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06/30/2006

21st of June is Fete de Musique

For 25 yrs the21st of June is music night in France every town will have bands of all descriptions playing in the streets the town band I play in did their stint at 1800hr the usual 6-10 people watching but the big band had refused to play as their was some politics involved and certain bands had been banned so we played at Trestel which must rate as one of the most beautiful beaches in Brittany. A horseshoe shaped beach with white sand a few shops and bar + parking not much else as the village is inland at Louanec, but at the headland is a massive building which I always think of as a hotel but its a rehabilitation hospital and we play in the cafeteria which overlooks the bay and the sea with amazing sunsets. Our audience consists of people recovering from various accidents and broken bones ,half of them are in wheel chairs but they are a good audience.
Our last gig of the season is at the jazz festival at Gommes south of St Brieu where we play with a couple professionals Boris Blanchet on sax which looks as if he found it in the dustbin but is a hot player.

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06/15/2006

Allez Les Roast Boeuf

It was a bit quiet in the bar on Friday after the non performance of the the French in the World cup matchbut to get a good laugh you just ask what time are the Roast boeuf playing the French think its really funny and when I explain the Brits call them froggies they find it bizarre and not insulting. But they are not fanatical football supporters so very relaxed if they lose.
Our eldest Max is trying to french citizenship but its hard going we started nearly a year ago giving loads of information and the last bulliten we had was question demanding financial status when we have already explained he is a student. So Paulien rang up the functionaire but she has had an accident and will be off work till September I think it is part of their work creation asking stupid questions to justifie their job. Being French gives more scope for jobs later on as certain jobs are restricted to french nationals.
Its the bac exams this week kicking off with philosophy on Monday the entire country's students doing the same exam the same time very centralised. He seems to want to do law and econmics ( boring but good earning possibilities ) at Brest next September ,the tuition is free but we pay for boarding which is probably cheaper than educating in the UK.
The youngist Xav has just finished sixeme and was in danger of having to repeat but with some external help he is OK to go to cinqeme but we are changing him to Penker college in Plestin as he has problems with the teachers at the catholic school.
The clients are in for a treat next week as the big band are doing a rehersal here as our hall is been booked I hope they like jazz.

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06/03/2006

Another day

The weather has turned from miserable May to flaming June in a few days which was good for the clients staying at whitsun. We had a good crowd with half of them rebooking for the following year. The boys just have another month of school then 2 months holiday ,Max has finished and has his bac in 2 weeks , its different the system here he applies to colleges and univercities and they generally accept him providing he passes his back no grades asked for or interviews either. He had to reluctantly turn down the job offer of cleaning toilets for the marie for the position of working in Super U in the bread department, so it could be an early start for him in the morning.
I have lots of concerts coming up for the jazz fanfare but for today its a case of a quick coffee in the bar then cleaning 2 houses as its changeover day.

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