#election 44

Tags

#44, Canada, Election

There is 22 days left in this National Federal Election and it has been a big bore. Prior to the Governor General accepting the request of the Prime Minister to dismiss Parliament, we had a minority in Government ruled by the Liberal party, meaning that it was a hung Parliament and that no party in the House of Commons had enough seats to command a majority. So in such cases the party in power must at all times keep the confidence of the House and rule by compromise in order to stay in Office. The last election was in 2019 and it has been about 2 years which for a minority government is a long time in Office.

The reason why the Prime Minister thought it was better to have an election now, was because the business of Parliament was becoming bogged down in horrible partisan fights and nothing was being achieved. Many bills were caught up in endless and fruitless debates in Committee, the Opposition would not allow them to get to a vote. Personal attacks on the Prime Minister and his family, including his mother and brother who are not public figures had become the norm. Both the Conservatives of Erin O’Toole and the NDP of Jagmeet Singh did all they could to block the business of government.

Unfortunately the call for this election came on the day Kabul fell to the Taliban and also when the 4th wave of COVID 19 started in earnest in Provinces like Ontario and Alberta where Trump like Conservative Premiers rule, refusing to work with the Federal Government.

As of tonight the Prime Minister despite his best effort to shelter Canadians from the worst economic impact of Covid and the lockdown, has been painted by the Conservatives and the right wing Press as the ennemy. The Conservatives including their Leader Erin O’Toole love to agitate with Q-Anon and other white supremacists against Trudeau. In the last few days Trudeau has received death threats and his campaign bus has been attacked by violent mobs, composed of anti-vaxxers, white supremacist, Q-Anon and neo-nazis. His security detail, members of which are persons of colour and women have also been attacked. It is a miracle that no one has been shot. However the blame for the violence rests entirely with Erin O’Toole and other members of his party who constantly speak of conspiracies. Yes there is some of Donald Trump in Erin O’Toole and he is hungry for power despite the fact that he has no plan or program, though he tells us that he has a plan, what is it? No one knows.

The trouble with Trudeau is his arrogance and his constant virtue signalling, his woke agenda, his so called Feminist views and his constant sympathies for every cause from BLM to Indigenous issues. He seems to forget that millions of Canadians do not necessarily share his views or even care for them. Though he has desperately tried to paint himself as the man for all, he fails at it. Feminists denounce him for not doing enough, same with the Natives who smell a day of reckoning and now want more, but in reality Trudeau or his government cannot deliver on the spot, especially when Premiers do not want to play ball with him.

This is the trouble with our Federation, jurisdictions are divided between the Federal Government and the Provinces and no one wants to give an inch.

The big issues for a lot of Canadians is the cost of housing which is now for a single house or condo in the $ 700,000 and up and often over $1 million dollars. The vast majority of Canadians cannot afford such prices and rents on average now are in the $2000 per month and up. Again this has become an impossible situation for far too many people. Canadians are heavily in debt, for the average person on every $1 earned they owe $1.64 in credit card debts. They are simply choking on debt, if you have no debts now you are amongst the privileged. Trudeau made the classic mistake of thinking that with generous programs to help out people during the pandemic, he would be rewarded with a majority government. But humanity is not necessarily grateful to those who help out. An example of Winston Churchill who in May 1945 as the war ended in Europe, thought that Britons would return him to power given his leadership. The Election of 1945 was a disaster for him and he was swept out of office, people wanted changed, despite it all, showing no gratitude.

Trudeau also forgot that if change is good in general, too much change all at once is not a good thing with a population pampered with social programs of all kinds. Life is and remains pretty easy in Canada, despite difficulties. The pandemic also exposed how whiners Canadians are in general, social responsibility is not a thing, the Me first attitude rules.

Trudeau also believed that the under 40 would support his change agenda, but that is not the case. Not everyone is on the Woke agenda, not everyone accepts feminists precepts, not everyone likes BLM or the more contentious Truth and Reconciliation agenda with the Natives. In fact with the Pandemic its the opposite people are often heard expressing how sick and tired they are to hear about those groups and their demands.

