Sunday, December 2, 2012

Game Called on Account of Snow


FRENCH FACT-of-the-DAY

The population of France is approximately 65,000,000. It thus ranks as the world's 21st largest country. 


Sunday was to be the day for our second friendly game of the Junior season, this time at home, against our cross-town rivals, the Lyon Les Gones.

Mother Nature would take a hand in the proceedings.

The athletic complexes in France are owned and operated by the cities. They have a long term rooting interest in maintaining the quality of the natural grass fields, so they have come up with three guidelines as to when not to allow teams on them for practices or games.

CRITERIA #1: If the temperature goes below freezing, the fields are closed.

CRITERIA #2: If there is snow on the field, the fields are closed.

CRITERIA #3: If the fields are extremely wet or muddy, the fields are closed.

Outside The Villa's front door
when I woke up this morning 

My street, Rue Christian Lacouture

Surely because of my recent, avid reading of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, I was able to deduce that our game today was postponed.

A message from our Junior team Head Coach, Olivier Caldes, confirmed my brilliant deduction.

I still have no good reason as to why we were allowed on the fields to practice during last week's monsoon weather.

Feeling greatly improved physically, I ventured into the city to see the winter wonderland that might be Lyon.

My first stop was Fourvière Hill.

This Lyon lion had traces of snow 

 And these kids were having fun

Then I headed down the hill to the Vieux Lyon.

 This Cathedral gargoyle was
hard at work as the snow melted

The Vieux Lyon
A bit eerie today 

After reaching one of my favorite boulangeries for a much need croissant and a café, I wandered over to St. Paul's Church. It seems that every time that I have gone by it, it has been closed. Today it was finally open so I decided to explore its wonders and get in from the chilly air outside.

Nice Flames

Not sure which saint this is but
it does not look too good for him

Nice Goatee

Colorful Angels

 Madonna and Child

Brilliant Art
Located above the Main Altar

St. Paul
The Old Swordsman himself

It's That-A-Way 

 The Holy Ghost was
IN THE HOUSE!

Nativity
It is that time of the year after all 

On a side altar

A Sainted French King

No name that I could discern but if I'm not mistaken, King Louis IX (1214-1270) is the only French King to be canonized by the Holy Mother Roman Catholic Church so it must be him.

He is usually just referred to simply as St. Louis.

St. Paul's Baptistery 

 A Tapestry of St. Paul

The view of Vieux Lyon from
the River Saône's Rive Gauche

La Croix-Rousse District 

Today's Painting-of-the-Day

Here are the weather predictions for Lyon for the next four days of practice in the Fahrenheit scale popular in America.

Monday: Temperatures from 46˚ to 39˚, rain

Tuesday: Temperatures from 44˚ to 32˚, rain

Wednesday: Temperatures from 42˚ to 32˚, rain

Thursday: Temperatures from 37˚ to 24˚, partly cloudy

For the peace of mind of my French teammates, do not worry, these Fahrenheit temperatures are almost the same as the Centigrade temperatures that we use here in France, give or take just a degree or two.

It sounds toasty to me, I'm planning on wearing shorts. How about you my beloved Falcons?

MAN vs. THE ELEMENTS!!!

But only if we are allowed on the practice fields.

2 comments:

David said...

If I had to guess, I'm thinking you were able to get on the practice field the other day because whoever is in charge was staging the obligatory one-day strike.

Olivier R said...

good luck for that big week before the break. Don t worry about the weather, even if it s bad keep in mind the bulldogs have worst weather up there in haute savoie!!