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Childhood hobbies

Raining just about all day and the kids were at a loose end. Caroline had an inspiration and thought of French Knitting. Remember that, the cotton reel with pins in the end ? The only slight hitch was the cotton reels, I don't think I've seen a wooden cotton reel for over 10 years. The only thing for it was to make two cotton reels out of some scrap wood. A trip to the workshop, a bit of drilling, sanding and hammering and voila, two French Knitting kits.

Neither of us could fathom out how to do it, so a quick search on Google and here are the instructions for French Knitting.

Brittany Ferries plans increased service to France

Brittany Ferries plans increased service to France
However BF may fill the void left by P&O, but I doubt prices will fall.

BBC NEWS | Business | P&O to slash workforce by 1,200

BBC NEWS | Business | P&O to slash workforce by 1,200
Not good news for those of us running a holiday business in France that caters for English tourists.

Mole shotgun

I have been having terrible problems getting rid of moles in the garden. I've tried gas, poison, traps but still they come back. A friend lent me Le Detaupeur, a mole 'shotgun',and it seem to be working. I've had three charges go off recently and another explosive charge went off this morning and the number of mole hills is reducing. There is a bit more certainty that you have scored, because the only way the charge fires is when one of the little blighters pushes up the plunger. Adds a bit more excitement to my day.

Mushrooms

Today we went armed with a wicker basket and the Edible Mushroom Guide and we all ventured out to some local woods mushroom picking. Unfortunately, not a very successful fungus foray, only bagging a couple of edible mushrooms. The most frequent find was the Common earthball (Scleroderma citrinum), also known in the U.S.A. as 'pigskin poison puffball', marked as poisonous in my book. The other specimens looked like Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) or Autumn chanterelle (Cantharellus tubiformis), both edible, but we couldn't make a positive id considering the number of lookalikes. We have been told that in France you can take a mushroom to the pharmacy and they will identify it for you.

Move to France, maybe ?

Just as an alternative to this site I found the web site Don't move to France. Life is not a bed of roses here, and here is an alternative view.

It's a bit ironic that after France Telecom phoned about ADSL last night our telephone line has gone on the blink. It's still useable for voice but it's so crackley that modem speeds are way down and we keep losing the connection. Caroline phone FT this morning and they arrived this afternoon to fix the problem after testing the line remotely. Unfortunately, Caroline was out and I was round the back and missed them. They are coming tomorrow morning to have another go. Pretty good service really.

Rural goes ADSL

Caroline took a phone call tonight from France Telecom trying to sell us ADSL. He didn't have to try very hard, we have been waiting to buy for two years. Yes, Yes send me an order form. Rural France is not well supported by Broadband so we hadn't held out much hope, but the great news is it's coming on the 2nd of December. Fantastic news, I'm getting a bit fed-up with dial-up now more and more sites expect high speed connections. Roll on December.

APE

Caroline is a member of the APE, parent and teachers association for the local school. They help to raise funds for additional school activites not paid for by the state. She went to a meeting of the APE last night and one of the items on the agenda was to elect a new President. Most of the comittee members had already been President at some time and so tried to get Caroline to stand for the job. Eventually she accepted Vice President if the new President would show her the ropes ready for next year. I think this is amazing considering we have only lived in France for two years and neither of us spoke French before arriving. Our integration is progressing at pace with the Jersey trip, newspaper article, competition win and now this.

Dodgy courtesy car

Got the car back after a service yesterday at the local garage. While it was there I was lent a courtesy car. It's a very old Peugeot 30something (the badge has fallen off) that rattles more than a milkfloat, the steering wheel seems to be only loosley connected to the front wheels, no power steering, no air conditioning, no central locking, a manual choke (remember those ?), a radio without push buttons (manual tuning), doors you can see daylight through round the edge, no hub caps, very very shabby paintwork, and a boot jammed shut. The speedo doesn't work at all and I suspect that most of the other dials only give the vaguest indication of the true reading. It does however have velour seats :-) a 5 speed gearbox and electric windows, that work (well the drivers door) ! It was fun for a day but I'm glad to have something a little more modern (and safer) back on the drive.

Egg production back up.

With the new chickens (10 in total) we have now almost at full egg production. One of the new point-of-lay chickens Caroline bought the other day laid it's first egg. Some days we have too many eggs, but friends enjoy free-range eggs for a change.

Bought 25 litres of woodworm treatment and cleared all the cobwebs and muck off the beams ready for spraying. Some beams are a little rotten in places where the rain got in before the new roof was put on, but nothing serious. All goggled and masked up, it's not going to be much fun spraying.

Mobile boulangerie

Living in the French countryside is very pleasant but it does mean you have to jump in the car for everything. Our nearest bread shop (which we visit nearly every day) is a couple of minutes drive away, however they have just started a new service, bread delivery dor-to-door. Currently it's only a Tue and Fri but we don't need to order and we just buy a loaf or two from the back of the van.

New chucks

Finished clearing upstairs in the barn in preparation for the builders who arrive at the beginning of October, and removed old steel sliding gate from the front ready for the builders. Some of the floorboards were a bit rotten and there was evidence of woodworm. I think I may have to get the garden spray out and dowse everything with woodworm treatment before the plasterboard and insulation gets fitted.

Caroline bought 6 new point of lay chickens this afternoon. Two brown, two black and two white. At the moment they are all sticking together like new children on the block with the 'old hands' probing the youngsters from the edge establishing the pecking order.

La Lohuas Gites

Whilst we were at school someone said they had seen us in the Ouest France paper this morning. This was due to a chat Caroline had with the journalist who covered the B17 Memorial on Wednesday.

 

Les Champs-Géraux

Caroline et Ian, des Anglais installés, depuis 2 ans

Arrivée depuis deux ans aux Champs-Géraux, la famille Haycox a voulu tout de suite s'impliquer dans la vie de sa nouvelle commune. Propriétaires de gîtes, ils ouvrent leurs portes aux touristes et les invitent à mieux connaître le Pays d'Évran.

Caroline et lan Haycox ont préféré la vie en France avec leurs deux enfants, Elizabeth et Hugh, après avoir découvert la possibilité de relancer des gîtes. Ils n'ont pas hésité à quitter leur région du sud-ouest de l'Angleterre et venir s'installer pour rénover l'ancienne ferme de la Lohuas, située entre Évran et Lanvallay.

"Nous avions l'habitude de venir en vacances en Bretagne, et nous apprécions à l'époque le rythme de la vie à la campagne, contrairement à ce que nous vivions en Angleterre. Alors, on s'est lancé le défi de venir s'installer ici, avec la volonté de s'intégrer au plus vite au mode de vie français. C'est important, même encore maintenant, malgré la difficulté de la langue ", raconte Caroline.

Dès leur arrivée, ils avaient organisé un pot d'accueil pour leur voisinage et pour continuer de s'impliquer dans la vie de leur commune, ils participent aujourd'hui à l'association des parents d'élèves de l'école, ce qui leur a aussi permis de se lier avec d'autres parents. " Je crois que c'est à nous de nous adapter à la vie française, si on fait, l'effort, la population saura le reconnaître et nous accueillir. " Les Haycox possèdent trois gîtes, et programment d'agrandir les hébergements cet hiver, la demande est, grande, et leurs clients viennent désormais de très loin comme d'Amérique, d'Australie et bien sûr d'Angleterre ou Irlande, grâce à leur site internet. " C'est aussi une manière de recevoir des étrangers et leur faire découvrir la région. "

Pratique. Ian et Caroline Haycox, gîte de la Lohuas aux Champs-Géraux. info@brittany-holiday-gites.com par e-mail.

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Schumacher cruises to title

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Schumacher cruises to title

It did turn out to be an exciting race, but not necessarily for the right reasons. The TF1 coverage showed the bits that ITV missed during the ad breaks.

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Trulli grabs Belgian pole

BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Formula One | Trulli grabs Belgian pole Bit of a lottery but it might spice up the race tomorrow.

On Wednesday night Caroline went out for the evening as part of the www.b17-29mai.com commitee and to welcome some people from America and the UK to show them the memorial and exhibition in the Mairies office. As with almost all events (fetes, school plays, sports, etc.) in each of the communes, they are covered by one of the local papers. Ouest France (daily paper for the west of France) and Le Petit Bleu (weekly paper for Cotes d'Armor) both covered the event.

