Easingwold, Christpher Lee, cricket, Omar Sharif, Bladerunner

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe"

What a weekend.

Three weeks ago, I wrote that our landlord had decided to sell this house so we had to find new accommodation. Over the last two weeks I have visited a dozen houses in York, none of which were suitable. First thing Saturday morning we drove to Easingwold to view the house we saw three weeks ago and we have agreed to take it. We move in the middle of August. All we have to do now is find a removals company and to pack.

We got home at around lunchtime and then I settled down to watch some cricket. England v Australia, the first test match of a five match series. We won by 169 runs. England won in four days, a very convincing win. I am trying not to sound triumphalist because it is the first match of five but

ENGLAND WON

This called for a celebration dinner - Café Rouge in York - steaks, frites, some nice wine, nice desserts - excellent.

Next thing. BBC TV were showing three Hammer horror films from the mid-50's to honour the recent deaths of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I watched the first, "The Mummy". I recorded the other two, "The Curse of Frankenstein" and the best of all "Dracula". We have to watch them soon, as we have a Virgin Media package so when we move Virgin will take the set-top box with the recordings and we will lose any unwatched stuff.

Sunday afternoon, B was off at a dressage competition with her horse so I went to Cityscreen cinema in York to see "Bladerunner - the Final Cut". Staff at the cinema have assured me this is the final "Final Cut". What a treat and yes, it was better than the last version. For me, "Bladerunner" is the best sci-fi film ever made, the filming, the mise en scene, the story and the angst of Deckerd, even Rutger Hauer's acting.

I could not finish without a mention of the passing of Omar Sharif at the weekend. A very fine actor, great performances for David Lean in "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago". My favourite film of his is "The Last Valley". Set in the Thirty Years War somewhere in Southern Germany, this is not a great film but it is a film I watch every two or three years and always enjoy.

Lorraine Trip - the Maginot Line

To start - a very quick geography lesson.

After Day 1 in Liege, we travelled to Thionville, a few miles north of Metz, for three nights in the Ibis Hotel.

Map copied from Anthony Kemp's book "The Maginot Line"

Day 2. We travelled west, visiting the large ouvrage at Fermont, then the small ouvrage of La Ferté which is the last, most westerly of the main Maginot Line.

Day 3. We coached north to the small ouvrage at Immerhof then east to the largest ouvrage on the Maginot Line, Hackenberg.

Day 4, return to England.

The Maginot Line is not a continuous line, like the trench lines of WW1. It is a series of large and small forts and works falling roughly into the these categories:

Gros Ouvrages - artillery forts -

Petits Ouvrages - infantry forts -

Interval casemates

Observation posts

A considerable amount of barbed wire fields and anti-tank obstacles.

The French designed the ouvrages and casemates to standard plans, using the same parts and weapons.

The Line was set back from the frontier. following a line of hills. On the frontier at crossing points maisons fortes (fortified houses) were manned by gardes mobiles or frontier police. In the gap between the main line and the frontier, avant postes were built. There were bunkers with machine guns and a/t guns, their duties included defensive demolitions.

In addition, older works were pressed into service. This included WW1 forts, such as  there were forts built by the Germans in around 1900 during the Annexation. Around Thionville, the three German built forts of Guentrange, Illange and Konigsmacker were part of a second line or back-up positions to the Maginot Line.

Lorraine Trip - Vroenhoven Bridge

On my recent trip to Liege and Lorraine, this was our first stop, the bridge at Vroenhoven.

One of three bridges across the Albert Canal and covered by the artillery of Fort Eben Emael.

I copied this map from Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's excellent book "Dunkirk". Vroenhoven is No. 3 and it and the bridge at Veldvezelte (no. 2) were captured intact by German glider troops on 10th May 1940, along with Fort Eben Emael. The third bridge at Kanne was destroyed by the Belgians.

The Vroenhaven bridge in the 1930s.

The bridge with the blockhouse after German capture

The new bridge, still with the blockhouse

The new bridge, a lovely photo from Ney & Partners Structures

Memorial to the Belgian defenders

During construction of the new bridge.

Also nearby is a memorial to a flight RAF Fairey Battles who attacked the bridges on 12th May 1940.

"Mr Holmes"

Yesterday we went to Cityscreen cinema in York to see "Mr Holmes".

Ian McKellan plays Sherlock Holmes in 1947. He was living on the South Coast of England which allows views of lovely countryside. He was 92 years old and was struggling to remember and to write an account of his final case, 35 years earlier.

Good acting, particularly from McKellan, lovely scenery and photography; however the film took a long time to get going, the first half was rather slow and dull but once it picked up the pace and the different strands of the plot started coming together, we liked it it was a good story.

Lorraine Trip

I'm back after a very good trip to Belgium and Lorraine to see the Maginot line, well not all of it, just six forts. A good mix of sites to visit, interesting people on the coach, good weather, good hotels, a good guide, all go to make a good trip.

I have 200 photographs to sort through. I will post some of these but in the meantime, here is my haul of goodies to add to my library.

Easingwold and "Jurassic World"

A bit of a bad blow to us this week.

In English property law, verbal arrangements count for nothing. We rented our current house for a year from August 2014. Two weeks ago we agreed with the owner to take the house for at least another year. He agreed. This week he has come back and said he is selling the house to a family and so , with nothing in writing, we are out, as from 20th August.

The search is on for another house. Yesterday we drove out to view a property in Easingwold, a lovely, small market town, close to the North Yorkshire Moors.

Good lunch spot

Easingwold could be an excellent choice for me, a nice house, good surroundings good walking, but not so good for B as it is some 20 miles from the University campus where she works and a little awkward for the stables. We shall see.

After lunch we went back to York Cityscreen to see the new Jurassic Park film, in 3D. Not a great work of cinematic art but very enjoyable.

Tomorrow I am going on the trip to the Maginot Line in Northern France, 05.30 start from York railway station. Back Friday.

"Kajaki"

I watched the film "Kajaki" yesterday. Very good, it felt very real.

This is a film about contemporary warfare and the experiences of the UK Armed Forces. Based on a true story, in 2006, a squad from 3 Para was guarding the Kajaki dam in Helmand Provence, Afghanistan. This was a quiet duty, rather dull, with very occasional contact with Taliban forces. Three paras leave the base for a recce patrol and walk into a minefield. The other paras have to extract them.

The first third of the film has a lot of British squadie humour/banter and a very funny exchange with a Dutch fighter pilot. The second half was very engrossing, very well acted by its cast of young actors. It has a very contemporary feel, the language, the banter, is very real, I could feel the young men's boredom and then how quickly events turn around, the fear of being caught in a minefield, terrifying.