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 ........

With my shoulder and arm very much improved - nearly 8 months after my accident and I am, at last, mainly pain-free. I still only have limited use of my arm - I cannot get my hand up behind my back or raise my hand high enough to write above half-way on the black/whiteboards in class, but otherwise I'm using it almost normally. I still see the physio (kiné) twice a week, which has to somehow be fitted into my busy schedule.

Talking of work - I am now officially qualified to teach English in French primary schools. Yippeee! What a relief!Months of hard work paid off when, on 3rd December, I had my final inspection. This is akin to the OFFSTED inspections in the UK. Two officials from the Education Authority sat-in on a 45 min. lesson and looked over my planning for the year (including detailed lesson plans, overview of the progression for the year and evaluations of both the lessons themselves and individual pupils). Taking into consideration the number of different year groups I teach (although they were only interested in the year-groups where a foreign language is compulsary - CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2) this represented a huge amount of work .... and all in French! The main thing is that I passed with flying colours, receiving a lot of very positive feedback from the Inspectors. Obviously, I have to continue to work within the curriculum ("textes officiales"), but there is no longer any question over my suitability for the job! Not that there ever was, but the qualification is obligatory - even Headteachers who wish to teach English here have to go through the same process to qualify ("être habilité").

I have also recently learnt a new skill - creating interactive teaching games in Powerpoint. Thanks to my younger sister's help - she teaches computing in colleges in the UK. My teaching colleagues have taken a keen interest in this idea and I am organising a half-day "workshop" for them at home during the Christmas holidays. It will be useful to exchange ideas and also to pool our resources. All the games I and my colleagues create will be translated into French and made available to children visiting our gîtes - French or English. The children here in all the scchools were enthralled with the games this week and behaved impeccably in order to win the right to participate!

Cheryl and I are continuing to train the dogs to do Agility and also Dancing. We are building quite a repertoire - spins, rolls, weaving between legs whilst walking, looking left and right, giving left and right paws, high 5, walking on hind legs, bowing ...... and the dogs can do quite a lot too! We now need to choreograph it all to music. We have a more professional set of 12 weave poles and Gracie and Ficelle are beginning to develop a really good technique through them.

Harry continues to be the best cat ever (I'm not biased!). He's the first cat we've ever had and he has won all our hearts. He and the dogs still adore each other and play together. He even joins in the agility sessions - today he did the walk over and the seesaw, but his favourite is the tunnel. We have begun feeding the birds again - placing the feeder in the middle of the garden away from hiding places so that Harry cannot surprise them.

Well I survived my first full week back at work since April! Je suis claquée! Any road up, it would appear that the children are all very happy to have their favourite English teacher back - as one Head Teacher told me today "Apparament, l'anglais c'est rigolo!" (Apparently, English is fun!).

I have spent most of the week explaining that "L O" is just a list of letters and not "Bonjour en anglais"!! Followed by much hillarity trying to make a piece of tissue fly off the back of the hand whilst saying "Hello!". (I took great care in ensuring that they understood that they should pick up the hundreds of bits of tissue used around the house once they had finished their homework - I wonder how many complaints from parents I'll get next week!!)

Great shock was expressed at the idea that English people don't go around kissing each other all day long and that even shaking hands is usually reserved for a very first "rencontre".

A+ - as they say in French text messages !!

I've just become a technophobe - but it's not easy at 44 years old and with a keyboard that doesn't play fair!!!! I have just been gobsmacked and am (unusually) lost for words. I have just received my early birthday pressie - a lap top. However, it's got a silly french keyboard - I mean, who decided that it woiuld be a good idea to have to hold down the shift key just to type a ful stop!!!!

Any road up, I will have easy access to all my recordings - sound and visual - for use in schools. (sorry for the delay there - I had to stop to hold down the shift key!!!)

Perhaps it,s a blessing in disguise for "my readers" (who don't exist) because I can't waffle on so easily. (shift key!) I'll leave you with a sentence to decode:

The auick brozn fox ju,ped over the lawy dog;

Injury: The long-awaited recovery has made sufficient progress for me to be able to return to work – after 4 months of being "on holiday", it will seem strange! I still have a very long way to go to regain all my range of movements and am visiting a different physio (kiné) 3 times a week (on the advice of my doctor, who was not at all happy with the original physio's treatment). I had 2 rounds of cortisone injections (infiltrations) into my shoulder and wrist.

