Memory recovery

Finished reading the Maigret story at reference 1 this morning, for what it probably at least the third time in something over the last five years if references 2, 3 and 4 are anything to go by. Somewhat chastened to find that while I remembered bits of the story, great chunks of it had gone missing - so missing that rereading them did not bring them back. It was nearly as if I was reading it for the first time. Worst of all, the ending had completely vanished.

I also failed to spark on either the merlans or the clous which got me going on previous occasions. With his clou being interesting because of its rather indirect connection with our clue, as in Agatha. This might be due to my getting lazier, less likely to get up to look up the words that I don't know or don't remember.

But I do remember a correspondent telling me that her memory had got so bad that she could get by just reading the novels of Balzac. By the time she got to the end of the sequence - quite a long sequence - she had completely forgotten the beginning and was quite happy to start over. How many years before we are in that happy position with the sort of serial detective dramas which we usually watch on television for an hour or so of an evening?

More good news from File Explorer, in that searching the blog archive for voleur turned up its five hits more or less instantly. Unlike in older versions, which took a while to process new search terms and often required the File Explorer application to be closed and restarted to get at the results. Three of the five being included in the references below and the other two being a different story involving robbers in its title.

PS 1: a restaurant called 'Vieux-Pressoir' had a big part in this one, and the image above was turned up by Bing using that as a search key. The link to source was not very helpful, but it may have been a restaurant attached to the vigneron at reference 5. Rather larger than the derelict cider presses which are sometimes used to decorate public house dining areas in Devon. 

While Google Images suggests an Alsatian restaurant of the same name, with a website which gives a new-to-me error, snapped above.

Also a reminder that when Simenon lived in Paris, I suppose before the second world war, there were plenty of unpretentious, independent restaurants owned and run by people with provincial roots serving good quality provincial food and wine. Quite often getting some of their stuff sent up from the natal village. Not something we see a lot of in the London of today.

PS 2: 19:26: Microsoft Start has just brought me some Wellingtonia news. It seems that Havering Country Park (reference 6) is full of them. A bit to the north of Romford and not far off our way to Cambridge around the M25. Clearly a place to turn into next time we go north.

References

Reference 1: Le Voleur de Maigret - Simenon - 1966. Volume XXIV of the collected works

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/12/gmaps-collapse.html.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/11/fish.html.

Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/jumping-to-conclusions.html.

Reference 5: https://en.levieuxpressoir.fr/.

Reference 6: https://www.havering.gov.uk/info/20037/parks/723/havering_country_park.