La Belle France

Art workshop this month eschewed a nude model for a change and we tried out portrait drawing using participants as models. I amazed myself in being able to produce three (out of four) recognizable sketches. Should really try more, maybe easily with the use of a mirror.

Cliff

Dry dock - Rochefort

Half-term trip to the Vendee region in France, fronting the Atlantic Ocean for a few days holiday (holiday from what you might say!) with Stephen, Liz and their daughter Katy, my niece. Travelling there was at a cost of £15 for busses to the airport, £10 for airport taxes etc and one penny for the aeroplane ticket to La Rochelle. The plane wasn’t full by any means and I cannot see how the airline makes a profit despite it charging for snacks and drinks. Anyway much cheaper than the rail trip which would have taken much the same time door to door for about £300 so I assuaged my ‘carbon’ damage with a contribution to Greenpeace as possibly more use than the various offsetting schemes.

Staying in their second home was attractive although I would not personally be tempted to have two houses because of the additional work, let alone the cost. We walked on the sandy beaches and sauntered around pretty towns in the cool autumn sunshine. One feature was a copy of an eighteenth century timber ship being built although the mass of scaffolding precluding any reasonable photographs so we will have to wait for two years till she is launched.

Old church Vouille-les-Marais

Back in England, Michael who has been staying with me for the last fortnight now has a new job in Bristol and has found a flat in Bristol which means three of my offspring are now there which is good for contact. Rebecca also now has a ‘proper’ job, in Lancashire and is renting a house with a heating system and is being allowed time off for her environmental course at the CAT centre.

In Bridgwater I went to see the cartoon film Ratatouille yesterday that I very much enjoyed, not that it takes much to impress me! On Friday we have the annual carnival with flamboyantly illuminated floats and fireworks in the high street with my three from Bristol coming, two with boy/girlfriends, staying overnight and cooking a feast at some point