Welcome to our Brittany Blog
Monday, 25th February 2019
French Speed cameras certainly earn their keep.
It is predicted that French speed cameras will produce 12% more income in 2019 than they did in 2018 producing just over €1 billion, but when you add the fees on unpaid fines this could go up to €1.23 billion.
This is 50% more than was collected by speed cameras in 2016.
It is not all bad news, the extra funds are expected to go towards modernising healthcare establishments.
Unless we all stop speeding it looks like the revenue from speed cameras will only increase. By the end of 2019, there will be 4,700 speed cameras in France. The government is planning to replace some of the fixed cameras with some stand-alone cameras as well as introducing some speed monitoring cars. There are also some moveable cameras as they appear and then disappear on our roads quite frequently.
Over 100 new routes will also be fitted with deliberately-vague signage that does not make it 100% clear where the camera is, to dissuade drivers from speeding.
Sometimes I am not entirely sure of the objectives in these situations, is it to reduce the speed of traffic thus avoiding accidents or is it just a way to raise money.... Maybe I am too cynical.
Tuesday, 19th February 2019
France to protect bears
In 2012 the European Union condemned France for neglecting its obligations to protect the bear species.
So, in a move to adress this the minister for ecological transition, Nicolas Hulot agreed for two pregnant female bears originally from Slovenia to be introduced into the Pyrenees.
This move as not been welcomed by the farmers as according to the farmers, the presence of bears is not compatible with farming. Bears - whose diet is usually 70% vegetables and plants - may attack goats, and even cause dozens of animals to fall down the mountain as they try to escape if a bear is chasing them.
Around 100 shepherds, farmers, hunters, and local government members from the Ossau valley, the Hautes-Pyrénées, and the surrounding areas, met up in the mountains in an attempt to move away two female brown bears that had just been released. Officially, they are just people who are setting off on a mountain walk.”
The idea is to scare the bears and the wolves and maintain movement. The idea is to make the bears go towards Spain.
Looks like France is continuing to neglect its obligations to bears!
Tuesday, 12th February 2019
Fair food prices
Having given this new law some thought, I think that it is a fair law.
The cost of hundreds of popular food and drink products increased last Friday, (February 1), as a new law came into force.
The Loi Alimentation - which also brings to an end so-called super-promotions, such as buy-one-get-one-free deals - aims to ensure farmers and other food producers are fairly paid.
From 1st February, supermarkets are required to make at least 10% on a wide range of processed foods, including hazelnut spreads (Nutella), formula milk, fizzy drinks, self-service fresh food such as ready-made pizzas, even mineral water will be affected.
The government is asking supermarkets to find a way to distribute margins differently, to distribute things better, the objective is to sell agricultural products at their fair value.
Now you can 't really argue with that.
On a personal level, no one want to see their weekly shopping bill increase but food is the cheapest that it has ever been and I sometimes do wonder how farmers can produce food so cheaply.
Tuesday, 5th February 2019
Brittany celebrates le Chandeleur with crêpes!
For the last couple of weeks all of the supermarkets have been promoting crêpe ingredients. I thought it was a bit odd as pancake day (Mardi Gras) isn't for another four weeks
Well, pancake day, has nothing to do with it, it is all to do with Chandeleur.
Saturday, February 2, was La Chandeleur - known in English as Candlemas - which celebrates the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple - and it has become traditional in France to mark this day by eating crêpes. I am struggling to see the link here, but I will run with it.
What I didn't realise was that crêpes have been in existence since 7,000BC - but they were originally thicker and look more like a ‘galette’ made of water and cereals.
However, this popular staple began to evolve after the crusades in Asia - when the French brought back the famous buckwheat known as ‘sarrasin’.
Although they could not make it grow everywhere in France as it requires a humid weather, they discovered that Brittany was the perfect region to produce it. Thus the crêpe bretonne was born.
Sweet or savoury, crêpes have since spread all around France, especially since the arrival of wheat flour - which are more commonly used to make sweet crêpes.
In Brittany, crêpes are part of the heritage, every town has a crêperie, and it really is impossible to visit Brittany without eating a crêpe or two!
If you want to try and make a traditional crêpe bretonne, here is the recipe:
500g of buckwheat flour
1 tbsp of wheat flour
A pinch of salt
50cl of milk
1litre of water
First, put all the ingredients together in the list order and mix them - being careful to ensure your mix is lump-free.