I had developed frozen shoulder (épaule gelée or capsulite retractile) and also "algodystrophie" in my hand (I'm using the French here, as I don't know the English medical term). After the injections I had to rest for a month. However, I regained quite a lot of movement just as a result of the cortisone itself.

House and Home: Another exciting event was the arrival of our shed! Well, OK it doesn't seem that exciting to you, but here you need planning permission. We now also have a sit-and-ride mower, which is making Paul's life much easier. He's like a kid with a new toy and is very happy that we had a wet summer, as this meant the grass continued to grow .....!

Gîtes: We have had a good season with our gîtes and our heads have grown bigger thanks to the wonderful, enthusiastic comments we have received from our customers in our Visitors' Book (Livre D'Or). I have, at last, got around to creating some French pages for our website – if you want to give your French a try, click on the French flag on our Front page on www.gitessouthbrittany.com and enjoy!

For wildlife enthusiasts I have improved our "Local Wildlife" page, in order to make it easier to read. Again we have been very encouraged by the reaction of our visitors, who greatly appreciate our "local knowledge" – helping them to access the wildlife they hope to see more easily.

Sailing: Last weekend we sailed out to sea and visited a small island just off the coast of the Loire Atlantique. This was a big adventure, which necessitated passing through the barrage (a lock). Otherwise, we have used our boat a lot less this year – just a few trips along the river – due to both the weather and my injury.

Dogs: Gracie and Ficelle are amazing us with their ability to learn new tricks. We have begun using the "clicker" method and they can now spin, roll, walk backwards on hind legs (front would be a bit too much to ask!!!), give left or right paw, high 5, bark on command, weave between our legs, circle our legs (forwards for the moment) and sit-up-and-beg. Our aim (notre but) is to put all this together to music! Ficelle has proved herself to be a natural. Gracie still has the upper paw when it comes to Agility though and we now have an "A Frame" and a very smartly painted course.

We also took them along to a Border Collie day near Dinan, where we could test their aptitude for herding. I was extremely proud of Gracie, who, faced with a herd of sheep (brebis) (she was off the lead), showed how well brought-up she is and refused to chase around after them. Unfortunately, the organisers saw things differently and instructed their sheep-dogs to herd the sheep towards us and around us to try and encourage her natural instinct – when she steadfastly continued to walk to heel (like a good dog) they gave up on her, shaking their heads! Ficelle? Well Ficelle is Ficelle – enough said! For those of you who don't know her personally, she is "têtue" – headstrong – and although she, at first, remembered her training, her brain worked out that "All the other dogs are having grrrrrreat fun chasing those sheep and no-one has told them off! Yippeeeeee! Here I go!" This pleased the organisers greatly, even when one of the sheep jumped the fence and ran off towards the car park with Ficelle in hot pursuit! Give her her due, she did stop and lay down when I whistled (organisers most annoyed with me for interfering – sorry, but I didn't want my dog or the sheep out on the road!). Another "helpful" chap then carried on the chase with his dog – result a lost sheep (in adjacent field of sweet corn) for 20 minutes!!! Oh well, they did want her to show her natural instincts and that's what they got!

Between the unseasonable weather and my on-going convalescing we have been un-characteristically house-bound of late. Looking on the bright side it has meant that Paul has been able to catch up with some much needed DIY about the place. We are still waiting for the permission to erect our shed, but we have now installed 3 water butts – giving us a total of 600 -700 ltrs of water for the garden. We bought a pump which fixes onto a hosepipe and gives very good pressure even at several metres. The boules pitch has, at last, got a wooden border around – the French rules allow for a boule to be bounced off the sides in order to sneak past an opponent's boule, which adds another facet to the game.

We have also acquired some "traverses SNCF" (railway sleepers) to edge our planned vegetable plot, or "potager", which will be situated next to the shed (eventually!!).

