Well that was an unusual day
It began with doing the shopping online. Very frustrating, but after a while I had ordered what things the shop had and made a list of the things we'd have to get elsewhere, and booked a delivery for between 5 and 7.
Then time to scuttle into Bordeaux to say goodbye to one of the students. We drank coffee and talked about stuff in Bordeaux, then ate a farewell lunch in Café Cheverus
We got home and I put the kettle on and turned on the computer to email our weekly prayer update to our church in North Wales, when...
"There's someone driving down the driveway..."
It was a friend from another city in Southern France who was passing by and wondered if I'd care to go for a drive out to the Dune de Pylat.
Why not ?
So after a quick email home we set off. The dune was beautiful, the sky was blue, we scuttled to the top of the dune and on the way we attempted to set the world to rights, or France at least, before concluding that the task requires greater wisdom, grace and power than either of us possess.
Back to Bordeaux for a quick cup of tea and a banana before zooming into town for a meeting organized by the Town Hall between the various religious big-wigs of the town to discuss French Laïcité (or secularism). The big wigs comprised:
the Grand Mullah of Bordeaux,
the Cardinal-ArchBishop of Bordeaux and Bazas,
the Grand Rabbi of Bordeaux,
the Présidente of the Fédération Protestante,
the Présidente of the Buddhists of Bordeaux,
the Orthodox priest of Bordeaux.
The meeting was very good-natured with everyone saying how much they appreciated living in a république laïque, rather than the kind of scary, sacral system they have in England. Lots of good-natured teasing of the Mayor, M Juppé, by the various folk around.
One quote of M Juppé's is probably worth relaying to you to show the spirit of things:
"You know what I think about things, the Catholics have their churches and cathedrals, the Protestants have their temples and so the Muslims have to have their place of worship, too."
The meeting was followed by a drink at the town hall where I chatted with the prominent women of the Anglican church before catching the well-timed no. 4 to the bosom of my family and my downy couch.
Then time to scuttle into Bordeaux to say goodbye to one of the students. We drank coffee and talked about stuff in Bordeaux, then ate a farewell lunch in Café Cheverus
We got home and I put the kettle on and turned on the computer to email our weekly prayer update to our church in North Wales, when...
"There's someone driving down the driveway..."
It was a friend from another city in Southern France who was passing by and wondered if I'd care to go for a drive out to the Dune de Pylat.
Why not ?
So after a quick email home we set off. The dune was beautiful, the sky was blue, we scuttled to the top of the dune and on the way we attempted to set the world to rights, or France at least, before concluding that the task requires greater wisdom, grace and power than either of us possess.
Back to Bordeaux for a quick cup of tea and a banana before zooming into town for a meeting organized by the Town Hall between the various religious big-wigs of the town to discuss French Laïcité (or secularism). The big wigs comprised:
the Grand Mullah of Bordeaux,
the Cardinal-ArchBishop of Bordeaux and Bazas,
the Grand Rabbi of Bordeaux,
the Présidente of the Fédération Protestante,
the Présidente of the Buddhists of Bordeaux,
the Orthodox priest of Bordeaux.
The meeting was very good-natured with everyone saying how much they appreciated living in a république laïque, rather than the kind of scary, sacral system they have in England. Lots of good-natured teasing of the Mayor, M Juppé, by the various folk around.
One quote of M Juppé's is probably worth relaying to you to show the spirit of things:
"You know what I think about things, the Catholics have their churches and cathedrals, the Protestants have their temples and so the Muslims have to have their place of worship, too."
The meeting was followed by a drink at the town hall where I chatted with the prominent women of the Anglican church before catching the well-timed no. 4 to the bosom of my family and my downy couch.
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