Living in Brittany

Its very quiet here now since the autumn half term the place is empty of visitors for the first time since the beginning of April so we can shout and scream and no one hears us except perhaps the neighbours.The weather has changed like a switch as soon as the last visitors left at the end of October , the last two months have incredibly dry and warm  and now its the rainy windy  season which is good for the ground and gardens.I had a quick visit to the UK to pick up a few goodies I had bought on ebay which I get delivered to my brother also to pick up of a chipper/mulcher  attachment for my Countax mower from Exeter.I bought one of those electric ones years ago which you use once and then throw to the back of your workshop in disgust as its so slow and inefficient, but the Countax chipper is a good tool as it works direct off the 16 hp motor so plenty of power and can slice up to 6cms  but I prefer to do half that thickness and chainsaw the rest in to fire starter pieces. I also bought a second hand chainsaw as my old one I cynically call it French as it works well for 10 minutes and then it needs a 2 hour rest.My brother has moved to Bude in Cornwall where I went to secondary school  ( it was a grammar in those days ) and the most worrying thing was I knew 10  people in the street of his house, 4 were ex teachers, 2 were in the same class as me , the next door neighbour played in the town band with me its just too much .Tony the ex-class mate insisted on taking me out for a pub crawl which didn't do much for my head the next day.It was interesting that recession wasn't effecting Bude so much as its a tourist town and the "staycation " fashion helps it survive.

I returned from a walk with the dog at the weekend to find a springer spaniel chasing one of our white chickens around the garden last weekend, after a few subtle words of English it disappeared and the chicken jumped into my arms to be rescued and I was going to put it back into its run but noticed the other chick had disappeared so I dropped it in with the brown chick. There was just a pile of feathers so assumed the dog had carried it off. This was a good opportunity for Paulien to have an in-depth conversation with the hunters on dog control and respecting distances with local houses, as they just seem to shoot anything which moves especially while the maize crops are still standing.However the next day when we moved the 2 remaining chickens ( we move their run everyday so they have something fresh to scratch ) we heard a faint noise in the hedge and found the missing chick minus quite a few feathers wedged behind a water butt, a very lucky chick!

I did a gig a couple weeks ago in Plufur with Anthony ( an ex pro trumpet player ) we played the first set before the other group played, "Feeling" a jazz quartet with a very good singer. It was OKish  and in the paper the "Tregor "last week we had our photo in and a write up, Anthony with his "bewitching" trumpet  and Simon with his "hot sax " a bit ambiguous !

We had quite a shock last Saturday in the bar someone mentioned Francois Rolland had died of an aneurysm, he's our neighbour just lives a few fields away. Regular visitors will have seen him working the fields or he would often drop in for a chat  leaving the engine of his  John Deere  tractor running  as he had a quick beer and gossip with me and Paulien. We have known him 17 years and he lived at Coat Aillis before we bought the place  and he had a large hanger in place where he ( or his wife ) milked his 25 cows, in fact we co-habited  on site as he didn't move the hanger till 95 so we always got on well. He was a fiery proud Breton but an unreconstructed chemical farmer who was was an anachronism as he was farming on such a small scale. The funeral was at Ploulec'h a small village near Lannion it was completely packed so we had to stand for the service  where they sang songs in French and Breton and afterwards everyone passes the coffin and sprinkles some drops of water on it. I got out early but Paulien left half an hour after me as there were at least 400 in the church and another 100 outside. He was only 53 and had 3 girls one of whom was going to be married the following week so it was bad timing.

All the dairy farmers locally are on strike  that is they are throwing their milk away ( they will give it away also )  since 10 days it looks like financial suicide  but I guess they aren't making much money anyway.

The winner of this years pool competition was a double triumph for the Cutler family  as both Emma and Teddy won the junior and senior cups so extra shelving will be needed in their household to go along side Frances's cup, I'll have to have a senior (over 50s cup next year so Jonnie has a chance of a grand slam)

I went to a very interesting cerememory  last week at Ploubere it was organised by the "Brittany group of the 15th Calvary " a local French group which has connections with the American army which the 15th belongs to. Back in 1944 after the breakout in Normandy around July General Patton had the brief to capture Brest as it was a Uboat base and still active, so accordingly he sent the 15th Calvary to take it ASAP avoiding major battles and large towns such as St Malo and St Brieuc. There was a story in the press of the present mayor of Paleo  ( small village near St Brieuc ) had been in a group taken  hostage by the Germans and had a pistol to his head ready to be shot when the Calvary arrived in their tanks and saved their lives!

So the "harmonie" had to play our usual French  tunes " Marseillaise,Chant des partisans + Star spangled banner" followed by  speeches which were  in English and French. There were 4 veterans  present ( all in their 90s ) and around 50 other Americans as it was part of a 2 week tour of Brittany.We had  the Prefect,senator,deputy for Cote d'Armor and the American consul from Rennes all gave talks for up to an hour before we could replenish our thirst.It was interesting that American consul's speech in English  was markedly different in French and brief as in in English  it was rather Bushite and its exact translation wouldn't have gone down too well with the French.