Living in Brittany

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.

I had to go flat hunting in Rennes with Max as he and Bas are studying there at the university next month. I left the arrangements up to Max and he had 2 rendez-vous organised. The first was on a purpose built block modern Ok if you like fitted carpets on the walls and one of the bedrooms  wouldn't have taken a double bed, so it was small,but it was passable and then the agent at the end of the visit said the owner didn't like students, so it was a waste of time and for the second appointment we waited  and waited and the agent never turned up and Max didn't have his/her  number, but fortunately we ventured into an immobilier at the centre of Rennes and asked if they had any thing on offer and we  were offered a first viewing of an apartment which was in the process of being repainted so we had to return a couple of days later ( its only a 2 hour drive to Rennes ).However the apartment was great just a 5 minute walk from the centre, it was slightly old fashioned with a squeaky wooden floor but spacey 68msq and going for 690€ a month.Its great for Max as his uni is just 2 streets away whereas Bas is at University2 which is on the edge of Rennes so a half hour walk,15 min on a bike it seems to be very bike friendly or he could take the metro. Rennes is a very interesting city,very old centre with the newly restored parliament building  ( the fishermen burnt it down in 1994, Paulien used to know a fisherman he had a few fingers missing as he had let go of the Molotov too late ) It also houses the appeal courts and has exhibitions in the assembly room and is well worth a visit but I guess small children wouldn't find it too interesting. In the centre of Rennes is the " rue de soif " a wide street flanked by restaurants and bars ( also the Webb Ellis )  the centre of the night life.

Here at Coat Aillis we have our "happy family " week with lots of regulars back and we are in the middle of our annual pool competition sponsered by Npower,CMB and Super U. Fortunatly the Aussies lost the ashies so the Npower memorablie has some meaning otherwise it would have to have been binned. For the juniors Iz has to play Emma but for the seniors it looks like a three way final between Ted, Bas (former junior champion) and Pete (07 winner ) or Xav (a 4 times winner of the juniors )Will post the winner next blog.

On the seaweed front the beach of course is looking very clean  and last week the French PM ,Fillon visited with 3 minsters ,agriculture,health and the environment with the usual pledges of money to throw at the problem when the real solution would be effective policing of the rivers and closing down any dirty units caught polluting

We have recently come in contact with our immediate neighbour's ( Etienne )  sister  during the EDF chainsaw massacre  ( 24/05 post ) as she was doing a dossier  on the damage they had done. She is a very formidable short woman with incredible energy when you think she is 84yr. She explained she had a grandson  staying in August who wanted to improve his English so we arranged an exchange with Teddy who is staying with us before his parents arrive.During her second visit she explained that her deceased husband had hid in the loft of the gite "les Etables " from 1942 onward as Coat Aillis was the communication base for the local resistance in the last war. During our renovation of that gite we found a Lee Enfield mk2 rifle hidden in the gables

The story that led up to her late husband hiding was he was a "de Staint Laurent " and lived in the local chateau   a few fields away  and an allied airplane crashed on the beach at St Efflam and the 2 pilots were hidden at the chateau then passed on to escape to the UK , but unfortunately the gestapo  came and took the mother away and she died in the camp Ravensbruck in 45 and all the children  ( 10 of them ) were dispersed as they were afraid they would be deported as well, so my neighbour who was a couple years old was put in a monastery where as Jacque ( her husband ) who was 17 and good at telecommunications/ morse code hid in the  loft of les etables while his older brother escaped to England.

I went to a meeting /demonstration on the " toxic beach" at St Michel en Greve last Sunday where there was hardly a trace of seaweed in fact it was the cleanest I have ever seen no doubt due to the presence of the TV cameras and the national press. The consensus seems to be that there should be better policing of the couple of intensive units inland  plus a change of husbandry by the farmers to stop growing maize which is very shallow rooting and leaves the fields bare from November to April  ( unless the farmers put in a green manure crop ) and to grow lucerne a crop with a very deep rooting system. The statistics show on average after the maize is cut there remains about 140 units of N in the ground which then leaches into the watercourse. The other consensus was that the entire team of bureaucrats at the prefecture should be sacked!

