Bridge Days

Wonderful things, bridge days.

In France, there are 11 official national holidays every year and 5 of these fall in May !

In the UK if a public holiday falls on a weekend then the public holiday is taken on the following Monday. Not in France. If a public holiday falls on a weekend then it is lost.

However, the French aren’t going to be cheated!, if a bank holiday falls on a Thursday or a Tuesday, they don’t believe that it is really worth going to work on the Friday or Monday so they ‘faire le pont’ (make the bridge) to make a long weekend !!

Back to 2008

My pre historic experience has now come to an end.

By the end of the week, I was getting into the rhythm of it all and thinking less about my huge pile of ironing !!. For three days I have been in a forest clearing surrounded by megaliths (standing stones) breathing in the heady scents of spring and learning about pre historic life. In essence, nothing was rushed, the end result is all important, whether you are lighting a fire by striking two rocks together, making a pottery pot or grinding the grain.

It has been a great experience..

A cow in the lounge

I have received the email from M.Martin.

Our lounge as it was fifty years ago, the home to a herd of cows !!

Pre historic Life.

Four kilometres away are the standing stones of Monteneuf. These megaliths (standing stones) are awesome, and have caught the imagination of hundreds and hundreds of people who travel huge distances to see them each year. Because of these stones and the curiosity we have for Neolithic life, the Centre les Landes was set up to provide information about this era, the legends and the mystery which surrounds life at this time. In addition, the Centre les Landes also runs courses on the environment, working with nature, the eco systems, sculpture and ecologically sound farming methods.

This week they are running a course ‘Pre Historic Life’. Centre les Landes run courses such as this, totally free of charge, throughout the year and as I have always been mildly interested in early civilisation, so I enrolled myself on the course for three days. Today was the first day. I arrived at 10.00 am and was given a goats skin to sit on. We sat ( of course !) cross legged on our animal skins in a circle and watched a demonstration on how early pots and pottery ‘mugs’ were made. We were then given a handful of clay ….

This afternoon, jewellery making. We were soon crafting pieces of slate just as they would have done thousands of years ago only using another stone and water to mould our ‘jewels’.

Tomorrow we are constructing a fire to ‘cook’ our pottery pots and we are making galettes (savoury pancakes) in the afternoon.

Shopping Shopping Shopping

Everytime I return to the UK a whole day ( at least !!) is set aside for shopping !.

A whole day from 10.00am until 6.00pm is spend in one of the huge shopping centres that are littered across the UK. Although I love rural France, and one of its charms is that it does not boast the copious amounts of commercialism that we have in the UK , one of my greatest pleasures when I return to the UK to enjoy this pure raw commercialism.

I have tried to explain the wonderful concept of a Shopping Centres to my French friends but they either look at me blankly and wonder why one would want to spend the whole day under cover shopping in the 300 or so shops on offer, or they shudder with obvious displeasure at the very thought !!

Architecture

I am in Sussex for five days visiting friends and family.

This time I have noticed more than ever before the differing styles of housing architecture, Victorian, the boxy 60's style, the modern estates and more than ever before the small housing developments that are springing up everywhere, all with less than twelve houses so that the developers comply with the regulations and do not have to provide social housing within their developments.

For the first time I am seeing and appreciating the diversity of the many different housing styles we have in the UK. The warmness of the brick, the bay windows, the taller two and now sometimes three storey houses and the thought that goes in to the design to ensure that they are pleasing to the eye. This is in complete contrast to French housing, the cool stone or rendered finish, where the majority of housing is single storey or with a bedroom or two in the loft and above all the housing is practical and functional.. the aesthetics are usually an afterthought and comprise of a couple of window boxes !!.

Disappearing Bread

I make three loaves of bread a week, use one immediately and freeze the other two. Yesterday evening I took a loaf out of the freezer and left it on the table to defrost overnight for breakfast this morning.

This morning… something has eaten my bread !.. and it wasn’t a mouse. Living in a stone house in the middle of the country we do get a few mice from time to time, but a mouse couldn’t climb a table leg.

When my husband came down to breakfast, I was armed with a huge roll of duct tape sealing every hole and crack. The small holes in the plasterboard around the water pipe and waste pipes leading to and from the sink, washing machine and dishwasher. The fridge was in the middle of the kitchen, perhaps the creature was hiding behind the fridge. It is possible !!.

Why are men much more relaxed about sharing their homes and their food with mice and OTHER creatures and yet the very thought sends women into a frantic frenzy ?