The Conservative love to present themselves as the voice of the little guy. Pandering to the lowest common denominator.

What is truly difficult to understand is the amount of hate against Trudeau. In some demonstrations its pathological and sickening. It could very well be that people simply do not connect with Trudeau and he is seen as someone belonging to the elite. But then people like O’Toole is also a member fo the elite and Jagmeet Singh with his 10K rolex and his big luxury BMW is far from the little guy, but hey, he plays the populist card, it seems to work for him despite the fact that his speeches are a jumble of nothing.

So who is going to win this election, I really do not know, however I am pretty sure that it will be another minority government simply because the country is so deeply divided. So far the Liberals hold on to the big provinces like Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic which can guarantee the most seats in Parliament. Because in Canada % of votes means nothing, our system is based on the number of seats you win to give you the prize. We also no not elect our Prime Minister, we elect only our Member of Parliament in the area where we live, so we are having 338 seat election and they all count on election night. Trudeau needs 170 seats to get the majority he wants.

The fear with a Conservative government is that history of the last 43 parliament going back to 1867 shows that when they are in power we go backwards on all levels.

PM J. Trudeau, Erin O’Toole, Jagmeet Singh F. Blanchet, A. Paul

Perfect weather

Tags

Brackley, Brudenell, Dunes Gallery, life, Montague, PEI

The Summer has been so so in PEI for people in general, though farmers are happy, a wonderful potato harvest is on the way. Corn also looks very good. This weekend is the last of August and we went to two sites outside of town on sunny days, with light winds and little humidity. Very nice all around, the tourists are leaving, THANK GOD ALL MIGHTY!!!!!

We had a funny crop of tourists this Summer, first they arrived in July when non-residents of the Island were allowed to come with proper documentation on vaccination. Then later Americans were allowed across the border but few choose to come to PEI.

So Saturday we drove towards Brudenell and Montague, two small communities about 35 minutes from Charlottetown. This area before 1745 was called Trois Rivieres (three rivers) and was home to French Speaking families (ACADIANS), they were connected to the French Fortress of Louis Bourg on Cape Breton or Isle Royale as it was then known.

Captain Jean-Pierre Roma established at Three Rivers a trading post and built 9 large building plus a large dock to load ships. What is today the Georgetown area is the deepest and best seaport on the North Coast of PEI, a great spot for trading. Roma did have some difficulties in developing the area. This was wild country, marshland and thick old growth Acadian Forest. He and his men cleared a lot of the land and managed to cultivate it. Interesting to read that in the 18th century people did not know or if they did, would not eat potatoes, thought to be poisonous, because it is part of the night shade family. So the food they grew was what you would find on tables in Europe.

In 1745 it all came to a violent and crashing end, Roma and his family had to flee to Quebec City while advancing British troops coming from New England would destroy and burn all in their path. The Acadians who were caught, were deported in an act of Ethnic Cleansing.

The site was abandoned, but then after 1765 and the end of wars in Europe between England and France, Acadians were allowed to return to PEI only if they could purchase land that formerly belong to them. Often they would find Irish refugees deported by the British on their old farms or Scots who were also cleared from their homeland in the Highland of Scotland and shipped to Canada. Both the Irish and the Scots did not own land, they were renter farmers and the owners were absentee British Aristocrats.

The Roma site at Three Rivers is interesting, you can visit the trails on the site which cover a large area, buildings have been rebuilt recently to showcase what life was like and many archeological digs in the 1960’s unearthed a lot of information and artefacts. The area where the docks were are clearly visible, the view is quite beautiful of Georgetown across the bay and Panmure Island in the distance. You can also have a nice lunch of typical Acadian food served on chinese ware as it would have been back in the 18th century.

The flag they fly at the site is the White flag of the King of France. It was quiet and beautiful like so many sites on PEI.