There was a bizarre story in the press 3 weeks ago of a horse rider who's horse fell in a hole next to the a river and it died allegedly with its head in the seaweed of a toxic gas given off by the seaweed decomposing in the sun. The weed is known as sea lettuce and would be the equivalent of taking a walk on a pile of rotting garden lettuces which have been left in the sun for 4 weeks, something you just wouldn't do.However it being the age of litigation and no one takes responsibility for their own actions now adays the owner is suing the local mayor in St Michel who already has an action pending against  "X" who are local farmers ( not identified ) for pollution of the water course ( use of excessive nitrates ).

So a week ago the French press did a blitz on  the story and a week later its on Sky news so it must be true. The problem with the English press is objectivity like the swine flu "with the streets of England cluttered with dead bodies due to this deadly menace" so now its too dangerous to open the window of the car at the beach to " sniff the sea air filled with toxic gases " The reality is in the last 20 years there has been 3 or 4 incidents one involving a person the others being dogs and a horse these facts are then taken by the Murdoch press  and sensationalised regardless of the true facts. The beaches are as popular as ever and to my knowledge none are closed, there are signs where its "interdite " to swim but those signs have been in place 30+yrs. The excess nitrates is a long going problem with local authorities  reluctant in the past to take on farmers but the "tide is turning " and the environment is being given a higher priority.

Previously I lived in Cornwall and the answer there to their sewage problems was to build longer outlets and pump it further out to sea.

We had some sad news yesterday my mother in law, Hildegarde passed away Friday night. She hasn't been well for the last two years but had been well looked after by Beep ( Paulien's sister  who is married to my brother ) in Cornwall. She was a colourful character well know to our client/friends  as a slightly eccentric Dutch woman doing yoga and interested in all aspects of life with a very open mind. She was probably the least  materialistic person I have ever met a sad loss for humanity may she rest in peace.

The boys are all moving on this autumn, Max has finished his 3 year stint  at Brest and wants to do a further 2 years at Rennes studing "European law" (exciting stuff ) and Bas passed his bac and has a place at the university at Rennes to do "lange applique "  which is doing the languages Spanish and English with some business studies thrown in, so they will be flat huntting as it makes sense to share and is cheaper per head than having single appartments. Xav is off to the lycee in Lannion  to do a CEP which is a vocational  course and involves an apprentiship in electrics. I hope he isn't colour blind

The dairy farmers have been protesting these last few weeks mainly by blocking the big super markets.One of their favourite tactics is to release a few thousand litres of fresh milk into the stores, which must really smell.Their other tactic is to drive their tractors with trailers piled up with farm waste and to dump it on roundabouts and parking lots and rounding up all the shopping trolleys and setting fire to them with a pile of tyres.Last week it was the turn of Lannion and the "Intermarche" supermarket they also blockaded the "Netto " which is a low cost franchise and owned by a couple and when I did my fortnightly shop there I was given a leaflet from the owners explaining if they were blockaded again they would close the business. They explained that on the day of the demonstration they lost 10000€ due to damage ,loss of business and theft and their margin on milk was about 5cts so they weren't profiting from the farmers problems. It just goes to show how selfish the farmers actions are and putting other businesses at risk I guess they feel if they act together using their hardware ( big tractors ) they can intimmidate the public and the politicians. I was thinking of organising a protest by gite owners and we could all drive our rideon lawnmowers through town , but we would look fairly stupid .

I lost my internet connection at the weekend but after examing the cables realised it was the work of our onsite terrorist  (the new puppy) he had chewed them up thinking it was a new game. I have an old school friend staying who I haven't seen for 30+years its really good that fame ( I'm sure he's well known in the toxin world ) and wealth haven't changed him

The European election is one of two elections I can vote in ,the other being the local town hall election.For Europe we have a choice of about 20 parties of which 4 are serious and have a chance of electing a good number of deputies ( 5 if you include the national front ) they will probably get around 10% of the vote. The main players are the UMP (Sarkos lot ) Socialists,MoDem ( a liberal party ) and the greens. The rest of the candidates are more single issue policies,such as "esperanto " "breton party " and extreme left,right and green. The voting turnout is always high in France so should be 50-60% with the polls showing UMP in the lead

Paulien brought home a terrorist last week , he has 4 legs ,looks cuddly but is destruction on paws and dashs around chewing shoes and anything left on the floor. The other dogs do their best to ignore him but that is really differcult.The boys have named him " Bealo" after the village idiot in the film Borat.

