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Happy New Year in France.

New Year in France is often called “La Saint Sylvestre”, as indeed it is in Germany and several other countries. Saint Sylvester (Silvester/Sylvestre) was a Pope from 314 AD to 335 AD.  He was buried on 31st December 335, and that day became his “feast” day – and it was, coincidentally, New Year’s Eve.   […]

Posted 12 years ago

Today’s sketch – a jungle fowl in Sri Lanka.

We went on a safari at Yala National Park while in Sri Lanka.  We had a great ranger-guide whose accent was so strong we couldn’t make out a word he said.  I am quite good at languages and can usually cotton-on to the appropriate accent and make sense of what I am hearing, but this […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … an English family move to France. Part 22. The story closes.

    William eating his breakfast! We lived in a barn.  Seriously, it was a barn.  There was just one huge room approx 12 meters x 7 meters.  Underfoot was the earth dirt which we covered with a screed of concrete.  Above was just the underside of the roof tiles.  The walls were stone, the same […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … an English family move to France. Part 21. Before-and-after cottage photos.

  This is the remains of a bread oven in what is now cottage 6.  I had forgotten there was a connecting door there.  I see the concrete screed is down, ready for floor tiles.  This area was thick with creeper and broken stone, bits of wood, stinging nettles …  The interior of cottage 7 – […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … an English family move to France. Part 20. The cottage rentals emerge.

  Jake when he was about 10. The children were growing up.  The elder two caused that usual adolescant mixture of joy and fury, temper and sulks, utter and complete selfishness and sudden and unexpected spurts of kindness and cooperation.  And more.  Much more.  I won’t say those years were “normal” because they weren’t, and […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … an English family move to France. Part 19. Starting again.

    Barns ripe for conversion There were a lot of old barns to one side of the land, facing away from the Chateau. They were solid in that they were built of stone, 3 ft thick in many places, and had huge oak timbers to support bits of crumbling roof.  But otherwise they were […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … Part 18. After the storm.

  Seaside places were the worst hit because the exceptionally high tide caused extensive flooding; most businesses were ruined, some of them for good Insurance The most extraordinary thing had happened.  The day before we left to spend Christmas in the UK, I had been in Saintes.  Christmas shopping, I expect.  I happened to go […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … an English family move to France. Part 17 – The big French storm.

  Apparently the storm was called Martin.  I wonder who decides on the names ?  And why call a storm Martin for goodness’ sake ?  Call it Dracula, call it Frankenstein or Medusa or Gorgon – or even Cerberus.  But don’t call it Martin !    On the evening of 28th December 1999, the biggest […]

Posted 12 years ago

It happened like this … an English family move to France, part 16. Happy days.

  This shot of me was taken (I presume by Bruce) while we were caravanning in Spain.   Teenagers The top floor at Les Cypres became almost like the local youth club.  I have always liked children.  Children of any age, including teenagers, though in my teaching days there were plenty of moments I didn’t like […]

Posted 12 years ago

English is a difficult language.

The other day somebody asked me if I can tell the difference between French regional and social class accents.  Sometimes.  It depends on who is saying what and what is being said.  The accent from the south has a delightful twang it it, and from the Alsace area it has a slightly Teutonic ring.  I […]

Posted 12 years ago

Books now available on Amazon:

A Call From France
French Sand
Kefani: An African Childhood
The Man With Green Fingers
Saying Nothing