les Davey de France

I'm the PowerPoint man at present. However, we're getting others started on doing the actual button clicking, while I'll carry on preparing the file for the moment. So far Gwilym has done two stints as PowerPoint monitor, and we plan to involve his two mates as well.

It's the disused chapel of a closed convent that now belongs to the school that Gwilym and Catrin go to. Soon the plot of land it is on will be sold to a property developer. But this summer, with the addition of a large vase of flowers on the little shelf on the left hand side, it will be our home.

http://darbygray.blogspot.com/2007/06/words-from-my-childhood.html Beenuss I am from the valleys I did used to talk tidy. I don't mean I used language. Mam didn't like it. She'd say "Don't use language when you talk to me." Anyway I was a tidy boy. No, I just mean I used to talk tidy. So we would twti down in the gwli to watch the gambos going down. I had a gambo my dad made for me. We kept it in the cwtch. Or we would quat it away in the shed down my gran's back. Anyway, when they weren't playing catty and doggy you could go down the fan on your gambo. Bopa Jarman lived down by there, I think. It was all hills, see. Google 'Talk tidy" and who knows what you'll get. beenuss short for "being as" = since or because tidy as an adverb = properly tidy as an adjective = nice, decent or considerable as in "it's a tidy step = it's a long way" use language = use bad language twti = to squat gwli = the space between

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/140 Watch to the end.

Nice trombonist ! The first timer Gwilym and Catrin heard a recording of this we were in the car and they both laughed themselves silly.

From Guy Davies' blog (see link) GD: Hello and welcome, Alan. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? AD: Wotcher Guy. I'm a Rhondda boy, Rhondda born and Rhondda bred. I grew up in the 60s and 70s. Studied Biology at Aberystwyth, where I became a Christian and first became aware of a call to Christian ministry. I am married to Pat and we have two children; Gwilym and Catrin. GD: Your blog is called " Les Daveys de France ". Please explain. AD: We are the Daveys and we have been in France since Autumn 2005. There are other Daveys in France but we have had no complaints so far. GD: So, why do you blog? AD: Really the blog aims to reach the parts a prayer letter cannot reach - so it talks about the everyday little challenges and encouragements, and gives people an insight into what it means to us to come and serve in France. GD: What have you found most enjoyable about blogging? AD: Being contacted by new people, some of whom sense a call to Christian work in Fra

After tomorrow the student centre moves into holiday mode - no regular 6 hours open per day. Instead we meet up with people by appointment, and we get the supplies replenished and any decoration or repairs done. Tomorrow is also the great final English class of the year, and probably my final English class of all. The concept is that as I get more involved in the life of the church then I will need my Saturdays back. This is indubitably true and a good thing, but I will miss the classes. They've been good for my French, too. Sunday is a big day at church. A Chinese student is being baptised, then there's a big church meal, then once everyone's finished their lunch (probably around 4pm) a big information meeting to sort out the moves for the summer and the future of youth activities etc. Meanwhile Bordeaux has been recognised by the UNESCO global heritage committee, so the town hall has invited everyone to come and celebrate at 5pm on Sunday. I can't imagine we'll

It is not the inspiring set of explanations I would hope for, but I was struck by this - especially the story under "Editor's Note" Mack Stiles (1) Maybe you don’t know, but there is a heavenly dilemma over you. You are loved as God’s special creation. But because God is also holy you are cut off from him by your wickedness and under his judgment. The Bible tells of God’s one solution: Jesus, fully God and fully sinless man, ransomed us to God through his death on the cross. He paid our sin-debt and rose from the dead as proof that he is the way and the truth. Eliminate the dilemma! Turn from sin; follow Jesus by putting your complete faith and trust in him. (2) Allah commands you to read the Injil. But what does it say? It says salvation comes from Allah’s love, not Allah’s rules! It says the straight path to Allah is faith in the Jesus of the Injil. The Injil gives only one path: Jesus, fully God – fully man and perfect, ransomed us to God through his death on the cro

This time it's Little and Large with the big tune from the Pearl Fishers.

