly. I moved the mass of fuzz into the entry hall as it is such a pain in the ass to deal with all folded up in the parlor that I can hardly stand cutting it there. The mass now fills the entry but at least I can cut it fairly straight now.
Back to work.
___
Later: The doorbell rung, ding-dong! I went to the door expecting A&R or D&S...no...our friend from across the street from the house at Dix. With him were three others. Now our friend is deaf and now we know it (more about THAT later) and the other three with him are equally deaf, with or without hearing aids...I couldn't detect them no matter. They were all equally drunk, about 2 sheets worth...and all hands and gestures and explanations and re-explanations.
He wanted to ask if he could store his new car in my garage, he already has a key...I nodded yes, of course, and they all came inside. The tour was on! First the ooh and ahh for the dining room and the fuzz encombered entry, the small sitting room adjacent and them on to the new work in the old ding room. They were charming beyond description, and there was never a problem communicating in gesture Francaise...arms and fingers pointing at this and that, it all worked and worked well. They touched the padded walls and the new cloth and were surprised by the padding itself and the look of it all. Then they wanted to see the garden/courtyard...so I openned the back door and we all took a short walk. This entire episode was just easy and friendly as could be, no pain, no strain. One poor vocal American explaining his home to 4 deaf persons, each interested and open and gesturing their way through. All good, all charming all an amazing extension of our experiences here. je suis France! Je suis Lignieres!