On Sunday we drove to the Dunes Art Gallery at Brackley Point Beach. Our friends Peter and Nash own this gallery. The expansive gardens are full of wonderful flowers, Asian stone statuary and they grow a lot of the vegetables and eatable flowers in the garden for their restaurant. The restaurant does lunch and dinner service and the food is truly first class. They have an excellent chef and this is one of the classiest places to eat, surrounded by wonderful artworks and large views of the flower garden and the sea. Really a magical place and so relaxing.

Not to worry Summer only ends on 21 September, so relax!

Rebuilt original building of the 1732 period when Jean-Pierre Roma and his settlement were in operation.

Brudenell Point where the Montague and Brudenell rivers meet. Georgetown named after George III. It is an excellent spot for Oysters known as the Brudenell Bullies and mussels.

The harbour of Georgetown which is a natural deep harbour but is underused. Currently a lot of Oysters and mussels are cultivated in the area and of excellent quality. Seen from the old dock area of the ROMA settlement.

A buddha statue in the beautiful gardens of the Dunes Art Gallery in Brackley. The garden is full of these statues in water elements surrounded by flowers. Peter and Nash brought them back from Indonesia and you can buy them for your home garden.

The sunflowers towered over my at a 8 feet height, the stocks where impressive. A team of 4 gardeners work every week and it shows, impressive results.

The restaurants also gets all its vegetables from this garden.

The Dunes gallery and more flowers

Found the painting

In my previous post I was asking if anyone knew the painter and the title of this painting.

A very nice person Don Campbell took the time to reply and the painting is in the Prado Museum in Madrid, one of the great museum of the world. It is entitled The Allegory of Justice and Peace by painter Giaquinto Corrado, who was Court Painter to King Ferdinand VI of Spain. The work was done in 1753-54.

The site of the Prado gives the full description of what we are looking at, like many paintings done for Official reasons or propaganda, the moral message dominates and glorifies the King and his policies which God approves of. Like many great painters of his time Corrado studied and worked in Rome before going to Spain. He would later retire to Naples which then was under the rule of Spain.

https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/allegory-of-justice-and-peace/1e7c0108-b36f-4ff1-91d0-4bb49d6e99da

We are having an election

Tags

Canada, elections, French, harvest, painting

Canada is in election mode and only 3 weeks are left before the vote. This election takes place as the crisis in Afghanistan is getting worse by the day. Canada had promised to take 20,000 Afghans but now it looks like we will take only a few thousands. Canada was totally unprepared and it looks now like the Government really does not care. PM Justin Trudeau is focused in trying to win a majority and the rest is not on his mind.

The election is not going well for him and I have the impression that we will have another minority government. What is coming out is the insufferable arrogance of Trudeau and his constant virtue signalling. The media is quite tired of it and the public is losing faith. We are also entering a 4th wave of COVID and many appear unable to face more lockdowns. In PEI with 80% + fully vaccinated things are good and quiet.

This is harvest time and the choice of vegetables, herbs and salads of all kind is wonderful, the Farmer’s Market is lively. The weather in August is very nice so far and I only wish we could have a few more months of it, but that is not going to be.

I am also looking forward to our Club’s Golf Tournament, I volunteered to drive a Golf Cart so that we can distribute sandwiches to the golfers and a drink called Rum Matcha, which I am told is pretty stiff. After 3pm I will be grilling the steaks at the Club for the dinner. I expect to grill about 60 steaks. I am told they are around 10oz.

This week I also have to get serious and look for a new Apple Computer, mine is developing problems and I now have a line in the middle of the screen. A new one will be around $1500.

Now for those of you who have an eye for art and painting, can anyone tell me the name of this painting and who is the artist? It is French and probably from the 18th century. Is it Fragonard or Watteau? It is a baroque painting. The Goddess Ceres because of the sheaf of wheat (abundance) and Aphrodite with representing Peace, fertility her colour is pink. Ceres colour is green which symbolize agriculture. The Swan could very well be Zeus, lots of symbolism in this painting. But what is it?

