les Davey de France

came for the evening. We ate raclette and Vienettas. Raclette was a good move. It's easy, entertaining, filling and warming. Ice cream was not so wise, and illustrates the hazards of shopping on Monday for a meal you will eat on Friday. Monday was pleasant and warm. Now it's freeeezing. I thought about rice pudding but on Monday it would have been too much on top of a raclette. Now it would be just right ! Jenna and Michelle fly home early on Sunday. Poor Vincent ! Still, at least he'll be able to move a bit in his flat... He'll visit them for Christmas, then in February, then the marriage is hoped to take place in April and Jenna will come home to France.

Fi's in the UK. Pat's indisposed. I am in the student centre. So Ben said he'd pick up the kids from school for us. On the way so to do, at junction 13, his gear lever lost touch with the gear box. Ah ! What to do ? A few frantic phone calls and I decided to shut up the student centre, scuttle back to Pessac on the tram and get the car, then the kids. They, dear brave hearts, were sat on the pavement outside the school waiting patiently. Then I found Ben and we got his car safely stashed on the grass at the side of the slip road. French motor insurance includes breakdown cover, but he couldn't find the phone number to ring if the car broke down. And the office they got the cover from closes at 4 on Fridays and doesn't open on Saturdays. Ben says it opens for an hour in July and for half a day in February. So I took him into town to get the tram home (I was meeting folks at the student centre at 7pm) and he's going to tackle it tomorrow morning.

I mean seriously freezing. We're in the negative, said the man on the radio and judging by the frost in the garden he was absolutely right. Yesterday I spent a good part of the day on the phone finding out who's eating what and when for the church's regional council weekend. Today I have one or two people to finish chasing up on that, then to find a firewood supplier and order a goodly supply of logs, and to suss out flights to Britain in February and in April so as to work out finally when deputation can occur and get in touch with the churches concerned. Oh, and preparation for Sunday. I'm preaching in Blaye in the morning and in Bordeaux in the afternoon. Pat is much better this morning. Perhaps the kinésiterrapin has helped.

She finished the course of pills the doctor in Villenave gave her, but without much improvement. A Chinese student applied some Chinese medicine (don't ask - it was fine) and she's a little improved. She went to see the doctor round the corner from us yesterday and got the forms to change doctor and a prescription for five sessions of physiotherapy, so she should see the physiotherapist (also round the corner from us) tonight.

I mean, I always loved France, and the French are wonderful, but French... Spanish is pretty well Latin. Italin is beautiful. English is useful. Welsh is glorious. German is unthinkable. French is Latin overlaid with German in a most unhelpful way. All those vowels ! How could anyone think a language beautiful that contains from 3 to 6 nasal vowels depending on where you live, and the sound eux, them. It sounds like the noise you make when you see a molten slug in your lettuce. but you do get to say some wonderful things. My all time favourite was when a student (we'll call him Sam) got a letter whose certainty he doubted. As one man we said Si Sam, ça c'est sûr ! - see sam sa sé sûr... Then yesterday reflecting on the RCF broadcast C'est comme ça qu'on sème - sé com sa coñ sem. "Yes, Sam, that's certain", and "That's how one sows"

(See a little matter for prayer below.) Well we went and recorded. Emmanuel Alvaraés, the pastor of the Eglise Evangélique Libre in Pessac, looks after Point de Vue Evangélique, so it basically took the form of a very brief, round table interview with myself, Emmanuel, Sammy and Fiona. It's broadcast tonight and also tonight they will come to the student centre and record the programme for next week with a couple of students involved. We talked basically about the work, trying to present it in a way that might encourage students to check us out. Emmanuel helped us tremendously with his useful questions, of course.

that Paul greets the saints with the Greek greeting "Grace" and the Hebrew greeting "Peace". He, of course, means far more by those words than the man in the corner café in Athens or Jerusalem ever imagined. Quite often French people greet each other with the French greeting " Salut ". We, of course, mean far more by that word than the chaps in the corner café imagine. Salut means salvation.