Free Textures: Grunge Lyonnaise

Well, I have returned from my lovely trip to France but appear to have brought back a mild dose of Swine Flu, along with the bottles of wine and jars of lavender and violet confiture. This is rather ironic, to say the least, as our hotel was next door to a health clinic where people were getting vaccinated for "La Grippe A". I'm by no means at death's door and as I'm otherwise in good health, my GP has not ordered a dose of the dreaded TamiFlu. However, I'm staying in bed for a few days in the hope that my condition won't escalate and I am already VERY bored, so have posted a some French textures in my Flickr Photo Stream. Feel free to use these for your personal, non-commercial projects but please credit me and send leave a link back here to your lovely creations.

Here are some previews with links:

Grab me here

Grab me here

Grab me here

Grab me here

If you want to get a hat...find a pebble

The last few days before we set out on our annual pilgrimage to the Fete des Lumieres in Lyon were a worrying time for my partner and I. Just one question occupied our thoughts and once we had left Paris, the tension was palpable. The last few minutes of the train journey into Lyon Perrache were fraught with anxiety and we felt no festive joy as we dashed through the Christmas market. The scrumptious spicy cakes and fortifying vin chaud could not delay us now. We desperately needed to know: had the Club Tricot Canuts of the Croix Rousse, held on to their title of knitters of the World's biggest Bobble Hat and would the Gros Caillou (Big Pebble) be proudly adorned with the fruits of their industrious labour, as it had been during last year's festival? On arrival at our hotel, we hastily dropped-off our bags and made our way to the Croix Rousse market square, at the end of which, on a fine day, it is sometimes possible to see Mont Blanc. The majestic mountain was of no consequence to us...we longed only to see the Big Pebble sporting its wonderous woolly winter warmer. Imagine if you can, dear readers, the joy that filled our hearts as the top of the fluffy bobble came into view..

We don't think it's the same hat as last year. The bobble looks a lot bigger and I can't recall the fluffy trim around the bottom.
What happens to the Bobble Hats after the Festival? We like to think that they will be donated to a good cause and that maybe there is a refugee camp somewhere in the World, full of multiple-coloured, fluffy, bobbled tents.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Rue Hénon,Lyon,France