Full English breakfast - French style!

Well, this morning I had the most fun I've had in ages (I don't get out much...)

I was helping out at school at the 'Full English Breakfast' morning - the idea is that the French kids eat their bacon and eggs, marmalade and toast with tea, then talk in English about the experience and other topics, with volunteers - my topic being their future hopes for jobs or further education. It is quite unusual here for parents to help out - we even had the photographer from the local paper here to take a piccy for the record.

What a hoot!

There was the table with the big boys (there is always a group somewhere) - all chortling, pushing, and stuffing sausages into their mouths as fast as they could, all wanting to be mechanics, work with tractors or to be builders - they were very loud and giggly but frank and honest - apparently you can forget scrambled eggs but the bacon and sausages were great...

Another group, of four quiet girls, all long blond hair and carefully made-up, wanted to be doctors or go into commerce but were very animated when I asked how important the English language was to them, they all said 'very' especially if they wanted to do well. Another mixed group wanted to be farmers or vets, and working with children seemed a popular choice of work, and again, they felt English was important, but only because they had British friends!

The interesting thing is that all the kids expected to go onto further education, either lycée generale (like college for 'A' levels) or lycée professionnel (vocational training) and none said they would go straight to work - even if they could find a job!

So, they all found the experience of the Full English Breakfast quite novel, and I would like to think my little conversation with them might also be of use - if nothing else, at least they now know what Kath's mum is like!

'Where is our lunch?'

'Where is our lunch?' Bleat and Ewe2 worriedly look on, waiting for some feed. They have two homes to choose from: one is a nice little 3 sided tin-roofed house, facing the sun which warms the roof, and the other is more snug - with a double glazed window! Spoilt? Never! They are both in-lamb so need a few little home comforts...



Poor birds - the seed in this birdfeeder was frozen solid - it was minus 12c last night...we dismantled it and re-filled with fresh seed and left some fatty-spread bread out too.


Cat footprints - fortunately in the front garden, but our two cats are too lazy to catch birds at the moment - it takes all their effort to go out when nature calls...

For anyone watching TV or listening to the radio over the last 5 or 6 days, I know I am stating the obvious, but like everyone else, we are snowed in... We're STILL waiting for the snowplough to clear the road between our village and the local town. Of course, the snow fell at the weekend, and as the weekend is sacrosanct in France, we knew that nothing would start to be cleared until Monday morning.

Our son is stuck in Limoges, but staying with various friends around the town and enjoying time off from lycée although exams are soon looming, and our daughter is at home, helping feed the sheep and also with her mock exams already postponed twice.

Our village postoffice is closed due to Madame not being able to get in (although the Maire's secretary can take over ) but the postman hasn't been seen since last Friday...so my Ebay and Etsy parcels will be delayed.

Heigh-ho, we've got lots of supplies in so we will just sit it out and wait for the thaw.

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of the white stuff.

Keep warm!

A little lake - or etang - near the village

We don't walk to the this lake often - just 15 minutes away - as it's tarmac road all the way, but just fancied a stroll in that direction. It was blummin' cold and misty. Just the beginnings of the lake water freezing over - in the far corner you can see it on the surface.


We walked on by but on return, the mist cleared and the sky became...

...blue, really blue...and a perfect reflection in the water of the sky and the trees.


On the left you can just see the concrete gate to the sluice, which goes under the green bank, under the little lane, and comes out into a little stream which meanders through the fields.


Here is the stream on the left, but on the right, you can just see an untidy ancient granite stone path. Sadly, you can't go much further as the farmer has an electric fence as there are Limousin cattle up in the field beyond.

It was getting very nippy as the sun started to sink, so we went home to a cuppa and a roaring fire, and to dry off Charlie the Poodle as he will insist on having a paddle...

A few books - and a stern warning to husbands...

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This is such a great little book from 1936 - perfect for a Valentine or wedding gift. I just love the introduction:

"To Husbands: the part which a husband must play in life is not exactly an easy one. He has definite obligations and numerous restrictions. Often he will be puzzled as to why things have gone wrong. This small volume of Do's and Don'ts should help to guide him away from errors and pitfalls, since it epitomizes the correct conduct of husbands."

Quite.




And, in case one wishes to learn to dance, make a will, take a wife...above are others in the series.


A sweet moralistic book for children - I love the cover


Here is the book plate - I wonder what happened to Elsie Platt - such a good, old-fashioned name.


And here, the children are being very good, just like they should but aren't usually in my experience! The book is about life in Sweden - maybe Swedish kids are better behaved?


Thanks to the BBC, apparently, Charles Dickens has become popular again. Since Christmas, over 16000 Dickens books have been sold in UK against the normal 2000. Well, here is another for sale.

This is from The Fireside Dickens series, and the title is "The Uncommercial Traveller" and not a title I am familiar with.


Thinking of employing someone, checking out your daughter's new boyfriend, choosing a politician to vote for? Well, check out the handwriting first - this should tell you a lot about a person. Interesting little book.


Hitler, Elvis and Jimmy Carter - hmm, strange combination of examples but here are facsimiles of their signatures and apparently, most of the US presidents sloped their handwriting to the right: only two had upright signatures, and none to the left...

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I'm not keen on boxing, but some are. Here is a biography of Jack Dempsey - a bit tatty but at the back is an appendix with the fighting records of he and other principal fighters.

I guess the appendix in books is what people referred to 50 years ago when little arguments broke out over the family dining table over detail - now we run to the computer and search on Wikipedia... It's something our family often does - usually squabbling about when an album was released or which film an actor starred in and usually results in someone's meal going cold...



Incidentally, The World's Work publishing house in Kingswood, Surrey, was actually part of Heineman Publishers. I worked for them back in the late 1980s, shipping books to little book shops and schools all over the world. The Heineman office was in a small 'stately' house, elegant but very tatty, in lovely grounds. It was a great working atmosphere there - I loved it - but of course, didn't last and like many companies in the '80s, Heineman have long since gone, split up and swallowed up by bigger publishing houses.


A gorgeous little book from 1907 about the Lake District with a few photos, maps and a section at the back with adverts from hotels all over Great Britain and the Channel Isles. I wonder if many of the hotels are still going today.


Great ads - and lots of them.


Love this little folding map

and another...


Well, just a few books - all in English this time - which I have for sale on my second Etsy shop which I called La Cravate. You can check it out here - there is lots more info on the books, plus a few pieces aimed towards men - don't forget the little orange book if you know any future groom looking for marriage instructions!

Have a good weekend folks!