Mid-August

Tags

life, PEI, Summer 2021

Our Summer Carnival or Festival is called the Gold Cup and Saucer Week. It started basically as a daily horse harness races culminating by a trophy the Gold Cup and Saucer presented to the winner by the Lieutenant Governor of PEI. It’s a big thing for the Island, somewhat like the Kentucky Derby. You have high quality races and proud horse owners with a tradition to uphold.

Until the pandemic struck some 19 months ago and created a vacuum in terms of social life many annual festivals were cancelled out right. Now that the Island is 80% fully vaccinated things are returning to some kind of normalcy. Though people still wear their masks out of precaution in grocery stores and markets, the risk is lower compared to the mainland where matters were handled very differently.

With this weekend the end of the Tourist Season comes to an end on PEI. Many tourists will depart and with school and University starting up again, we will see a different type of tourist, the over 65+ with no kids. This will last until about end September. So far the Season has been very short this year and only a handful of Americans came, looks like many came by car as far away as California and Arizona. I cannot imagine driving that distance, even in a big luxury car or SUV.

In fact today I was already thinking of Thanksgiving which is on Monday 11 October. Summer has gone by quickly and the weather has not been very Summer like.

Otherwise not much has or is happening.

One thing I have noticed is how much islanders resent the tourists, the resentment comes from the fact that tourists bring traffic congestion and more garbage. We were without tourists for 14 months and though some businesses claim to have suffered, I have not seen signs of it. There is also the pernicious problem of low wages in the hospitality industry which is facing a critical shortage, restaurants having to open only for dinner or lunch, closing early. However one of the richest business person on PEI who owns hotels and restaurants was recently advertising for dishwashers at $13 per hour. not a living wage by any stretch of the imagination. At the same time bitterly complaining of not being able to find staff. Another very popular restaurant advertised the same position at $21. per hour, no problem hiring. Business owners in PEI in general are very greedy and quick to complain. This pandemic has created a unique problem for them. I see no solution in sight until the offer and salaries in that sector improves, this will require a lot of employers to educate themselves.

Dundas Terrace on Water street

What a day

Tags

Afghanistan, disaster, end, life, war

So on this Sunday 15 August it’s Ferragosto the third most important holiday in Italy, after Christmas and Easter. Everyone is going on vacation in Italy this is a very old tradition. Ferragosto goes back to ancient times, it marks the end of the harvest and people celebrate.

Here you have it the classic FIAT 500 loaded up going to the beach or the mountains for that vacation. The big wicker basket or bottle on the roof is in fact home made wine. Essential for your vacation. I love the FIAT 500 it is such a nice stylish classic car.

This morning the Prime Minister went to see the Governor General and asked that she dissolve Parliament and order a General Election. So as of 10:30am this morning we are now officially in general election mode all across Canada to elect 338 Members of Parliament. Signs are already appearing and political commercial etc… The goal for PM Trudeau is to gain a majority government and he thinks he can do it. We vote on September 20, in total it will be a 36 day campaign.

Here at Rideau Hall we see the Governor General Mary Simon signing the decree to dissolve Parliament. The Chief Electoral Officer then issued the Writs for all 338 ridings.

At the same time in Kabul the Afghan Government was fleeing to Tajikistan while the Taliban entered the City. Amazing such a victory after 20 years of war. I know that our Embassy closed and our diplomats left the country. Unfortunately we abandoned to their fate the Afghan local staff who represent 90% of the workforce. This is how it is, the Government of Canada feels no obligation to them since they are Afghans. I do not know what is happening with the 20,000 Afghan we promised to take out because of their jobs with our army during this conflict. I do note that the German Government got everyone out, local staff at the embassy and others. Flying them all to Germany and leaving the processing of their immigration papers to be done in Germany. We could have done the same, the Minister has the authority to issue permits.

