Happy couple

Met up with an old friend and Caroline's ex-landlord from many years ago in Reading. Keith (owner of Tiger Computing and The Linux Consultancy) worked at Digital (then Compaq and now HP) at the same time as Caroline and myself. Keith married Cecilia last Saturday and we picked them up from Dinard Airport (Hugh loved the Aurigny aircraft (G-JOEY) with the faced painted on the front) during their honeymoon for a quick tour of St Malo, Les Champs Geraux and our House and a very pleasant BBQ. Congratulations and good luck for the future.

Gite renovation progressing

We just had a meeting with the builders regarding the renovation and conversion of the barn into two new gites. Because of the high price of the work and the withdrawl of most of the grants, I'm am going to do a large proportion of the internal works to save money. The builder wasn't that happy, but c'est la vie. We signed the devi for the major works and he will be starting at the beginning of October 2004, once we are empty. In order to live off just gite income we need five gites, rather than the current three, so the two new gites are important to our future. It is a big capital investment, but it should make us self-sufficient.

Grass cutting the old way

To save a bit of time on the mowing we decided this year to leave a couple of areas and let the grass grow long. The goats field and the area around the old bread oven down by the stream. With hindsight this was most probably a mistake. We now have waist high grass, too long for the mower and using a strimmer is hard work because you are always cutting grass you have already cut. So, with my medieval hat on from yesterday I went and bought a snath for a scythe blade today to try out. It's not easy, but with a bit more practise and technique it should prove useful. The one good side effect is that we now should have a supply of hay for the goat in the winter. After the yesterdays medieval fete Hugh just had to have a sword. A bit of plywood, a bandsaw and a sander, and a few minutes later, one very happy four year old.

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Schumacher wins German GP

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Schumacher wins German GP Had to watch the race on tape, but Schumacher does it again. Good drive by Jenson Button.

Fete des Remparts, Dinan, France

We had the most fabulous day today at the Fete Des Remparts. It's a medieval festival/fayre held over two days in Dinan, with markets, sword fighting, jousting, and much more besides. Intimate and involving, fantastic.

Most of the center of Dinan was closed off and had straw thrown down on the streets, a huge medieval market and four different 'worlds' showing different viewpoints, with the big attraction of jousting.

The whole medieval pageant is set in and around the castle and the walled city of Dinan giving it a real authentic flavour. One of the most refreshing things was the lack of political correctness and nanny state health and safety regulations. If you slipped in donkey muck, or walked into a camp fire with a pot of boilng soup on it, tough luck. I think this alone made it such an involving festival, you really got the feel of 'The Olden Days'.

Dressage and falconery display. The horsemanship was superb and much of the falconery was performed from horseback with the birds flying over the crowds and onto the surrounding castle walls.

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Part of an medieval encampment, with various trades displayed, such as butchery, calligraphy, cooking, etc.

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Part of the 'weapons world' was a great sword and hatchet battle, displays of various weapons and the oppertunity to have a go.

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Jousting Tournament. The big spectacular. More of a staged show than the rest, but fantastic. Displays of skill with the lance and sword then a face to face jousting battle with lances breaking and finally the 'good guy (in blue)' facing off to the 'bad guy (in black)'.

Click on the thumbnails for larger images (about 20K)

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Schumacher takes pole

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Schumacher takes pole Unfortunately I'm going to miss watching the race live tomorrow for the first time in about 6 years.

Chateau Le Guildo

We had a very pleasant day out with a picnic a trip to Chateau Le Guildo and then a short walk along the GR34 coastal path. Just a short trek from the castle along the GR34 following the red and white stripes on the trees we found a deserted sandy beach for the kids to play on. A nice relaxing day out.

A strategic geographical position

Le Guildo Castle is situated on a rocky outcrop surrounded on the north-east side by the Arguenon river and a swampy valley where a brook flows on the east side. The castle stands about twenty metres above the estuary of the river, where a harbour is mentioned since the 13^th century. A ford, situated near the present bridge enables one to cross the river at low tide. The castle, built on an easily defendable site, controlled both the trade on the Arguenon river, navigable at high tide up to Plancoët and a stretch of land, between the estuary of the Rance river and the Penthievre coast.

The origin of the caste is unknown. Le Guildo seigniory appeared very late in the Middle Ages, around 1300. It was bound to the family of Dinan-Montafilant. Today, very little sanding masonry remain from the first fortifications. The general form given to the rock when this castle was built can still be seen in spite of numerous transformations.

