The condemned staircase
Posted on October 19, 2018
This is a view of the staircase that was in our house just after we bought it. Originally, it was boxed in, which made the room – which is north-facing – even darker. However, Madame (with no little relish, it must be said) took a jemmy to it and exposed the original. It had to go however, as it was dangerously rickety.
Nonetheless it is a set of steps to meet this week’s challenge theme and, particularly in monochrome, the strong diagonals make for an interesting image.
Thursday Doors: Perigueux – Shopfronts
Posted on October 18, 2018
So many doors in Perigueux…enough even to allow an individual theme of shopfronts for this week’s instalment.
Since we finished up last week with a blue door, continuity dictates that we start now with another:
Another clearly marked, if less colourful, example:
This is the shop window of a ‘luthier’ – a maker of violins and other string instruments:
Rather less obviously, this is now a boutique, but one with a pretty impressive entrance:
But I have no idea what these two commercial premises may once have been:
Thursday Doors 18 October 2018
Tourist Attraction
Posted on October 17, 2018
Cee’s Fun Foto theme for this week is just about as close to carte blanche as it’s possible to be. ‘Places people visit’: well, if there’s a photograph of it somebody must have visited it, in order to take the shot.
It’s fun being a pedant.
In the spirit of the theme, though, this place is definitely a tourist attraction and to prove it, this view of the cathedral of Saint-Front in Perigueux was actually taken from the window of our hotel room. I’ve stayed in places with worse views.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Reflection
Posted on October 16, 2018
Reflections are one of my favourite photographic subjects and I have posted quite a few here. Many of these have been of the River Vienne as it flows through the nearby town of Confolens and here’s another one, previously unseen.
Get your bicycles here
Posted on October 12, 2018
Like many towns and cities across the world, Nantes operates a ‘bicycle-borrowing’ scheme, whereby it is possible to take a bicycle from a rack provided by the local authorities and ride it around town, returning it to any other bike rack.
Cee’s Black & White Challenge this week is ‘things made from plastic’. As are the rear mudguards of these public bicycles, seen here lined up just outside the cathedral. In real life they are a very distinctive bright orange, although the monotone conversion allows the viewer to focus on the composition of the image.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Anything made from plastic
Thursday Doors: Perigueux
Posted on October 11, 2018
We recently spent a couple of days in the town of Perigueux, the main administrative centre of the Dordogne département, which is also blessed with a well-preserved medieval centre – with many doors. Not quite on the scale of Cahors, but enough to provide images for a few weeks of these posts.
So, to get straight into it, here’s one of the very first doors I encountered:
Not a bad start. However, as most old and interesting doors tend, in my experience, to be brown, we could hardly leave these out:
Perhaps a little more prosaic:
However, to finish on a brighter note:
Thursday Doors 11 October 2018
Bishop’s Move
Posted on October 10, 2018
I used to be quite keen on chess – but that was over fifty years ago. Nowadays, although we do have a very nice chess set on display it very rarely gets used. I definitively gave up when my grandson – ten at the time – beat me comprehensively.
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Birthday
Posted on October 9, 2018
Frank has set the theme of ‘Birthday’ for this week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge and invites us to take creative licence with the subject.
So naturally I am taking it absolutely literally, with this image of one of our twin grandsons on the actual day of his birth. They were very premature and very small, as you can see. They spent a good few weeks in intensive care before they were allowed home. You should see them now, though, eleven years later.
Angry Birds
Posted on October 4, 2018
When my children were growing up in Scotland, a trip to the town of Linlithgow, just outside Edinburgh, was a common excursion, one of the highlights of which was to go and feed the birds – ducks, swans and gulls – on the lake next to the ruined palace (birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots).
I can attest from a recent visit that the birds are still there, just as greedy and just as short-tempered when you have nothing to offer them.
(Yes, I know it’s blurred, but you try keeping your camera steady while you’re being dive-bombed by irate, hungry seagulls. Besides, I think it works; it certainly gives a sense of motion.)
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: In Flight
Thursday Doors: Bellac
Posted on October 4, 2018
The pyramid structure of French local government is based, of course, on the commune, while at the apex of each département is what in the US would be the state capital (or, in the UK, the county town). In our case, this ‘capital city’, which is where you find the Prefecture, is Limoges.
However, between the commune and the capital is another layer of administration, as each département is divided into a number of cantons. The principal town of each canton is where you’ll find a sous-prefecture. Our canton is based in the town of Bellac.
There is a very picturesque area in Bellac which, oddly enough, I haven’t yet got around to combing for interesting doors. However, we recently went to the annual vide grenier, which takes place down by the river and, armed only with my smartphone, I spotted a few worthwhile doors, which can act as a taster until I undertake a proper doorscursion.
To begin with, two aspects of the same building:
A little further along this riverside road can be found this door, with matching balcony:
Both of those houses are occupied, but this one certainly isn’t:
This door is adjacent to the old stone bridge that crosses the river:
Finally, there’s this door in what used to be a garden wall:
Thursday Doors 4 October 2018
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