theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
How to shear a sheep
Posted on November 7, 2018
Cee wants to see some images of tools this week. I spotted this in the Museum in Perigueux.
As the card states, it’s a pair of scissors for shearing sheep. They’ve been in the museum since 1914, but date from some time in the late 19th century at a guess. They are made of iron, no doubt by a village blacksmith.
Nowadays, sheep are sheared using electric clippers, which is obviously a lot quicker than this traditional method – although only a few years ago we watched our neighbour and his wife shearing one of their sheep with a pair quire similar to these.
Next year, the World Sheep-Shearing Championship (yes, there is such a thing) will be held in the nearby town of Le Dorat. I sense a major photo opportunity.
Thursday Doors: Perigueux (3)
Posted on October 25, 2018
Another instalment of the doors of Perigueux for this week. Just in case the colourful ones from the last couple of weeks have raised the blood pressure too much, the common theme of this instalment is that they’re all – brown.
Usually I focus in quite closely on the door itself, but I thought that this gives an idea of the narrow streets in which most of these examples are to be found:
And here’s another example of a doorway having been inserted into a previously existing archway – with room to spare:
More old brown doors:
Not quite so old, but at least as tatty:
Although this is my favourite for this week, with the glass and ironwork, and a faded curtain adding further interest:
Still plenty more to come from Perigueux, but for the next couple of weeks we’ll be revisiting some other haunts for previously unseen doors.
Thursday Doors 25 October 2018
Tuesday Photo Challenge: Surprise
Posted on October 23, 2018
We’d never been to Perigueux before. We were expecting to see some old buildings but it was quite a surprise to find one hanging in mid-air just outside our hotel down by the river.
It’s known as the ‘eschif’, which translates – rather gloomily – as ‘scaffold’. It was constructed in the first half of the 14th century to straddle the protective wall on which it appears to balance precariously and act as a look-out post. That door isn’t terribly practical now.
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.
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
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