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/006499.html

King Menelaus is being sent to Crete for a month, to the illicit and all too evident joy of his wife Helene and her suitor, Paris of Troy. This is what will spark the Trojan war. Offenbach makes fun of the Greek myths. My favourite bit is "Va t'en, mon lou-lou, va t'en, n'importe où".. (Off you go, sweetie. Off you go, anywhere...)

http://baptistblog.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/rules-for-blogging/

they do mess me about. Like Eric Morcambe at the piano, I make all the right sounds, but not necessarily in the right order. I thought, "I have a good lock". My notes said, "j'ai un bon verrou." My lips said, "j'ai un bon verrue." (no sense of gender, either, my lips... verrues are girls, of course.) The folks heard, "I have a good wart? " I've given my lips a good smacking, and they promise to try harder in future.

perched in the rigging of their ship. For the past week whenever I have been in Bordeaux I have seen Mexican sailors everywhere. I think the city will miss them.

one ox = boeuf ( berf ), two oxen = boeufs ( ber ) one egg = oeuf ( erf ), two eggs = oeufs ( er ) one bone = os ( oss ), two bones = os ( oh ) ...................... good this, innit ...................... Heard on Saturday - Sue (name changed to protect the guilty) wasn't sure if her letter really guaranteed entry to university or not... Si, Sue, ça c'est sûr ! (see soo saa say soor = but yes, Sue, that's certain..) physiotherapist = kinésithérapeute ... but I have only ever heard people say kiné . There is a limit, after all...

You see some funny things on our ringroad...

UFM Worldwide thankfully does not use the term "furlough". http://missiomishmash.blogspot.com/2007/06/redefining-furloughs-missionarys.html

though written from a Middle East perspective. http://pikkert.wordpress.com/2006/09/26/life-long-language-learning-it%e2%80%99s-always-too-soon-to-quit/

Yesterday I met up again with one of the students for the third of our basic Bible studies. He's Chinese and has been in France for a few weeks. He speaks Chinese and a little schoolboy English, and a little French. A very little French. OK. So we read Luke 23 in French - I read from 3 to 5 syllables and he reads after me. Then we read Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12 in the same way. Voici, Voici mon serviteur, mon serviteur , prospérera, prospérera - pro - pro - spé - spé - re - re - ra - ra - prospérera - prospérera ... I am sure you get the picture. Then we attack the study questions. He understands the questions and does the sensible thing by looking for the answers in the text and pointing at them. It's clear that this chap is a Christian. You can tell by the sign language and the expression on his face. I give him a CD of the Bible in French in MP3 format. These people have guts.

http://www.france-mission.org/ktmlpro/images/uploads/uk/pdf/pn110.pdf

http://www.challies.com/archives/002639.php

We started off just after school watching a group set up at Pessac town square - it was a drums/synth/singer combo and the girl sang that song that goes something like Itchy-citchy-wa-wa-yaa-yaa. I was mortified when she got to the next bit which offers somewhat unexpected invitations in French of an overnight stay! Thankfully there were not that many people around at that point.. Then after the study - Mark sandwiches - we scuttled off the find the action and the pastor and family. The fireworks were scheduled for 11h30. At one point we wondered if M. Juppé had cancelled them in a fiendish revenge for his election defeat, but they began at about midnight and were very pretty. Some photos to give you a brief flavour. I think that the fête de la musique does for Bordeaux what the bonfire night display did for Deeside - a time for us to bond and to feel like a community. The big difference is that fête de la musique involves an all-night stint (not for me!) and rather a lot of alcohol. I

Oh no. They're off again.

It's never quite how you think it's going to be, is it ? I was worried about his Technologie . He got 13.5 (67 %) - bang on the class average. Education musicale - 17 (85 %). Arts plastiques 15.3 (76 %) We need to work on his maths (8.8) and his science (9.6). But at least I can help him with those. And it's pretty good for the end of his second year in France. Overall 11.8 (59%) Ensemble moyen. Admis en 5ème.

Today all across France it's la Fête de la Musique . That means that in Pessac there'll be concerts in the town square, in the church, in the school, from 3pm into the night. In Bordeaux there are things going on all over, the streets will be full of people and of groups, bands and orchestras. One square (Place St Pierre) is the focus for Christian music. We suggested replacing our usual étude biblique with a shorter time of prayer, but the students want a proper study.

From Thursday the speed limit on our ring road (the rocade - pronounced rock 'ard , with reason and with feeling) is being reduced at a stroke from 110 km/h to 90 km/h. Why? 1) To save fuel 2) To reduce carbon emissions 3) To reduce congestion 4) To reduce fatal accidents I think that's all the reasons they gave. I tell you - for a while they'll be RAKING in speeding fines !

