Sunday, December 19, 2004

A little local history.
I expect that a few of you have heard of Inspector Maigret, the French detective. Georges Simenon, the author, used to live locally. Last year was his centenary year so we heard a lot about him as he had a house in the next village. In town they installed a brass ring outside the cafĂ© de la Paix, he used to tie his horse up in that very spot. The horse knew the way home. One of my students was bought up locally in the same village so I asked him if he remembered the family. He did, he even slept in Simenon’s son’s cot as a small child. He wouldn’t say that his parents were close friends. Simenon was a difficult person to get on with.

Last summer a story writing competition was held in the village schools. The standards were extremely high. Look out for the authors in twenty to thirty years time.

No comments: