I so love Bordeaux

After a crazy hour helping at the music school with inscriptions for saxophone and piano (I was very good and did not try to persuade people to do trombone instead) I met up with the stalwarts of the advanced English group in the Cheverus café. Pat had said to eat there so that was a unique treat. We met up for a review of last year and to put together a wish list for this coming year. Thanks, guys, for your feedback.

Bordeaux was buzzin'. For some of the students it's the first Thursday evening of the academic year, and Thursday evening is when everyone goes into town to frequent the bars etc.

At Saint-Nicolas the tram was assaulted by a gang of ticket inspectors - they block all the doors and won't let you off without wither a valid ticket or a notice of fine. "C'est moche", said one large fellow as LOTS of people charged down the tram to try to get away from the inspectors - they tried in vain.

The lady sitting next to me was amazed. "So many people don't pay !" I told her about my God-fearing friend who appeared to sincerely believe that public transport in Bordeaux is free in the evenings, then said I could vouch for her having a ticket and she for me !

At Victoire a swarthy gentleman unsteadily holding a bottle of beer, not his first, I think, started yelling obscenities at the nearest inspector - a BIG BLOKE. The inspector ignored him, then told him to shut up, then started shouting obscenities back, then got off the tram to sort him out. After his colleagues and the drunk's friends intervened the inspectors got back on the tram and we carried on our journey, but they never checked our tickets. The moment had passed, somehow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor...
Read more

Good news from my sermon buddy

Yesterday we went over my script from August 13. There really wasn't much she had taken exception to. Once or twice she wondered quite what I was getting at (they had the same problem at Deeside, I think...) and I do have difficulties with the word " de ", but then she said "Who doesn't?" So I felt very encouraged. I also took the opportunity to ask her about one or two things: 1) Direct preaching. Like I used to in Britain, I preach saying you - using "vous" when I am talking to the whole wide world and "tu" when I want it to feel as if I am addressing each person individually. French preachers tend to say rather "What will we do, what will one do". So I asked her if she felt my way was too direct, too brutal for the French ear. She said "I think you can get away with it with your English accent". In fact several people have commented on how much they appreciated being spoken to directly in preaching. 2) Liaisons Last...
Read more

A brief sortie to North Wales

 Following the Great Keswick Debacle, when our volunteering at the Keswick café was sabotaged by our assorted indispositions, we had airline tickets to use up. Yes, we had not taken travel insurance, so we paid even more money to change our tickets to fly for a short visit to North Wales. This time we were able to go. We passed extremely slowly through a very crowded Bordeaux airport but in good time to get our plane. All seats in the terminal were taken so we leaned against whatever we could find while waiting to board. Hey, bags need seats, too! though sometimes pointing out to Pat, "No, that's a bag seat", makes the bag find a new refuge on the lap of the person sitting next to it... Once on the plane we quickly found our allocated seats - right at the back on the left hand side - stowed our bags and the flight was smooth and uneventful.  We had 30 minutes in Manchester to disembark, get through immigration , hustle off to the station and board our train for Shotton. I...
Read more