les Davey de France

Our library is closed after the storm and will not reopen until after the summer break. It was a rough one !

 We called at the Maison de la Bible to see if the manageress was there so Pat could return her keys. We caught her just locking up along with her husband. "Look !", they said, proudly. Well you've never seen such a mess in all your life ! The carpet tiles are up, the window display area is destroyed - the place is DEVASTATED ! All ready for the makeover that begins tomorrow with painting the shelves white. Pat hopes to go along to help while I have a car reserved to take rubbish to the dump.

So today we finally got to spend some time together, all four of us, we charged into Bordeaux to take outrageous advantage of the city and its delights. We started with lunch at the Hippopotamus Grill. It's a long time since we ate in one of these places, but it was great to eat together - we had the Hippodéj - just a main course and a drink. The kids had burgers and Pat and I had steaks with nice blue cheese sauce. The staff assumed we were holiday makers, which was fun. "Where are you from ?" asked the manageress, "are you visiting Bordeaux ?" "We live in Pessac, but we are visiting Bordeaux !". Then off to scour various shops for bargains. We didn't find any. But we had fun looking. Then to Decathlon. I have had my eye on a piece of luggage. Catrin is concerned about her rucsac for camp. Then I had a brianwave ! Decathlon sell microfibre towels, just the thing for solving Catrin's rucsac problem. Then off to Books and Coffee fo...

Last night was the last English Service before a break for August. I'd sent out an email pretty clearly urging a 6pm arrival for a 6:30 start, so when at 6:40 we were the Brits and a German student we assumed that that was it and had just begun an alternative plan of songs, prayer and sharing of prayer news when all of a sudden eight more people arrived : Chinese, Iranian, French etc... remember that the buses are perturbed, retarded AND on their summer timetable. So we seamlessly and without remark returned to plan A. Luke 18 : the two men praying in the temple. It was a good  time with good exchanges and grace was explained, recommended and urged on all. Did all understand? Well that I can't answer, though I doubt it.. Yet, anyway. Afterwards salads and chat before dispersing, some for the last time...

So yesterday we hit the road for Mérignac and the new church recently started by the Christian and Missionary Alliance at the Hotel du Phare. Bus 4 to Barrière de Pessac, then bus 11 to the hotel. We found the hotel without too much difficulty (thanks to the GPS built into our phones !) and were greeted warmly by the pastor who was setting up for the service. The service is held in the conference room of a hotel/motel not far from the Rocade. Musical accompaniment was provided by the pastor's wife on guitar and a cellist. Songs were all modern : Baloche Hosanna, Jesus be the center, Open the eyes of my heart, Il est beau de louer le Seigneur (all in French of course). I suppose we were about 15 people, perhaps 1/4 of us French, the rest American or British (there were two Brits. Us), but remember that it's holiday time so numbers were down and proportions were unrepresentative, too. At Cenon there were 20 Dutch ! The service began with a time of meditation of a short Bi...