iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My parents appear to have kept every letter and postcard I ever sent them. For someone who failed English O level twice (3rd go ✅) I appear to have become quite eloquent the moment I left school. Mind you I was crap at French but now live here.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Well that was a fun twenty minutes with my Santander app this morning. I've had an account with 'them' since before Abbey National became a bank 😁 Now, suddenly they're not sure that I'm the person they opened the account for. 🤔 Upload this, that and take a selfie.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It would have been my mother's 92nd birthday today. Her face is on the family calendar, as a reminder. Strange, to not be making a call or sending text messages. I still visit the house, but to clear it. Anyway, some things won't change. "Do you fancy a bottle of red ?" 😍 Happy Birthday 🎂🍾🎉

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

At Arques la Bataille and the sun is trying to make an appearance

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Fingers crossed for the weather. This afternoon I'm off to visit the ruins of the Château d'Arques la Bataille near Dieppe. It's Heritage Week-end. Lots of things to do and so little fuel with which to do it ⛽😉

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I went to see "Pressure" at the cinema yesterday (VF). An entertaining D-Day film about weather and Met guys. What I found gripping, despite knowing the outcome, was how close it was. The 'pressure' on the teams to interpret the data, and on those who had to make the calls. Worth seeing.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In England, at my parent's house. More clearance work. I managed to fill my car with blu-rays and CDs. Took 5 caddies to get them into Thames Hospice at Maidenhead 😊. On the short drive over I was amazed to find that even plastic boxes could smell of 'them'. The lingering scent of nostalgia 😊.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Half five and it's dark outside 😕 Off to England, now that Shuttle prices are back to sensible. Going to the folks' house with my brother. He's been doing the M25 once a week getting stuff sorted. I feel guilty for not doing more. Probate was granted within a week. Need to "vide maison".

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

St Jan's Kirk in Maastricht and the view from the top.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The brewery at Val Dieu Abbey. Loved the beams. Great chunks of timber straight from the tree. Not, neat and tidy.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

One of the things I appreciated travelling by train out of Liège was the fact that my train ticket put a cap on the station car park charge. 7,20€ for the day. Pretty reasonable for a car park 300m from the station. I'd have paid a lot more in Arras.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Finished where I started. The abbey of Val Dieu in Aubel.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Lunch break. The brewery is just round the corner

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Today I'm starting the home trip at the ABMC Cemetery at Henri-Chapelle

A gold American eagle on top of a pillar

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Really enjoyed my day in Maastricht. Had a downpour at lunchtime and then it brightened up. The beer was better than I was expecting, the market was on, so I bought cheese, I visited more churches than you could shake a stick at. Found the ramparts and the station is so, not, Chatham 😁😁

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Only been in Maastricht ten minutes and I already prefer it to Köln. It's grey but warm enough. First thing to get used to : the bikes 😍

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Today it's grey, but for the moment still dry. Off to Maastricht.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Walked across the Rhein this afternoon. Hard going, came back on the bridge. 😁

The R Rhein at Köln. From the Hohenzollern Bridge

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Made it. Far too warm for trousers 😁

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Never been on one of these. Off to Köln for the day.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The state of this. The reconstructed castle at Vianden. They say it's the most visited site in the Duchy. Easy to believe

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The ruins of the castle at Esche sur Sûre

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

They give you a Simon beer afterwards and this 0 is actually nice. More lime and ginger but does have a hint of malt as well. I'm going to be buying this later at the supermarché

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Up in the château there are small museums about beer, tanning and the liberation of 44.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Have driven down to Wiltz in Luxembourg. I'm not fussed on pils but discovered the Simon range last year. They don't have a shop but kindly sold me some glasses.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

There was a photo exhibition in the Museum of Wallon Life. A reminder of how many women worked at the mines. It was them that would push the trolleys filled with coal. La Houilère, became a local symbol.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Not far from my hotel is FN Herstal. It's a big place. But you can't just pop in and buy a crate of rifles. Outide on the wall was is an interesting plaque. In 1966 the female workers demanded equal pay for equal work. Men trembled. Especially in an arms factory 😉😉

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Usually this is a great place for walking in the forests. Much of which have gone.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I think they do intravenous as well as bottles. Belgium Peak Beers

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Just driven out to Belgium Peak Beers. The surrounding forests have been devestated by fire. Hectares now are blackened fields of nothing.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

So yesterday on arrival in Herstal I began where I intend finishing 😍

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The new plaque to the 49th CEF (Loyal Edmonton) unveiled in Zonnebeke this afternoon. It commemorates their part in the Canadian assault on Passendale in 1917. 30 members of the regimental family attended, many with relatives who fought here.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Yes. Worth the read. If you remember Neighbours, much of the language will be familiar 🤣

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Whilst wandering about the military camp tents yesterday (Crécy 2026) I came across a German who made suits of armour and weapons. I asked about who bought them, I'd have thought it was a pretty niche hobby. Until this chap from Rouen wandered in looking to buy one.

A row of medieval helmets with swords in front

The artisan on the left and a customer trying a helm

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I think there's going to be a battle

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

We're doing the 680th anniversary of the battle of Crécy this weekend. Yanks and y'r petty 250 years, eat your hearts out. 💔😁

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Having a conversation with an American who feels that France has a very strict gun policy and that we enforce too many laws. Waiting to hear which laws we shouldn't be enforcing. As for the guns : Vive la France 🇫🇷😁

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

It was grey yesterday so I took myself back to the cinema to rewatch : La Bataille de Gaulle, Pt 2. A point I'd not picked up on was the scene in England where Americans comment on the number of blacks in Leclerc's 2e DB. The Americans actually stipulated that the division had to be 'blanched'.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I've wanted to use this phrase for so many years. Never thought it would apply to me, but. Happy Birthday to me, "If it ain't out of keeping with the situation". 😊

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

It's been a very long week or whatever it has been. I have so lost track of time. I have American visitors and in between playing the host I've been trying to prepare something to say at my mother's funeral. This morning that was complicated by the death of my father. Double funeral. ❤️❤️ Eternal.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Happy 4th July to all my British friends. 250 years later we can celebrate that the colonials went their own way 😉

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Went over to England Tuesday to visit my father and take him to see my mother in hospital. She wasn't great but managed the odd smile. Came home late last night. She died this morning. Back on Le Shuttle to England. Expecting something doesn't make it easier. So sad 😢😢

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

I am in the slow process of losing my parents. Probably going to happen within days of each other, which would be sort of nice. They've been married for 73 years ; I don't like the idea of one lingering on for long. It was traumatic enough for my mother going in to hospital on her own.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

18th June. Yes I know, "l'appel du général de Gaulle" but Belgian beer takes precedence 😊

Une bouteille de Waterloo bière (triple) et son goblet

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Well that went from 22 and sunny, to black and passion very quickly.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I'm in England on a short visit. Yesterday was the first time I'd ever visited my mother in hospital. With the Reform talk going on over here I'll add my tuppence. Without immigrants, that hospital would not be functioning. From nurses to cleaners almost all of them were 'not white English'.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

My Canadian visitors wanted some poppies to photograph. These did the trick. Cambrai side of Vis en Artois.

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SimonG 🇨🇦🥈 @simongodly.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Tomorrow looks like being a big, media day for Dr Jesus. Pentecost is upon us and, in theory, whatever he comes out with, will be (for one of those rare fleeting moments), intelligible to us all. 😛 😛 😛 There again, Ascension passed by without him doing his thing 🙁

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