Last Minute Preparations.

It has been raining for the past week. With the Vide Grenier just 2 days away everyone in Reminiac is hoping the this spell of wet and windy weather will break.

Tomorrow we will be marking out the ‘car boot’ pitches, collecting the flowers and plants from the local nursery and I have been charged to make 200 cupcakes… The cupcake trend bypassed Brittany and the Bretons love them !!… If anyone has any good cupcake recipes please let me know… I need some fresh ideas… the carrot and orange ones didn’t go down too well last year !!…

With the stall holders arriving at 6.00am on Tuesday morning we need to get as much organised tomorrow as possible….

Here’s hoping for a dry Tuesday !!

Will France become a bilingual nation or will they resist ?

 France is a very proud nation. They are proud of their country, of their heritage and of their language.

The French take their holidays in France. I am not sure of the exact percentage, but I wouldn’t mind betting that at least 80% of the French take their holidays in France. I have been told on numerous occasions, ‘why should we take our holidays anywhere else, we have culture, some of the best beaches in the world, mountains for skiing and fabulous countryside.’ It is pretty hard to argue against this as it is all true !!.

The internet is however making the world a smaller place and English words are slowly creeping into the French language. Computer games and operating systems are increasingly in English and the younger generations are learning English without even realising it.

Yesterday, a friend called round for a coffee and although I know she understands more English that even she is prepared to admit we talk in French and she puts up with my appalling pronunciation and terrible conjugasion. Her mother is arriving in soon and I ask when. ‘Dans 4 weeks, eh semaines.’ She looks at me shocked. ‘I have never said an English word in a French sentence before.’

Will France become a bilingual nation or will they resist ?

If it is raining in Brittany you can be skiing in the mountains !!

As some French schools are still on holiday, some are lucky enough to be holidaying in the mountains.

As they say in France… Quand il pleut en Bretagne, il neige en montagne!

It is definitely raining in Brittany so it follows that it is snowing in the mountains. And it is !!!…

Iona’s friend emailed her this photo from the Pyrenees.

Sarkozy v Hollande. Round two

Yesterday, I couldn’t escape the political debate. Everywhere I went I got caught up in the same conversation, in SuperU, the post office and at the school gate.

With only 1.5% between the two main parties there is very little between Sarkozy and Hollande, and with one in five people voting for the National Front, Le Pen’s score of 18%, nearly double of what her father achieved in the first round in 2007, the political debates are becoming very heated!!

The playground has also become a political arena, yesterday evening Iona asked, ‘What would the impact be on Europe if Hollande won?’

Joe (aged eight) replied,’ He won’t win, Hugo D and Pierre said that Sarkozy will win’.

On the 6th May we shall see if Hugo D and Pierre’s predictions are correct !!

Being watched by a man in yellow flourescent trousers....

  I have a few idiosyncrasies, well several. Looking for things to take to the dump is not normal!

I actively seek out old football goal posts, finished paint pots and assorted rubbish so that I can visit the dump. Yesterday, I discovered a new dump.

I love the considered and orderly approach to French dumps. In France, you drive your car up a small hill / bridge, and on either side, on the ground there are about eight containers. The tops of the containers are at road height, so there are no slippery steps to climb up with armfuls of old carpet and waste building materials. Here you can just reverse the car up to the correct container, plastic, metal, cardboard, glass, building waste etc etc and open the boot and throw the waste down into the correct container, under the watchful eye of a man in yellow fluorescent trousers!

These dumps are so organized and tidy. There is always a broom for you to clear up any waste that may have fallen on the road.

The new dump I discovered yesterday has a different way of dealing with garden waste. This is not placed in a container but in a sectioned off part of the dump in which there are 4 or 5 compartments. When the first one becomes full it is left to compost down and the second compartment is opened, and when that becomes full the third compartment is used etc etc. The compost is then sold. Ingenious.

You arrive with a trailer full of rubbish and leave with a trailer full of well-rotted steaming compost…

Some trailers take more than others!

La Maison Blanche

 

Located in a tiny hamlet, in the depths of rural France about ten minutes from the mediaeval town of Malestroit, La Maison Blanche enjoys solitude.

The hamlet is inhabited by three widows, they have an average age of 78. They enjoy routine, and they do the same thing every day, a little bit of cleaning in their respective houses in the morning, a hot midday lunch, a short sieste and a two hour walk starts at 2.30. Not much gets past these determined women. Should you be a bit unsure as to the exact location of La Maison Blanche they will wave you in with a cheery smile!.

If you are seeking peace, then La Maison Blanche is for you, here you will hear the birds and see the stars.

Malestroit, the nearest town is located next to a canal and with its tarmaced towpaths it is perfect for cycling or walking. A visit to the weekly market is a must, every Thursday the town square is crammed full of stalls selling fresh fish, vegetables, hot roasting chickens, live chickens and ripe cheeses!!.

Malestroit also hosts regular medieval weekends, where the centre of the town is completely closed to cars and knights on horseback take over the town and there are three days of jousting, medieval crafts and feasts to be enjoyed!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvh_Ad5ndWg&list=UUzBcawEERnLRrFiGMF8FKMw&index=7&feature=plcp

La Maison Blanche is available to let all year round and we still have a few available weeks during the summer. To have a quick preview of La Maison Blanche, check out this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmFIo8peQO0&list=UUzBcawEERnLRrFiGMF8FKMw&index=10&feature=plcp

Keep warm in April.

