My French Fancy

Why are we in rural France?  I have lived in South London all of my life and ever since I was a child I have dreamed of living in the countryside. When I was younger we went on a caravan holiday to a farm (we had to have 2 caravans as there were so many of us) and I was totally blown away by it. It took me 43 years to finally have somewhere in the countryside, even though I had to cross the channel to get there. Tim and I say to each every day  "another day in Paradise," because it is. When I walk outside of my house or drive along the road I  say to myself " I live here" because it is stunning and I fell so lucky to be here. Since living here we  have realised that there are many things that you need to consider: Wildlife  We currently have the following residing with us (not in the house though):- One Snake, Bats, moles, Voles, Coypu (they really did fall out of the ugly tree and they are the size of a small dog) Deer, Pine Martens (they are cute but you...

Tim jokingly said “bien cuit” to me today. Now, we all know you use this phrase in France when you want your steak to arrive on your plate looking as if it has been shown some form of heat (a spent match at least) but he meant well done as in “well done you!.” I was on my way to my French class at the ti me so I asked my tutor and I was informed it’s actually “ bien joué. “ as in well played-  well they are a very sporty nation.   Quick History Lesson  French is a fabulous language, there's so much English in it!. We have Norman the Conqueror to thank for that. After he invaded England in 1066 French was spoken for all things official. English virtually disappeared, and did not re-emerge until  the end of the 100 years war (we all know it wasn't 100 years).  Quick language lesson There are over 10,000 French words in the English language one of my favourites is "impeccable" which to us means something is faultless but to the French means great or smashi...

A bike ride through the Normandy Countryside  What happened Yesterday I went for a bike ride.   We have a Voie V erte nearby In B agnoles- de- L'Orne which is a path for walking and cycling. It’s truly wonderful, totally flat, surrounded by shade (handy as it was very hot) and I passed only the occasional walker and cyclist. I cycled to Bagnoles and had a well-earnt libation. I then got back on my bike and cycled back. All very lovely, except it was a good 10k just to pick up the path (well I did want to live in a rural area) and the way back seemed much steeper than the way out. The French seem to be far more tolerant of cyclists than they are of other drivers, probably because they are the biggest country in Europe so they have the room for it (unlike cycling in Croydon – I tried it and it   was a miracle I survived) and they do have the most famous cycling race in the world. I remember many years ago, I was out for a run on a Sunday morning in South London ...