Have Iona and Joe done enough to pass into the ‘classe supérieure’ ?

During May we have enjoyed a bank holiday every week … add in the ‘pont jours’ and really the French don’t work a great deal during May !! I am sure the May bank holidays are there to ease them gently in to les grandes vacances of July and August.

But we were all back at work and at school today. Last week, Iona had exams every morning and afternoon, the ‘evaluation nationale’, which I think is similar to the 11+ but it doesn’t determine which school she goes to. My understanding is, that these exams are just to give a global view of the education standards.

Today, brown envelopes were brought home from school. Have Iona and Joe done enough to pass this academic year and to pass into the ‘classe supérieure’ ?

Each year about 10% of children have to redo their academic year, so bringing home THE brown envelope is pretty nerve wracking …

Iona first… whooppi, she goes to college next year. Joe, yippee… he too passes into the next class.
We are happy in Reminiac this evening….

The realities of country living....

Iona and Joe were invited to a sleepover to a friends’ house Saturday evening.

Sunday morning, very bleary eyed they returned home.

‘Was it fun?’ I asked.

‘Too cool’, replied Joe. ‘Claude’s papa caught a rabbit in their garden. We weren’t allowed to hold it because it might have fleas.’

‘Where is it now?’ I asked
.
‘In their freezer.’ Joe relied, searching for his transformer.

‘What, he just put it in the freezer?’ I asked getting somewhat alarmed.

‘No’, Joe replied, now getting a little exasperated with all my questions, ‘Claude’s papa hung the rabbit up by its back legs in the garage , took its skin off… do you know it all came off in one bit, and then took all its guts out, THEN he put it in the freezer.’

‘Did this upset you?’ I asked my eight year old son.

‘No, the rabbit was eating their vegetables.’

Iona slouches into the kitchen, ‘Did Joe tell you, their were 7 baby rabbits in the dead rabbits tummy.’

AAaaaah… too much country living, we need to get back to a city.

The African savannah in…….. Brittany?

We are having a sneaky five day holiday… no school on Wednesdays, Thursday was a bank holiday and all the schools are shut today,,, why go to school for just a Friday!!.
Yippee, so today we went to Branféré Parc. What a fantastic place. Branféré Parc is involved in the preservation of 24 protected species. Absolutely no cages here, the 1,000 species are kept in relative freedom within the 40 hectares of watering places linked together by cascades, wide meadows, islands and undergrowth.

The African plaine

Suddenly we came upon, The plain of Africa. It looked exactly like the African savannah and as we looked we saw giraffes, ostriches, zebras, kudus, pygmy hippopotamuses and wildebeasts all grazing together in total harmony. Amazing.
We turned a corner, and in front of us were nets, huge nets in the trees…an aerial trail in the trees is made of 1700 square metres of acrobatic nets. Wow, what an adventure !! We climbed onto the nets, no harnesses required, and from high up in the trees we could see over the African Plain….

A treetop adventure !!

To finish our visit we watched a remarkable high flying show where a collection of 120 birds (storks, pelicans, flamingo, eagles, vultures, kites, hawks and multicoloured parrots) fly literally just a few inches above your head.

Birds, birds everywhere !!!

We had a fantastic day… and if you do come to Brittany this summer it is well worth a visit !!

Labelled as Les Anglais. Offensive?

We will always be known as ‘Les Anglais.’

If we book a table in a restaurant, order something from a shop or make an appointment with dentist we  rarely have to give our name. We are ‘Les Anglais’.

Yesterday, I was asking about a kettle and the shop assistant shouted to her collegue,’ L’anglaise wants the Phillips kettle, do we have one?’

Just further proof that however much I try to improve my pronounciation I will never be able to hide my English accent!!

At this point I smile, as everyone looks at the ‘l’anglaise’ wanting to buy a kettle.

I feel I should be offended by this label, is it similar to a sexist remark?

But, I am not in the slightest bit upset, amused, yes, but not offended.

I guess, like any remark, it is usually HOW it is said, and I have never been referred to as l’anglaise in a nasty way.

It is quite a luxury not having to share the sofa with a nail gun!!.

We need a shed. For ten years we have needed a shed. For ten years I have nagged Mark about a shed.

As we don’t have a shed his tools are everywhere, in the hall, under the kitchen table, under the stairs… he can never find anything and I keep tripping over the circular saw in the lounge… ohhhh here I go again….

Finally, he has got fed up of my nagging and has converted a small ruin on the side of the house into a rather nice shed complete with work bench and racking for all his tools. Perfect.

 Last weekend all the tools were moved into the new shed. It is quite a luxury not having to share the sofa with a nail gun!!.
I hadn’t realised quite how many tools Mark had until I saw them all lined up… perhaps we should get a lock?.. this shed is quite exposed.

