Le Calipel Vintage & Antique

08/01/2025

Fuse holders and fuses replaced and there's life; encouraging as I haven't touched the electrics yet.

03/01/2025

After the interminable damp greyness.

-4⁰C and what promises to be a very brief interlude before the rain ...

02/01/2025

In a study conducted at Bristol University, all bees exposed to the new, supposedly safe product from Bayer died within 3 days.

31/12/2024

There's impressive scaffolding and there's this ...

3 months to throw up and suspended on the roofs below.

31/12/2024

It's likely that the European Wildcat that visited over the last few years was quite sociable as there appears to be more than a little Wildcat in this cat who's been sitting in the garden at Le Calipel for several weeks.

It appears to sleep halfway up a pine tree and has a piercing glare but lacks the distinctive Wildcat tail.

Beautiful but a dilution of an already-diminished species.

28/12/2024

A trying time for Gunther and Gudrun as they're separated while the kids aren't capable of fending-off a fox or foxes, of which there are many - the electric fence isn't a cure-all and I can't balance the risk of their coming to harm against a little more attention.

The cold, damp greyness of the last weeks, set to continue also isn't ideal, so I installed a new, safe partition (not shown) atop the dividing wall so the decades-old wire visible in the photo could be removed. This will make it safer for all while mother and infants are inside.

Gunther, in particular, isn't impressed and swings between a rather malevolent demeanour and one more beseeching of solace.

How anyone could view these beautiful, feeling creatures as the filling for a sandwich or the skin for a pair of gloves now escapes me - in fact, it fills me with horror.

It's clear that we don't need to exploit animals to be healthy, it's also clear that we can live alongside them and be content together.

24/12/2024

That was outstanding.

24/12/2024

Well ...

Obviously Gudrun & Gunther settled in happily and the possible date of conception is between ten and fifteen days after they arrived.

Mother and infants now moved into their house, secure and dry.

23/12/2024

My post yesterday resulted in the loss of several followers - quite surprising, as my posts rarely garner more than a couple of "likes".

Anyway, enjoy your Christmas turkey if you're having one.

It's such a shame the capitalist Christmas confection doesn't extend goodwill to all creatures - but it doesn't really extend it to "all mankind" either, of course.

22/12/2024

I'm surprised at the difference, both in my general outlook and health, since I stopped consuming animal products.

As if a curtain has been lifted that, despite - or because of - the things I've seen, I'd been programmed to accept; my major regret being that my epiphany didn't come sooner.

I couldn't look my goats in the eye if I'd remained a hypocrite.

21/12/2024

19/12/2024

As far as I'm concerned, some businesses shouldn't exist.

Self-serving parasites.

Incidentally, I've removed La Maison Ruth and La Calècherie from the platform.

14/12/2024

I'm always careful to ensure the pinball machines are sited away from any water sources but was greeted by the sight of the 3 1950s Gottlieb woodrails, that I've just completed, dripping with water.

Water had found its way through the ceiling from the dishwasher in the gîte as the door seal had failed but it ran across the floor until it found a gap between the ancient floorboards ...

Rare survivors with original, moisture-delicate particle board cases; hopefully I caught them soon enough and removed most of the water.

10/12/2024

Ping takes the plunge.