All around me golden sunflakes
A lazy Sunday at work.
Fairly slow day, no fires so far. So, Gus and I are trying to keep our selves entertained. We can't do anything to the airplanes while they are on alert, so we are researching motorcycle routes in Italy for Gus and his friends to go riding next week. I really need to get my motorcycle license this year; if I come back here I will want to do some riding.
I am also following the F1 race on my laptop, it is annoying that they don't have streaming video of the race, so I am watching live race info on a timing chart with a bit of written commentary. I guess that it will have to do.
We had one of our pilots come to visit us for an hour or so, and it was nice to just sit and chat about photography, and New York (he is going there in November, so I showed him some of my pictures and told him about a few sights to see). He wants to visit because he gets to practice his English, and I can work a bit on my French. I am not sure of his name, but I think that it is Claude.
Like I said earlier, it has been a slow day, but we did have a bit of excitement, the alarm went off, and most of the Canadairs left the parking area like the world was ending. Two of them actually managed to get off the ground before the alert was cancelled, but it was entertaining to watch all the crews go running out to the planes to get them going. Organized chaos. (this last paragraph is a late edit in the day)
I drove Colin up to meet with his friends last night about an hour and a bit north of Aix, up in the hills near Apt. He is planning on watching some of Le Tour de France today, and I hope they made it. Lots of mountains to play in there. The drive up there was a lot of fun, for me anyway. Claus didn't think so, I think my driving made him nervous. Something about driving very narrow mountain roads, with barely enough room to pass oncoming traffic, with a madman at the wheel. You couldn't go that fast, but 60km felt like 200km in the back of the car. I had fun, and would love to try that in a sports car instead of a little Renault.
But, we made it in one piece, even Claus. We found Colin's friends and the nice little house that they had rented. It was a nicely restored old home in a little mountain town with staircases everywhere, low ceilings, and neat little rooms and courtyards. It would be easy to get lost in there, and difficult to navigate while drunk (I wouldn't know, I was driving). We stayed for a short visit, but since I had to work, and Claus had a headache, we left for home. We took a slightly different route home and found one of the things that I was hoping to see.
Lavender!
It wasn't still in bloom, but the smell was amazing! And it was a bit too dark to take any really good photos, but I took a few just for proof. Claus grabbed a handful to make the car smell nice, and we headed off again, only to find a few more fields. It is really too bad that we missed them on the way up, I would have liked to get some more photos in better light.
Coming home, I missed the turn off, and ended up going slightly the wrong direction. We had driven too far by that time to turn around, but it was kind of in the right direction, so we kept going. Got to see a few more neat little French towns before getting home.
Oh, and I was asked yesterday if I want to come back here next summer...and stay for a year. I don't know if I would be up to a year here, but I am thinking about it. It would depend on a lot of things, like who will be working here still next year, (most of the guys contracts will be up at the end of next summer), wages, and a few other things back home. It would be an interesting opportunity, but I will have to think about it for a while and see.
I am sure that Bonnie would kill me if I left for a year...
Fairly slow day, no fires so far. So, Gus and I are trying to keep our selves entertained. We can't do anything to the airplanes while they are on alert, so we are researching motorcycle routes in Italy for Gus and his friends to go riding next week. I really need to get my motorcycle license this year; if I come back here I will want to do some riding.
I am also following the F1 race on my laptop, it is annoying that they don't have streaming video of the race, so I am watching live race info on a timing chart with a bit of written commentary. I guess that it will have to do.
We had one of our pilots come to visit us for an hour or so, and it was nice to just sit and chat about photography, and New York (he is going there in November, so I showed him some of my pictures and told him about a few sights to see). He wants to visit because he gets to practice his English, and I can work a bit on my French. I am not sure of his name, but I think that it is Claude.
Like I said earlier, it has been a slow day, but we did have a bit of excitement, the alarm went off, and most of the Canadairs left the parking area like the world was ending. Two of them actually managed to get off the ground before the alert was cancelled, but it was entertaining to watch all the crews go running out to the planes to get them going. Organized chaos. (this last paragraph is a late edit in the day)
I drove Colin up to meet with his friends last night about an hour and a bit north of Aix, up in the hills near Apt. He is planning on watching some of Le Tour de France today, and I hope they made it. Lots of mountains to play in there. The drive up there was a lot of fun, for me anyway. Claus didn't think so, I think my driving made him nervous. Something about driving very narrow mountain roads, with barely enough room to pass oncoming traffic, with a madman at the wheel. You couldn't go that fast, but 60km felt like 200km in the back of the car. I had fun, and would love to try that in a sports car instead of a little Renault.
But, we made it in one piece, even Claus. We found Colin's friends and the nice little house that they had rented. It was a nicely restored old home in a little mountain town with staircases everywhere, low ceilings, and neat little rooms and courtyards. It would be easy to get lost in there, and difficult to navigate while drunk (I wouldn't know, I was driving). We stayed for a short visit, but since I had to work, and Claus had a headache, we left for home. We took a slightly different route home and found one of the things that I was hoping to see.
Lavender!
It wasn't still in bloom, but the smell was amazing! And it was a bit too dark to take any really good photos, but I took a few just for proof. Claus grabbed a handful to make the car smell nice, and we headed off again, only to find a few more fields. It is really too bad that we missed them on the way up, I would have liked to get some more photos in better light.
Coming home, I missed the turn off, and ended up going slightly the wrong direction. We had driven too far by that time to turn around, but it was kind of in the right direction, so we kept going. Got to see a few more neat little French towns before getting home.
Oh, and I was asked yesterday if I want to come back here next summer...and stay for a year. I don't know if I would be up to a year here, but I am thinking about it. It would depend on a lot of things, like who will be working here still next year, (most of the guys contracts will be up at the end of next summer), wages, and a few other things back home. It would be an interesting opportunity, but I will have to think about it for a while and see.
I am sure that Bonnie would kill me if I left for a year...
posted by Travelcedric at 05:39
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