Sunday 11 August 2024

Another glorious day at 33c and a light breeze. Our host brought over two delicious pieces of terrene that he had made and they were scoffed on the spot. A little trip into nearby town of Chateaugirond to get some groceries before the (very French) Sunday 12.30 closing - and back to our gite for the GnT’s and a light omelette for dinner. We also watched the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, as we have TV. That’s a novelty for us, as we haven’t had it for most of our trip.  And we haven’t missed it much either. I must say, the closing ceremony was much better than the opening ceremony. But even a cow in a paddock would have been better than the silly opening ceremony.

As to our Brittany exploration. It has an interesting history, with the Celts settling here and being the first recognised people in the area millennia ago. Good old Julius Caesar conquered them in 52BC, but they were only superficially Romanised, retaining their fierce independent streak through Norse invasions, uppity Normandy Dukes and the French Revolution. 

This is quite obvious in the architecture. Probably many other cultural things we are yet to discover as well. But the architecture is very British. Slate roofs not red tiles. Open gardens not fortified, enclosed yards. Different windows and even what appear to be terrace houses. We will search out other food, beverage and cultural aspects of Brittany over the next six days.

Monday 12 August 2024

Still great weather. All of France is experiencing a hot summer in the mid to high 30’s, this year. We are having a relaxing day around the gite today. Lady P needs to update her blog and we’ll probably sort the 2023/24 tax returns as well.

Some interesting observations of France have been the tendency of French drivers to drive with the window down and arm out the opening. Very old school, as they do have AC in cars these days. As a whole though, they are quite polite drivers. And the curious thing of the enclosed homes, is another observation.

In the rural villages and some of the smaller towns, the houses are built right on the road side. They are universally of light stone construction with timber shuttered windows. While Ireland is grey ruins, France is white stone everywhere. Buildings we're talking about here.

Their yards are not visible, with high stone or concrete walls, or failing that, big hedges. All this gives the impression that aliens have come down and taken all the people in the village to wherever, for ghastly experiments!

A French lady told me that it is because the French do not want anyone to see their land or what they do on it. Their homes are very private to outsiders. Not quite the same in cities where the apartment across the street is wide open to all and sundry. I've seen some interesting bodies - clothed and near naked, cats, washing  - even a dinner party in a Paris and Nice apartment, no more than 5 metres away! Curious.

We are also very happy with our little red Peugeot 308. The perfect size for us, even if Lady P sometimes struggles with parking, if she hasn't had her morning coffee! Oh yes, lait fermente is not something you put in your coffee, as we discovered. You need lait frais. The former is best fed to goats. We must have been tired when shopping.