Halloween

When I was a child growing up in the UK, Halloween was a small affair, as the only day to remember before Christmas was of course the 5th November. I just loved Bonfire Night, the fireworks and the communal bonfire just around the corner from our house, but now I am digressing, as this is a post about Halloween this year and last.

Noisy groups start coming early in our little village, mostly young children accompanied by adults, but not all, and last year as we didn't open our door at all and a certain of teenagers did not approve and we got "tricked". Our newly finished rendered facade that cost a fortune to do,  received a couple of unwanted eggs, which proved difficult to clean. We were not the only ones on the street to have suffered, and it could have been worse, so this year, yesterday, we welcomed Halloween like licensed haressment but welcomed it still.
We bought many packets of sweets/candies/chocolates, even carved a small pumpkin and placed on the window ledge and prayed we would be spared the wrath of the egg or whatever throwers, and guess what, it worked! We received the visit from fifty kids, some very greedy but all polite.
MK did Halloween around the village with her best friend Valentine and others (with adult escort) and A stayed overnight at a friends.
MK told us that at one house A called at with his group (small village syndrome, MK was just behind) that they received a very frosty welcome, and scared the kids half to death.
I looked on the street from our bedroom window this morning and I could not see any sign of egg shells on the road, but forgot to look further on to the house where the mean mans lives, so I think that I will go and take a second look now...

Our Street

We live right in the centre of our village, just a stone's throw from the local primary school. It's really quiet here, apart from when the children are dropped off for school.

You can see on the above photo where Marie-Kate is riding her bike, the village hall (salle des fêtes) , the bottom half is in stone and the top half rendered wood. There's quite a lot that goes on here, from plays to mini opera's and of course the annual Christmas Fair.

The house the children are in-front of here is enormous, and only two people live here! The owner is planning on opening a mini creche in the future some where within there.

The only thing we need now is a boulangerie or a local delivery service that delivers fresh baguettes, croissants, even if it was just once a week it would be wonderful.

Off his lead

Alexis who smiles from time to time

Now when we take Kinder for a walk, we can let him off his lead, not for long though, but still it's a break through. Funny, he pulls like mad on his lead, but when unattached, he stays really close-by.

There are many dogs in our village, and for insurance purposes you have to let your insurance company know that you have one, and you also need to put up a sign showing you have a dog on the outside your home...just in-case he bites the postman or someone else.

a typical sign warning you that there's a mean dog here, this one lives on our street

Kinder is not a mean dog, in fact he's a big softie and he's rather cat like, so I need to find a more appropriate sign.

Marie-Kate and Alexis actually venture out now we have Kinder, come rain or shine. There's a nice park and wood at the foot of our village, it's great going down but

the hike back up isn't such fun. One good thing for living at the top of a village is that the river Seine is right at the bottom, so your garden/house will not flood, however living at the top has a risk of land slides, yikes, I hope never.

A window with a view

Living in the heart of a village is new to all of us. For the first time, the youngest children can walk to school which is a stones throw away while the older three catch their school buses on the same road.

Our next door neighbor raises hens and each morning his enormous rooster Chirac. He usually begins to crow around 4, and then he continues intermittently all day long (and probably all night, but I'm fast asleep).

A famous impressionist painter once lived in the house almost opposite ours, over a hundred years ago. If the house were just a little lower, we'd be able to see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, instead we see the house, which is architecturally appealing to the eye, so I'm happy with that.

This is the view you get if you look out through the children's bathroom window, it once was the village hall but now it's the village school ( I said it was quite close). This is one of my favorite views.