So you may think that waking up to the news that Marine Le Pen has made it to the final two in the french presidential race would put a dampner on my day but not at all.  It was completely expected and I fully expect (and hope) her to lose in two weeks time by a fairly large majority.   So this is not what was worrying me this morning….. Driving to St Brieuc to collect the results of my long awaited french exam (allowing me to continue my mission to have french nationality) was my main concern.  I was so convinced I would be greeted with failure and that I was being asked to pick my results up in person as they were going to try and flog me more french lessons that I brushed the minor issue of Le Pen making the final two aside. There were more important things on my agenda.  Having rehearsed what I was going to say when I was told I had failed all the way to St Brieuc ….  I couldn’t concentrate, had a bad day, am better in the afternoons, other things on my mind…. I was overjoyed to find out that I had achieved the required level of french and then some!  I nearly kissed the women that told me (the test was not easy I can assure you) and practically skipped back to the car.  So now I can continue completing my quest to become french and have dual nationality to try and limit any complications caused by Brexit so that we can continue to live our lives in France and benefit from all the ups (and some downs) that comes with that.

This is not the only good thing to happen in the last few weeks…..  We have finished the “big push” to open up the gites.  They are all painted and decorated, floors sanded and revarnished, new furniture bought in places, new cushion covers made, new linen ordered, new kitchen appliances installed, swimming pools opened, cleaned and warm, the sun is shining, the guests have been lovely and Easter has been great.  We are still finding eggs from the annual Easter Hunt and we have had the most multi national start to the season ever…. Irish, Mexican, Dutch, American, Portuguese, French and the good old Brits.  So nothing is going to get me down and globalisation is living on at Emerald Coast Gites.

Big thanks to Caroline for all your help in the gites, my mum for being a sewing bee and the gardeners for doing a great job.  The place is looking ship shape and we are reporting for duty… Bring on the summer!

PS – we still have availability in May, June and July, not a lot, but its worth taking a look if you are still looking for your summer holiday.