Holiday time
This afternoon we’re off to the land of fish and chips, cream teas, cheese and onion crisps/potato chips and warm beer. I shall be flying for the fist time. I’ve decided not to worry about that until I’ve tried it out for myself. This year I’ll be able to post some pics when I get back. Have a good holiday to anyone else who’s away around now. See you mid-July.

The time Bandits
When I used to stay the weekend with friends over twenty years ago they always hired The Time Bandits. Today I was talking about English humour with Jean-Christophe (maths and physics)and he has actually seen this film. Does anyone else remember it?
Review with pictures here.

For want of something better to do
I took a look at what was going on a year ago.....
I was packing for our holidays, something I should be doing now. Dom had just installed AOL8 and now we've got 9. Wow!

A couple of things I must tell you, good news, we don't seem to get much of that these days. Hélène and Mike will be getting married in the summer. Hélène has just got some papers to sort out in order to emigrate to the States.

My hairdresser is expecting twins at Christmas.

Paul Armfield and the Four Good Reasons
At the glastonbury festival today (my cousin)

The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy
I bet Daisy has got this up before me. Good news! The BBC are going to continue the audio version of the book. All of the old actors who are still alive will take part. There will even be the voice of Douglas Adams himself. Recording of auditions where DA read a part will be used. Sadly the book, Peter Jones, is no longer with us.

I can’t wait. I'll just have to make do with trying to get out of the bedroom

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Abundance:: plenty
   
2. Casino:: games
   
3. Shell:: sea side
   
4. Overpriced:: expensive
   
5. Cancellation:: stopped
   
6. Eternal:: ring
   
7. Lyrics:: songs
   
8. Faith:: belief
   
9. Because:: so
   
10. Wimp:: runt
    

What were the towers for?
Someone asked the other day. The towers were to guard the port. La Rochelle has been part of England and part of France in the past. The Huguenots who left for Canada and then ended up in Louisiana came from la Rochelle. There was also a terrible siege when a lot of Rochelais died.

I found my 'film script' so I have more information today:
No one knows the exact dates that the towers were built or should we say completed. The St. Nicolas tower around 1374, the Chain tower around 1382 and the Lantern tower around 1445. The Lantern tower was built over an old tower which dated back to the 12th centaury. The public can't visit the very old part, probably too dangerous.

The public have been able to visit the St. Nicolas and Lantern towers since the 60's, before that date, they were in a pretty bad state. Children played in them. Rob still meets elderly people who talk about how they used to play there, what a playground! The Chain tower has been opened up in the last few years as a floor was missing up until recently, there had been an explosion in there. There was a bar open to the public on the terrace, but that has been closed.

In the past there had been a model of the town of La Rochelle to visit in the Chain tower. When the Ministry of culture took over it was decided that, historically, the model was not at all accurate, so it was taken out. People still come looking for it and are most disappointed to hear that it has been dismantled.

Historians enjoy visiting the towers, so do people who climb up the stairs just for the view! 

The Lantern tower. (or Four Sergeants tower)
This tower served as a light house. It was also a prison, lots of English sailors spent time there. Carved into the floor on one of the levels is a chess board (one way to pass the time). There is also plenty of graffiti. One is a carving of a sailing ship, it's very beautiful and gives a lot of information to historians. It was also known as the Priest's tower, during times of religious conflict, priests were thrown off. I think a few unfortunate sailors met their fate that way too. The romantic title is the Four Sergeants tower. They were rebels who were executed. No one is sure whether there were four and they might even have been taken to Paris to be executed!
 

Photocopies
At the risk of sounding like Mr Teacher, we haven't got a photocopier at work at the moment, as I'm teaching individuals, it doesn't matter too much. Would you believe I've got one pupil who asks for photocopies of everything. A couple of weeks ago I gave her some pages of vocabulary she'd asked for. The other day she asked me if I'd done those photocopies yet. As I suspected she'd put them in her folder and never looked at them again.

Special Days
As I've been so busy this week, I've missed sharing two special days with you.
June 15th; third anniversary of my Dad's death.
June 17th; 19th wedding anniversary.
Rob and I are now on our 20th year together, it's gone so quickly!