It has been an eventful week in Bordeaux

 Firstly our collaborators, the Coquerels, had their big formal interview with the UFM Mission on Friday. It went very well and they were accepted.

Then we also had a visit from one of the elders of our old church in North Wales. It’s wonderful to be looked after like this and to let them see something of the work here and how we are doing, as well as to hear how things are in North Wales.

It was my turn this month to present the book to the reading group. I was excited to see that the book we had chosen, The Trees, by Perceval Everett, was on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. It didn’t win, but still… To my huge relief everyone very much enjoyed the book - a detective story come horror story come farce exploring the legacy of the culture of lynchings in the southern states of the USA. The book directed me to the Billie Holiday song, ‘Strange Fruit’. Listen to it some time. It’s harrowing.

In France there are strikes just now, but they have had no direct impact on us at all.

Then lastly in our eventful week, we had our ‘flu vaccinations. The first really painful jab I’ve had in a long time. Perhaps the worst one ever. Still, I had no stiff arm afterwards and no reaction to the vaccine, so it could have been a lot worse.




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