With the election now, no one is speaking about Afghanistan.

At the same time in Haiti thousands are injured or dead after the earthquake in what is essentially a failed State with no government. Oh did I mention climate change.

This is all too much at once and so very strange.

41 C. = 105.8 F

Tags

20 years, Afghanistan, climate change, life, taliban, war, Weather

Well after freezing at 12C in July now in August we are broiling. The last 2 days have been at 41C it is unpleasant and you cannot escape the heat even at the beaches all around us, the sand is so hot it is like broiling as you lie down. So get into the water quick and stay there.

For our two little Dachshunds all they want to do is drink water and sleep in a drafty area. They do not want to go out or walk, we still have to go but we make it quick for their sake.

What is troubling is the number of people driving around in joy rides with huge motorcycles or their big F-150 trucks making noise and playing loud music. After the report of this week on Climate change and the dire predictions, the flooding and forest fires around the world and numerous other problems like crop failures here in Canada due to the drought the worse ever in our history and other disaster, many people seem uncomprehending and have not changed their behaviours. I may see what is going to happen in 20 years but I would rather not. As for the people who think this is just a phase well I feel sorry for their children who will have at best a blighted future.

The news from Afghanistan is terrible tonight, the Taliban are 70 miles outside Kabul encircling the City. There is no hope and reports are already emerging of wholesale massacre of those who surrendered. Their victory will be a blood bath and now China is their supporter, arming them and helping them achieve this victory. Why would China do this? Because it uses Afghanistan as a proxy in its conflict with India. Some 40% of the Taliban fighters are mercenaries from Pakistan and Northern India. This is all part of the plan of Communist China to control Asia and impose its will. Chinese Troops are massing on the border in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The Chinese army is also with the help of Pakistan in the pakistani occupied portion of Kashmir, which is of great concern to India. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan has met with the Chinese Foreign Minister a few days ago in Chengdu to forge a military alliance. China believes that by playing nice with the Taliban they will avoid problems in their province of Xinjiang Uyghur with a majority muslim population of Turkic origin. I tell you diplomacy is fun and complicated.

The Canadian Plan to evacuate people who worked for us is not going well and there is little to no time left, the Government of Canada announced it would take 20,000 Afghans. The other problem is that Sunday, the Prime Minister will most probably visit the Governor General H.E. Mary Simon and ask for Parliament to be dissolved so we can go into a General Election with voting day on 20 September. It is important to note that in Canada, during the election campaign Justin Trudeau continues to be Prime Minister until after voting day when the results are known. It would appear now that he will win a majority or 170 Seats in the House of Commons. However despite what the media loves to say, we vote for our Member of Parliament where we live and not for the Prime Minister. We do not elect Prime Minister’s in Canada. We elect 338 Members of Parliament individually. I already know who I will be voting for in my riding. You get to be Prime Minister because the Governor General offers you the job believing that you can hold the confidence of the House.

Military helicopter evacuating westerners to the airport and out of Afghanistan. 15 Aug.2021

Things I pick up

Tags

art., cuisine, knowledge, life

In my lifetime, I picked up a lot of information about various topics. It follows no one field of knowledge it is just a very diverse group of topics. I have interests in Archeology, history, languages, cuisine, culture, the arts, music, politics, diplomacy and protocol. On the other hand I have no interests in sports of any kind or the mundane, like television, american movies, pop culture including popular music, fast food and vulgarities.

This leads me to read on various topics, anything that strikes my fancy. I can walk into a bookstore and pick up a book, any book and read two or three pages and will know right then if I am going to buy it or not. My love of ancient sites and archeology. In Jordan I often visited the Roman city of Jerash or Gerasa in the Bible. A site built by the Romans and one which saw many roman generals and Consuls come to visit, some became later Emperors. The city has extensive ruins of temples and 2 well preserved theaters. On one such visit, I had read that after the Roman Legions were withdrawn in the fourth century AD, the citizens having lost their military protection decided to build walls to protect themselves from marauding Arab bedouins who would come and pillage in and around the city on a regular basis. I noticed that the walls in question were built hastily with no real defensive plan, more a stop gap. The stones came from other buildings and stacked on top of one another. This observation I made from studying the plan of the city and asking questions about how this had been achieved.

