The red spot special

We went to the local Myers here (Galleries Lafayette) to get the boys some things at the sales. There were Converse All Stars sneakers. 44 euro normally, these had a Red Dot. Each colour dot represents a different discount. There weren't many sizes left, but one pair fit Ollie, with Batman on them, oh yeah. I couldn't see the price, but who cares eh? After we got out of the store, we saw we'd been charged 60 euro. So I went back to check it out. The check out girl said yep that's right. So I showed her the stand, and the red dot. Oh yes, that means no discount. But I pointed to the colour codes. Look the biggest discount is red! Oh no, that would be pink, not red. Yep the red spot special is very special: it means that there is no discount. In most other stores here though, a red dot means 50%.

This misunderstanding ranks up there with the others. Like when I opened up the door to the shower room at work. All the lockers had gone, with all my clothes. Or the time I thought we had 10 grand in the bank and bought a car, only to discover a couple of days later that we were about 3 grand behind. I had a long conversation with a guy yesterday, who said he was off for a ride on his bike, which he had in his car. Then he hopped in and drove off. Not sure what he really said. Then I almost smacked into a fence on the way home, as it was cyclone mesh, dark, and was right across the path. Last Thursday I almost lost a tooth on the ceramic crown stuck in the king cake thing. You find out about it all, just after you actually need to know.

At least I won't be losing sleep over this one.

<-- finding out ahead of time! They will be spraying the garbage bins at this time.


Cheese notes:
Roquefort: the search for awesome blue cheese is over. On bread, it's like the tastiest chicken you've ever had.



<-- from the building next door Romain, and his mum Silvie at "the beach".

leftover shot from Christmas, the rink at Carpentras -->

Ollie's first report card

At the end of the school holidays, all the kids were moaning about going back to school. Not Ollie! We must have bored him a bit too much with all the ruins; he raced back in there.
We got his very first report card. It was colour coded like traffic lights. He got greens for colouring in, doing puzzles, craft, hanging his coat up, washing hands, counting up numbers. He got reds for language skills, knowing the days of the week, and knowing what number to write down when they call it out. We're working on it at home.
Last Sunday, we went for a ride with the kid in the building next door. Ollie has made great progress. Learning from his buddy, he can now take off and stop by himself. No more aching backs! I've got a video from a week or so back below (on right). Louis is enjoying his balance bike, trundling along at his own speed and still breaking my back a lot.

Arles

Arles is pretty! Apart from the new buildings, holy hell, how did construction get so ugly!

<-- More ruins

Nativity scene in church. Every town has one. -->

<-- when you think of a house in Provence, it's this kind of stone, and shutters in blue.

<-- the boys get some time

exploring -->

Gordes and Glanum

<-- Glanum was a quick stop to wake Ollie up. We didn't want him to sleep for too long. Sadly it was late in the afternoon, so we only saw a bit of it. It seems like it was a decent sized town, with a heap of ruins to see.

quick stop at Glanum -->

Gordes was voted one of the prettiest villages in France. As a result, they get heaps of visitors, and the local hospital is made from the same stone. Being a modern building with modern windows, doors etc, it looks weird. From the direction we came in, leading into town all the buildings looked weird, and obviously new, with proper footpaths etc, until you reach the middle. Leaving town though, we saw this.

<-- Gordes

the view from Gordes is over nice farm land -->

Nimes

<-- Here's the other end of the aqueduct, Nimes. It's amazing it's still here. On the far side of the shot, the water arrived after 30kms from Uzes. On the near side of the circular tank, are the outlets to feed different parts of the town.

The local theater, seated 24,000 apparently about 2000 years ago. Must have made some noise! -->

<-- wrestling with a wooden croc

Near Orange

I wish we'd kept some kind of diary. All these days blur together! Spent a lot of time walking around.

<-- The main attraction in Tarascon is easy to find! The good king Rene lived here. Not bad digs. Also used as a prison later. Nice views from the top.

Louis checks out the camera up close. -->

<-- Ollie enjoyed singing I'm the king of the castle, and you're the dirty rascal! The fireplace was pretty clean.

The aqueduct feeding into Nimes, still an important city today. There's another set of arches under the foot bridge. The Romans were damn amazing. -->

<-- Roquemaure (rock more!) was great to visit, as it seemed we had the whole town to ourselves. When we walked into the bar/cafe, everyone stopped playing cards and drinking to watch us walk in. I didn't know they still had those pit type toilets, but the cafe did. How to use these is a mystery!

In Orange

On boxing day, we went to the historical town (they all are) of Orange. It's about 3 hours away in Vaucluse. There's a theatre and a Triumphal Arch from Roman times.

<-- the boys were happy with the place

day 1, we give them some kid fun to make up for all the churches and ruins they will be forced to see -->

<-- the Roman theatre in Orange, built in the 1st century AD. Seats about 10,000. I'd love to see a show there - they still put them on.

on one of the main streets -->

<-- Nice arch. Louis checks out the Romans work, celebrating wars in Gaul.

Merry Christmas

Marie bought a real pine tree, and put loads of decorations + chocolate on it. Overnight Santa put 2 bikes under it, some lego, pencils, textas, books and an Etch a sketch.

<-- the lego cars were awesome. Even losing half a fair bit didn't stop Ollie from turning the remainder into a plane, a rocket etc

After a couple of years on the balance bike, Ollie could pedal along straight away for short sections. A couple of days later, he's really smooth. -->

<-- Louis's pretty stoked to have his own machine, instead of endless hand me downs. It's a tiny bit tall yet.

Winter is here!

<-- well at least, we thought it was. It looked a bit like snow, and melted on the road. There were still plenty of people out, one lady on a bike was wearing shorts.

Some days are almost 15 deg, perfect for a ride. The seaside path is at the end of our street, and runs 10km into Nice. -->