A child’s duties, French style

Posted on by Lisa
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It’s half term in the UK, and here in the Vendée we are looking forward to ours starting next week. Of course school holidays means that the kids are at home 24/7, so I thought I would share these words of wisdom with you all that you might find helpful!!

Taken from a book I bought from Emmaus and gave to Richard one birthday, I think you will find this food for thought.

The book,  ”La classe en Anglais”, from The Green Series by E. Gourio, was written in 1918. It is a french text book for teaching english (written in english), split into different lessons.

This is lesson 57:-

Duties of Children

Treat your parents with respect.There are children who speak to their parents with rudeness, and grow sullen when their parents find fault with them. Beware of such disrespect. You are young, and you should therefore take the lowest place. You have much to learn, and you should therefore hear instead of seeking to be heard.

Be grateful to your parents. When you were sick, how tenderly did they hang over you! When you were in want of anything, how cheerfully did they toil to supply your need! Surely, there cannot be a greater monster than an unthankful child.

Obey your parents. Do not receive their commands with a sour, angry look, which says louder than words that you obey only because you must; but whatever they bid you do, do it cheerfully. Do not wait for them to repeat a command: obey at once. Even when only a look tells you what they want, fly to perform it.

Place confidence in your parents. You should have no secrets which you are unwilling to tell them. If you have done wrong, you should openly confess it, and ask their forgiveness. If you wish to undertake anything, ask their consent. A dissembling child cannot thrive, and is often very miserable.

Children! These are your duties. Love, obey your parents; trust in them. Be to them a comfort and an honour. So live, that they may ever look upon you with delight. So live, that the thought of your virtues may smooth their last hours.

I love this passage and have been known to read it to visiting children! Unfortunately they all know me far to well to take it too seriously.

Why don’t you try to read it to children you know. Let us know how you get on :)

Radio Rediscovered

Posted on by Richard
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With the obvious exceptions of friends, family and fish & chips, there are very few things that we actually miss about England. While we may have initially been lost without our favourite english shops, we soon found alternatives either here in France or online.

But one thing that we have missed is the radio. Back in England we used to have Radio 2 playing most of the day. it was a constant companion to our days and kept us both informed and entertained. Breakfast with Wogan was always a highlight – with his Janet and John stories causing many a spoonful of cornflakes to be lost due to sudden laughing fits. So, when we moved to France, losing easy access to the radio was a bit of a blow.  Of course, there are certainly plenty of radio stations to listen to over here, but sadly we are still a long way from being able to understand much of the quick-fire chatter of the presenters, let alone enjoy it.

Now, being a technically-minded chap I am well aware that I can get UK radio via our Sky box or through the computer, which is fine. But it’s not quite the same as having a radio sitting on the side that you can just turn on whenever you want, with good speakers, and portable enough to move with you as you go about your daily routine.

We have an iPod Touch – a wonderful device – which sits in a handy speaker-dock that we use to provide background music when required. For some reason the thought never struck me that this could be an answer to our radio-less existence. Luckily I had a brainwave the other day and sought out a popular radio app for said iPod. (“Apps”, for those not initiated into the church of all things Apple, are programs that can run on the iPod, a bit like on a computer).

My research led me to TuneIn Radio, a hugely popular app and a snip at only 59p. With this app installed, it was a 60-second job to store our favourite channels (well, Radio 2 mainly…) and start playing.

Wogan may have moved on, but hearing Chris Evans and crew brought big smiles to our faces. It’s amazing how something so simple can make such a difference. I just wish I’d figured it out sooner!

Ryanair Sale – “No fees” flights available

Posted on by Richard
Reply

I just received the regular Ryanair newsletter and, if you reserve before midnight on Monday 21st Feb, there are some bargains to be had.

Quite often the “sale” prices are not as attractive as they should be as you still need to add on fees & taxes, which can sometimes more than double the original price. But the current sale includes flights with NO fees or taxes.

For example, you could pick up a return flight from Nantes to East Midlands in March for just €22. There are no other fees or taxes to pay, other than the credit/debit card handling charge. (We are waiting to get hold of one of the pre-paid Mastercards, which will save us having to pay the card charges too. We’ll write up our experiences with that when we’ve tried it out.)

So, if you’re looking to get to France for next to nothing (come to visit us!), or head back to the UK for a quick visit, you’d better get booked quickly as these mega-cheap flights tend to sell out very quickly!

