Our mayor is being taken to court by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Before he retired he was the inspector of inspectors in the Ministry of Education and his mission was to research the various sects in France. He wrote something in his report that the witnesses did not like, something to do with education. He’s a good man and has done a lot for our village, particularly the schools which were neglected under the previous mayor. BTW: Our schools are named The Rose (maternelle or nursery) and The Fox (primary) after ‘The Little Prince’ because Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s great uncle was Mayor of L’Houmeau (Now I'll have to go and find out the years).
There are even more road works. We seem to have had roads closed all over the village since the turn of the century (I’ve always wanted to use the phrase ‘the turn of the century’). The cars are being diverted through our quiet little road. We live on the corner and it’s quite noisy at times as drivers are in a hurry. I’m waiting for someone to miss the corner.
There is a plant in our post office. It’s grown very big over the years and occasionally has rose like flowers though I think it’s more of a Begonia* type bush thingy. The post office lady, who has been there longer than us (more than 22 years), can’t remember a time when it wasn’t there. This morning she was sweeping up leaves. The poor plant looks really sad and is losing its foliage. She’s tried feeding it but it seems not to even want watering at the moment. This year it had more flowers than usual, I suggested that perhaps it was tired.
*Begonias are named after Michel Bégon who was steward of La Rochelle 1694-1710.
7 comments:
Best of luck to your Mayor
Cas
and to the begonia.
A pot-pourri of a post!
:-)
May your Mayor find justice on his side!
When my grandparents came to San Diego to visit Dottie and I the 2nd time, my granfather spent a lot of time staring at the flowers in our front yard.
He had never seen geraniums that were 6 feet high, as they got to grow year-round...
I have a teacher-friend in Argentina who told me once that "The Little Prince" really isn't a children's story if you read it closely. I went to our local library, the children's section of course, and checked it out and read it for the first time as an adult.
She was right!
I have an English edition of the last book he wrote...yet another wonderful life cut short in it's prime!
alan
How nice to have school named after characters from The Little Prince! I turned up in Arras a few years ago to find that there was a celebration of Saint-Exupery going on,and a quite good exhibition. The connection seemed tenuous; "Flight to Arras", presumably, but what the heck. The french seem to honour their artists more than we do, don't they? I remember an Emeraude Ferry on the St Malo-Jersey run with a huge picture of Victor Hugo on the side. And while P+O ferries are called "Pride of Basingstoke" or whatever, the Seafrance ones are named after artists. Good show.
Perhaps a soil analysis is in order for the begonia? Most universities with agricultural programs will test soil samples for cheap. This might give some direction as to specific supplementation. It's a thought.
Cas: I think it goes to court in december, we've sent him a good luck email.
Doris: You could say that - especially with the dead leaves around!
Alan: Definately recommended for adults too. He was an airman too.
Dru: Napoléon stopped for one night on an island near here and a whole museum grew around that visit.
We don't forget our heros. A group of roads built in the 70s in the village are all named after impressionists. The square which incorporates the car park in the middle of the village was named after a deported priest, he came back to live here until he died in the early 60s. Our mayor is good at digging up history. Too good in fact; here was a new estate to be built, but it's been delayed because the archaeologists are still at work...
Drofen: Thank you for your comment. I'll suggest that, though I have a feeling she'll have plenty of advice from her customers. For the time being she's moved it away from the public gaze and pruned it.
Quite a lot of plants have a final hurrah before they pass on. There's a wonderfully twisted tree outside my mother's house, and just after she moved in, it all budded and she'd never seen it so alive. When its leaves fell off in the Autumn, however, they never returned...
Post a Comment