Gites South Brittany

Well that's another Christmas over and done with! Both gîtes full with satisfied customers and bookings beginning to come in for 2008. Our latest acquisition (a Christmas present for our daughter) is a moth trap, which will enable her to run moth identification events for our gîte customers. The vast majority of our visitors are keen wildlife enthusiasts and will greatly-appreciate such an opportunity. Wildlife has always been close to her heart - she even had articles published in the RSPB magazines and was a Junior Leader of the local RSPB Wildlife Explorers group - and she is now enjoying sharing her hobby with Renaud and learning the French names for birds and insects.

We were invited to the local school's Christmas show (as I am their English teacher), which was held in the "Forum" in Nivillac. The Forum is a Community Centre which boasts a very modern theatre. The children did well - the star of the show being a tiny 3-year-old boy who very happily followed the older children around on-stage whilst managing to look completely bewildered at the same time! All the parents were videoing or taking photos - I don't know if it is still the same in the UK, but I remember years ago at Cheryl's school being banned from doing this, for fear of misuse of the images! I remember thinking that the world had finally gone mad - thank goodness that, for the moment at least, such hysteria hasn't hit France.

In fact a lot of the "Nanny State-isms" do not trouble us here. Schools can still collect the insides of toilet rolls for Blue Peteresque art projects and playgrounds are full of children charging about on scooters, trikes and space hoppers. Children share headphones without a sign of a box of sterilising wipes. Parents adopt a let-them-find-out-for-themselves attitude generally towards their offspring and, even though this seems a bit dangerous to my English mind, they very quickly seem to develop good sense. There doesn't seem to be an increase in the amount of children on crutches or in plaster compared with my years of teaching in schools in England - so maybe they are right! When you visit a doctor there is no accompanying nurse - even for the most intimate of examinations! I have never undergone any sort of check, police or otherwise, in order to be able to teach - just needed to pass teaching exams! Again, past experience in the UK has led to such measures being put in place - but, let's face it, the vast majority of folk are good and honest.

But then again, in the UK you do not need a doctor's note until you have been off ill for a few days - here you have to obtain one for even a half-day! You also have to visit the "Medecin Travail" every 2 years, or when you begin a new job, to be certified "apte". Oh well, you win some ........