Same with my visits to the Roman Forum or to other Greek and Egyptian sites. In Khartoum all the British colonial buildings were off limits, this would have been the site of where General Gordon fought and died and the Anglican Cathedral. However from my hotel roof top you could see it all and with a plan identify the various buildings of the compound. Gaining an understanding of history and what happened.

I also love to visit art museum, Dresden has wonderful well curated museums, a few years ago I had been told that a retrospective of the works by Otto Dix was on show with the famous triptych to the first World War, painted between 1929-1932, a stunning painting in the modern realist style of Dix. He was a young soldier involved in this conflict and he manned a machine gun, a new invention in 1914, Dix was horrified to see that he could with his machine gun kill 100 men with no effort on his part. He came out of this conflict bitter and angry at politicians and society who failed to accept fully the horror of this conflict and the aftermath. Dix work was put under lock and key and he was declared a degenerate artist by the Nazi regime, what saved him was his war record and his fame in Germany.

The figures in this triptych is almost life size and dominates the room in which it is exhibited. Examining it in details and you understand what Dix is telling you.

There are many more paintings and works of art I love to study. Per example Auguste Rodin, I never really liked him until I started to look in depth at his work, he is thought to be the father of modern sculpture. He broke with the classical school by doing sculpture on a human scale instead of the larger than life which was the accepted method. His sculpture the Age of Bronze, 1876 or The Vanquished as it was originally called. Standing 72 inches tall or 1.80 metres, the model was a young Belgian soldier.

This sculpture comes after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Rodin like many artists was horrified at the violence of this war and the heavy toll on civilian population and the starving of Paris by the Prussian army.

One hand rest on his head and the other appears to be holding possibly a spear. The facial expression shows tiredness and resignation, this man is vulnerable and his pose indicates wanting to rest not one of aggression. What I did not known about Rodin was that he developed his ideas by working with clay and making balls of clay during hours until inspiration came to him. Then he would call in his assistants and explain to them what the project was about and he gave detailed instructions and set them to work supervising what they were doing correcting endlessly until he saw what he wanted to produce. Some people are put off when they discover that Rodin did not actually sculpt and that he often used one male figure he liked over and over again. Or used the model of his own hands in his sculptures. What is also very interesting is to discover the private personal life of artists. Many had very unconventional lives, being often in love with their own art rather than their family or children, think of Gaugin.

Historical details also fascinates me, how did this event happen and what were the consequences. I do not mean the hollywood version of history but the actual nitty gritty, the unsavoury elements. We all hear the same nonsense constantly about this or that historical figure without trying to find out if it is true or not. Forgetting that some history are fabricated by the victors or presented out of context.

Ancient Rome the time of the Republic or Ancient Greece the Age of Pericles, the virtues of ancient Democracy which has little to do with what we think of Democracy today. Or the lives of historical figures who are seen today as villains or heroes. It is always interesting to study various authors and what they discovered through correspondence or various texts.

Per example Austrian author Stefan Zweig and his wonderful book The World of yesterday, presenting a Europe which disappeared forever in 1914. The chronicles what life in Austria and Germany was like then and his travels and all the famous people who were his friends. Life was then so very different and it helps understand the people then and what happened afterwards. He is an author who really brings you into the subject one he lived through and was an actor and eyewitness.

Then cooking shows, I don’t like them all, I do have my favourites. Mostly watched on YouTube, giving you new ideas on old recipes. One is by the former chef to the Queen and Diana. He has lots of anecdotes and funny stories and shows off favourite recipes of the Royals. Thing is they have very similar taste to other people when it comes to food. The difference they can order exactly what they want from the kitchen and set up menus, or I should say the Queen sets up menus for all of them, what you can and cannot eat.

