Spring-Summer 2006
In France Mardi gras is really celebrated despite it not being at the warmest time of the year! Both Archies' pre-school and Conors' Primary school held fancy-dress events. Despite the shops being full of outfits you can buy, Archie decided that he would like to be a bumble-bee and Conor was going to go as a skeleton, so I had to put on my 'Blue-Peter' hat and get creative. You can just about see Archie and his antennae near the back.
This year to keep on top of the weeds that over-ran our vegetable patch last year, we decided to 'take control' by laying raised beds. Our grateful thanks go to our good friends Kevin and Steve who spent an entire afternoon helping us position each of the railway sleepers that weighed a ton!
This years main school outing for which children from both the pre-school and primary school went on was to the Islands of Chausey. Now I have to admit, that before I moved to France I thought that the only islands out there west of Normandy were 'our' Channel Islands, but no...
The Islands of Chausey are actually an archipelego of islands of which at high tide there are 52 but of which at low tide amazingly there are over 300!! There are perhaps a dozen inhabited buildings, a castle, a fort and a chapel and it is a popular day-trip. After the 40 minute coach journey to Granville we took the half-an-hour boat trip to the islands.
It was during the lovely heatwave in June and as I was helping out with the youngest ones from pre-school our main job for the day was stopping the children overheating, making sure they drank lots of water and coating them in suncream at regular intervals.
Also during the summer was a really fun historical event. A convoy of fifty wartime vehicles along with wartime costumed participants spent a week crossing normandy following the route taken by an American division during the Allies battle to regain Normandy soon after the D-day landings in 1944.
The week before-hand the local papers ran a detailed route guide even giving timings the convoy was expected in each village and to our surprise our small village of Montbray was on the route. So we arrived early to allow ourselves time to enjoy some 'refreshment' at 'le Montbrayon' the bar run by our friend Marie, the previous owner of our house.
The convoy was due at midday so just beforehand we went outside to see around seventy or so other locals (which must be half the population!) including the Mayor and many other familiar faces and there we stood, on the pavement for the next hour...waiting!! It was lovely anyway as we had time to chat with friends both English and French before at long last we heard a very old-fashioned siren wailing towards us and there they were.
It was a great atmosphere with waving and cheering, sirens and horns. It only took a few minutes to pass through the village but evryone agreed that it was worth the wait!
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Guy and Yvonnes Wedding - 3rd June 2006
We celebrated a very happy event this summer with the (long awaited) wedding of our good friends Guy and Yvonne. Guy was Simon's best man at our wedding and Guy asked Simon to do the same honour for him along with his other close friend Stuart.
We were very proud that they also asked Conor and Archie to be their only pageboys. They were a little nervous following Yvonne down the aisle and Archie was overhead by some of the congregation asking 'when's it going to be over, Mummy' during a hymn with many verses, but fortunately it raised a smile !
Guy & Yvonne had a fabulous reception at their newly restored barn and provided beautiful picnic hampers as a very original and fun meal to enjoy in the field next to the barn. It was just so relaxing and fun, with the daytime events finishing off with an impromptu game of cricket being played as the sun set and the Jazz band played - Fantastic!
At the end of the school year which both the boys particularly enjoyed Conor's form-teacher left and the small leaving party that we threw for her surprisingly made it into the local newspaper the following week. Even more surprisingly there was Conor in the photo...well the back of his head (bottom right-hand corner)
Then just as I was showing an excited Conor I turned the page of the newspaper and there was a photo of our local village day with Conor in the picture again. You can't really make him out in this image but there he was in the newspaper twice in the same week!
