The Oxford Dictionary defines
fog as: A thick cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere at or
near the earth’s surface which obscures or restricts visibility to a greater
degree than mist; strictly reducing visibility to below 1 km. And that is what
we had yesterday. Dense and impenetrable fog. We left Lille at 6:30 AM yesterday
morning and it may as well have been midnight as the fog had dropped so
thickly. John and I were the only ones venturing out and about in this early
morning hour except for a few hardy street cleaners. You can feel the fog. It
bites. The French art of ‘scarfing” oneself is not without purpose and is at
its supreme best here in Lille and we now understand why. Those lovely folds of
foulards and giant scarves wound around one’s neck can rise about the ears and
wrap the nose and mouth to keep the area from hat to chest warm and snug. We
have quickly adopted the French style and fit right in these wintery days. We
keep our rental car, when we have one, in a secure parking area in the Casino
and a walk is required to pick it up. It was packed from stem to gudgeon with
items for living aboard the barge that we had sent to Blythe in the UK. The
route we take to the barge is north east from Lille towards Antwerp in Belgium
then toward Utrecht in the Netherlands and finally to Heerewaarden and the boat
yard. Arrangements were made to meet Jim at the Yard and he would let us in to unload
our “stuff”. As this is the week between Christmas and New Year everyone is off
and spending time with family. During the day from around 10AM to late night, crowds of friends and family fill our local streets. All is most convivial, with
groups of folks conversing on street corners and shop entryways. There are
minimal cars in this portion of the city making the streets a grand place for a
visit. In the early morning of yesterday however, all was very quiet and we make
Heerewaarden in reasonably good time. But we drive cautiously…through
fog so dense it feels at times as if a blanket has been thrown over the car.
Despite the frost and fog (at least it's not an ice storm) upon arrival, we
have a great opportunity to go over everything carefully in the boat as all the
workers are off until Epiphany January 6th . We are truly excited to
see her so close to ready. As you all know it’s been a long wait! The major
work remaining is in the electronics and Arian is on top of all that and the
engine room is looking spiffy. Having left the lights on in the rental
car and running down the battery to the point we needed a charge, we began our
return trip in late afternoon relieved to have all our stuff unloaded and out
of the car. But the fog seemed even denser. All the way home it wavered between
dense, denser, thick, blanketing or at one very brief point of 4 or 5 minutes
entirely clear. Darkness fell, traffic was heavy and the frostiness increased.
We were glad to get home to our new digs. . .
a big improvement over last month. Still three flights of very steep
stairs to negotiate but a lovely space where no one bumps their head!
The following are some foggy,
frosty photos we took to share what things were like. Today all is bright and
clear and crisp, just above freezing. We were busy ordering necessary bathroom
accessories today and using newly learned words. . . like porte-papier hygiénique
et distributeur de savon liquide et crochets. We managed with the patient help
of a delightful girl, Carolyn.
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Frosty Branches. The Red berries can barely be discerned through the Frost
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Beautiful Nature
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Frosted Weeds
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Note the Ducks Silently Swimming in this Fogged Canal
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Rimed Roadside Weeds
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The Canal is there...Yes it is!
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Curious Pony..a bit hazy
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Spotted Mare and Foal
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Post-Christmas Decoration
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An Orchard so neat and orderly but lost in Fog
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Foggy Picnic Lunch
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Every Blade Frost rimed
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Netherlands...a watery world..everywhere canals big and small
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Dressed for the Weather
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At first we see nothing.....then
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A Flock of Geese!
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The Road
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Geese Disappeared
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Clearing a bit
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In Belgium
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Almost Home in Lille..Blanket Fog
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So in honour of New Year's Eve tomorrow and as a reward for driving in fog yesterday and exhausting ouselves speaking decent French for 1/5th of the day today, we thought that we needed a treat....
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Saint Honoré
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Tarte au Chocolat
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Until next week. . . .