Leave the batter in the fridge for at least an hour.
Then, pour a bit of the batter on an oiled pan to give the crêpe its shape. Flip it when it is ready. Do not cook it too much, otherwise it may break.
Once cooked, you can add an egg, ham, and grated cheese on it or anything else you fancy.
If you prefer it sweet, you can eat it with sugar or chocolate and some fruits on top (bananas, raspberries…).
Thursday, 31st January 2019
Filling your car up is about to get a whole lot more complicated.
I always find getting petrol or diesel in another country stressful. It always seems to be me that arrives at a petrol station and there is no one in the little box and all the pumps are self service. This is when it all starts to go wrong. The little monitor is flashing up instructions, then the monitor is talking to me, telling me what to do, very loudly. I am wildly pressing buttons hoping that I have selected diesel. Then, the most stressful part. I insert my card to pay for the diesel and my card is rejected. Why oh why, do foreign pumps reject British credit cards. If I had paid the lady in the box it would have worked but the pumps NEVER like British cards.
Well the confusion is about to get a whole lot worse. Instead of “Unleaded” and “Diesel”, pumps will be labelled with standardised letters and numbers, corresponding to the type of fuel, and the amount of biofuel it contains. I don't even know what biofuel is.
For example, “Unleaded 95” and “Unleaded 98” will both be replaced by the letter “E” surrounded by a circular border, followed by a “5” for 5% biofuel, and “10” for 10%. New and current labels will initially be displayed alongside each other at petrol pumps.
Diesel will be identified by the letter “B” in a square border, with a choice of B7 or B10, depending on the fuel you require (7% biodiesel to 10% biodiesel).
The aim is to make the proportion of biofuel, which I now understand to be fuel from renewable sources, more obvious.
But for me, this will just make to simple task of filling up my petrol tank just a whole load more stressful.
Thursday, 10th January 2019
A New Year Quiz!
Before you read any more, quickly write down what you think are the 10 most-loved French words used in English.
Apparently according to Le Figaro newspaper, these are the 10 most-loved French words used in English :-
1. Je ne sais quoi.
Apparently there isn’t an English word that quite grasps the quality of something that can’t be easily described or which has an indefinable flair.
2. Déjà-vu
This literally means ‘already seen’. However, when used in English it is usually used to explain a phenomenon of feeling like you have lived through an experience already.
3. Rendez-vous
In English this phrase tends to have romantic connotations but rather boringly in French it literally does just mean a meeting or an appointment with no hidden meaning.
4. Fiancé(e)
Used to describe someone that you intend to marry. It comes from the verb ’fier’ (to trust)
5. Brunette
Used to describe a woman with brown hair. There aren’t many words in French that need several English words to convey the same meaning! This is one of them!
6. Bon appétit
Always used by the French before they eat. In restaurants, other diners, complete strangers will also say ‘Bon appétit’ to you when your meal arrives. According to Le Figaro this phrase dates back to the Middle Ages.
7. Baguette and Croissant.
Years ago, I think the baguette was called a ‘French Stick’, but a croissant has always been a croissant.
8. Chic
This word describes a certain fashionable elegance
9. Boutique
In France, this just means a normal shop. In England, it is used to describe a high end fashion shop and more recently the word ‘boutique’ is used to describe something small, well designed, highly desirable and luxurious, such as a ‘boutique hotel’
10. Avant-garde
This French phrase is used to describe new and experimental methods in art, music and literature.
I would not have got all of these!.. my list would have included restaurant, café, apéritif and entrepreneur!..
Thursday, 3rd January 2019
Cassoulet Beer
This beer is not for everyone!.. Two friends in Toulouse (Occitanie) have combined the region’s local dish with their favourite drink, and created a cassoulet beer.
Cassoulet is a dish typically made with meat such as duck or pork sausages, and white haricot beans and is a common, traditional dish of the Occitanie region.
The meat juices, made from duck and pork, are cooked very slowly with a bouquet garni of herbs for over a week. The idea is to keep the flavour of the original dish, without keeping the fat, and making it a smooth, drinkable beer.
Flavour-wise, the beer highlights the soft texture of the white beans, which contain starch, just like normal barley malt in beer and this is combined with the rich taste of the meat.
This doesn’t really appeal, I may be old fashioned but I would rather eat the cassoulet and drink a real beer!
