The first day of Spring sunshine
Well what a nice way to spend a Friday!
It started with the CNEF33 committee meeting which was to be held at the Caudéran Baptist Church.
Caudéran used to be a suburban town, independent of Bordeaux, just like Bègles, Pessac et al, but it was bought, it was purchased by Bordeaux. So it projects out over the boulevards, the inner ring road that approximately delineates the frontier of the town. It is regarded as being a particularly bourgeois neighbourhood, containing the lovely Parc Bordelais, but it has LOTS of blocks of flats and no tram line. So I booked a pool car and popped the address into Waze.
Well that was my first surprise. When I started the programme Waze knew what was in my diary on my phone, and suggested that I wanted to go to Caudéran. I supplied baptiste, and it found the address and plotted a course. Bravo, Waze!
Second surprise - instead of directing me to the rocade as I expected, it sent me off through backroads of Mérignac. Now Mérignac is one of the towns that fascinates me. Like all Bordeaux suburbs it has these remarkable space-age looking blocks of flats in curved or angular geometric shapes with foil exteriors or balconies poking out eccentrically. But next-door may be an old house looking like a settler's cabin in the forest of the Landes. You get a sudden vineyard, a level crossing, a fine stone chateau, some post-war cottages built very simply with pent roofs and graffiti on the walls. So I had a wonderful trip driving through the first day of Spring sunshine.
The meeting was a delight, though part of it was spent trying to work out who can replace our brethren who are leaving Bordeaux for other fields of service. Then another lovely drive through little winding streets back to Pessac.
A quick sandwich, then into town to meet up with one of our students. Instead of our usual café table we decided to walk through the streets with our cappuccinos in a paper cup. Neither of us had read the next chapter of Schaeffer's "Escape from Reason" (in French - Démission de la Raison) so we talked about studies, family, the future, and enjoyed the first day of Spring sunshine on the quays.
Then dash home through the congested streets on a number 4 bus that was just too big to sneak through the gaps like the Vespas. A brief Skype interview with one of the glitterati of GBM, James' sending agency, followed.
Then off again in the other pool car to take Catrin from one side of Pessac (singing lesson) to the other (music option for bac). While she did her class I scuttled off to get some of those new magic wonder-logs from Leroy Merlin, past the Pessac vineyards with a gloriously golden sunset. Did I mention that today was the first day of Spring sunshine?
It started with the CNEF33 committee meeting which was to be held at the Caudéran Baptist Church.
Caudéran used to be a suburban town, independent of Bordeaux, just like Bègles, Pessac et al, but it was bought, it was purchased by Bordeaux. So it projects out over the boulevards, the inner ring road that approximately delineates the frontier of the town. It is regarded as being a particularly bourgeois neighbourhood, containing the lovely Parc Bordelais, but it has LOTS of blocks of flats and no tram line. So I booked a pool car and popped the address into Waze.
Well that was my first surprise. When I started the programme Waze knew what was in my diary on my phone, and suggested that I wanted to go to Caudéran. I supplied baptiste, and it found the address and plotted a course. Bravo, Waze!
Second surprise - instead of directing me to the rocade as I expected, it sent me off through backroads of Mérignac. Now Mérignac is one of the towns that fascinates me. Like all Bordeaux suburbs it has these remarkable space-age looking blocks of flats in curved or angular geometric shapes with foil exteriors or balconies poking out eccentrically. But next-door may be an old house looking like a settler's cabin in the forest of the Landes. You get a sudden vineyard, a level crossing, a fine stone chateau, some post-war cottages built very simply with pent roofs and graffiti on the walls. So I had a wonderful trip driving through the first day of Spring sunshine.The meeting was a delight, though part of it was spent trying to work out who can replace our brethren who are leaving Bordeaux for other fields of service. Then another lovely drive through little winding streets back to Pessac.
Then dash home through the congested streets on a number 4 bus that was just too big to sneak through the gaps like the Vespas. A brief Skype interview with one of the glitterati of GBM, James' sending agency, followed.
Then off again in the other pool car to take Catrin from one side of Pessac (singing lesson) to the other (music option for bac). While she did her class I scuttled off to get some of those new magic wonder-logs from Leroy Merlin, past the Pessac vineyards with a gloriously golden sunset. Did I mention that today was the first day of Spring sunshine?
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