Est naturalisée Française

Last week we received a call from the Prefectures' Office in Vannes.

'Your French Nationality papers are now complete. You can collect them when you wish.'

We collected them this morning. It has taken nearly two years... but now we all have French Nationality. Our names have also been changed slightly... Marc et Nicole !!..

We are told that we must now go to our local mayors' office to get our Identity Cards. BUT... before we can do this we must apply for our French Birth Certificates .... the paper work goes on...

Need a holiday

Brittany Beaches

Fed up?,

Fancy a quick getaway to a France.... Experience the French lifestyle to the full....

We still have a few vacant weeks in May.. which we have discounted, so a week in La Maison Violette is now only £165... and with 20% of ALL Brittany Ferry Crossings.... a bargain !!

This is what you are missing.....La Maison Violette

Vide Greniers in every town, village and hamlet

Quite literally, ‘Vide Genier’, means empty attic. These events are exactly the same as our car boot sales and they are extremely popular.

It seems that from mid April until the end of May is the best time to hold a Vide Grenier, as every town and village has either just had one or are preparing for one within the next few weeks.

There is even a ‘Vide Grenier’ handbook which details all of the local Vide Greniers and it is not unusual, if fact most people seem to spend their whole Sundays driving from Vide Grenier, to another Vide Grenier to yet another Vide Grenier…..

Should you wish to hire a pitch, there are rules, many rules and forms, many forms which need to be signed in triplicate!..

Of course, Vide Greniers do vary, we have found some fantastic treasures in amongst the inevitable rubbish… so if you fancy a rummage look out for the plethora of hand made signs advertising these empty attic sales on the roadsides.

The cuckoo has said it. 'SPRING HAS ARRIVED.'

OK for the last seven days we have had temperatures in excess of 18 degrees... does that mean Spring has most definitely arrived?

Today has been fabulously warm and we have just met up with Lisette and her two children and two dogs for a walk around the edge of Reminiac.

The rape seed is in full flower and as we walked through a track between two rape seed fields the smell is quite intoxicating.

Suddenly she grasped my arm. 'Ecoute.'

Yes, I could hear the cuckoo as well.

She rummaged desperately in her pockets... 'We need a 'piece d'or', you must always make a wish when you hear the first cuckoo.'

We didn't have a coin but we made a wish anyway !!.

This video was done several years ago of the 'boucle de Reminiac', but nothing much changes and it shows one of our favourite walks around Reminiac.

Reminiac, Southern Brittany

Vegetable responsibility

There is a note pinned to the front door telling me to look in the garden.

I go outside, nothing has changed. Then I notice there are some new plants in the vegetable patch.
A clump of something I do not recognise and a row of cut down spring onions type vegetables ... but they have bulbs, so they can't be spring onions.

Just as I take off my wellies, the phone rings.

It is Chantel, 'Did you find my present?'
 
'Yes, thank you, what are they?'

'Oseille and ciboulette.'

I am none the wiser... Google will save me from embarrassment yet again.

'Nicole, the ciboulette bulbs come from my great grandfather, so please don't kill them.'

Now, why did she have to say that?.. talk about a curse of death !!...

Does anyone have any idea what these two vegetable are before I have to resort to Google?

Oseille is French for ........

Ciboulette is french for .......

Eleven years in Brittany

We have lived in Brittany for eleven years this week.

There are things that we have got used to over time, like supermarkets closing for 2 hours at lunchtime.

There are things which we are grateful for every day... great roads (no traffic jams!!) and a great health system.

Of course, there are things which are SO frustrating, French bureaucracy. I don't think we will ever get used to the French Red Tape. Forms, photocopied documents and recorded delivered letters are required for everything. Recently Mark wanted to change his mobile phone contract, you can only do this on the anniversary of the date on which you first took out the phone contract and you have to give the existing phone contract supplier three months notice in writing by a recorded delivery letter that you wish to terminate the contract. This is not unusual and applies to all insurance and most other types of contract.

What do I miss?.. SHOPPING !!.. Shopping Centres do not exist in rural Brittany. The French cannot grasp the very concept of a shopping centre!!..

Another big difference which I am glad exists is vegetable seasonality. Supermarkets in France only sell fruits and vegetables that are in season and although we are now getting pretty fed up of leeks and broccoli, we will enjoy the haricot vert and the radishes even more when they arrive.

Vegetable Seasonality

Give up when you are behind !!

Ionas' 12th birthday. Bowling, then home for chocolate cake, (she begs me not to make a butterfly, not even a dragon shaped cake... just simple brownies.... pleeeeeease).

At 6.00pm, mothers start arriving to pick up their daughters, some stay for coffee and leftover brownies.

At 7.00pm, Raphaels' mother (all afternoon Mark has been references to turtles whenever someone mentions Raphaels' name... not quite sure what her name has to do with turtles, but I digress) still hasn't arrived. Raphael, is not concerned. 'Maman is always late', she says as she is whisked away by Iona for another game of table football.

At 7.30pm, I receive a call, 'I am in Le Cormelet, which house is yours?'. Always, a problem in France, in small villages and hamlets, none of the houses are named or numbered. I walk into the road to meet Raphaels' mother.

Here, my problems start.. I open my mouth and the most appalling french escapes... I can hardly believe the utter rubbish I am speaking!!... I MUST redeem myself, I invite her in for a coffee and hope that Iona and Raphael haven't devoured the remaining brownies.

As we walk, she says, 'We can speak in English if you like.'

FAILURE Nicole.

'Non, non', I protest.

Before she has taken off her coat she tells me that her name is Florence, she has 4 children, aged 15, 12, 9 and 3 and that her husband left her just before the birth of her fourth child. She tells me that it has taken her a long time to deal with the stigma of being a lone parent.

This I can understand, it is still very rare for parents to seperate or divorce in rural Brittany. Only two children in Ionas' class are divorced or seperated and there are no children in Joes' primary school with seperated parents.

I splutter on, verbs all over the place, using masculine when words are clearly feminine...  she is surprised when I say we have lived in France for 11 years... well I would be too based on my pathetic French this afternoon !!..

'Do you work?', I ask, desperate for her to talk so I don't have too.

'Yes, I studied for my phD in London and now I lecture at Vannes university, European Economics. I also write for many journals, mainly in English, have you heard of the Economist?.'

We should have spoken in English... I am defeated.

Say goodbye to the concrete floors.

The renovation project is slowing down as Marks’ other business takes more and more of his time.

But nonetheless we have progress, this stone ruin is slowly being transformed into a very comfortable gite.

The walls have all been plasterboarded, jointed, plastered and painted…. so we have real painted walls !!..

Now Mark turns to tiling, he hates tiling, and even worse he HATES grouting… I have a feeling I may get roped in for a day of grouting….

Let the tiling commence !!