La brocante

There was a brocante & vide grenier on our village football pitch today. Alice and I rode the bike there. The locals seem to like the electric bike and trailer - I've not seen any other trailer-bike here, but there are plenty of electric bikes around Paimpol. Even the posties use them. I was looking for books, Alice was looking for cat things. She found a toy cat carrier-basked for 1 euro, and a big ball for 2.5 euros. That wasn't easy to carry back on the bike. I bought about 10 books.

Alice found a friend, Maureen, and they played together most of the time we were there (photo). She also played with Maxim for a while. Maureen asked me if Alice would be going into CE2 next year as la maîtresse had told them she wouldn`t be there. I told her we were going back to live in Guernsey. Then she said something that really tugged my heart-strings: "But all the children at school are her friends". Yes it`s very sad, we don`t want to go, but we must. Summoning a more cheerful bravado, I told her we would come back here for every holiday so Alice can meet up with her friends.

Overcast and chilly today, especially in contrast to what it was like in Rennes. I left Rennes yesterday when it was 24 degrees, and on arriving home it was 17 degrees here.

After our roast lunch, Alice and I went for a walk around Paimpol. As we crossed a road, a rather expensive and sporty Guernsey registered car had to stop to let us cross the road. I gave (what I thought was) a beaming smile and a nod, but the 2 ladies didn't look very happy at the time. Ah well. Thank you fellow Guerns, whoever you were.

It was 4pm when we got back, so we persuaded M to come and have a look around the brocante. We hoped there might be some last minute bargains! M bought a cafetière for 1 euro. Alice bought a DS game for 5 euros, and was given a set of toy medical instruments (by the family of Maxim). She saw several more of her friends too. A few people recognise us now, so a few "bonjour"s were exchanged. I guess the longer we're here, the more we are accepted. One family seemed a little bemused that I wanted to buy a handful of their "ormeaux" shells. Peut être je suis folle, mais ils sont ormeaux quand même !