Testing, testing....

I have had the flu and haven't left the château for five days, so it seems like a good time to try blogging again.

The château in question is the Château de la Cépière, named after the quarter of Toulouse where it is situated. Those with Google Earth can find it at these co-ordinates:

lat=43.5866540959, lon=1.40065354905

I share a very comfortable three-bedroom apartment on the first (non-ground) floor with Viktor the Hungarian, and Johannes the German. There is some noise from the motorway nearby but it is not nearly so bad as in my previous central-city apartment where I was often disturbed by police, ambulance, fire truck sirens, mega-phones from assorted demonstrations (thankfully I had moved before the taxi drivers went on strike), and drunk frenchmen singing loudly in the street at two in the morning.

Some video footage of the château, complete with hungarian commentary can be found here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YMGLL0y7HYg


Over the road is the Toulouse Hippodrome. I went to see a couple of races a week or two ago. The commentator seemed a lot less excited than what one usually expects. But then this is the south of France:

"Number 11 is well in the lead... mais dommage! 'e is going trop vite, and ze jockey's cigarette has blown out, and now 'e must pause to relight it. 'E joins numbers 6, 3 and 15 for a quick apero half way down ze 'ome straight. Now ze Ricard is fini, and all ze 'orses are together in a bunch, racing together towards ze line with all ze jockeys urging them furiousment, mais catastrophe! Deux metres before ze line and all ze 'orses 'ave gone on strike! Apparament zey are non contente with zere retirement conditions! Non contente with a glorious future as steak tartare! C'est ridicule!"

Anyway, this year I have a whole lot more time - which means I can blog; and money - which means I can do things to blog about. Assuming I recover from the flu, this week will be a short trip to San Sebastian, and in April I'll pop up to Amsterdam to see the tulips (and James McG and Co.). So I anticipate updating at least once a month.