The French have a wonderful saying for this very temperamental weather we are experiencing.

En Avril ne te découvre pas d’un fil.
En Mai fait se qu’il te plait.

In April, don’t take off a thread.
In May, do as you please.

Hollande v Sarkozy

Next Sunday the French public will take to the polls to decide whether to re-elect Nicholas Sarkozy.

At the moment the polls are pretty even, so there is no way of guessing who will win this this two-stage election. However, both Mr Sarkozy and his primary challenger Francois Hollande are recklessly adopting populist positions rather than tackling the more ‘unpopular’ issues.
With both polling around 30% in the first round, these two candidates are expected to progress to a head-to-head run-off on May 6.

The election itself is being played out as a populist war of words, with politicians choosing to ignore the real problems in France which would require tough and potentially unpopular political decisions on: a rebalancing of the economy, competitiveness of labour and social issues. The policies suggested are unlikely to even begin to solve these problems, and focus instead on crowd-pleasing stances on taxation and public spending, and hostility to globalisation, specifically within the context of the Eurozone.

Economically, France with the second-largest economy in the Eurozone, has a generous welfare and one of the highest levels of public spending in western Europe. France faces the harsh reality of having run a budget deficit every year since 1974. Earlier this year it lost its AAA credit rating. With public debt standing at almost 90% of GDP, France faces a crisis potentially similar to the other south European states unless it redresses its finances.

In a country where voters do not want to sacrifice social welfare to the altar of austerity, analysts warn none of the main candidates are going far enough to slash spending. The French social model, with its wide-ranging benefits, remains paramount.

We watch as the presidential candidates battle …

French hairdressers

 

Today a first…. We have lived in France for over ten years and I still haven’t stepped inside a French hairdressers.

I have always waited until we returned to England to get my hair cut and as we only go back twice a year, after six months my hair does look a little disheveled!!..

BUT, still, I am a coward… it is actually Iona who is having her hair cut.

We arrive and Iona is whisked away to a rear salon and I am asked to wait by the door. Forty minutes pass. How long does it take to cut a fringe and a couple of centimeters of the back of her hair?

Two girls, aged about 14 emerge from the rear salon, one has her hair streaked blue, the other pink.

As I look around, EVERYONE is having their hair dyed.

AAAHHH…. Will Iona emerge with purple hair?

Thankfully, no… 

 

Wood satisfaction.

Every year our neighbour takes two weeks off work to chop wood. Wood is his only source of heating.

Wood management is very important in Brittany, there is always a patch of woodland being completely cleared and then replanted. It is very common in France for parents with land to plant up to 1,000 saplings when a child is born and then to give the trees to the child when they reach 18.

Coppicing is also very popular, this is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge, and, after a number of years the coppiced tree, or stool, is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again.

This year our neighbour managed to find a patch of woodland, mainly oak trees that were being cleared just outside of Reminiac. For a week he sawed and chopped the several huge trees into reasonable sized logs and stacked them in a neat pile. Last week he borrowed the tractor from the Mairie and transported the logs home where they have been stacked down the right hand side of his garden. He now has two enormous log piles.

As he was proudly looking at his wood piles, I asked him,

‘How long will the wood last?’

‘Six years’, he replied, ‘It is really good to know that for six years I will be warm and no one can take that away from me. I’m not reliant on anyone to provide me with heat for the next six years.’

I know he will chop wood next year. To have a six year wood supply is very important to him. This is not the first time I’ve heard this view. In Brittany, wood is still the main source of heating and to be self sufficient in wood is very important. There is good evidence of this as you drive through the villages, most houses have sizeable wood piles.

I wonder if in years to come when power cuts become less and the French become to trust the power companies whether this need to be self sufficient in wood will become less important or whether it is so engrained into their culture they will always have huge wood piles.

Chocolates from Rome

You would not not have heard any bells in France over the Easter weekend, not even the midday bells have been heard.

As I understand it..all the bells have gone to Rome and they return on Easter Sunday. As they fly over the gardens on their way back to their rightful bell towers they drop Easter eggs and chocolate rabbits and chickens in all the gardens across France, ringing as they leave.

This is the signal for all the children to dash outside and to search for the hidden chocolate goodies !!

Holiday in France = Pressure Cooker

 

I have just met with a woman at the tourist information office in Malestroit.

Before we can advertise our gites to the French we must confirm that there is a pressure cooker in each property!..

Whom, just whom would want to use a pressure cooker on holiday?

The Gardens of Brocéliande

  I really can’t believe that we are only just out of March, the weather is glorious… hope that we are in for a scorching summer!.

Yesterday have visited the Gardens of Brocéliande. These large gardens near Rennes, about 20minutes drive and contain specialised plant collections such as the French national iris collection. In addition, there’s a variety of landscapes to explore, all with their own specialised plants. The plants are well tended and are (thankfully!) labeled up so you know what you`re looking at. There are also a lot of gardeners at work who are more than happy to chat to you about the plants.

           

Our children love the barefoot walk, which, as it says is a walk for about 20 minutes without shoes on. The walk is designed to ‘wake up your sense of touch’ and you will walk over a 100 different surfaces. Really good fun. 

This year they have also added a ‘Blindfolded walk’ where you walk around a circuit wearing, surprisingly a blindfold! Excellent fun.