Mark is given Military approval

Mark is now the ‘other’ side of 45 and feels some cardio vascular exercise is necessary. To my mind, gardening and gite renovations provide quite enough exercise but there we go…Funnily enough I don’t share this ‘need’ for exercise..

We live about ten minutes from Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr a military school, the French equivalent to Sandhurst, and it is rumoured that there is an Olympic pool within the military grounds which is open to the public.

Mark searches the internet for details of the pool. Nothing, there isn’t even an acknowledgement that the pool exists.

We have a friend who works at the military school, so I ask him. Yes, there is a pool and it is open to the public for 6 hours a week, but first Mark needs to be checked out and his car registered at the Army base before he can go to the pool. Forms are completed, photos given, log book copied and eventually he and his car are approved.

Then, how can he use the pool and when?

Our military friend is on the case and provides Mark with the email address of someone who is responsible for the pool, he does have a title AJC… But I’m not quite sure what this stands for!…

Mark was quite keen to see the pool before he paid the annual subscription but was told that this was not possible.

This process started 2 months ago and this morning he went for the first time to the Military Swimming Pool. The barrier recognised his car and opened as he approached. His papers had all been processed and a card was waiting for him.

The pool was extremely modern, clean and unsurprisingly very empty!!

So, in France, it definitely pays to know someone in the know!

Can't help but be impressed!....

Four months ago, our daughter, Iona had a bit of a trampoline accident and fractured her ankle. She now has a screw in her ankle.

Yesterday, we met with the surgeon just to make sure everything is healing as it should.

How long is that screw!!!....

Everything has healed nicely and the surgeon is now keen to remove the screw.  He explained that Iona would need a general anaesthetic but she should be able to go home the same day.

‘When would you like the operation?’, he asked.

‘ Monday, the 9th February, please, the first day of the February holidays’, Iona replied.

To my complete surprise, he took out his diary, and noted on the 9th February that he would remove Iona’s screw.

At the same time he made us an appointment to see the anesthetist for a couple of weeks time, we have prescriptions for a betadine scrub,  for pain killers and bandages for after the operation and a doctors note giving her a dispensation for sport for two months.

Once again bowled over by French Efficiency

La Maison Blanche has been transformed!

Lounge, La Maison Blanche

Kitchen, La Maison Blanche

Works started in October. Since then La Maison Blanche has taken a fair battering!.. Two holes have been formed, a new window and a huge opening from the lounge into a new kitchen. La Maison Blanche is now airier and a whole lot lighter.

The video gives you a feel for the NEW Maison Blanche…. Click on the hyperlink   La Maison Blanche

For more photos see http://www.frenchgites.com/french%20gite%20Brittany%20Malestroit.htm

Almost sucked into some clever marketing….

 

When we first moved to France twelve years ago, the one thing I really, really missed was shopping.

Shopping Centres just don’t exist in rural Brittany. I would return to England two or three times a year and spend a whole day (nine hours!) shopping at Lakeside or Bluewater, the largest shopping centres in Europe….

Shopping for school shoes is easy in France. There is just one shoe shop in a radius of 40km. Over the past couple of years there has been a little bit of development in Ploermel and now there are 3 or 4 clothes shops. The supermarkets take the lions share of clothes sales.

Style & co was for a long time the only clothes shop in Ploermel and now the competition is beginning to bite.

Iona and I did some shopping at Ploermel on Wednesday and at the cash desk at Style & Co we were offered a carte Private.

For €50 we could purchase a card and with this card we would get 50% off most of the clothes in the store for twelve months. Very very clever.

The cashier was keeping a tally of the number of people who had bought the card and the number who had declined. The majority had opted to buy a card.

January is always a tricky month in terms of cash flow and here Style & Co are getting a huge cash injection up front. I wonder how many people will use the card enough to cover the initial €50 outlay.

Coupled with this, they are encouraging loyalty. If you buy a Style & Co card, you will be less likely to go to the new clothes shops in Ploermel and pay the full price. Very clever.

Came away without a Carte Private but very impressed by the initiative of Style & Co…

Clever marketing by Style & Co