Part of the Place de la Bourse and some waterfront apartments. You should have seen what came out of this lady's lunchbox ! A picnic table and chairs, dishes, cutlery, bottles of wine, loaves of bread, cheeses, a ham, a parasol for everyone to sit under. Amazing.

Bordeaux is celebrating the river at the moment. There are three gorgeous sailing ships in harbour. Here you can see the Belem, with a Mexican ship behind it. Oh, and on Sunday there will be three stints of people swimming across the Garonne. The France 50m champion started it all, though the Garonne is actually 1.7km across. The posters read "Come and swim the cleanest estuary in Europe !" Apparently the dodgy colour is because the salt causes particles of clay from the river bed to enter suspension.

Pat has needed new glasses since time immemorial. Last week we took her prescription to the optician and ordered her specs. Today we'll go to collect them. Then we have to work out how to claim our reimbursement from our mutuelle. I hope they cough up ! If they do I'll go and have my eyes tested. About eight years ago the optician gave me glasses to use if I felt the need (I have an astigmatism). I found that they were more of a nuisance than a help - and then when we were burgled I think they were stolen by mistake for sunglasses. Anyway, I probably ought to get my eyes tested again...

I believe in the creation of all things by God from nothing. I do not believe that our origins lie in a process of evolution through natural selection, whether or not guided by God. I also think the earth is much less than billions of years old, though I don't know how old. I suspect that nobody yet does. I consider that God made the world in six days, each day being roughly a day in length. I have always thought like that. Through my A level Biology course. Our Botany teacher helpfully discussed the issue with us and told us of his engagement with it over the years - he had come down finally on the side of creation. Through my degree course in Biology, where we studied genetics and population drift. Before and after my Christian commitment. To begin with I rejected evolution because it didn't make sense to me. Everything degrades and decays. Why would life go in the other direction spontaneously and by accident? We see a massive loss of genetic diversity all the time as specie

Today I got to go to a ministers' fellowship at Montauban . We were discussing a book which I had never seen before, but I don't usually let that stop me having an opinion... No, I mean we were sent out a couple of papers to discuss and stuff. Montauban is 2h30 drive away § , and once I parked the car I couldn't find the church because it was crawling with workmen ! They are putting in underfloor heating - the hot water comes from Montauban's rubbish incinerator so it's cheap. I got given a bit of a grilling regarding my background, my work and my status in the denomination. It transpires that the denomination does not yet actually recognise the CPO catalogue as a formal theological qualification. Fancy ! So I am officially sans- papiers . We were : 1 American, 1 Dutchman, 1 South African, 1 Chilean, 1 Welshman and two Frenchmen, one of whom is black. I don't feel especially foreign in our meetings. § We gogs ¤ are used to that. When on EMW English Exec I use

It doesn't get much better than this...

Haikus are easy But sometimes they don't make sense Refrigerator

that after the poll result at the mairie I got the tram back to Pessac and arrived just in time to walk the half-hour home through a torrential thunderstorm. Grim. My coat is still not dry. Neither am I. You know that thing about a british summer ? Two nice days and a thunderstorm ? That's what we get pretty well every day here. Two nice hours and a massive thunderstorm ! Still, as Neil said, accept all experiences gratefully. I was grateful to get home, I can tell you .

at the Bordeaux Town Hall when the election results were announced and Alain Juppé conceded defeat in the legislative elections. His colleague and suppleant *, Hugues Martin was at his side. * Someone explained the suppleant like this... Alain Juppé is already maire of Bordeaux and a Minister of State. Hugues Martin is deputy maire . Thus if elected to Assemblée Nationale , Juppé would continue as maire and as minister. Hugues Martin would take his place in the Assemblée Nationale and continue as deputy maire . Since Juppé has not been elected he will resign as minister and simply continue as maire . This may be wrong, but I have no better explanation at present ! Anyway, the cheese and the pear tart were very nice. And a country that provides food at the town hall for election night has my vote. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6760599.stm bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6760599.stm

Bordeaux is celebrating the river at the moment. So when we took Revd Bryn and Betty Jones (former chairman of UFM and ex of Brazil) down for a Sunday afternoon stroll along the riverbank it was nice to see a couple of tall ships.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6760599.stm § I wonder what the French left eyes are polling... § the original headline for this link was " French right eyes poll victory "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6707219.stm

And another one - hear those flutes !

