English
Conversation
The English
conversation “rencontres” that friend Steve and I are conducting
on Tuesday evenings continue to go well. Each Tuesday one or two of
the regulars are missing (they usually email to say they can't come)
and each Tuesday there are one or two newcomers, leaving us with
10-12 each week. We find this is about an ideal number, though if
everyone came together we would have around 20, which might be hard
work. We anticipated that different levels of competence in English
might be a problem but that doesn't seem to be the case. The level
of competence is within a manageable range and so far only one person
has ruled herself out for the time being because of lack of
understanding. Our ideas bank is beginning to run a little low,
however, so we will be asking participants next time for their own
suggestions. Hopefully, that plus some more brain rattling by Steve
and I will carry us through to the end of June, when we will take a
break until September.
Signs Of Summer
Events of one sort
or another have started to happen which is always a sign that summer
is nearly upon us. I went to Aigues Mortes on Monday and on Tuesday
went with the boules crowd to a tournament in Sarrians, a fixture
every year. A similar day at Beaumes de Venise will follow in a few
weeks time, followed by celebration of the 300th
anniversary of the Dauphin fountain, the first of the 11 in the
village, and then summer officially starts with the Feu de la St
Jean.
Last Monday, for the
third Monday in a row, we ate our pizzas outside the Bar du Pont.
It's the earliest that has been possible in the years that I have
been here, a reflection of the clement weather we have been having.
Roses, clematis and honeysuckle are all in full bloom at the front of
my house and the perfume from the honeysuckle beside my front door
and at the side of my balcony is almost overwhelming. So I'm happily
spending some late evenings with a Calvados on my balcony, sniffing
the honeysuckle and listening to the frogs' chorus across in the
river.
Aigues Mortes
I went with the
village club Amitie Mollanaise on a day's excursion to Aigues Mortes,
which I found a quite intriguing little walled village. It was built
by King Louis the 9th in the tenth century as a seaside
fortress from which to launch crusades into the Holy Lands (a rather
sensitive history in the current political climate). However, the
sea has since retreated and the village now sits in an expanse of
uncommonly dry land amidst the marshes of the Camargue. The village
walls are truly impressive, having been maintained/restored to their
former glory.
The excursion
included a five-hour boat trip through the Camargue marshes along
parts of canalised rivers. It was very relaxing, the more so in that
the flora and fauna (birds) I observed in the first half-hour turned
out to be the only ones on show for the full five hours. I suppose
that is only to be expected in what are essentially homogeneous
marshes. Nonetheless, it was good to see the white horses, black
bulls, the pink and white flowers on the Tamarisk trees that were a
virtual constant along the river banks and frequent patches of wild
yellow iris. Lunch on the boat had Gardian De Taureau on the menu
and I got no sensible reply to my question as to why we were eating
the gardian rather than the taureau. Anyway, the meat was tender so
it must have been a young gardian.
New Blog
I've had some
feedback on my new blog at www.theelseclauseonline.com
but only from friends and acquaintances so far, despite the first
posting getting well over 200 hits. (OK, I know that is peanuts in
terms of internet traffic but it certainly exceeds my coterie of
close friends.) More problems are emerging from which decent rules
for ease of use can be inferred and Air France is taking a bit of a
pasting. I'm glad I'm not the only one who found their website
seriously inadequate. I'm assembling a second posting that should be
available in a few days.
A Joke
We ask participants
in the English conversation “rencontres” to speak on any subject
they choose for 3-4 minutes, having had the chance to prepare their
talk in advance if they wish. Last week one participant decided to
recount a joke, so here it is.
A man dies and goes
to hell. Arriving at the gates of hell he asks the gatekeeper what
happens next. The gatekeeper says the man has a choice of German or
French hell. The man asks what the difference is. So the gatekeeper
explains that in German hell he will be dumped in a pool of sewage
with devils all around it; every time he comes up for air a devil
will hit him on the head with a mallet. In French hell he will be
dumped in a pool of sewage with devils all around it; every time he
comes up for air a devil will hit him on the head with a mallet. The
man says he can't see any difference so how can he choose? The
gatekeeper replies that the man should definitely choose French hell.
The man asks why. So the gatekeeper explains that in French hell
half of the time the devils are on strike or they forget to fill up
the pool or the mallets are broken.