An eventful history

At the end of the 14^th century, the castle belonged to Charles de Dinan, a powerful Lord allied with the Duke Jean IV who was fighting against the Penthievre. A large proportion of the building seen today dates from this period. You enter by a drawbridge and portcullis flanked by two towers forming a gate house. A large main building including a great hall, kitchen and private apartments is located on the North side of the castle. The other out buildings are placed around the courtyard or ward.

In the middle of the 15^th century, Guildo Castle was at it's peak. It belonged to Françoise de Dinan, married to Gilles de Bretagne, brother of François I, the Duke of Brittany.

At the end of the 15^th century, it decline began. An open clash broke out between France and Brittany. Le Guildo castle was taken by the royal armies and burnt down in 1488/1489. When Françoise died in 1499, the Dinan family had no more descendants and the castle was left to deteriorate.

Besieged several times during the religious wars at the end of the 16^th century, the castle fell completely into ruins. In the beginning of the 17^th century, repairs were made but the castle was yet again abandoned in the middle of the 18^th century. The ruined builds were used as a quarry and the courtyard used for agriculture until the Conseil Général des Côtes d'Armor acquired the site in 1981.

Moles in Brittany

Brittany has a real problem with moles. We've had a bout of showers over the last two weeks and the moles must have multiplied 10 fold. There are mole hills everywhere, I reckon about 50 hills scattered around. In the past I have just scattered the tops of the hills so as not to kill the grass, but now they are getting to be a real pest and damaging the lawns and flower beds. To my untrained pest control eye, I think there must be about 5 colonies, each occupying their own area. One of the guests staying in the gites is helping with the mole hunt by mapping out the hills and then guessing where the tunnels run. I've lent him a spade and he is often out there just standing, waiting, spade poised. No luck as yet.

This afternoon I dug down between two active mole hills and located the tunnel and placed a Duffus tunnel type trap (one I bought in England and never used) in the run. Fingers crosssed. I have had limited success with gassing and poison worms so I hope I have more luck with the trap. Mike, (our guest), is determined to catch one mano-a-mano.

Good weather, good food

Lovley sunny weather today, so we all went into Cancale for lunch at down at the port by the oyster beds. Suprise, suprise, but all the resturants served Oysters, lobsters, mussels and specialised in seafood. If you like seafood, I would recommend it, as there is lots of choice. We ate at 'La Mere Champlain' which was very good.

Afterwards we all went to the beach with me still reading The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I've only read a few chapters, but it seems to be OK so far and is an easy read with some funny bits.

Both ducklings alive and well. One is mostly black with some yellow stripes, and the other mostly yellow with some black. They have both been sitting on Lucy's back. Caroline is the only person allowed near Lucy. She can handle the ducklings, but anyone else gets hissed at and generally warned off.

Ducklings and swings

Lucy the goose has been sat on some duck eggs for the last 35 days, and this morning they hatched. Caroline went to feed the chickens and one of the ducklings was already out and still wet, with another pecking away from inside the shell. A little later and we now have two muscovy ducklings and one very proud 'parent' goose.

A word of warning. We left the unfertilized goose eggs under Lucy, and this afternoon there was the most awful smell coming from the chicken pen. Lucy had pecked and broken the shell on her bad goose egg. We assume to help out a chick that wasn't there.

Caroline and I installed the new swing today. A huge improvement over the old swing, which is now on it's way to the recycling depot. The kids like the twin face-to-face swing the best.

This afternoon I have been catching up on the mowing. The weather has been very showery and today was the first real dry day suitable for the mower. The warm, damp weather is great growing weather for the local farmers, but an extra headache for me, as there are too many grass clippings to be left without collecting.

Caroline got the short straw as she has been stuck with the accounts and a reluctant French accounting package to try and do our TVA (VAT) return. Error messages and telephone support lines are very, very difficult in another language.

Go slow

One of our guests is reading In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore about how slowing down is good for you. The books description says:
Across the western world more and more people are slowing down. Slower is better: better work, better productivity, better exercise, better sex, better food.

I have to say that after living in France for 2 years, I wholeheartly agree. Things sometimes take a little longer, but everyone seems to benefit in the long run

Fetes and Festivals

It's fête time in Brittany. At this time of year we seem to have a local fête every weekend. Today was the Fête de Megalithes in Plesin-Trigavou. Next week it's the Fête des Remparts in Dinan, then next week the Fête du Pain and then the following weekend the Fête du Blé in Pleudihen sur Rance and I think the week after the Comice de Agricole at Saint Judoce. They are all excellent events with side shows, main attractions, and usually a midday or evening meal of sorts.

We visited the Fete de Megalithes today and had a really enjoyable time.

Pictured is a demonstration of raising an ancient stone, a.la. Stonehenge, but on a slightly smaller scale.

