Soaked down to size

I have to admit, overfeeding those doves had got me a bit worried. They were growing, nay, bloating, at an alarming rate.

It turns out, however, to have been nothing but hot air and feathers. Whilst waiting for her evening meal, Mrs Ringneck got soaked by a violent thunderstorm, and her true dimensions, unfluffed, became apparent...

We have a problem...

Umm: If we'd only listened to the advice Hitchcock gave in The Birds...

By feeding up the doves, they are growing huge, and now tower over us, as we eat our breakfast, waiting to be fed. Just hope they prefer bread to humans!

Modified Behaviour

The BH was none too happy, earlier in the year, when a pair of doves ransacked her window boxes, pecking out all the new shoots and flowers in bud. They were ravenous and shameless, occasionally waddling into our living room seeking further goodies, and staring back at us impudently when we tried to shoo them out.

Only one solution: get them to eat something else, and as far as possible from the window boxes. Doves and pigeons are like very simple computers. A little knowledge of Avian Basic programming and the solution was solved.

I have trained the pair of them to eat breadcrumbs from my hand, up on the roof terrace. They have got so used to pecking at morsels held between my fingers that now they look puzzled when we scatter the crumbs from the breadbasket on the tiles. Food is when you get it straight from the hand.

Train des Pignes

Yesterday's trip to Puget Theniers and Entrevaux was pretty tiring by car, though the dramatic landscape made all the hairpin bends and sheer drops worth it. Much better to have let the (narrow gauge) train take the strain. It looks suspiciously like Arthur's train, and is certainly not a whole lot bigger.

Firework Spectacular

After a couple of shouts last week, I took some time off for leisure boating, with the Copains des Pointus d'Antibes. The occasion was the firework display offshore from the Ponteil beach. It was a family affair, spouses, children, nephews and nieces. We had plenty of time for a swim and a nice picnic.

During the picnic, the VHF was on, because we were expecting a courtesy (and possibly apéritif) visit from the lifeboat, which was going to be on guard duty. But then the coastguard radio got busy, and my beeper went off.

The lifeboat, this time sans Yours Truly, sped off to Mandelieu with its blue lights flashing, to rescue somebody stranded just in front of the port. A very long way for a petty rescue, but the nearer lifeboats weren't available. Good job I had been on the fuel duty that morning and the tanks were full to the brim.

Anyway, the firework display was spectacular, and all the more impressive for being reflected in the slow glassy swell of the sea (which explains why the camera wasn't steady)...

Smile, you're on camera...

Yesterday we walked the length of the Tirepoil coastal walkway, recently prolonged by a new section which arrives into the Anse de l'Argent Faux, once the exclusive haunt of the rich, being inaccessible from the landward side. The extension is well worth it, and the little bay at the end of the walk looks like a good place to cool off with a swim after a fairly brisk up-and-down walk along the coastal cliffs.

On the way, on the older bit of the walkway, we passed the boathouse of a well-known billionaire. Not that guarded, we thought, until we saw the heavy-weight spy cameras and motion detectors...

Are they to keep the oiks out, or the oligarchs in? But since we were being photographed, I thought I might return the compliment.

Lots of salt water

Just finished the Fête de la St Pierre, a local fishermen's festival which involves the lifeboatmen. I ended up serving on two boats, the lifeboat and the fishing boat acquired by the Copains des Pointus d'Antibes. The best part was the Copains excursion, with the BH, round the Cap d'Antibes to the bay in front of Juan les Pins, where we had a deep water swim and a fantastic picnic on board. We were joined by the lifeboatmen, who were there as safety boat, but who appreciated a tot of rosé, willingly offered. I was on the lifeboat later, though, as one of the water cannon detail, when hosing down the rowers from the traditional rowing race in pointus.

This morning, though, the lifeboat beeper went off just as we were about to have breakfast. We were ordered out to sea, 46 kilometers, to assist a boat which had had an engine-room fire and was dead in the water. So a lot of sea time, and plenty of opportunity to observe the dolphins and tuna in their feeding frenzy. The sea was really frothing...

Set off at eight in the morning, only finished preparing the boat for the next shout at five in the evening. Felt like a long day. But an ice cream from the Gelateria del Porto put everything into perspective (peach flavour, made that morning from fresh peaches).