Horses and Brylcreem

When I was young, the youths of those days tried to distinguish themselves from the establishment by amongst others their hairstyle: Duck's ass for boys and Beehives for girls.

Brylcreem advert

Brylcreem was in those days something every boy used tons of. Personally I did not get excited by Rock & Roll music; Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & his Comets was simply not my cup of tea. As a result Duck's asses and Beehives also did not score very high on my list. However, recently I was confronted again with Brylcreem, or something similar.
During one of our trips in the vicinity we stumbled upon an announcement for a working horse show in Lalheue.

Working horses

Sue had heard about these shows, not unknown in England, where competitions were held in the country side, involving horses doing what working horses are meant to do (working…., ploughing, pulling carts, etc.). The horse that performed best won the prize.
On the day itself we went to Lalheue, and the dozens of parked cars showed us where the party was taking place. We saw a lot of working horses, but that was about it.

Trotting the day away

Not a plough or a farmer's cart in sight. The show was a sort of Miss or Mister Working Horse contest, where the horse was being judged on appearance, the "elegance" of its trot(?), how beautifully the animal could back up(?), etc. In a word, a Miss Burgundy contest, but this time with horses.

And back up!

After having watched two or three contestants we decided to give it a miss, but one horse caught our attention. It had a checkerboard pattern shaved on its behind, at least that was what it looked like. Looking closer we noticed that the pattern was applied using a brush, and it was kept in place by big quantities of pomade.

Brylcreem?

We were off quite quickly, but the horse? That has most likely been Rocking Around the Clock until the wee small hours of the morning…

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Fear of flying

Or should it be "Fear of not flying"?

Montgolfiade 2009

Each year, around Whitsuntide or Pentecost Chalon-sur-Saône celebrates its Montgolfiade, a festival where dozens of hot air balloons are supposed to be launched. And since this hot air balloon festival is always held on a Saturday and Sunday, there have been quite a few weekends where we set off to Chalon to see this from close-by. However, it has always been either rainy, or too windy, so either we ourselves cancelled the trip or the balloons refused to go up.

Montgolfiade 2016

However, during one of our vain trips we once found some cold air balloons attached to a gate on the venue of the Montgolfiade. My learned assistant knew that those things normally fly around sunrise or sunset, so one fine day, towards the evening we drove once again to Chalon. There was a slight breath of wind, but who cares?

Montgolfiade on a fine day (internet)

The balloons did not fly that night. The following day they did, however, as we learned from the newspaper. The burning question rests: are we content having seen the two or three balloons flying over Chazelle, or are we going to visit Chalon on day again to see dozens floating in the air?

Mini-Montgolfiade 2014 - Chazelle

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