A weekend trip to See IQ and EQ before our trip to NZ.
A nice time had, including a trip see see the Glasgow Warriors v the Stormers for me and EQ and a trip to a comedy show for IQ and Shaz.
Plus there was the trip to the tasting restaurant, lunch and the chance to watch a 3 and half hour film. Killers of the Flower Moon has fine reviews and was a good film to watch with a very disturbing an true story. For me somewhat of a marathon.
The light show at the botanical gardens, across the road from our accomodation.
We returned to Brittany after a trip to Glasgow to the after effects of Storm Ciaran.
We had left by ferry just before it struck – taking an earlier ferry to Portsmouth than originally booked to avoid the cancellation.
On our return the house still lacked power , along with our neighbours, as our small sub-section of the network was less priority. The power came back today after eight days-though only two directly for us. A relief all the same.
A nice walk along the road yesterday evening to enjoy the hum of all the working generators in the neighbouring houses.
I have been following the early kick-off game on the BBC website. Another win, against the dominance of possession, amazing outcome.
SAT 28 OCT 2023PREMIER LEAGUE
Chelsea0 Brentford2
Pinnock (58’minutes),
Mbeumo (90’+6minutes)
Chelsea 0-2 Brentford: Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbeumo score for Bees
By Joe RindlBBC Sport
Last updated on4 minutes ago4 minutes ago.From the sectionPremier League523
Ethan Pinnock’s last Brentford goal came in a 1-0 win over Manchester City on the final day of last season
Brentford held on for their third Premier League win of the season as goals from Ethan Pinnock and Bryan Mbeumo sank a wasteful Chelsea in the West London derby at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues, who missed several chances, were punished through Pinnock’s thumping header from Mbeumo’s wicked cross.
With Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez up the field for a late corner, Neal Maupay led a Brentford counter-attack and set up Mbeumo for the second.
Chelsea, who went closest in the first half when Noni Madueke struck the woodwork, slipped to a ninth home defeat this year thanks to some poor finishing.
Brentford keeper Mark Flekken was never truly stretched and the visitors defended resolutely before hitting Chelsea on the break.
The World Cup is still going on. Last week was the QF round. Some disappointments in that.
But we were in Lyon for the groups stages, seeing Namibia v Uruguay and NZ v Italy.
The game between the two lesser teams was good entertainment- particularly for the first 60 minutes- until a spate of yellow/ red cards ruined the balance and momentum of the match.
The big game lacked surprise and competition. It was an All Black walkover. However, the atmosphere was good with lots of Kiwis and many Italians. Being close to Italy, Lyon has a strong Italian community related to previous migration. Also, the French locals sang their anthem powerfully.
Thanks to Raphael for picking us up after the the ABs game.
The house in France continues to change though it is hard to keep track of it. It is easy to forget how things looked a few months ago let alone last year.
So here are some photos to show the new hedge that we planted yesterday. The grass area has been cleared progressively in the last few months. More area ‘reclaimed’ hopefully with the grass gaining presence over the nettles and the ‘wld celery’.
And the lastest for the pond which has had some lining added to help control the growth of weeds. I don’t think it will help with maintaing the level of the water. Mores stones added to the edge too.
And we have news trees- two pear trees which I hope with cope with the nature of the soil, grow and give fruit at some point.
Last week we were there to enjoy the scenery and the walking. Which we did- but with plenty of other people. There were so many people in the villages and on the trains in between- ir was mad. It brought back memories of Amalfi.
The walking of the coast line was hard to very hard. Part of the usual track was closed for repairs after a landslip. A big job in progress.
The train trip after, our few days, back to Milan was not a great experience. Not a great advert for Italian railways.
The following entries will not be in chronological orfer but will give some impression of recent events and activities.
We were in Italy for a week and the final night we went to the opera at La Scala- again- 5 years on. It was the night before our long train ride from Milan to Zurich, then Paris and finally Brittany.
I wanted to see The Marriage of Figaro. Shaz tells me we saw it in Wellington- i can just remember- and apparently we were not impressed then.
Certainly not impressed this time. The production seemed bland in its setting, very traditional – not attempt to modernise and give something different. The performance was too long and not helped by the fact the surtitles did not work in our box for the first act. I think for a place like the La Scala it either wants/ or is under pressure to do it the usual way- do not rock the boat. My memories of innovation are much stronger for NZ Opera.
Oh well- just remember- no more Marriage of Figaro.
I went to my sole match of the season at ‘new Griffin Park’- as PB now has the season ticket and we are off to NZ.
I managed to get something on the screen for Peter- which was nice- though they added an error- shame.
And the match itself- terrible! The worst I ahve seen for so long. No single player did themselves any good. Lack of effort, lack of skill and lack of ideas. Everton- who are considered hot favourites for relegation- looked excellent in comparison. Very worrying indeed.
Analysis: Brentford 1-3 Everton
Harry Poole, BBC Sport
This was a rare off day for Brentford, or at least Thomas Frank will hope that proves the case, with Everton leaving west London fully deserving of the three points.The Bees made uncharacteristic errors and ultimately failed to assert themselves on home soil, where prior to Saturday they had suffered just two league defeats since the start of last season.The hosts’ struggles were evident in the first half when Bryan Mbeumo reacted to a misplaced pass by waving his arms in frustration.Of course, the day got off to a suboptimal start when club-record signing Kevin Schade suffered an injury in the warm-up – although his replacement, Keane Lewis-Potter, showed flashes of inspiration.Frank made no excuses for his players, who he will now demand an immediate response from when they host Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday (19:45 BST).Brentford 1-3 Everton
