Deux-Sèvres Life

Eurotunnel buys Sea France Ferries

Eurotunnel has bought 3 cross channel ferries from Sea France, which was made bankrupt in November. Read the full article here.

Literary Festival, St Clementin, 31 August, 1 & 2nd September 2012

There's been an active Writing Goup in Deux-Sevres for about 5 years, whose members include several published authors, winners of writing and poetry competitions. Exciting news from the group is that they are organising a Literary Festival in picturesque St Clementin, north of Bressuire, on 31 August, 1 & 2 September. Several well know authors, including Helen Dunmore, will be holding workshops, and any published authors, including French, will be promoting their publications.

Jocelyn Simms, one of the organisers, says 'we don't know of a similar event in France, certainly not in this region of France, although there are some well-known literary festivals in the UK.'

All the information is available on the festival website.

http://segorastclementincelebratetheword.blogspot.com/

'Sherlock Holmes' at Parthenay cinema - lst & 2nd February 2012

Le Cinema Foyer in Parthenay has got the new Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes in English this week:
Wednesday 1st Feb at 2.30 p.m. and
Thursday 2nd at 6 p.m.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515091/

Deux-Sevres Life - reaching out to the world

Deux-Serves Life is not just about Deux-Sevres,but also includes national and world news which could affect how we live here. There are lots of small businesses run by English-speaking owners, and I'm happy to feature any new offers or services from them. For example a last minute deal for a gite booking, new products in your shop or money off end-of-line items. And don't forget the advertising offer, you control your advert, whether it's for a month or tri-monthly, 6 monthly or longer. We've got a large subscriber list for the newsletter, so take advantage of Deux-Sevres Life and reach out to them all!

Parthenay Cinema - Puss In Boots and Mission Impossible 4 - last week January 2012

The latest news from Le Cinema Foyer in Parthenay. Chris says she is still working to get copies of Anonymous and War Horse - we have received the new Nicholas Cage film le Pacte / Seeking Justice which we will try to get screened early in February.

So this coming week we have

Puss in Boots at 3 p.m. on Wednesday 25th January and

Mission Impossible 4 at 6 p.m. on Friday 27th January.

Puss in Boots is the Shrek spin off for children of all ages: I saw it yesterday and there was much guffawing from the "grown up" audience.

Standard & Poors - France loses Triple A rating

Official Statement by Standard & Poors on the loss of the Triple A rating for France.

British expatriate? Don't lose your right to vote!

We British are lucky that we have the right to vote and democratically elect our councillors and members of parliament. I am also always aware that the suffragettes fought for my right to vote, so I try not to waste it. But your right to vote could be at risk.

It happens that every British citizen is affected by British laws, simply by being British. Every international treaty is signed on our behalf. If Britain pulled out of the EU then it would impinge on every British citizen. Such an action could spell problems for the 54,000 retired Brits living in France and the 450,000 in Europe.

Read the full article by Craig McGinty.

Sea France bankruptcy - official statement - who to contact

THE Commercial Court in Paris ordered the full liquidation of SeaFrance on the 9 January 2012. As a result, the company is no longer able to trade.

'SeaFrance has always respected its obligations to its customers and regrets not being able to fulfil any outstanding customer bookings. The company has set up an automatic refund process for all current bookings and customers will be contacted about this process by email within 24 hours. Customers’ bank accounts will be credited with a full refund as soon as possible.

The staff of SeaFrance are grateful to all their customers for the loyalty and confidence they have shown and hope that they will be able to make alternative travel arrangements.' Any customers wishing to contact SeaFrance directly should call 0845 458 0666.

Tempo at Mauleon, Friday, 20th January 2012

One of the reasons I don't post a lot of What's Ons here is because, after several years of writing for newspapers in France, I have got very frustrated at the French attitude that they don't need to advertise events more than a week ahead - apart from the big annual concerts etc. The above is an example; this arrived in my Inbox half an hour ago!

Cooking on a poele a bois - woodburning fire

We have a lot of trees - on 15 hectares of land there are a lot of trees! And generally during the winter storms a couple of them will take a tumble.

So MOH (my other half) trundles out on the ride-on mower with trailer attached, in which lies his chain saw, helmet, protective gloves and goggles, to warm himself up cutting the trees to manageable lengths for storing for a couple of years, before using on our woodburner to heat the house.

When we bought this house, the only source of heating was electric convector heaters. As there was a chimney, MOH explored the wall below in the sejour, cut away the plasterboard lining and rockwool insulation and exposed an attractive stone fireplace, ready made to accept a poele a bois!