Gnome is where the heart is. Friends are where the wine is.

Posted on by Lisa
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When we moved to France, there were certain things we hoped to gain from our new life which we felt Foussais would offer. We were very impressed on our first visit to Ecole St. Antoine and this has proved to be a school providing a great foundation for Molly (very briefly) and Joe. Along with the school came a really friendly community who welcomed us whole-heartedly. The village also offered chances for the children to join various groups, including football, handball, and both piano and guitar lessons. We have been blessed with great neighbours who are always there and willing to help, be it providing us with home baking (we are lucky enough to live in a hamlet with an ex-baker and a very talented Italian cook), gardening tips, home-made sangria or even JCBs!

2010 brought a new dimension to our life here and that is our friends Lynn & Alan and Curtis & Dee. We “met” both couples through this website. They had both bought plots of land in Foussais and, while searching the web for information about this area, they came across La Vie en Foussais and got in touch. Prior to them moving here permanently, we met up during their various trips to Foussais, but nothing could have prepared us for the fun that was about to come our way!

We have spent many a happy evening, or Sunday afternoon, sharing “aperos” and enjoying our time together. Both couples are marvellous with our children and we are very lucky to have them around the corner from us.

One particular sunny summer Sunday afternoon we were having a gathering. Let me set the scene….

The location was chez Curtis and Dee, the drink – pamplemouse rosé.

(I should give a quick explanation. We discovered pamplemouse rosé while attending a free jazz concert at the Salle Polyvalante at the beginning of summer. We bought what we thought was our usual interval drink, a little glass of rosé. On drinking, we discovered an unusual taste; not unpleasant but not expected either. “Mmmmm…” we thought, “not bad”. It was only when we got to the bottom of the glass that the true wonder of this drink became clear. This was rosé wine mixed with a pamplemouse (grapefruit) liqueur *.  Well, let’s just say, a trend was set, and the rest is history. Summer had a whole new dimension!)

So, back to the story. Fuelled by aperos and pamplemouse rosé, talk turned to “Let’s have a party!”. Curtis and Dee were spending Christmas in Foussais, but Lynn, Alan and us Barleys were all heading to England. However, it turned out we were all going to be back for New Year, so the plan was made. New Year’s Eve party – our house – more friends invited – good times ahead!

Now, I’m still not so sure how this came about, but we decided fancy dress would be a good idea. We discussed Super-Heroes, Musicals or Films and Nursery Rhymes…and then Lynn said “We once went to a party dressed as gnomes…”.  Great idea! We could all take a character. Rosie loves 1940′s style, so her character was “Keep The Gnome Fires Burning”. Molly, who loves football, would be “Gnome Goal”.  Joe, our James Bond fan, would be “Double Gnome Seven”. The possibilities were endless! A phone call, along with an invitation to the party, was made to Jim and Val (our super-hero seamstress!)

So this is how Foussais became invaded by gnomes on 31st December. The gathering included “The Gnome-Coming Queen” (me), “Gnome On The Range”(Richard), a “Metrognome”, “Gastronome”, “Gnome Improvements”, a “Gnome Help”, “Twickergnome”, a National “Elf” Service Nurse, some “Gnomads” and a smattering of Smurfs!

The night was to be a relaxed affair. As is tradition in the Barley family, quizzes were written, games were devised, food was prepared, candles were lit and costumes were on. Friends arrived, and what a huge effort they had made! After much eating, dancing and chatting it was time for quizzes. A note to friends who will be joining us in the future – learn your Christmas tunes! Who would have thought quotes from really well-known Christmas songs could have been the reason for so many blank faces? :)

Of course, with the hour’s difference  New Year gives us a chance to celebrate twice. Our friends Annie, Drew and the girls, along with the rest of their party, joined us on Skype for our midnight celebration and then we joined them for theirs. We will never forget us being put on Annie and Drew’s windowsill to watch the chinese lanterns being set of in the street!

I love New Year. A time to reflect on the good times shared, good times to come, family and friends. A big thank you to Val, Richards Mum, for our fab costumes and a great big thank you to our lovely  new Foussais friends who give us such great times and happy memories.

* You can mix rose with pamplemouse syrup which is a little less lethal, but not half as much fun  (Back)