Ricky Ponting to retire

Just seen the headlines, Ricky Ponting is to retire from international cricket.

I saw him bat a few times in Ashes matches and ODIs at Old Trafford, Headingley and Trent Bridge. Brilliant, just brilliant.

To date he has 167 Test Match caps and 13366 runs. 375 ODI caps and 13704 runs. 71 international centuries. An outstanding career for Australia. As an Englishman I have mixed emotions, pleased to see him go but very sad, international cricket is to lose one of its greatest stars.

Ricky - thank you.

Summer Job - Fort Carré

Fort Carré, Antibes, August 2012. I believe this is repair work being undertaken - I don't know if the person has gone up from the ground or abseiled down from the rampart.

I took these pictures from the Fort Carré Facebook page.

Fort Carré is a 16th century star fort that has been renovated in recent years. The photos make it look very appealing - another one for the to do list.

Maubeuge Demi-Lune

This ariel winter-time photograph is of the main entrance demi-lune at Maubeuge. It shows the refurbished guardhouse (Corps de Garde) and controlled access point, the tenaille and the main gate, the Porte de Mons.

October & November Films

I have not had much to report on film watching. The past few weeks I have seen an average of five films per week and many of those have been extremely average. Three films stand out.

The first two were seen at the cinema. "Loopers", a sci-fi starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the young Joe, Bruce Willis as the old Joe. Emily Blunt also starred. The plot was implausible enough to be believable, the effects were good and it was very well acted. Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt are young actors that I make a point of watching, I think they will be great actors.

The second film at the cinema was "Skyfall", the new James Bond film. Very enjoyable, just leave your brains at home.

At home I watched "Margin Call", a very good ensemble piece set in a company on Wall Street. The film received very high praise when it was released, I am very pleased I have caught it.

Something else I am very pleased I caught was the television series "Falling Skies". More sci-fi, aliens invade earth, wipe out most of the adult population, this is the story of the survivors. A good story, good cast with Noah Wyle taking the lead, high production values (Steven Spielberg is listed in the credits). I have watched series 1, after Christmas I will try for series 2.

Le Pinard

Another internet find.

La Baionnette was published between 1915 and 1918. It was a humorous magazine published for the ordinary soldier, generally poking fun at typical french situations. Le Pinard is the daily ration of wine issued to all troops.

En Avant

Another poster I found on-line. I really like this.

Instruments of Death

Here in the UK, the TV channel "Yesterday" is showing a history series named "Instruments of Death". The programmes are centred around individual battles, the weapons that were used and the wounds they inflicted.

I watched the first programme, about the English Civil War battle of Naseby. The presenter talked about and demonstrated matchlock and doglock muskets, pikes, mortars and buff coat protection. This was very interesting for me because this is not a period I follow.

The next two programmes are about Towton (War of the Roses - another English civil war) and Hastings. I shall watch them with interest, particularly as Towton is only 10 miles from where I live. The Yesterday website does not have details of the remaining three programmes. If you can I recommend you watch the programmes.