I see a bit of blue sky so must go and cast my vote.

We had an EDF man with a clipboard call in at the beginning of the year it was something about changing an electric pole at the entrance and then he quickly mentioned cutting a few branches under the wires in the orchard just normal maintance. So this week 2 guys turned up , they looked like Starsky  and Hutch with dreadlocks in a "cherry picker "  ( a lorry with a hydraulic lift box )  + their weapons of mass destruction, chainsaws. We walked around the orchard  and they pointed out a few branches and I mistakenly left them to it. half an hour later I came back and found a corridor  of branches and one tree was cut in half so will fall over as it is unbalanced unless I cut some branches from the other side. Paulien proved her fluency in French by giving them a good dressing down an ability to let rip in 3 languages is rare.

Guingamp have had a good season for a football club in the second division and a population of 8000, on match day that doubles , the stadium holds about 20 000. They were in the final of the France cup against Rennes  ( an all Breton affaire ) and beat them 2 1 which is only the second time a 2nd division team have won the cup in its history.

Well I had a great time in Germany the jumelage of Lannion and Gunzburg works really well especially as the local brewery sponsers the German hospitality and they make some excellent beers.The first couple of days involved playing on the streets as they had a European festival going on with at least 20 groups of dancers,singers and bands from about 6 different countries mostly central European as leather shorts seemed to be the fashsion. The Saturday night I  experienced a beer hall , which was long tables ,lots of beer and food being seved listening to an 8 piece all girl band, fraulienpower playing retro music from the 60-80s very watchable.Its interesting there is a smoking ban in Germany but there is an exception for beer halls, the politicians would lose votes I guess.

Sunday was a beer festival sponsored by Gunzburger Weinzenbier an excellent drink with lots of music/beer/food and a tour of the brewery and in the afternoon I left with my host family  Helmet and Monika for a bike ride along the Danube.Gunzburg was a frontier town from the Roman times as its on the Danube and controls the routes going north to south. one of the funniest sights on the bike tour was at a "biergarten "where we stoped and in the mens toilet they had a row of 10 urinals and above them was a panel requesting the client to choice the correct urinal as each one was marked for differing liquids. The first being for beer then wine,milk,tea coffee,coke etc..........................they were taking the p... unfortunately I forgot my camera

The following days was a mix of visiting the various tourist sites although I did get confused by a trip claiming to be about renewable energy,wind farms. It was in a magnificent modern designed office on stilts surrounded by water and the owner looked like the owner of the factory in the film " Charlie and the Chocolate factory" he gave a speech on investing in renewals etc and then we visited his factory which made cardboard boxes for puzzles ................but he is investing his money in wind farms.

Perhaps the least appreciated part of the trip for me was a visit to a Teddy bear museum which I managed to escape from after breaking the record of the fastest visit, I felt slightly ill and had to find a bar for some caffeine therapy. But we visited some fascinating  underground cave systems and generally being with a bunch of Bretons abroad is a fun experience.I actually had an advantage on them as generally the Germans speak English as a first Language and French a distant second and while they merciless mock my French accent  some of my fellow band menbers when they speak English have that really sexy French accent with it.

Overall it was a really good experience and even the band didn't sound to bad even there was only 7 of us but we had all parts covered, its just a shame that the trip involves 16 hours on the bus and trying to sleep was fairly differcult spacewise it was like sleeping on a reclining toilet but I managed 3 hours and when I arrived home Paulien had been busy supervising the guys who had changed the liner on the pool  and it was filling and should be in action again next week.