Oh, to have un grain de beauté.

Teenaged girls and braces go hand in hand.

As I write, there are three thirteen year old girls in the kitchen discussing what colour braces they should get. In a couple of years they will all have perfect teeth as the braces will rectify their goofy and gappy teeth. However, there is a girl in Iona's class that has quite a sizeable gap between her two front teeth but she refuses to wear a brace as these teeth are her 'dents du bonheur' (lucky teeth).

Another French expression which is far nicer than the English equivalent is for a mole (the one you find on your skin, not in the garden!). The French call these 'un grain de beauté.'

So, it is true the French language is a pretty language!

Its Friday night.... Its Galette night...

Galette anyone?

In every true Breton family there is someone,  who is rather good at making galettes and on a Friday they are charged with making galettes for the whole family!..

However, we are not a true Breton family.. so I buy my galettes from a man in the village who spends every Friday afternoon mixing batter and flipping it over a hot plate to create lovely light galettes.

Bretons treat their galettes very seriously, so of course there are many fetes and festivals celebrating the galette. On the last weekend in July, Gourin hosts the annual wheat and buckwheat crêpe fesitval where over 150 galette makers are at the service of thousands of guests all hungry to sample the best galettes in the world!.. At this festival there is also a competition to make the biggest crêpe in the world... the record stands at 98cm!

A couple of months later, on the last Sunday in September, the Fete de la Galette takes over Pipriac, the birthplace of the Confrérie de la Galette.

During June the Rennes Tourist Information Centre organises a galette competition which is open to all the creperies in Rennes. With a judge liable to pop in at any time..this is an excellent time to sample a perfect galette.

It may soon be illegal to vapourise

Vapourising... not smoking

Around half a million French people are estimated to use electronic cigarettes as a way of weening themselves off traditional tobacco filled fags.

People can freely use them in bars and restaurants, where traditional smoking is banned as well as at work.

The device, which was first invented in China back in 2003 gives the user a similar sensation to smoking a cigarette.

The battery powered, pen-sized products contain liquid nicotine that is turned into a vapor which is then inhaled.

Their obvious health benefit as opposed to smoking is that they don't contain tobacco and other carcinogens found in cigarettes.

However, health experts have expressed concerns about certain chemicals contained in the liquid, most notably the compound propylene glycol.

As far back as May 2011 the French health agency AFSSAPS advised against using the devices, saying they still contained nicotine, which even at a low concentration could lead to ‘damaging side effects’.

The e-cigarette market is developing very rapidly in France. The two main advantages of e-cigarettes is that they're seen as healthier than traditional cigarettes, and you can use them in settings like bars and restaurants, where traditional cigarettes aren't allowed. According to the French Office for Tobacco Prevention, this little gadget raked in 40 million euros in 2012, and is expected to make 100 million in 2013. This is roughly the same amount as nicotine substitutes sold in pharmacies. However, the brakes are soon to be very firmly applied to this very profitable device.

Speaking to France Info, the French Health Minister Marisol Touraine confirmed recent speculation that the French government will seek a ban on the use of electronic cigarettes in public.

“The e-cigarette is not an ordinary product,” the minister said. “We need to apply the same measures as there are for tobacco. That means making sure it cannot be smoked in public places, that its sale is restricted to over 18s and that firms are not allowed to advertise the products.”

Banning e-cigarettes in public could do serious damage to France’s burgeoning e-cigarette industry because it would reduce the public's perception of harmlessness of the e-cigarette and would remove the practical benefit of smoking or vapourising it in the first place.

French schools are OUT for the summer

The school year for many secondary school pupils is now officially OVER !!.. In front of them ten weeks without school, but they can't relax just yet...

Yes, the summer holidays are long but the French education system can be pretty tough.
 
At secondary school, there are 'evaluations' every three weeks in each subject. These are marked out of 20 and at the end of the year a report is produced showing the average grade in each subject and then an overall average grade. If this overall average grade doesn't meet the required standard then the pupil must redo the year.

I'm not sure what secondary school life is like in England now, but I didn't have to work that hard when I was at school !!..

And it doesn't stop there.... children are encouraged to ensure that they have understood everything they have been taught during the year by completing a book such as this which covers the whole school curriculum.

For the French Children 'Holiday Books'

After they have finished this mammoth book they can have some fun... that is if they have remembered what fun is !

I am now the proud owner of horse manure

A woman stands at the door with a wheel barrow and a shovel.

'I've been to see the mayor.' she says.

There is a sinking feeling in my stomach, in my experience people only go and 'see' the mayor if they have a problem, and that problem is usually with someone else. Racking my brains to think what we could have done to offend this woman.

She continues, 'His horses are in your field. I need your permission to collect the horse manure. It is very good tomatoes you know.'

'You don't need my permission.' I reply.

'Oh yes I do, that horse manure has fallen on your land so technically it is yours.'

Couldn't resist following her up the lane for a sneaky photo...