Monthly Archives: May 2008

1,000 visitors…my first mille-stone!

Posted on by Richard
7

..get it? Mille = Thousand…ah never mind!

I just wanted to say a big “Merci beaucoup!” to everyone who has visited this site over the last 2 months. I only started rambling on about our life here in Foussais-Payre on 26th March and already I have notched up 1,000 visits. It’s a small milestone, but it’s nice to think that there are at least some crazy dedicated people out there who want to spend time reading what I write.

Thank you all for your support and I hope you all keep coming back. Don’t be shy about leaving a comment either, I do enjoy conversations :)

Chante-Mai 2008

Posted on by Richard
8

On Tuesday night it was the annual “Chante-Mai” concert. I’m not sure of the background to this event, but I think it is held all over the country. The Chante-Mai involves the local schools putting on a concert of songs (the “Chante”) in May (the “Mai”)…makes sense :)

Our concert was in La Chataigneraie and involved all the local private primary schools – 11 in all I believe. They have been practising the songs for the last 6 months or so and we have endured enjoyed them on a CD in the car for most of that time too. As is usually the case, we started off by finding the songs quite jolly and catchy. Then after a couple of months we really got sick of them. But hearing them performed at the concert was a totally different experience. All the kids did so well.

The concert took place in the sports hall at La Chataigneraie and there must have been around 200 children singing to an audience of around 600. All the kids were so well behaved and well turned out. It looked very effective with everyone in dark trousers and white shirts, with a musical note pinned on it in black paper.

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The songs were a broad range of styles, but all were fun and well accompanied by the small band comprised of some of the teachers. Even the head of our school took part, playing the flute! What a talented chap he is.

We were so proud of Molly. She knew every word and sang them all really well. To think that she has only been living in France for less than 6 months is amazing, when we saw here there joining in with everyone else. What a great experience for her.

The whole evening was very well organised as usual – no trouble, even though there were dozens of very small children in the audience, and all the kids on stage were impeccably behaved. And so nice to see the teachers all joining in. In the schools back in England music was sadly seen as a very minor part of school life and teachers would go out of their way to avoid having to do any. here it seems that everyone is eagre to join in and it gives such a great example to the kids – it’s really lovely to see and is another tick in the box for French education over English for us.

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The winning landscape

Posted on by Richard
2

Wowsers. Fresh on the heals of my gaining “Blog of the day” over at FuelMyBlog, I have now gone and won the weekly photo contest on the theme of Landscape.

Drew runs the weekly competition and this week I submitted a couple of shots. My photo of the lake at Mervent came out on top, which is really good as it is one of my favourite photos I have ever taken.

Mervent

Thanks for picking it Drew, much appreciated :)

New kid on the block

Posted on by Richard
3

The big news in Foussais this week is the impending retirement of Michel the baker. Yes, even though he must be only in his 40s, Michel’s time as Mr Boulangere is coming to an end on 4th July. We had a visit on Friday from him to give us the news and to introduce the new man on the job, Phillipe Grelier. This is sad in one way, as I think Michel has been the local baker for a long time and is very much a part of the village, but it is good for us as it means that he will soon be moving in next door.

Now, maybe he knows something we don’t about the speed of French builders, but it is certainly hard to imagine him actually moving in at any point in July. His house is still a total shell, with big holes in the walls and roof, very little in the way of floors, no windows or interior finishing to speak of. It’s quite a big ask to get it all finished in 6 weeks, but who knows? Maybe it will work.

We are really looking forward to having him and his wife next-door. It will make such a difference to us having someone close-by that we can chat to. We have neighbours across the square from us, but they are only here on and off (they have a house in the USA and one in Italy as well…alright for some…!), so having Michel there full-time will be lovely.

The only down-side to this is the new baker being called Philipe. You see, I have a favourite joke that is just about the only one I can ever remember and now I’m going to be constantly thinking of it when I dash out for my pain et croissants in a morning. It goes:

What do you call a French sandal-maker? Philipe Flop!

I know, I’m sorry… :|

** Update**

Apparently he’s not actually retiring. He has developed an allergy to flour! Bit of a problem for a baker, I suggested. So he’s taking some time off, hopefully to work on the house :)