Excellent Breton country fair with loads to do for the children (arts, crafts, face painting, horse rides), along with Breton dancing, an evening repas and Grand Fest Noz.

Harvest time

Yesterday after lunch two combine harvesters started harvesting wheat in the field at the front of the house with huge tractors and trailers racing around to collect the grain. I tried to find a simple diagram of how they worked but the best I could find was here. Last week we had pretty bad weather, with rain and strong winds. Some parts of the field have been knocked flat, and are lost. Now the weather has improved I think they must be taking advantage of the dry spell. I hope this isn't a signal of more wet weather to come. The farmers do seem to be very good at finding the correct weather window to do their work, and once they start, they go at it 100%. Last year they harvested for 3 days solid from 10'o'clock in the morning (I assume after the dew has dried) to about 3'o'clock the following morning. Two hours after finishing the heavens opened and we had a thunderstorm.

This evening the farmers were out baling the straw from yesterdays wheat harvest. Caroline said that she helped at baling time on a farm when she was younger. Back when they had square bales, not these huge round things nowadays. She did remember tho' that the baling machine was always breaking down, so maybe the round balers are preferred just for this reason.

Bastille Day

Fête Nationale Française, or Bastille Day today and is a public holiday. Last night there was a huge fireworks display in Dinan and tonight another one in St Malo over the sea, above one of the fortifications in the channel.

Another BBQ at a friends house this afternoon and evening, and again accordion players coming of the wookwork between courses. I've been to so many BBQ's recently I'm starting to feel like an Australian. Good fun tho' and I enjoyed it, even if I was limited to softer food stuffs with my sore tonsils.

The French Revolution

The Fête Nationale Française is the day the French commemorate the storming of the Bastille on 14^th July 1789, the start of the French Revolution and the end of the monarchy.

In essence the revolution started due the huge gap between rich and poor. The country was ruled by King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette who ignored the poor and starving masses as long as there was food on the banqueting tables. The country was nearly bankrupt and the bourgeoise had no political influence or power. Those that protested were imprisoned in the Bastille.
Marie Antoinette is reported to have said «Let them eat cake» when the peasants complained that there was no bread.

The masses banded together and stormed the Bastille prison. The storming of the prison was a symbol of liberty and the fight against the oppression of the monarchy for all French citizens.

The revolution lead to the creation of the First Republic and the tricolore of blue, red, and white. Blue and red are the colours of Paris and white is the colour of royalty.

Bastille Day was declared the French national holiday on 6^th July 1880 and in 1848 the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was reinstated.

The twelve regimes since 1789 taken from 'Sixty Million Frenchmen can't be Wrong' by Jean-Benoît Nadeau & Julie Barlow

Constitutional Monarchy: 1791-92. The legislature is created. The king, legally a citizen like all others, is recognised as the symbol of the State.

1^st Republic: 1792-1804. Parliament tries to run the country without a king. Anarchy follows. Napoleon heads a coup d'état and is appointed Consul in 1799.

1^st Empire: 1804-15. Napoleon crowns himself emperor in 1804 and rules by decree. Rule ends in military defeat and Napoleon is in exile by 1814.

Restauration: 1815-30. Foreign powers install Louis XVIII on the French throne. The two chambers are more Royalist than the king is. The regime veers towards absolutism and end in a revolution.

Monarchy of July: 1830-48. Constitutional monarchy. Louis-Phillipe I, though liberal at first, becomes more authoritarian. Ends in a revolution.

2^nd Republic: 1848-52. No more king. The legislature has strong powers. The president, Louis-Napoleon, is appointed president-price becomes Emperor Napoleon III. Rules by decree. His reign ends with defeat by the Prussians.

3^rd Republic: 1871-1940. This long lived Republic starts as a quasi-monarchy, but the Republic is finally proclaimed in 1875 by a majority of one vote. The new constitution gives no power to the president, and no-one has authority to arbitrate conflict between the legislature and the cabinet. The cabinet resigns each time the legislature votes against them for the smallest matter. Instability becomes the norm, and the government changes 120 times times during this period.

État Français: 1940-44. Fascist dictatorship. As a result of military defeat by the German army, Parliament abolishes itself and hands all power to Maréchal Philippe Pétain. He runs the southern half of the country from the city of Vichy, hence the name Vichy Government.

Provisional government of the French Republic: 1944-46. Created by decree and headed by Charles de Gaulle. Partly succeeded in renewing institutions, but failed to bring forward a new constitution.

4^th Republic: 1946-58. Similar constitution as the 3^rd Republic, and it works no better, with twenty different governments in twelve years. Ends with threats of a military coup.

