NICE DAY TO TAKE THE SCOOTER OUT

Thought i would give the scooter it's first proper run out today.

Now fully insured and roadworthy.

First stop Quatre Vaux Beach

Pen Guen Golf Course

The road to Port St Jean

St Jean

TOP CHEF

As usual courgettes are coming in thick and fast, so today Al made some piccalilli, something we do every year.

This batch seems particularly good.

Note the two fresh beetroot in the foreground.

It's red hot today so it's going to be a BBQ in the garden with some fresh home grown salad.

SAD DAY

Sadly we are attending a funeral in the village this afternoon.

Ange who was in his early 70's passed away on Wednesday, and the funeral is at 3 this afternoon.

He always came and spoke to us in the bar, and loved our two dogs, which he often joked he would like to take them hunting.

RIP Ange.

ST GERMAIN EQUESTRIAN SHOW

All the hard work of the last few weeks came to fruition last weekend with the St Germain de la Mer Equestrian Show being held at the stables where we work.

About 80 horses and riders turned up for the 2 day event with the sole purpose of destroying our obstacles as quickly as possible.

The above fence was made and painted in just 2 days and was sponsored by us.

Plenty of compliments that the course looked good, so we are justifiably proud.

OOur sponsored fence remained pretty much intact.

The stained natural wood ones were completed a couple of weeks ago.

Yawn! Another horse!

Ben's first real attempt at French resulted in chocolate cake and chips.

The painting team with terrifying buxom bar wench!

All in all a very long and good day out!

THE HARLEY DAVIDSON ARRIVES.

Well, not quite a Harley, but this zips around the country lanes at 50km/h and is very comfortable to ride in this part of France.

APPRENTICE WORKING HARD

A big first week for Ben. We had to get numerous jumps ready for a show in St germain this weekend, and after 3 long days, the 4 of us, with Olivier and Andy, cracked it late Friday afternoon.

Ben has been doing sanding down, painting, and a bit of woodwork designing a fence sponsored by ourselves.

The early morning start at the swimming pool is still happening.

Nothing like putting on a rubber glove at 8am and fishing dead mice out of the filters.

It's not all hard work tho'. We do give him 10 minutes a week off to play with the dogs!

THE APPRENTICE

Not the Alan Sugar version, but our own version.

Ben Lancaster is staying for 3 weeks to help with the painting at the equestrian centre.

Ben is the son of two ex shipmates, Richard "Burt" Lancaster and Jane Shearer who I both served with on HMS Invincible.

Burt came out for a couple of days before heading back, and we now have Ben on slaves wages, climbing up chimneys, and generally learning the trade of a London street kid in the 1840's!

BLIMEY! I FORGOT TO POST THIS.

I was sorting out the photos and completely forgot about this.

July 4th was Chrissy's birthday, so 11 of us went to St Malo for the all you can eat Chinese Buffet.

A real excellent lunchtime, and good value for about 13 of your English pounds with wine.

So if you are ever in the area and fancy a decent Chinese, search this place out!

Avenue du Commerce, Zac de la Chesnais
Saint-Jouan-des-Guérets

St Malo

ANY SPOTTERS OUT THERE.

This swallowtail butterfly was spotted in the garden.

Apparently they are extremely rare back home in the UK, but a bit more common over here!

LEARN FRENCH WITH AL & MARIE.

FRENCH: J'ai su que vous étiez français de la première fois que je vous ai vu. Le gorille sous vos aisselles vous a donné loin.

ENGLISH: I knew you were French from the first time I saw you.

The gorilla under your armpits gave you away.

STILL PLENTY OF WORK

Still plenty of work going on at the equestrian centre.

The lorry is nearly loaded with freshly painted obstacles for the next show at the end of the month.

And still plenty of gates and posts to repair.

The weather has not been too great lately and it's much better painting in the open air instead of in the wagon, or the garage.

TOUR DE FRANCE

The tour came to Frehel, just 8 miles away.

And Cavendish won. A great British victory!

Before the cyclist come through, there is a big parade on the route.

Chucking out the freebies.

We profited a free Ajax cleaning sample!

GREAT!

Drugs cheats are soon sussed out.

This Spanish rider was caught using steroids!

Perhaps we were using steroids. I'm sure Micky Mouse was winning the Tour at one stage!

Christ! Scooby Doo was 2nd!

Anticipation!

A few cyclists pass by!

10 seconds and it was all over!

Confiscated bikes from the "drug drivers"

Actually..The back up teams.

Gendarme out in force near Frehel!

THE NEW VILLAGE FOOTBALL TEAM

After much village politics and after the teams sponsor pulled out because the players would not do the Bastille Day Dinner, St Potan FC have now been bought out by me.

The new name for the village team is AlgardFC, and here is next seasons shirt.

N.B.The editor accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of this posting.

Maybe just maybe this is the football shirt of Norwegian 2nd division side

Algard FK

TOUR DE FRANCE

The Tour started today and hits nearby Cap Frehel on Wednesday.

Thursday sees the start at Dinan, just 20 minutes away.

Keep you eyes open on ITV4 in the afternoons as you might just see us in our disguises.

A preview of Al's is below.