Christmas markets
Last weekend was the village Christmas market, it was held in the gymnasium. There were lots of festive goodies and arts and crafts.

While I was there I met Anne-Lise. Anne-Lise was one of my students a few years ago, she is also a cancer survivor. During the period when she came for lessons, my Dad was dying of cancer. We talked a lot about this, which helped me as I was so far away from my family and she understood how it felt. Her last lesson was due 10 minutes after my Mum had phoned to say that Dad had died that morning. Thank goodness it was her as she knew what to say and wasn’t at all embarrassed like some people might have been.

With a friend, she has recently set up a breast cancer support group. Her friend was with her so I was able to congratulate both of them.

She also told me that there exists a cancer support group for English people living in Charente Maritime. If by chance you read this and would like more details, e-mail me or leave a message in the comments box and I will pass you Anne-Lise’s details.

While we were there, Rob won a picture frame on the tombola!

This weekend was the Christmas market at Luçon. This one is outdoors and always seems to be on the coldest weekend of the year. Again there are some lovely things for sale. We go to see our friend Jan who sells lots of things she has sewn and decorated. Jan and her husband Trevor also supply the ex-pat population with Yorkshire tea, so we got our fix. We only see them once a year and this year was the first time we didn’t have any children with us. It’s strange to do things on our own again.