One story was about Friday’s meal at the Palace, being Friday then it’s fish and Fish and Chips is on the menu. He used only Yukon Gold potatoes for the fries and for the staff did a haddock in a nice beer batter but for the Queen she prefers Cod and she does not want greasy fish so it is done in the oven. In this case the Cod is first cut up in even similar size pieces, dredge in egg then in panco and put into the oven at 450F for 7 minutes. The fries must also all be the same size, the chef makes a little tower of them with 2 pieces of cod. Now the sauce that goes with this dish is really nice, it’s not mayo or tartare sauce, but a nice Tarragon Hollandaise Sauce which has that nice yellow colour. All the menus are written in French and Fish (cod) and Chips is Cabillaud et Pommes Frites, why in French because it is believed that French is the language of cuisine, I agree.

So many other things I know and have picked up over the years. It is silly I know but I do enjoy all these little details.

Cod or Cabillaud or Morue

In the series Books I am reading

Tags

book, Cold war, life, MI6, novel, reading

It has been some time since I wrote about books I am reading, recently during our seaside vacation we went to a second hand bookstore in Summerside on Water street called Seaside bookstore and the owner is Nancy. A very nice place and a good selection of books.

We bought several books and I discovered one not so well known book by John LeCarré, entitled A small town in Germany. The book was published around 1968, so one of his earlier books. The story is centered around the town of Bonn, Germany, the Capital of the Federal Republic at the time of the Cold War, the great divide between East and West. The occupying forces of Britain, France and USA are slowly withdrawing and handing over more control to the German Federal Government. There was then a climate of espionage and complex spy networks that every country operated and it was duplicitous. In this novel the British Embassy and Government and its spy agencies are the main actors. It is also a time when Britain is actively involved in joining the European Common Market with stiff opposition from France under General De Gaulle who opposed such a move. A Second Secretary has vanished with important secret documents, an investigator arrives from London from MI6 to find an embassy in disarray, security breaches, budget cut backs and many more problems with its diplomatic staff. I have to say that a lot of what LeCarré writes about reminds me of my time in the Foreign Service, similar problems and circumstances.

The first chapter of the book is somewhat confusing and found it difficult to follow, however by the second chapter it all became clear and this was a device LeCarré used to draw in his readers. Also the 1960’s is far from us nowadays, the events depicted and discussed no longer exist, the world in 1989 was transformed with the fall of the Wall and the dissolution of the East Bloc countries and its communist regimes. The German Federal Government moved from Bonn to Berlin the capital of a re-united Germany in 1990. It is nonetheless a great book and a fast moving story. I had never heard of this book and I am glad I found it in a second hand book store in Summerside.

The other book I am reading is The Tailor of Panama by John LeCarré published in 1996. This copy of the book is a first edition. This book is well known and amongst the more popular of LeCarré’s books. The story as the title indicates is in Panama City and is centred on the character of Harry Pendel, a tailor from Saville Row in London who relocated to Panama City. His tailor shop is apparently from a famous address on Saville Row, the book is about who Harry Pendel is and how he came about living in Panama, marrying and having a family. That is until Andrew Osnard walks into his shop one afternoon and the plot goes from there. LeCarré is very good at describing the people and there are lots of unsavoury characters in this book, where money, booze, sex, greed and politics is all mixed in with spies and Central American dictators and the transfer of the Canal Zone from the USA to Panamanian control.

The third book I bought is Hidden in Plain Sight by Lord Jeffrey Archer. This book I abandoned, I do not like the writing style which reads almost as a TV script and the characters appear flat. So, no, not for me.

