Saturday, October 19, 2019

A rainy weekend

The forecast is for rain through the weekend to Monday morning. I woke up around 01h30 this morning to the sound of rain on the roof, and this morning at 07h00 it's still coming down, albeit a little lighter. We need the rain, of course.

A break in the clouds last Thursday afternoon.

I stayed up late last night watching a movie on television. Prime time starts in France at 20h50 (that's ten minutes to nine), after the eight o'clock news. I always laugh at how nothing on French TV starts on the hour. It's mostly just before or just after, depending on the channel. Even programs that are scheduled to start on the hour often start early (like the noon news) or late, with no explanation. That's just the way things are. And that's why our satellite box has a default option to start a recording early and end it late. We have it set to start recording five minutes before the scheduled start time and to stop recording five minutes after the scheduled end time of any program we record.

Bert stayed upstairs with Tasha and me through the movie (it was Star Wars, Episode VIII) and was snoozing comfortably when I went to bed. So I let him stay. His door to the utility room and outside was slightly open so he could get outside when he was ready. This morning I heard him climb back up the stairs at 04h30, so he did go out at some point. We all snoozed for another two hours before getting up for breakfast.

7 comments:

  1. That sky and view, wow! I wonder what the story is with French TV schedules... and missing schedules. Stereotypes say that should happen in Spain , but it doesn’t.

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  2. You sound terribly Australian when you say, we need the rain.

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    1. Or Texan. None to speak of since the first week of May.

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  3. How did you hear Bert climbing up the stairs? Cats are so silent. He must wear some kitty shoes.

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  4. Our TV programmes seem to be coded in some way that a recorder will pick up whenever it actually starts. Thank goodness.

    But we don't get the same sort of "intermediate" timings. I can never get the "feel" of scheduling in other countries, in the way I do at home. I suppose it's tied to assumptions about mealtimes, children's bedtimes and so on.

    Though these days, what with streaming, catch-up and on-demand services, scheduling is losing a lot of its significance here too.

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  5. sleeping during a rain storm is one of life's great pleasures.

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  6. mitch, I don't know. All I know is that it's been like this for as long as I can remember.

    andrew, sheila, it's not something French people are used to saying!

    diane, I guess I'm used to all the sounds in the house!

    autolycus, our satellite boxes are not quite ready for prime time. The interface leaves a lot to be desired and more often than I'd like, things just don't work.

    michael, the pitter-patter of rain on the roof is calming. Except when the pitter-patter becomes a torrential downpour, then I start to worry about the roof leaking!

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