Living in Brittany

Easter was very wet cold and windy this year and far too early for tourist only a couple of houses rented. One was to a bunch of French who had a drama workshop in Plestin. Sunday is our most social day as we see lots of French to chat to in or outside the bar and the ex-pats a lot them are ex clients who have bought houses here which is a worrying trend temporarily halted by the decling pound. We saw our ex vet from Plestin who moved in the opposite direction , they are living in Truro,Cornwall where he used to work in an abattoir, signing death certificates ( Oliver's joke ) but is now in Brussels their daughter is at Oxford uni. In the afternoon we visited some friends at Locquemeau they said just call in very unusual for French as they like to formally invite people and are a bit put out by cold calls. He had made a pizza oven which I wanted to look at , they live on a newish estate ( 12 houses ) and as we were leaving I saw Phillippe ( kinio and drummer of rock band ) arrive so we had a look at the house his wife has been building for the last 3-4 years. Its made from straw bales and then rendered with a lime mix, lots of alternative materials have been used ,sheep's wool to insulate the roof , compressed straw panels for internal walls and a earth/lime render is smeared on them. The roof is red cedar shingles not a really good idea in a humid climate next to the sea. It has a fantastic view of the coastline of Locquirec and Treberdan and the price he paid for the building plot was 25€ a metre square and he has 1000ms so 25€k a useful investment.
The wedding is getting nearer so am getting into speech mode wondering if there are any sites I can rip off a speech..................

The local election turned out to be a rout with the Mayor's party winning all the seats. The last result had been 12 for the socialists and 10 for the right but this time he has all 23 seats with a majority vote so there is no second round of voting.I think in a small town like Plestin with a population of 3500 the use of political parties is pointless even I knew who two thirds of the candidates so I voted for a mix of the 2 lists but it seems most people just vote either left or right. At least my mate Rodger got elected he was 18 on the list for the SP but what really bugged me was a neighbour who has had the complete bimbo package including brain removal has been elected, quite shocking. The other thing that disturbs me is with total party domination the mayor can push through dodgy development deals as there is less opposition. A couple years ago a developer wanted to but a couple "bunker" 20 retirement apartments on the seafront at St Efflam it was backed by Plestin but the environment party took them to court and the plans were shelved.
Its been really rough weatherwise a friend at St Efflam had a wave cross the road and fill her parking space ,the first time she had ever seen that. It could be a good time to move house. Xav is on crutches he seems to have a problem with his Achilles he has just had a growing spurt and it appears to be a common occurrence.

It seems I got the week wrong for the local election the first round is on next Sunday and voting tends to be a popularity contest the first week with a more discerning vote the following week.At least I can wind up my Irish mate in town although he is marries to a French woman he hasn't been registered as she didn't think he was eligible so I can tell him,criminals ,the insane and Irish don't vote.
Have been doing the most boring job of the year getting the accounts in some sort of order before depositing them at the accountant. I always find it a depressing job seeing how quickly money flows out we have to get 4k before we can eat of that 2 and a half thousand are taxes,social security and pensions all obligatory so its no wonder the French economy is such a mess as independent enterprises are positively discouraged. Now i know how the system works ( or doesn't ) I should really close the business then start again and be registered as retired and keep the business in the micro regime which would exempt me from half the taxation.
Max has yet another interview at the prefecture St Brieuc for his naturalisation I think he has to recite the words to the Marseilles and swear allegiance to the republic.
I have been practising playing with a rock band its quite fun reminds me of the stuff I did about 30yrs ago but we have to organise our own festival to get a gig