5^th Republic: Since 1959. De Gaulle bullies the National Assembly into giving him full powers to re-establish order. He redrafts a new constitution. The president becomes the effective head of state, with special powers over the Parliament and the constitution.

BBQ and Croquet

One of the families staying in our gites little girl had her 4th birthday today. So we all had a party with the cake and the big oil drum BBQ and sung her happy birthday. The other kids played pass the parcel and various other party games and ate party food. We stuck to the BBQ & Beer. Afterwards myself, Caroline, Garry and Mike had a really good game of croquet. We have not quite got the lawn space for a full size court but after a few glasses it really doesn't matter. Great fun.

You mean you can read in French ?

I went to the library with the children on Friday. Caroline reads the children French and English books before bedtime. Elizabeth came up to me with a book I recognised from England called La chenille qui fait des trous, known as The very hungry caterpillar - by Eric Carle, and just sat down next to me and started reading it in French. I was gob-smacked, and very impressed. She told me they are reading it at school, so I expect alot of it was from memory, but still very impressive. So tonight we found the English version of the book. Same pictures and almost identical story, just a different title, and she read a fair bit in English. The kids are bi-lingual !!!!

Schumacher supreme at Silverstone.. It was a dominant Michael Schumacher today at Silverstone in a frantic paced British Grand Prix, taking a dominant victory. [Crash.Net FORMULA ONE Newsfeed]
The master does it again.

School fireworks

Caroline and the children went to a school lamb roast and fireworks party last night as part of the school end of term. I dipped out cos I am feeling bad still. Caroline said there was 4 lamb roasts and loads of people. Really good event but nobody got to bed before midnight so the kids are a little 'playful' today. It was a typical French evening, tressle tables, loads of courses, wine and a late finish. All the kids eat separately on their own tables and have their own party without bothering the adults. It was tough for us all the get the hang of it, but now we all know the form and it works really well. Children are not the centre of attention, as in some cultures.

I can relate this this

I just read Blogging burden? and quite understand the pressure to submit a post. I'm glad no-one read me! :-(

Tour de France 2004 - Evran

Tour de France 2004

We got held up at home missed the start of the caravane but managed to catch the tail end. It consists of a high speed carnival float with cars and small lorries decked out as water bottles, coffee cups, watches, cleaning products, all beeping and playing music etc.. You name it, there is a mobile version of it racing down the street with the roadside packed with people. Most of them are chucking free samples of the products, advertising hats, sweets etc. out the back. It's quite a sight and goes on for about half and hour. The kids were happy as they got some free sweets and liked the silly cars.

We were situated at the end of the main street through Evran just before a 90 degree sharp turn so the caravane and the peloton slowed right down and we had a chance to see some of the riders close up. There was actually a break away group of two riders 8 minutes ahead of the peloton below. It was actually difficult to spot the two cyclists in amongst the gendarmes, TV motorbikes and course cars.

They rush past but it's over in a few seconds and they are gone.

and then comes a stream of backup and ancillary vehicles. The number of spare bikes was unbelievable.

It is quite a sight and there is a real party atmosphere. Well worth a visit.

McLaren pole at Silverstone.. Kimi Raikkonen has been consistently quick at Silverstone these past two days and he confirmed that he could be quick when it matters, setting the fastest time in qualifying and starting tomorrow's British Grand Prix from pole. [Crash.Net FORMULA ONE Newsfeed]
It's about time they pulled their finger out. I wonder if the engine will last the distance.

MRSA Superbug

After my recent trip in a French hospital I 'phoned a relative in the UK to give them a progress report (they don't blog) and they told me about that two different friends went into different hospitals and caught the MRSA Superbug. Both were due to stay for a few days and ended up staying for weeks after catching MRSA.

This isn't the first people I've know of first hand. Caroline's friend and a friend of her Mother's also caught the bug. By the sounds of things everyone was lucky to survive. Reports on the web, MRSA superbug has done this to me and MRSA superbug hits more children show that's it a very serious threat and increasing alarmingly. It's not something that seems to have hit the media over her in France.

It may be just a matter of cleanliness. Both of my trips into a French hospital required that I showered all over with a anti-bacterial wash (the yellow iodine-like stuff you see surgeons use on TV) before being admitted. On the several times I been into hospital in the UK I wasn't even asked to wash my hands, let alone surgically scrub up.

Fortunately the MRSA genome has been decoded which should provide science with the breakthrough it needs so people don't need to wash any more.

Tour de France in Evran tomorrow

Finished Lovely Bones today whilst convalencing. Really enjoyed the book and made me wonder if people are watching me all the time. Who knows, but I did like the bit about a child's imaginary friends. Well worth reading.

