Category: Family life

We spent Sunday afternoon in St-Quay-Portrieux, on the seaside, with two members from the church.

In the UK, Jean-Baptiste was one of the youngest in his class. He was born in July, and the school age runs from September to August. In France, the ages for a same school group goes from January to December. It means that he is no longer one of the youngest. Some children will only be 5 in december.

People sometimes ask me: “Is it difficult to drive in France with British car?” To this I answer no. All the infrastructure has been built up for cars to be on the right side of the road, so there is no choice, you don’t even think about it very quickly after you get out of the ferry. It can be difficult to overtake a Lorry on a small road, but you learn to be patient. The only risk would be late at night, when you are very tired.

It seems to be the same for other aspects of life. You just adapt, without thinking about it, no choice. It’s no easy, but you have to.

Take meal times for example. In the UK, Jean-Baptiste finished school at 15:45, we had tea (our evening meal), between 17:00 and 18:00. We kept that habit until school started last week. But since he goes to school, things are different. He finishes at 16:30, gets home, has a snack (like every French kids would), goes to play a little. By the time we get around to preparing food, it is 18:30, or later. It also means that the children go to sleep later than they would have in the UK. But that’s life in France.