Yesterday was the date of the local "Kermesse" (school fête). This began with a sit down meal (outside – we declined in view of the weather!). Next came a "défilé" (parade) headed by the local "Fanfare" (brass band). The school children ("maternelle et primaire") followed in costumes depicting the sea – "baleines et requins" (whales and sharks) for the "Petite et Moyenne Section" (Nursery), "des pirates" for Years 1 - 3 – GS (Grande section), CP (Cours Préparatoire) and CE1 (Cours Elementaire 1) and fishermen/women for the remaining three year groups (CE2 , CM 1 + CM2 – Cours Moyen). There then followed a dance by each class (only 3 classes in the school!) to sea shanties. The usual school fête games were then played – French style – bet on a guinea pig race to win either a rabbit or a guinea fowl for fattening! Personally, I find it rather cruel the way they treat the poor animals, which they seemed to hand them over very roughly – you only had to look at the terrified expressions and the fact that they did not even try to escape due to being rigid with terror! Needless to say, I didn't buy a ticket. We did, however, come away with a slightly better raffle prize than the last 2 years – 2005 was a washing-up bowl, 2006 a cheap brollie .... 2007 a 30 cm terracotta pot for the garden!

The weather deteriorated again this week - heavy showers, wind and some thunder and lightning! I'm having a break from physio treatment for a week following more tests on my shoulder. My doctor sent me for more x-rays and even an ultra-sound scan on my shoulder (aparently a new thing) - all I could see was a grey mass, but the guy seemed to be able to learn from it! I won't be able to start work again now until September, which is a bit of a blow. However, it would appear that all the schools are keen to have me back again next (school) year, so that is a relief.

We are waiting with baited breath for our permission to put up a garden shed. This involved submitting scale drawings of the location of the property, the existing buildings and the shed itself - in quadruplicate - attached to a lengthy form. We have heard so many horror stories of 3-4 month battles with the planning office (who will even haggle over a 10cm over-hang of the roof of the shed!), that we decided to go straight to see the organ-grinder herself. She has in the past been very helpful to us (recently granting a change in the original plans for our houses and the coverted "Certificat de Conformité") and this visit was no exception. I can't help thinking that the fact that my French is fluent helps - they must get fed up to the back teeth with Brits going in and expecting them to understand English interspersed with very poor pigeon French! Anyway, the said permission will be granted very quickly - we have her word for it!

May was a complete washout – the weather was diabolical and I have been stuck at home bored stiff due to my injury. The highlight of my days has been the visit to the physio!!?? My rehabilitation is painfully (in both senses of the word) slow – I am beginning to spend an hour here and there without my sling and can now lift my arm slightly higher, but I am very limited as to what I can do for myself.

However, the sun came out briefly this morning and I managed to sit outside for a while and watch the Kestrels feeding their newly-hatched chicks through my telescope. We are incredibly lucky to have such a wealth of wildlife on our doorstep – there is always something to watch. If you enjoy tuning into Springwatch at the moment (as I do), then imagine what it would be like to have access to such wonders daily on your own doorstep. Hares play in the field next to our garden, deer are regular visitors, red squirrels are easy to see in the nearby woods. Black Woodpeckers, Hoopoes, Cirl Buntings, Black Kites, Hen Harriers, Kingfishers ........ I could go on ........ are all easily seen either in our own garden or within walking distance. Swallowtail butterflies are regular visitors (in season) to the garden. I used to visit nature reserves every weekend when I lived in the UK – no need to now!

I often wonder why things are so different here from where we used to live in Portsmouth – it isn't so far a distance, but it is a different world. Is it down to climate? I don't think so. Is it down to the fact that I live out in the sticks? That certainly makes the birds more accessible, but then I used to spend all my free time out in the countryside looking for wildlife. Is it down to the fact that there is more countryside (a much bigger country with the same population)? That must have something to do with it. Is it down to different farming practices? I'm not qualified to know. Let's hope it continues! I know I used to see many more birds as a child – Tree sparrows, Bullfinches, Song Thrushes, Partridges etc – than I found as an adult living in the UK.

Today is La Fête des Mères (Mothers' Day). Cheryl works in a large hypermarket in Vannes. Every customer was given a rose yesterday. As Cheryl works on the Customer Reception Desk, she was able to bring home a few of the leftovers – 100 roses!!!! It gave me great pleasure to be able to do the rounds of our neighbours with armfuls of flowers and I still had 3 vases full myself!

They say the best way to learn is through experience. This is especially true for language-learning. You can learn the basics in class, which is a good place to start, but to really perfect your fluency and enrich your vocabulary you need to live in the country and learn through experience.

For example, I already knew such words as "une épaule" (a shoulder) and "l'hôpital" and even "les urgences" (A and E) along with such phrases as "Ca me fait mal" (it hurts) and "C'est douleureux" (it's painful). But a recent act of stupidity (getting into a rowing boat without waiting for someone to steady it) gave me the opportunity to learn other words such as "déboitée" (dislocated), "une luxation" (a dislocation), "des calments forts" (strong painkillers), "du kiné" (physiotherapy).

