Day: March 7, 2012

In the local paper today, 7th March 2012

Today in “Le Télégramme“

  • A very sad news item: 4 children and a man die in a fire in Lannion, about 1/2h drive from us. The mother and a baby managed to escape. It is the 5th fire in the same part of the old town in less than a year.
  • Presidential elections: Should we give up the 35 hours work week?
  • There’s an egg shortage due to some change in European regulations about hen cages.
  • In Guingamp, a militant from the pressure group Aï’ta was arrested during a demonstration in the post office. Aï’ta is promoting the use of the Breton Language.

School council

Back in September, I was elected substitute to sit on the church council in the place of any full member of the parent representatives parent who could not attend a meeting. A lady asked me a couple of weeks ago if I could replace her for the next meeting. The meeting was last night. It was great to be present and observe the  proceedings.

The whole protocole is interesting. While in the UK, people who arrive would come in and sit down after giving a general greeting to those already present, in france, those arriving at the meeting go around the room shaking hands to every single person already present. If they know each other well enough, they would do “la bise”, but men always shake hands.

Most of the teachers were there, as well as the mayor and  other representatives of the town council. I think the total number was about 18. Various subjects concerning the running of the school were talked about. It was interesting to know better what’s going on in the school and to meet knew people as well. The meeting was about 2 hours long.