The Bright Family in 2006
| Version Française (Franglaise) ici: Scottie:"it's French Jim, but not as we know it" |  | ||||
| 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 1997/Remy |
| Remy | Clara | |
| Chantal - Taxi Animalier | Chantal - Horses | |
| Mike - Dance | Mike - Concerts | Mike - 2007 - 2008 !! |
Clara
Clara's year started with her broken arm (Dec '05) and then her having her tonsils out.Thankfully her life has been much less traumatic since.
| Clara with tonsils and broken arm (New Years Eve 2005) |  | Clara without tonsils much better |  |
In September she moved up into CP (Cours Preparatoires) and despite her worries about being ready for CP was moved after a few weeks into the following year CE1 (Cours Elementaires 1). She's been doing fine, in fact all those tres bien are costing us money ...
Remy
Remy's also been doing well at school, and his tres bien are costing us money too ... I'm getting a little worried that he's doing well in history, or at least I will when they start talking about Joan of Arc, Agincourt, ...He's still had problems with his sprained ankle but with the exercises he's been doing this is becoming manageable. Despite 3 sprains this year he's been able to take up judo classes again in September. He's also taking fencing lessons.
This summer at 8 years old Remy caught up with Marainne, Remy now measures 1metre 45. So far I can still carry him up stairs but prefer him on my back ...
| We celebrated Remy's 9th birthday (25th October) 10 days early this year to avoid the cold weather. Then on Remy's birthday we celebrated Clara's birthday (17th July) for the second time as she hadn't had a party with her friends in July. |  |  |  |
| In February we took the kids to see Giselle at the Summum |  |
The Cats
| Mike had been resisting the pressure that we get cats for the children for some time, but finally changed his mind as we seem to have a mouse - or several - in the garage, and sometimes in the house. Are those strange noises I hear in the night mice or bats in the belfry? The cats, Mina and Minette are still in training for the moment, though Mina was seen chasing something small and very quick out of my office one day ... |  |
Holidays
The family holidays were in the South West of France again, close to the in-laws allowing the kids to see Jo, their grandmother and her sister Marainne (Marie), Aunt Francoise, Uncle Jean-Yves and cousin Mien.  |  |  |
| Remy and Clara meet up with cousin Mien. Mien's cheekily imitating donkeys ears on Remy | Java and Sam wait patiently for their tent to be put up! |
UK holiday
At the end of August we took the kids to Bury to see my mum and Keith, Julie, John and Andrew. This was their first trip to the UK which they really enjoyed, despite unusually bad weather, even for Manchester, for August !Christmas
| Remy and Clara get horses for Christmas .. what else ... |  |  | |
| HP did us proud with another Christmas Party, Arbre de Noel , this year |  |  |  |
Chantal
Equitaxi
A tough year for Chantal's work with many quiet periods with no work and sudden spurts. There were some occasional long journeys to all corners of France, even to Italy (Turin) one time with one student, her dogs and horse!To make ends meet Chantal tried a new job of distributing parcels in December, but this has been very tough work, especially in some villages where houses are unmarked, unnumbered, neighbours don't know each other.
We're desparately waiting for her 15 days notice to expire as we're inundated with packages.
Mike helped a bit during the Christmas holidays and enjoyed it as an activity - because for me I was just driving around in the mountains in the sunshine meeting people ... fine for a few days ...
Horse riding
Chantal has made good progress with her jumping competitions this year, doing a new discipline "Hunter style" and "Hunter equitation" - a sort of cross between horse jumping and dressage. Even Mike has appreciated the "Hunter" finding it much nicer to watch than "CSO" horse jumping or dressage.| Douvaine(close to Geneva): Hunter competition |  |  |  |  |
 | Dijon: Sam watches patiently as Chantal completes her tour |
By June Chantal had enough points to compete in the Championnat de France at Fontainebleau and will surely return with a vengeance in June 2007.
Mike
Dance
For several years I've missed the dance classes which I did in Bristol and in Grenoble when I arrived here ... this September I finally plunged again. I decided to follow rock and ballroom dancing and in a local school I found a partner for each class.Ballroom dancing
Cecile is my partner for ballroom dancing, whose daughter goes to the same school as Remy and Clara. Cecile's been great but I'm finding it tough going as a course. Every class I'm totally lost and generally just about get it when we move onto a 2nd or 3rd dance! We've done Waltz, Tango, Paso Doble, Cha Cha, Rumba and I still can't do any of them!Rock
| The teacher's method is quite rigorous which means that after 8 classes we're still only just able to start really dancing ... Here's Serge, the teacher. |  |  |
[TA] Argentine Tango
Just after signing up for these dance classes a friend recommended to me a weekend course of Argentine Tango in Grenoble given by Carlos Rivarola visiting from Argentina. I was hooked straight away.That weekend a couple recommended to me a weekend course at Chedde, near to Chamonix, 2 weeks later given by Flabio Aguilera . Flabio is a great teacher with a real passion for the danse and desire to transmit his passion and knowledge. I was even more hooked ...
During the first course I met Noelle, who was my partner for that weekend. Noelle a native of Chedde, also took me around the area, into the mountains, to Lac Vert which I really appreciated and onto Chamonix.
| Noelle has a very busy life, doing voluntary work, learning to do stained glass windows, learning to dance TA, looking after her family ... This is Noelle showing us her first stained glass. You can make out the form of a mountain towards the top, which is the Mont Joly one of the mountains which she sees across the valley when looking out of the living room. |  | ||||
| Last visit to Chedde was for their regular wednesday evening soiree. Here's a photo of Flabio dancing with Francoise, one of the locals at Chedde. Flabio particularly likes this room as it's character evokes the spirit of Tango he knows from his native Uraguay. |  | |||||
| Argentine cowgirls? No, Michele and Noelle at Noelle's chalet in the mountains above Chedde |  |  |
Work
The HP France layoffs were completed this summer. In the end there were more volunteers than necessary.I've appreciated having a full year now without travelling - except a few days in Barcelona in February. I adore travelling of course but it's nice to be available for the family and also for myself for concerts, dance classes ...
2007
And what's planned for 2007?Who knows ...
Certain are the TA weekends planned for Paris, Chedde, and Frejus.
Then there are a few concerts planned already such as Souad Massi and those old crooners reformed ... Genesis.
I'd really like to learn some Spanish ... but so far it's not too hopeful.
When Remy asked me last week "Come se llama" What's your name I replied "Muy bien" very well ) .... ;-)
I've got some work to do!
