les Davey de France

WHAT was it, O our God, led You to give Your Son, to yield Your well-beloved for us by sin undone? Unbounded love led You to give Your well-loved Son that we might live. What led the Son of God to leave His throne on high, to shed His precious blood, to suffer and to die? Unbounded love for sinners lost led Him to suffer at such cost. What moved You to impart Your Spirit from above, that He might fill our heart with heavenly peace and love? Unbounded love moved You to send the Spirit as our guide and friend. What love to You we owe, our God, for all Your grace! Our hearts may well o’erflow in everlasting praise: then let us raise our songs on high such boundless love to magnify. Ann Gilbert, 1782-1866 Incidentally, this hymn has been rescued, revived, revitalised by the editors of CHII. Previously the final two lines of all but the last verse were 'Twas love, unbounded love to us led thee to ......................

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6280786.stm It misses Bordeaux this year, though I think Bordeaux is the next most visited town in France after Paris. We'll have to try to ensure we catch the tour next year.

There's a festival in our local park. Last night there was a free showing of Caire , nid d'espions OSS117 , followed by a concert. This evening there's another free concert. And this afternoon there were various activities including the biggest car boot sale I have ever seen. There was a vast amount of junk, of course, but it was French junk, and I kept thinking how easy it would be to buy the most French looking stuff, take it to Britain and sell it for a fortune out of suitcases in Covent Garden or something. Lots of the folk are quite lively because of the sun and the sense of occasion. In the second photo you can see a guy playing the plastinette (a piece of PVC tube with a saxophone mouthpiece stuck on) while a lady sings romantic ballads and dances. The other stall holders showed their approval with a rapturous round of applause and she said La vie est belle, n'est - ce pas ? Belle indeed. complètement à l'ouest - a reasonable translation would be t...

Camel rides, the Pessac morris, a jazz trio (drums, synth and plastinette) and I really don't know what the people in boiler suits were doing.

See if you can name the birds in English. I think the chappie lying down is part of the thing with the boiler suits. Either that or he's just tired.

You may already have seen this. The students were very taken with it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6276590.stm Apparently Peugeot and Renault have both seen drops in sales in Europe. I think Peugeot's current range is very uninspiring. During the 205, 306, 405-406 period their cars were very attractively styled. Now they have these huge low-slung gaping maws and long noses. Renault seems to have shot itself in the foot with the Modus, a car which is smaller that the Clio, but taller and more expensive. Meanwhile Citroën ( hurrah ! hurrah! ) are selling so many C4 Picassos that they have had to move production of the still excellent Xsara Picasso from Portugal to France to keep up with demand. And the 3 door C4 is hugely popular second-hand for its futuristic styling. And the Dacia Logan, designed and built by Renault in Romania, is hugely popular in France because it is cheap, simple, reliable and big. Especially the 7 seater estate car that looks as long as an aircraft carrier ( but probably isn't quite ).