Mark gave me the, ‘Will she EVER stop nagging look’.  Saturday evening we have a secure shed (with a lock!!)  and a house tool free !!..

All safe....

Yesterday, I came home from dropping the children off at school to find two men with electric screwdrivers dismantling the lock!!!..

Thankfully they were electricians whom Mark had asked to install a couple of sockets into his new shed…. but maybe we need a ‘beefier’ lock !!

Friday Night. Galette Night.

There aren’t too many takeaways in rural Brittany…. In fact I think our closest takeaway restaurant is 45km away!!..

So instead of a takeaway night the French have a ‘galette night’. In Brittany, this is usually Friday evening.

Galettes are savory crêpes (pancakes), they are larger than crêpes and are usually made with buckwheat flour. The traditional (une galette complète) filling is a slice of ham, grated emmental cheese and an egg cooked inside the galette. However, you can really put what you like into a galette, sausages, bacon, scallops, prawns…..

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to find an original galette receipe, but I have come to the conclusion that no such thing exists !!

It seems everyone has their own receipe. The traditional batter receipe appears to be just buckwheat flour mixed with salt and a little water, but other women that I have spoken to add either one or two eggs, maybe some butter or cream, some add oil, others cider or beer and some even add buttermilk.

There is absolutely no point trying to work out if the batter should rest or not, as it can be anything from an hour to overnight !!..

All I can say, is that they are absolutely delicious and I would recommend anyone coming to France to take a trip to the locally Crêperie to enjoy a galette or two and of course it needs to be washed down with a cup of Breton cider !!

French nationality, or not?

I peeked inside the letter box. An envelope says ‘Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et Européennes’.

Could this be ‘The Decision’. Do we have French nationality or not?

I tear open the envelope, a formal letter and four printouts, two for Mark, one for me and one for Iona. What about Joe?, as he was born here is he automatically French?.

I stare at the letters and the print outs. The ironic thing is….. I don’t understand a word of it !!.

Le jour de la libération

WWII Victory Day (la fête de la victoire, le jour de la libération) is a holiday to celebrate the end of World War II and the French people's freedom. It is the anniversary of when Charles de Gaulle announced the end of World War II in France on May 8, 1945.

Today, WWII Victory Day, is a public holiday in France so post offices, banks, schools and many businesses are closed.

Many people attend parades and church services on May 8 each year to celebrate the end of World War II and the freedom of France from Nazi oppression. They also sing patriotic songs and display the French national flag on their homes and public buildings. The mood on WWII Victory Day is generally joyous but people may also make time to remember family members or others who died during World War II. In the past, World War II veterans played an important role in the celebrations but many of them are now older and some are unable to perform a public role.

Back on May 8, 1945 Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French Forces, announced the official end of World War II. Church bells rang to communicate and celebrate this message. It marked the end of a six-year war and the Nazi oppression in France, which resulted in millions of deaths.

May 8 and 9, 1945, were joyous days but it took some time for WWII Victory Day to become established as a day of celebration and a public holiday.

It wasn’t until April 1, 1965, the government announced that May 8, 1965, would be a special holiday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the end of World War II. This public holiday was only observed once, in 1965 to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the end of WWII.

In 1975 the French President decided that there should be no official or national commemoration of the end of World War II. Many veterans protested against this decision and continued to commemorate WWII Victory Day locally on May 8.

On October 2, 1981, WWII Victory Day became a public holiday. After much public debate, it also became an official national holiday in 1982.

The Netherlands v Hungary

 The battle between Sarkozy and Hollande continues.

The campaign officially ends at midnight Friday, before the polling stations open on Sunday. The last votes can be made at 6.00pm when the polling booths across France close.

The votes are then counted and the results are usually available before 7.00pm. It is however, illegal to publish the results in France before they are announced on French television at 8.00pm

However,  neighbouring Belgium and Switzerland have a keen interest in the forthcoming election results and are currently looking for loopholes in the current legislation which prevents them from broadcasting these results until 8.00pm..

Add the speed of the internet to the equation, along with France's 23 million Facebook and three million Twitter accounts, and the law banning result predictions before 8:00pm appears increasingly unworkable.

On French social networks, users were discussing a variety of ways of getting around the embargo, including renaming the candidates after countries and presenting the results as sports wins.

Some suggested renaming Hollande as The Netherlands and Sarkozy as Hungary, where his father was born.

Give Lily of the Valley to someone today....

 

The Fête du Travail (Labour day), the first of the Official holidays in May.  This public holiday celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labour movement.

On May 1st, 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the ladies of the court.

It has now become the tradition on May 1^st to give lily of the valley to your friends and family as a symbol of springtime and to wish them happiness. It is said that whoever finds a lily of the valley with 13 small bells will be particularly lucky !

It is the only day one can sell flowers on the streets without official authorization and without having to pay tax !!