Here is the Ouest France article published today.

Les Champs-Geraux

Une gerbe en memoire du crash du B 17

Mercredi, en fin d'apres-midi, le comite du 29 mai 2003 accueillait deux personnes etrangeres, qui comme eux, font des recherches sur; le « 94e Bomber Group » dont le B17 faisait partie.

Pascal Lhermitte et ses amis du comite du 29 mai etaient tres fiers de recevoir deux personnes etrangeres, qui comme eux sont des passionnes d'histoire, et plus particulierement d'aviation et des evenements qui se sont produits lors des raids aeriens pendant la seconde guerre mondiale. Graham Crabtree, president d'une association anglaise qui restaure la tour de controle de Rougham d'ou etait parti le 94e Bomber Group, et, John Adams, membre actif d'une association americaine qui fait des recherches sur le 94e Bomber Group, ont apporte des renseignements precieux et quelques documents supplementaires a I'exposition des Champs-Geraux qui a dure tout I'ete.

« Nous avons entendu parler du crash du B17 aux Champs-Geraux, alors, avec le nom de la commune, et grace a internet j'ai fait des recherches, et j'ai trouve le site du comite, c'est comme cela quel j'ai souhaite entrer en contact avec ses membres », explique John Adams. Le B17, qui s'est ecrase le 29 mai 1943, faisait parti d'une des trois escadrilles du 94e Bomber Group, base en Angleterre. Durant la guerre, le 94e a effectue 325 missions, les Champs-Geraux etaient la 8e. « Il y a des points d'histoire que nous pouvons maintenant mieux interpreter, grace a ces echanges de documents et d'informations, aussi pour leurs associations respectives. Ces gens sont des relais importants, avec qui il serait peut-etre interessant de creer un jumelage, en tout cas l'association le souhaiterait », rapporte Pascal Lhermitte.

Pratique. L'exposition du crash du B17 aux Champs-Geraux, se prolangera jusqu'a fin septembre, aux heures d'ouverture de la mairie.

Mole deterrent

Just the one small molehill this morning. Maybe the solar powered ultrasonic mole deterrent I bought from the Outiror mobile lorry shop on Wednesday is working. I have been gassing moles with smoke cartridges. Some days it's just one or two but the other day I used a marathon seven. I think my obsession has got so bad it is rubbing off on the children staying in the gites. The last few mornings they have come running up to me with cries of 'Ian, Ian we've found another mole hill. Can we kill it please, please'.

Priorite a droit

On the way home I encountered that slightly crazy French road system priorité a droit. When the priorite a droit applies you must give way to vehicles entering from the right, even though you are driving on the main through road. The yellow diamond sign means you have priority over people from the right and is usually displayed when leaving a built-up area. If there is a black diagonal stripe through the sign is means 'give way to the right', or 'be on your toes'. I obviously wasn't quite on the ball today and driving down the main road I had to slam on the anchors to let someone out of a side street. At first glance the rule seems like an accident waiting to happen, but I have heard it argued that it adds to road safety because traffic in towns is more cautious. Another little idiosyncrasity.

Barn clearance

A bit more clearing and tidying in the barn today. Removing the old 200 litre hot water boiler from the wall was a little hair raising. It was bolted to the wall right above the main water supply and meter for the house with nuts rusted solid. I had to angle grind the boiler supports and tops off the bolts but I really did not want this humungus chunk of metal falling on my rising main and flooding the place. Not to mention the embarrasing phone call that Caroline would have to make to the water board. Some demon grinding, fancy footwork and a carefully placed collection of breeze blocks and planks saw the monster slide gracefully down the wall and roll across the floor.

Flushed with success, it was time to tackle the big sliding door between the barn and the lean-to shed. A fairly standard runner and roller farm door needed dismantling. Some slightly less adept work and the door slid shut with a Norman Stanley Fletcher clunk I was trapped in my own little jail with a broken water heater and an angle grinder. I couldn't get to the door catch so I just hacked the end stop off the rail with the last few millimeters of the grinding wheel to escape.

At least I don't have to give my name and address to the man at the recycling depot now I'm a regular.