Just to be sure that we are not ‘invaded’ again and to satisfy my curiosity, I have this morning bought a humane trap, baited it with some more home made bread and I have put it next to the largest hole, which I have left untapped. Now we wait…..

Tombola Prize ... a Pig ?

The next village event looming on the village calendar is the Plant and Flower sale on 1^st May.

Yesterday evening there was a meeting at the village hall to discuss what plants should be bought, from where, who should collect them and who could ‘man’ the stalls etc etc.

The Plant and Flower sale was soon organised and the discussion then turned to the summer fete, a whole day event on 29^th June. Activities are being planned for the whole day with of course the traditional three course lunch in the middle of the day. The conversation soon turned to the Tombola prize, what should it be this year a pig or a lamb ?.. A heated debate continued about the merits of both animals..how many kilos would a lamb be in June ?..

Just imagine if you won a real pig, what would you do with it ?..obviously not a concern for these women, all of whom have rural backgrounds and who see this prize as a considerable draw for miles around.

I don’t think I’ll be putting my name on my tombola tickets this year !!

Monsieur Martin

A knock at the door. As I open the door a couple in their sixties beam at me.

‘Bonjour’, they say, ‘Are you the owner of this house?, the man continues, I used to come here every summer as a child, the house used to belong to my Uncle, Monsieur Martin. We live in Cannes now but we are holidaying in Brittany at the moment. I wonder, could I take a photo of the engraved stone fireplace..I remember it surrounded by cows when I was about 6 years old.’

I explain that we bought the house from Monsieur Martin about 10 years ago and at that time our whole house was a cow shed with earth floors, no electrics or water.

I usher them both into our lounge, where he takes a photo of the stone fireplace (minus the cows this time !!) and he promises to send me a copy of the photo of him and the cows next to the fireplace.

Ten minutes later they have gone but promise to return again next time they visit Brittany.

Art exhibition

Everyone in the village received a formal invitation to the ‘Animaux’ exhibition, which was held this morning at 11.00am at the Marie.

Before anyone could get a glimpse of the pictures being exhibited, there were of course the usual speeches from the mayor, the artist, and from someone important from Vannes. Forty minutes later we all filed up the stairs to a small room above the Marie. The pictures were actually very good and they allowed your imagination to see more than was actually painted. I did feel very sorry for the artist as the pictures were hung in a long narrow room lit with fluorescent tubes with a huge table taking up virtually the whole of the room so your face was virtually pressed against the picture you were looking at.

However, the artist was incredibly genuine and kind. She spent at least 30 minutes answering the children’s questions, why do you paint animals, how did you paint that unicorn ?, how long did it take to paint that picture and so on..

We then enjoyed a cider with cassis in the warm April sunshine.

Parties - Jelly and Ice cream ?

Yesterday, the day of my daughters’ birthday party.

I had spent the last two days preparing for the ‘big event’ !!.. wrapping pass the parcels, devising treasure hunt clues ( and then translating them into French !!), drawing a particularly wonky donkey (without a tail) on a huge board etc etc

Then, there was the cake… she had chosen a space ship balancing on a launch pad.

The picture looked so easy.. when I had finished my ship looked as if it had lost a space battle !!.. leaning very precariously on its launch pad !!..

2.00pm and 10 seven year olds descended. The mothers all arrived, came in, and looked expectantly. My friend, and mother of two of the children, whispered, ‘They are waiting for a coffee and a cake’… Panic must have spread all over my face.. I hadn’t prepared anything for them.. I thought of the bright blue battle damage space ship..and quickly dismissed the thought as even a possibility. My friend seeing my terror, said, shall we have the party and perhaps have coffee later ?

The seven mothers left and the party commenced. Four hours later, the seven mothers returned. Thankfully the ‘launch pad’ part of the cake was still intact so ‘voila’, my cake.. but the liquorice allsorts ‘supports’ did raise a few eyebrows !!..

Poisson d'Avril

It is believed that the observation of April Fool’s Day began in France, after Charles IX changed the calender in 1564, and New Years Day was changed to 1^st January.

People who still celebrated New Year’s Day on April 1^st became the ‘butt’ of many jokes. They were called ‘Poisson d’Avril’ (April Fish) because at that time of year the sun was in the zodiac sign of Pisces, the fish.

As in England, it has become customary to play tricks on family and friends. French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends back. When the ‘young fool’ discovers this trick, the prankster yells ‘Poisson d’Avril.