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12/27/2007
Pineapples on the beach
A few weeks ago we had some bad storms and half a dozen containers were swept up on the Brittany coast including a shipment of pineapples destined for Tesco. However they arrived on the beaches between Plestin and Perros and recently there has been a glut of people making pineapple jam and tarts. Further west about half a ton of tobacco was washed up mostly Golden Virgina which even tempted Paulien to go for a walk on the beach the customs were soon on site declaring it was illegal to take it away.
Christmas has been very quiet with a couple of families staying on site French/English + the dog and goat of Karen and Kas who have gone to Holland for the festive period so its a happy new year to my 2 regular readers Jonnie and Peter and any one else who stumbles across this blog. Bloavez matt as they say in Breton
08:16 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: brittany, france, holiday, gite, coat aillis, comments
12/11/2007
Brest is best
Brest airport has just opened its new terminal this week its the only new airport development in France post 9/11 at present it has just over 800 000 travellers making it the busiest airport in Brittany ,but with the new facilities it can handle up to 1.8 million. It services about a dozen large towns in France , has a few package operators but more important for me it serves 5 towns in the UK, Exeter, Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester and Luton.I used them in October going one way by ferry and returning by air and the flight was cheaper than Brittany ferry. The Brest airport management are looking for an Irish operator as at present Irish flights are going to Rennes ,Lorient and Nantes I suppose it depends on the airport charges but its the nearest bit of land to Ireland.
The weather was quite rough last week with high winds its interesting that all the local wind surfers arrive at St Michel or St Efflam ( the large beach below us ) and surf it as its safe but interesting in gale conditions. I have at last started slating the gite with my mate Eric I have to keep an eye on him as he hasn't done it before whereas Paulien has so she is doing her own bit at the back of the gite where it will not be seen so much.
07:45 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: brittany, gite, holiday, coat aillis, comments
12/03/2007
End of November
Its been a strange few weeks my mum died a couple weeks ago she was 80 and had been in hospital a month and there wasn't much they could do for her. Its always a shock for me to see an English ward with 6 beds whereas in France there is a maximum of 2 to a room. The funeral was over a week ago on a Saturday so I took the overnight boat with the boys leaving Paulien to look after the cats and dogs and met up with the family in a little Devon village church there were some cousins I hadn't seen for 30years so It was good to catch up on their news. Its a shame it takes a funeral for a family gathering. After a very simple service we moved next door for a typical English cup of tea and pasties/sandwiches/cake which my lads loaded their plates several times. They are like human vacuum cleaners when it comes to food and don't put on any weight its not the PS2 exercises more likely the football training. We met up with Louise who promptly measured us up as she is insisting that we wear suits ( top and tails ) for her wedding. A few more family get togethers and then a dash to Plymouth to catch the overnight boat again and by 10 am the next day I was having a coffee in the PMU at Plestin on market day.
A few days later I must have done something awkward working on the roof as I couldn't move too well ( sciatic problems )on the Thursday and the doctor gave me a sick note for a week off work which didn't go down very well with Paulien. Most of the hard work is done on the roof project just the slates and then the slates need to be finished off.
I have to go to church on Sunday with the town band as its St Cecile day who is the patron saint for music and we have a musical program to play. At least I don't suffer from Monsieur Echo's presence for the moment.
08:35 Posted in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: brittany, gite, holiday, coat aillis, comments