Thursday 25 August 2011

Helicopter!

landing & door opening
It's pretty quiet where we live. We're at the end of a chemin, our neighbours Alexandra & Pascal mostly live in a flat in Paris; coming down for long weekends and holidays. We get tractors of course and in the morning and early evening we hear the 'brebis' [ewes] bahh-ing at a neighboring farm. That's more or less it; barring the odd training jet which screams over on a low flying exercise scaring the bejesus out of us.

man in white shirt peers upwards
Tuesday was just a bit different, we heard the sound of a chopper in the distance--rare but it has happened once or twice. However, this time the noise became distinctly louder. Suddenly we saw it coming in low and then circling to land in Eric's field just behind our house. By this time our curiousity was aroused and we'd grabbed the camera and hurried outside.

We were in time to see one of the doors open. We were hoping for a movie star or famous director to emerge but sadly not. A chap in white shirt and dress trousers popped out, strode a few meters towards the edge of the field, seemingly peered upwards and then walked back to the chopper.

chopper lifts off
The door shut, the blades revved up again, and it took off. On one of the pics you can just make out male passengers dressed in white 'office' shirts -  a real rarity around here. Everything happened in the space of no more than 5 mins.
Please take care! A blog reader accidentially ended up on a nasty virus infected site when they googled the name for the chopper company.

going, going, almost gone
We have no idea why they landed and the Marie is shut so we can't go and see if they know something. There is the annual motocross [off-road motorbike] competition "Enduro de la Ronde des Palets" this coming weekend, but all the trails and 
 circuits are on the other side of Charnizay so it couldn't really be connected to that.

Hard to believe it took place at all once the chopper had gone. 

P.S. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

16 comments:

Susan said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Niall & Antoinette said...

@Susan - LOL!! it would have been our guess too but he was clearly shading his eyes with both hands...
no the name didn't clarify things at all.

Craig said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jane and Lance Hattatt said...

Hello Niall and Antoinette:
What a very odd thing to have happened and how strange that it should all be over within a few minutes leaving you, we suspect, to wonder if you had actually seen it at all.

Craig said...

Hi N&A - I've deleted my comment in case the link was dodgy. But I went to the site with no problems and my anti virus didn't flag anything. They seem to a legitimate company. Sorry to hear of Susan's problem.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Jane & Lance - it was odd, especially the chap looking up into the sky. He wasn't looking at a building or the view over to the other side of the valley...

@ Craig - Thanks I've put a warning on the post just so as folks can take care.

GaynorB said...

I suppose this is another way of beating the rush hour in Charnizay!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Gaynor - absolutely! note to self: must get one to commute to school ;-)

ladybird said...

Maybe the guy was feeling claustrophic in the small helicopter cabin and just needed some 'open' air. Or maybe they were trying to get away from a helicopter or even a prey bird that had been following and attacking them. Hmmm, I must have been watching too many horror movies lately :) Martine

Susan said...

We are all clean and sorted out now, thanks to Simon staying up till 3am! The virus hid all our files so it looked like our hard drive had given up the ghost.

I once requested a helicopter on the stationery and supplies order where I worked. They didn't give me one though - skinflints :-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Martine - you think?? :-) Remind me not to post anything about hornets or other large stinging insects!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Susan - oh excellent :-)! Glad to hear all is back to normal though I don't envy Simon staying up til 3am to fix it!

LOL! But I doubt CĂ©lestine would approve if you had one!

Diane said...

Niall and Antoinette, thanks so much for visiting my blog and passing a comment, much appreciated. It is great to 'meet' you. You sound as if you are as quiet as we are here, a helicopter in the field next to our house would be a huge surprise. I am not going to take a chance and Google the name :-) I will be back, Take care Diane

the fly in the web said...

Surprised he didn't just want a pee...

LindyLouMac said...

Thanks so much for leaving a comment on my Festa del Villano post and for becoming a follower. I have returned the compliment and am delighted to have had a browse around your blog, why or why did I not pay you a visit before now. I always enjoy your photos on BW but now I can learn more about what goes on behind the photos, as in the basket post :)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Diane - welcome :-) Hope you enjoy the blog. We are quite quiet here-- very rural.
However ear mufflers are at the ready for the motocross this weekend--it can really echo up the valley.

@fly in the web - welcome to you too! :-) That's what Susan thought as well. It would have been the obvious reason but he was shading his eyes with both hands....

@LindyLouMac - welcome to you as well!! Glad I took the time to drop by your blog :-) Spent every holiday of my teenage years in Luino on Lago Maggiore and have a real soft spot for the country.

As for the basket--well the squatter isn't giving up yet :-)