Update – the Painted Church of Menil Gondouin

The recent article on the painted church of Menil Gondouin has received a couple of comments which have provided additional information about the restoration of the church. My guest, RP, has sent me the following:

Thanks for all the informative comments. For anyone who is interested, I read in ‘Ouest France’, today that a film of the restoration will be shown in the church at 20h 30 this Friday, 4 April, 2008. Helpfully, the short article says the church will be ‘heated’. Cheers, RP

Life’s little trials

First, it was the snow, then the internet connections of half our road went down for almost a week, then we had driving rain and lost power … One wonders what calamity will befall us next.

On the upside, we did have some fine enough spells to spend time in the garden.  H designed and built a fabulous pergola-style arch (How to… in a future post) which is now standing proudly forming a much clearer entrance to the house.

Of course, that meant clearing a new patch of ground and reforming an existing bed, so that we could plant the new climbing roses for the trellis. We chose pink ones (Pink Cloud), though, I have to say that, at the moment, the two plants do not look much alike. Only time will tell. 

                                                                        

We have a variety of spring bulbs in flower, all surviving the wind and rain, so far. We have crocus, daffodils, tulips, scillas and I noticed today that some tiny iris have just poked their heads through. Last spring, the bulbs bloomed in a more orderly progression but this year they seem to be coming up at any time. We, finally, have some hyacinths up, though they do not not look as good as they did last spring, when they were glorious. Last year, they were just coming to an end as the tulips began. It’s all most odd!

By the way, don’t forget that the clocks go forward an hour this weekend.

French Language Week

I mentioned in my last post about the French language lessons run by the Jumelage committee in La Ferté Macé. Now might be a very good time to think about improving your french language skills, as next week (14-24 March) is French Language Week. Craig McGinty, in ‘This French Life’ has written about the themes for this year’s language week here and includes various links for people to find out more details, eg. which towns are signed up to participate. Closest one I found to us is St Lô, in Manche. Might be worth finding out what they have planned if you’re near enough.

English Breakfast at La Ferté Macé

Chris has posted a comment reminding me of the English breakfast at La Ferté Macé, with details. It’s a good event and was well supported by French and English alike last year. The Jumelage committee also run French (and English) classes held in the village of St Georges d’Annebec. All good fun!

The breakfast details are here .

101 uses for a ‘plastic’ bag

No, not the flimsy plastic bags that M&S are talking about charging their food court customers 5p for in the UK. These ‘plastic’ bags are those sold by French supermarkets; tough, durable, waterproof and costing about a euro. The fabric handles don’t break and you can get much more in them.

The French government decided they wanted to decrease the use of plastic bags. The main supermarket chains agreed, gave notice of their intentions and reusable bags became an accepted part of shopping in France. Indeed, it’s not unusual in our part of northern France to see people (I’ve done it myself) shopping with their bag, unloading at the till and reloading as their shopping comes through.

These reusable bags are recycleable, biodegradable and eco-friendly, being made, apparently, from cornstarch and a biodegradable polymer. Time to degrade in the ground is around two months against more than 400 years for an ordinary plastic bag. A big plus for the environment!

Here are the first seven in my list of ’101 uses for a ‘plastic’ bag’:

1. for carrying home your shopping, from supermarket or market (just don’t forget to put the empty bag back in the car afterwards!);
2. for carrying firewood into the house, much less messy than carrying it in by the armload or even in a trug;
3. for putting your laundry in to take to the laverie, or even as a substitute laundry basket;
4. for loading up with rubble (which you will always have if you are doing any renovation work) easy to stack in the car or trailer and to empty at the déchetterie;
5. for holding all the books you do not yet have shelf space for (we’ve currently got seven bags pending);
6. for trundling to and fro from the UK with, much easier to stack and take up less room than suitcases or boxes (lost count of the number of cars on the M1 we’ve passed loaded up this way);
7. as a useful, lightweight and cheap garden trug.

So, there you are. My first seven ideas for reusing ‘plastic’ bags. I’ve got more but if you have any great ideas do feel free to add them in the comments. Look forward to hearing from you.