Tuesday travels etc...
Yesterday morning was the team meeting and prayer meeting and afterwards Gwilym and I had to present ourselves at the place where he'll do his stage. The supervisor seemed very nice and it doesn't open till 11am (!) so he gets a lie-in all week !
Afterwards we returned home through the warm autumnal sunshine and I got on with some more Carol Service planning - by email. After some preparation and a quick sandwich it was time to scuttle off on the tram for the English class. I walked to the bus stop through the park - through the dark trees under the inky sky.
I wish I could bring you with me on the journey. The bus takes us through the lower regions of Mérignac, where instead of stylish new villas you get old wooden shacks and ramshackle old farmhouses. The outskirts of Mérignac fascinate me, and on the bus you see them very well. You end up at a bus / tram / park and ride called Fontaines d'Arlac. After crossing a frontier style level crossing you turn a corner into this beautiful little square with a centuries old wash-house and a space-age stainless-steel park and ride. In the evening with the street lights it's a magical place. No, really ! Then the tram to the centre of town. Great !
The English Class seemed to go pretty well. It included a brief introduction to the continuous tenses (I walk/I am walking, I will walk/I will be walking). We played Monster (please, thank-you and sorry) to practise la politesse anglaise. Mispronunciation of 'aces' prompted a brief session on words that are really much more offensive than you realise. The kind of lesson I wish someone had given me for French, because you really need to know what NOT to say as well as what to say.
I have wrestled with this awful little whiteboard that you have to balance or prop with one hand while writing with the other etc... and today I had a brianwave. I put the whiteboard on the table. Then we used it as the card-table and when I need to write anything down: 'better late than never', 'on the off-chance', 'Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces', the board was really accessible. Everyone needed to remember everyone else's name for the game, so we wrote them on the whiteboard. Simple !
Home to move the car with Ben's ox-like help to a position from which I can take off for the repairs tomorrow morning. Brief talk with the neighbour opposite. Let's call it a day.
Not a bad night's sleep, though Pat had a bout of vomiting in the wee hours. She's coughing better, though.
Afterwards we returned home through the warm autumnal sunshine and I got on with some more Carol Service planning - by email. After some preparation and a quick sandwich it was time to scuttle off on the tram for the English class. I walked to the bus stop through the park - through the dark trees under the inky sky.
I wish I could bring you with me on the journey. The bus takes us through the lower regions of Mérignac, where instead of stylish new villas you get old wooden shacks and ramshackle old farmhouses. The outskirts of Mérignac fascinate me, and on the bus you see them very well. You end up at a bus / tram / park and ride called Fontaines d'Arlac. After crossing a frontier style level crossing you turn a corner into this beautiful little square with a centuries old wash-house and a space-age stainless-steel park and ride. In the evening with the street lights it's a magical place. No, really ! Then the tram to the centre of town. Great !
The English Class seemed to go pretty well. It included a brief introduction to the continuous tenses (I walk/I am walking, I will walk/I will be walking). We played Monster (please, thank-you and sorry) to practise la politesse anglaise. Mispronunciation of 'aces' prompted a brief session on words that are really much more offensive than you realise. The kind of lesson I wish someone had given me for French, because you really need to know what NOT to say as well as what to say.
I have wrestled with this awful little whiteboard that you have to balance or prop with one hand while writing with the other etc... and today I had a brianwave. I put the whiteboard on the table. Then we used it as the card-table and when I need to write anything down: 'better late than never', 'on the off-chance', 'Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces', the board was really accessible. Everyone needed to remember everyone else's name for the game, so we wrote them on the whiteboard. Simple !
Home to move the car with Ben's ox-like help to a position from which I can take off for the repairs tomorrow morning. Brief talk with the neighbour opposite. Let's call it a day.
Not a bad night's sleep, though Pat had a bout of vomiting in the wee hours. She's coughing better, though.
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