Thursday, July 19, 2012

Where can I put my Manitou ?



Hot. Searingly hot. ' The font ' is up at five thirty to get things done around the house before the temperature rises and activity becomes impossible. Madame Bay arrives at seven on the dot . Gold ' Wild Child ' voiturette careering madly through the gateposts before coming to a gravel scattering  halt in the courtyard . Today Radio Nostalgie is playing Beatles songs. Madame Bay can be seen in the upper hallway moving both arms up and down in time to John Lennon singing ' Let it be ' . She is joining in lustily if incomprehensibly. The overall effect is that of a large , atonal, but exceedingly happy, albatross .

Seven thirty . A young man arrives at the door and asks where he can put his Manitou . Angus ponders this strange request before stammering out a befuddled " I beg your pardon ? ". This is a phrase he finds himself using with increasing frequency as he gets older . People now seem to say the strangest things . In America he finds himself begging peoples pardon frequently.

An empty house for the next twenty four hours. The Texans have gone. So have the last of the cost centres. A new wave of visitors due tomorrow. Angus stops off at the McDonalds at the airport for a coffee and a macaroon . He's hoping that by the time he gets home the young man with his Manitou will have repaired the gutters.

14 comments:

  1. No, I think the young man just wanted to show off the Manitou. Surely all the evidence to date suggests that a fast food meal is the wrong choice if passing time waiting for house repairs to be completed in France. One of those ten course lunches taking all afternoon would be more appropriate.
    Cheers, Gail.

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  2. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that "Mr. Manitou" will fix the gutters finally. Oh Angus, I really feel your pain...it's like pulling teeth to get the service people to work in deepest France Profonde.
    Madame Bay on the other hand is a gem.....happy albatross and all....gotta love her.

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  3. If the Manitou is still there, I have a feeling that the 'old farmer' would love the chance to move it for you, or at the very least I hope you brought home an extra macaroon as a bribe for the young man!

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  4. God love Madame Bay, she has such verve!!! There is much to be baffled about in the world today; we are all begging a lot of pardons on a daily basis. I am laughing loudly at the thought of a young man coming to my door and asking where he could put his Manitou, oh gosh!

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  5. i thought manitous were mammals that swim in the ocean...
    til i remembered ... manatees!!!
    i'd rather have a manatee.
    it's apparently excruciatingly hot everywhere.
    nice to know we're not suffering alone. the grass here is brown and crunchy.
    where on earth does madame bay get her energy in that kind of heat!!!

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  6. Oh Angus. A Scot should know it was Paul McCartney singing Let it Be! :)

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    1. Shame on me . It must be these 5.30 starts.

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  7. I wish it were excrutiatingly hot in Scotland:(

    Angus, what are those spikey flowers in front of the Manitou? We have them in our French garden too, and I have no idea what to do with/to them

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    1. WT- Those are acanthus. We managed to grow two in Scotland. Here we planted three and in the space of two yaers they've taken over the garden. One mans prized bloom is another mans weed.

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    2. Hmm. We'll they're not quite weeds at Luby. I might try them here. How sheltered was your Scottish garden?

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  8. Ah, Madame Bay... How I wish that I could meet this colorful and enthusiastic character who always brings a smile to my face.

    I saw the previous post. Perhaps you saw the TdF? I am a very long-term cycling fan (I used to race full-time before an academic career)... but this year's race is a snoozer, in my opinion.

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  9. I don't know how to picture Madame Bay, I can't decide if she should be raising her arms like a conductor, or more in the fashion of " doing the wave" in my minds eye.

    I have lived in the US for several years, but sometimes even now I am not understood and cannot understand. To think there was a time that I thought we spoke the same language!

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  10. I'm laughing at the vision of an Albatross in flight to the Beatles music...oh my...No dull moments ever...and a macaroon at McDonalds...hmmm. I haven't been in a while, but I don't believe we carry those here at Mickey D's. Gotta be better for you though. :-) Here's hoping for repairs by the first of next week.
    Drought conditions here.... !

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  11. Do the vilagers identify your home as the one with the heavy machinery in front? You do seem to have an inordinate amount of visits by pumpers and diggers and movers and such. Maybe there is a window somewhere, where it won't destroy the look of your home, in which you can put a window air conditioner unit? After the last several summers, I do believe in global warming.

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