I think I may join the band wagon and read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I keep getting sucked into reading reviews about it by Amazon (other people who bought...) and All Consuming (V. popular book). I guess I will just have to relent.

Tour de France in Evran tomorrow and it passes though Calorguen (the home of Bernand Hinault) and Dinan. Caroline and I will have to work hard to do three gite change overs and get out by 14:00 to see the bikes.

Gites Permis de Construire

The French anaesthetist had a sense of humour, just as I was going under, he said in English, Have a good trip. Back from hospital this afternoon still feeling a bit groggy. I finished the Girl with a Pearl Earring and did not really enjoy it at all. I don't know why I struggled to the end; the most exciting thing that happened was when the maid moved a tablecloth without permission

Started Lovely Bones by Alice Seebold, this morning and I should be finished by tonight. A real page turner.

The Permis De Construire arrived yesterday with go ahead for the new gites which is great news. We can now start thinking about planning the work for after September.

Caroline found this Tour de France web page that details the route via Evran, which is within 5 minutes of the gites, at about 14:00 on Saturday.

French plumbing

Got the sacrificial magnesium anode that I ordered ready to fit to the hot water boiler. At the beginning of this year we had a real problem with the hot water flow rate. It started slowing down then the rate of decline really accelerated over about 1 month until the flow rate was almost down to a trickle. A plumbing friend fixed the problem by clearing out the internal pipes in the boiler that were completely clogged up with hard water deposits. In Les Champs Géraux we seem to have very hard water. The new magnesium anode (which is about 2 foot long) is meant to stop the build up as it 'erodes' away. I wonder how long the old one is ?

Anyway, I dare not change the anode today because I'm off to hospital to have my tonsils out tomorrow, and if I have a problem with the boiler I doubt Caroline will want to be lumbered with fixing it. She will be busy painting the windows whilst I'm recuperating :-) I should only be in a couple of nights but I taking the following books, because there is only so much French television one can watch. I've nearly finished

• Girl with a Pearl Earring -- Tracy Chevalier, Nearly finished, and finally the pace is picking up a now the maid has got more involved in Johannes Vermeer's paintings.
• Lovely Bones -- Alice Seebold, Caroline has read it and recommends it.
• Behind the Scenes at the Museum -- Kate Atkinson, No idea, recommended by one of Caroline's friends. This is my backup emergency book.

Finished sanding all the windows at the front of the house. On one of the windows, part of the window sill and some of the frame in the corner had all rotted away. I bought this 'synthetic wood' (mastic polyester pour bois), brown quick setting polyester resin, to patch it up. Good as new and much cheaper than a new window.

 

Found an excellent page by the French road safety department, giving good practical basic driving advice, in English, for UK drivers coming to France.

Schumi takes stunning win. Michael Schumacher wins a tactical battle with Fernando Alonso at the French GP. [BBC Sport | Motorsport | UK Edition]

Gite change over day

Gite changeover, fix door hook, fix shower rail, empty grease trap, clean pond filter, clean, clean, clean, watch Formula One qualifying
Alonso grabs French pole. Fernando Alonso beats Michael Schumacher in qualifying at the French GP. [BBC Sport | Motorsport | UK Edition]
, strimming, mowing, sand window, play football, watch football, drink beer, sleep, c'est tout

Translation error

A minor translational error caused us some slight, but amusing, embarrassment this evening.

At school in Les Champs Géraux some of the classes have been painting murales on the playground walls depicting various scenes to brighten up the school. We received in Hugh's cahier the following note:

Vous invitent au vernissage de leurs peintures murales

A quick scan of the dictionary and we translated it as 'You are invited to varnish the wall paintings'. It was obviously a coummunity varnishing party for the kids murals. So I turned up in my painting clothes after school and everyone else was dressed normally and Monsieur Le Maire was there to inaugurate the paintings. Rechecking the dictionary showed that vernissage also means 'preview' when applied to an exhibition. The dangers of literal translation are all too obvious. Never mind we still toasted the paintings.

I'm forever blowing...

I had an amusing episode with the mower. After each mowing session it pays to get the hose out and clean the mowing deck to remove all the clogged up grass and mud. It cuts better and does throw out 'clods' on the lawn. I normally use the hose, but this time I decided to use the water collected in rain water butts from the bath. All our bathwater is collected and used to water the plants via a pump and hose to save money. Water is about 1€ per m³, but there are no sewage charges because of the septic tank.

I started the blades turning as usual and squirted the water under the deck into the blades to dislodge all the muck, but this time I got covered in soap suds. Bubbles everywhere, I'd forgotten the kids had a bubble bath a few nights ago and so the action of the blades really stirred it up. At least the mower was clean!