The weather has reverted to type for January cold, wet,windy but the temperature is +5 as opposed to -5 which we had for the first 2 weeks of the year. I even planted some onions in my new raised beds. I made 7 of them from old beams I found in my store they measure 1.2 x 3.5m and should make gardening much easier as the soil doesn't get compacted and I can give them a coating of compost at the start of the season.

Its been cold recently temperatures hovering around 0 then Sunday night it just rained most of the night so the frost went ( so I thought ). I was due to help a friend at Plufur about 8kms in the interior (all distances over 2km are interior for me ) so I zoomed down the hill from St Sebastien , it is a deep valley I guess a couple of degrees colder so at the bottom it was pure ice so my car just slid from side to side and ended up at right angles to the road with the nose buried in the ditch.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit dull I slipped a disc so wasn't able to walk properly for a week or so without a stick. Its interesting in France when you have a bad back you go to the doctor and get the usual medications but he also gives a prescription for 10 sessions with a kiniotherapist which is then subsidised by the health insurance. I go to the local in Plestin he doesn't do much but his treatment doesn't hurt and its quick ( although I think I'm a much better therapist I can't treat myself ).

This week we are very fortunate to have staying a renowned sax player John............... ( not Coltrane ) staying with us , actually he's an ex pro player and now works as a psychoanalyst ( so is eminently suited to staying at the Coat ) So I ruined his wife's holiday by lending him my tenor and he wrote a few simple numbers for me and Emma to play with him. Its useful to have a collection of saxes , so we can play as a trio , Emma on Alto , John on tenor and me on bari, its a bit tough for Emma as she has to play my leaky alto and play a tune whereas I get a bass line much easier to do so tonight we do our first performance at the BBQ.

Today was quite interesting for me because last week we visited the local " Tregor Contacts " which is a sort of job offer place in Plestin for small items of work but no first we needed to sign on at the ASSEDIC and then the ANPE which is based in Lannion. So off we went ,first filling out a form and then waitting for an interview , mine was for today the first interview took 5 minutes then an hour wait for the second with the ANPE or so I thought , a leisurely coffee in town with a few chats with some people I knew then back to the bureau.  My rendez vous marked in the letter for 10.00 was in fact for 9.30 amazing incompetence on their part, so more waiting then another 5 minute interview.

You know summer has arrived when Xav opens his ice cream shop insists we buy his stock then he puts up his adverts of the various ice creams and waits for the clients , a venture capitalist at a young age.My own efforts to diversify are in progress I am setting up an e-shop with various exotic goods available + the much sort after new version of the Coat Aillis T -shirt which can be found at Simon's Shop. More products to added later.
We also went along to the local ASSEDIC office in Lannion ,its the unemployment centre as we thought we should do a bit of part time work officially this winter as we haven't any major projects and would help with the cash flow as the pound has droped nearly 20% against the euro and unfortunately we are priced in sterling.They have a local office in Plestin called Tregor Contacts where you can find local work but first you have to be registered with the ASSEDIC. They said no just go to the ANPE the next link , but no first fill in some documentation at the ASSEDIC then wait for a rendez vous with the ANPE to be assessed for our various skills or certificates ( don't have many )after which they suggest courses etc but as we are only interested in some part time work cleaning or cutting grass to fill in the time between the morning coffee in the bar and picking children up i think their efforts will be wasted!
We have a very eclectic group of people this week the normal range of lawyers,teachers,IT etc but this week we have a writer ( 2 books published ) and an .............ex page 3 woman perhaps I should ask her to do some posing photos by the pool showing our collective assets.