I already knew that in order to have even half a day off work you needed "un arrêt" (sick note – mine is initially for one month!) from your "médecin" (doc), but my recent experience has taught me about filling in forms such as "une attestation salaire" (employer's declaration of an employee's earnings) together with a whole host of paperwork to claim re-imbursement of doctors' and physio's fees – France really does revolve around paperwork. In the UK you would not have to pay for such treatment up-front and you do not have to have health insurance to make up the difference (the state only redeems 70% of such fees). However, would you be taken straight in to see the doctor upon arriving at A and E for something as "minor" (compared with heart attacks for example) as a dislocated shoulder? Would you have daily physio treatment for 3 weeks as soon as you reached that stage in your rehabilitation? Would you have the right to free transport door-to-door without having to justify it? (We haven't taken advantage of this option, preferring to use our car – as Paul doesn't work and so is available as chauffeur and nurse 24 hours a day!)

Being bi-lingual has many obvious benefits, but my French physiotherapist has discovered one that is not immediately obvious. I very confidently chat away in French (I do not "translate into English" in my own mind – when I speak French I think French) - and he needs me to let him know if a particular movement, or area is painful to help him gauge progress. If something is only slightly painful I say "Aie!" as my brain is in "French gear", but if caught unawares with a very-convincing dose of "douleur" (pain) I revert back to my native tongue and treat him to a nice loud "Ow!!". Thus he has learnt that he has no need to ask me for a scale of pain "from 1 to 10", he simply notes the language!!!

A useful bit of vocab that I had already learnt during the (almost) 3 years I've lived (present perfect!!! – for any of my adult students reading this!) in France is that "pins and needles" translates as "des fourmis" (literally "ants"). So when the doctor in Emergency asked me if I had any ants in my fingers I was able to understand and reply "Non, ça va." (No, it's OK). Just imagine the complications such a question may have caused – and at a time when delays are not welcome!

Finally, just so that you can enjoy a good laugh at my expense (as all of my friends and family have already) – yes I did fall in the river, yes I was fully-clothed and no, it's not on video so I can't even gain £250!!!!!

I spent the whole 2 weeks of the holiday lesson-planning and studying for my exam – "Habilitation" – which I sat (in front of a board at the Education Authority in Vannes – gulp!!!) on 19th April. This is the official qualification to teach English in primary schools and which I needed to pass in order to continue teaching in September. Although for the French teachers taking the exam a large part of it involves verifying their level of English, for me it was my level of French that was tested. In addition to this, we all had to answer questions about the "Textes Officielles" (Curriculum and Teaching Practice). Anyway, big sigh of relief, I passed with flying colours! This has greatly boosted my confidence and I have gone into the schools with renewed energy this week!

The gîtes are beginning to get booked-up a bit more. We even have a 10 day booking for both gîtes from the "Commune de Nivillac" (the Mairie, basically) – a troop of actors who are coming to put on a play at the local "Forum" theatre. For details of the gîtes (holiday cottages) and availability go to our main web-site (link on the left of this page).

On Saturday we managed to sail further than ever before up the Vilaine river. We set off from La Roche-Bernard (where our boat is moored) at about 10.30 am (having spent over an hour just rowing out to collect it from its mooring, towing the rowing boat back to the pontoons, ferrying dogs, cat and supplies from the car and getting the sails ready) and arrived at "Le Pont de Cran" (between St. Dolay and Redon) at 1 pm. We had lunch on board and the dogs had a swim – Harry, the cat, declined! – before setting off back to La Roche. Harry is a very cool ship's cat – he takes it all in his stride.

We sailed part of the way back. Although there was very little wind and most of the headway was made thanks to the current. Arriving back in La Roche-B, we set the boat on the end of a pontoon and Paul set off to collect a rowing boat to tow back across the river with us. Just then a very large yacht appeared – we had stopped in its berth! Luckily for us it was our friend, Jean-François, who took it all very well and even looked after the dogs on his boat whilst we moored up. We then "had to" stay for an "appero" with him before finally getting home at 9.45 pm!!!!!! We were both very tired and sun burnt – it had been an extremely hot day – worthy of July, never mind April. Life's so tough here in Brittany!!!!