I am also trying to read a book by Gary Lachman on Carl Jung, who is called the founding father of the New Age, the Swiss Psychiatrist who developed concept like collective unconscious, archetype theory, etc. It is challenging and the other problem is that Jung denied being involved in mystical thought or the occult. The book is called Jung the Mystic, examining the esoteric dimensions of Carl Jung’s Life and Teachings. Not something you read at the beach maybe on a snowy night at home.

So there you have it, my Summer reading.

From House to Château

Tags

Chateau, France, home, life, renovation

Quite some years ago a book came out entitled A year in Provence, it was a best seller, everyone read it and many then travelled to Provence and bought homes with dreams of turning them into B&B and living on French wine, baguette and cheese without speaking French. Then came Under the Tuscan Sun, later another book entitled A year in Tuscany came out. Same idea of idyllic life in Tuscany without speaking Italian. Tuscany is only one province of Italy, the rush of tourists saw a sharp price increase and though we could travel for lunch in Florence from Rome easily, we often preferred to travel across to the Marche Province on the Adriatic for our annual vacation. Or how about Sicily? love that Island, it’s food and splendid wines.

So from buying a house, renovating it and doing a Shirley Valentine number many realized that it was not that simple and the difficulties quickly mounted. The BBC did a series on Provence and Brits who had come to discover it charms as detailed in the book. Most within 2 years discovered real life is not a book, many sold and moved out, too many problems, language and different attitudes and differences made for more problems than they had bargained for. Same in Tuscany, unless you have oodles of money and can come and go at will, think again.

Now we have gone from buying a house to buying a French Château no less, with grand gates and huge parkland plus many other buildings like a chapel and barn, keepers cottage and stables. All in need of major rebuilding, renovations and continuous maintenance. This idea is out there and the internet offers opportunities buyer beware.

One is the Chateau de Gudanes in the Pyrennées, an Australian family bought the half demolished castle about 10 years ago and have been rebuilding it, a major undertaking. They now have a shop on the internet and they sell stuff which is suppose to be items from chateau life. The couple who bought the place appear to have split up, only the wife remains and as for the kids it is not clear if they returned to Australia. Apparently renovations continue but lately I noticed it is always the same pictures of projects from some years ago. They no longer have the teams working nor the experts from Paris coming down to help out.

Château de Gudanes

Another Chateau is La Grifferaie in Anjou, bought by an American Evangelical couple who plan to use the place for Bible studies for Americans. The rest could be used as a B&B. The couple is from Oregon, they really look out of place in Anjou.

Yet another is the Chateau de Purnon, bought by a young Australian couple, a huge place. I wonder where do they get their money to buy such an estate in Aquitaine. There are lots of Château for sale in France, some are in pristine conditions while others need major work. In this case the couple speak French which is a big help in an isolated region. They are also getting some governmental help on renovations for this Château built in 1717.

Chateau de Purnon

The BBC had a series on mansions and great homes bought by people who had a dream of renovating such places. Many such great homes were built more than 200 years ago and required expert work. Some where nothing more than ruins, why would you buy such a place. One fellow who had made a fortune in IT renovated an old Bishops palace with ornate rooms, this required experts to rebuilt and restore decorative elements, the end result was truly magnificent but you wonder how much did it cost.

The unusual case of John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich and his wife the Countess who live at Mapperton a place mentioned in the Doomsday Book, the mansion house dates to 1540 with their daughter-in-law Julie Montague, their son Luke Montague Viscount Hichingbrooke, her husband help run and renovate the Estate as a business venture. The beautiful gardens of Mapperton can be rented for weddings. On the Estate they even have their own church which dates back to the 12th Century. Julie and Luke run the place in order to pay for the upkeep which is considerable.

I do wonder where this fascination in people comes from, I recall some visitors at Government House here in Charlottetown which was built around 1834 and remains to this day the home and workplace of the Lieutenant Governor of PEI. This visitor said to me how wonderful it would be to live in such a grand mansion. Knowing the background of the place, I do not think so, such homes are rarely comfortable and are more designed for representational purposes than relaxation and home life.

MAPPERTON HOUSE