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12/19/2006
Afternoon coffee with the local aristocrats
Last Sunday morning we bumped into our neighbours and being near Christmas invited us over for coffee after lunch . Chit chat socalising isn't really my thing but our neighbour Mari Christianne just talks non stop her husband pretends to sleep but if you engage him in green issuses he wakes up ( although he has a very defective septic system ) Their house is full of antiques its a bit of an obstacle course to your chair it must be a nightmare to dust but they have a cleaner a couple times a week. He is from the local chateau and is an ex latin teacher and his wife used to teach greek and drama after 2 hours we managed to escape and I salvaged the rest of the afternoon by watching some rugby on the TV.
The roof is going well we did 6 m sq last week of stone walling in 2 days ( both have back pain now ) so we only have to slate it then all of it will be finished by Christmas then just a few internal jobs so by the begining of February I will be getting bored again and looking for another project to do before the season starts
We have a French family for Christmas ( family of Eric a friend ) and some Canadians for the new year .
A happy Christmas to all my regular readers ( all 2 of them ) and Blaovez Matt as they say in Breton
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12/07/2006
A good read
The weather is foul at moment lots of rain we even missed the bus this morning well he didn't stop so had to chase it to the next village, fun in the dark with waves crashing over the sea wall.
I have been reading a very interesting book by Andre Hue he was a french/english resistance fighter in WW2 in Brittany and post D day was organising and coordinating sabotage. He had previously helped pilots escape back to England they departed from the beach Beg an Fry which is 15 minutes from Coat Aillis. It makes the local history more real we had found a rifle hidden in one of the barns and the previous farmer had found lugers and rifles hidden in the walls.
Our nearest neighbour was the youngest of 10 from the local chateau ( a couple fields away ) and during the war a plane crashed on the beach and his mother sheltered the pilots for a few days before handing them on to escape, unfortunately the gestapo came and took her away and she died in the camp Ravensbrook.
The locals do remember the sacrifices as the various memorials are well attended ( 11 Nov, 9th May end of war, 28th April deportation day ,12th Aug liberation day in Lannion )
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