Nice one, Queen. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6757831.stm

WET WEATHER HITS BRITAIN (all in capitals, honestly!) and terrorist threats against ... Jamie Oliver ? We've not even been gone two years yet and frankly you show no signs of coping without us. It's a worry, I tell you. A worry. The one bright gleam on the horizon is the Deeside church, which is in great form.

Mark 7 - pure and impure, the pharisees and the syro-phoenician woman. What makes us impure? People, stuff and what goes in ... NOT ! SO NOT ! It's not what goes in, it's what comes out ... which was already there ... This is good to talk about in French because you have pureté and propreté , santé and sainteté.

When the alarm went off I was working in Bordeaux as a detective. I had Gromit working with me and boy, were we effective and efficient ! Maybe you're right, Matthew. Maybe I should watch more normal stuff, like that one about a copper who shoots back from the 21st century to the 1970s and does all the Sweeney stuff that coppers do... or that one about aliens chasing aliens who seem to have their hearts set on occupying Cardiff for some reason...

Hootenanny !

These are REALLY NICE ! I got this packet for the student centre. Even the legend on the pack is poetic... Petits Pains Ronds aux Pépites du Chocolat ... Ooooooooh!

I went to our local cinéma yesterday (at Pessac, terminus of tram line B, 4€ for the 1700 Wednesday showing, Pessac's got it all). Jesus Camp is a documentary about a kids' summer camp in the USA. Some of the students had been to see it earlier in the year at Utopia. At the moment I am not sure what to blog about it. ("Shut up then!", they cry.) It raises so many issues. For one these kids are encouraged to do things that are obviously wrong, unhelpful, inappropriate. There's the whole politicisation thing going on in the background, too. The cardboard cutout President Bush was too wonderful for words. I did hope that they'd given him an opening mouth and that they would have him do a speech, but no... When the students went to see it the reactions were different for people from different nations. Interesting. Have you seen it? What did you think?

There's always a solution, and it's usually something you didn't think of at all... Today the French teacher had a little word with Gwilym. Would he like to drop German and do Latin instead, staying in the same class ? Oh yes ! The message to us reads, In view of Gwilym's good progress in French (double underlined), and if he stopped German, it would be really good for your son to do at least one year "Introduction to Latin". It's really helpful for spelling and grammar. (And there's not much homework to do.) Vu les beaux progrès de Gwilym en Français, et s'il arrête l'allemand, il serait très bon pour votre fils de faire au moins pendant un an, Initiation au latin . C'est très formateur sur le plan de l'orthographe et de la grammaire. (De plus, il n'y a pas beaucoup de travail à la maison) bien cordialement... It is taught by the French teacher, too. The same teacher who, early on in the year when he got 10/20 in a test on the i

This is for Ken.

Here we have our local tea shop (that is, the shop that sells all kinds of tea) and a couple of pictures of the inside of the church in the town centre. Notice the pulpit in the centre of the side wall. If all the chairs were turned round to face that....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6740771.stm Alain Rousset (PS) for Pessac gained over 50% of the vote, so he is elected. But M Juppé for Bordeaux didn't, so there's a second round next Sunday.

Don't judge me too harshly please.

Gwilym's form teacher has told him that he won't be redoing the year because it goes on your average mark, and his average is 11.8 - so there we are. The only way is up. I asked him what he'd think about continuing in the same class but with some help with his German, if we can find someone. He's up for that if we can do it, so I need to fix a rdv with the director and/or the German teacher. Or failing that, write them a note.

(He's quoting someone else, who he tags "the apostolic postman"...) Self-disillusionment is the key to spiritual maturity. We get disillusioned with one another because we have illusions about each other.

Dance, or a demonstration to commemorate the six-day war. This weekend was quite full. I was only at the centre for the English Class, but then there was the kids' fête des scoutes (see below), I was preaching in the morning and also the Pegingtons came to church (see below) and they stayed for lunch and to talk to the young people (interview with translation). Then they had a bataille d'eau in the garden of the premises we are leaving in just a few weeks' time. Make the most of it while you can... Then home for an early night.

But this time they're great big stickers. On one tram stop the sticker of the chameleon is missing. Could it be adorning the wall of a student room, perhaps? Someone knows...