Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I'm off to bed ...

... in a minute. I'm whacked.

Yes, 08:30 starts are all very well but not if you were still up at 04:15 repairing a rain gauge. And then I was having a most weird and interesting dream featuring Percy Penguin and something to do with the postcode of where she works. No wonder that I woke up bolt upright before the alarm went off, given the most unlikely nature of what I was dreaming.

After computing for a while I went round to Jean Lauvergne's for 13:00 to do his photography for him. And what an interesting afternoon that was - no wonder I'm whacked. We went to Le Quartier for a good nosey and inter alia uncovered the source of the River Boron, visited the local presbytery and did some informal archaeology at the Chateau d'Anglard.

From there we visited the mills of the Boron, went to see a ford where there used to be a sawmill that was water-powered, and then went to look at this Roman spring that fed water to Neris les Bains, 25 kms away. But that was a disappointment - Jean couldn't remember where it was, after all that!

Back at Jean's house, he allowed me to peruse his extensive library of documents, books and press cuttings. And then I cam home through the hailstorm in time to watch the Storm of the Decade through my attic windows.

Who knows? I might even be able to have a whole day carry on with my solar framework tomorrow.


But on another note, if you have been following the pages for the Pionsat Football Club, you will have noticed that I make considerable reference to Damien. He played for the 3rd XI and when they were short of a goalkeeper he bravely volunteered to go between the posts and stayed there for a whole season. What he lacked in skill he made up in courage.

Last season he took up refereeing and while he maybe made many decisions that I had seen from a different viewpoint, he was never lacking in willingness to go out there and do it. In fact, he was always the first to volunteer for anything and you could always rely on him. There was always something amusing and exciting happening wherever he was.

Yesterday evening he went out for a bike ride and when he came home he told his mother that he was tired and would go to sit down for 10 minutes. At that moment he had a severe heart attack and died on the spot.

30 years old is no age for a person to pass away, especially under those circumstances. He is going to be a very hard person to replace at the football clun this coming season.

Sleep well, Damien.

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