Le Calipel Vintage & Antique

05/03/2025

Breaking cover with a cautionary message.

A year ago, I opened an account with as I was shipping a backglass from France to Holland.

It transpired that sending using La Poste provided the same service at half the cost.

The FedEx account thus remained dormant.

Last week I saw FedEx had taken payment from my bank account for a shipment made by Giocom LLC in Dayton Beach to DIY Investors in Tucson.

I had no knowledge of either these businesses or this transaction - I have attempted to contact FedEx by various means and auto-confirmation has been received in each instance; I have not been afforded the courtesy of a response.

My bank cancelled my card in light of this and I await a replacement; the snowball effect of this is not insignificant ...

25/02/2025

16/02/2025

I'm breaking my posting embargo to share the message I received from damir_n213 as I had the temerity to comment on a post.

Needless to say, little Damir likes to dish out threats of violence while he hides behind a private profile.

09/02/2025

Social media being what it is, I have been asked by several people whether La Maison Ruth & La Calècherie are open for business as they aren't available via booking.com

That's simply because I am not using booking.com until they remove a defamatory (and totally false) review - and whether I shall later isn't a decision I'll take lightly given the degree of negativity I've seen regarding booking.com from guests and hosts alike.

La Maison Ruth & La Calècherie are bookable direct or via honest, responsible platforms such as Nature.house

01/02/2025

-32, 1932-1937, et Walcker

1200€

11/01/2025

Out in the sun, at last.

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.

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.