A Paradocs Abroad

We just spent a very cool afternoon visiting the museum at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. It was one of the "afternoon-off" activities that are part of the Workshop on Targetry and Target Chemistry that Doug is attending here.

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We spent our recovery day after the Mildenhall 300 km brevet lazing around the Mildenhall Rally, watching the grass track racing, and chatting with new and old friends.

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We spent last week doing a 4-day tour inland, and farther south in Brittany. The idea was to ride some 150+ km days in preparation for next weekend's Middenhall 300 km brevet in the UK, and at the same time, see more of Brittany. We rode pretty hard, and had some rainy days, so there aren't too many photos, but they start here in our Flickr stream.

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There was a comotion out in the square earlier this evening - sirens, and revving engines. We went to investigate, and discovered that a bike race was going past on rue St. Yves.

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Today we went for a little ride (50 km) and went down to the south-west point Pointe de St-Mathieu where there is the ruins of a monastery and a modern lighthouse.

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We have rented a house for the Fall (September to early January). It is such a relief to have it sorted out.

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This morning when I went out to the market I was pleasantly surprised to be understanding many of the conversations of the people I passed. Someone asked me the time, and I did hesitate in knowing what they'd asked, nor in replying "dix heures et demi". I worked a little bit of small talk into my purchasing at the cheese stall, and the roast chicken seller. I even had the courage to go up to a couple I have seen several times and ask them about their pair of Newfoundland dogs.

This is very cool because I have been coming to the realization that I speak, write, and read French much better than I hear it; but hearing and understanding is probably the most important thing I need for the daily interactions I have with people. Susan has gotten much better at hearing than me because she interacts with French people for several hours every day, and chats with them at morning coffee, and lunch.

So, I guess my French may actually be improving. It just takes time to wear the new patterns into my brain, I guess.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. It's been a busy couple of weeks, with lots of work, and lots of cycling. I just posted a story about last Sunday's ride, and I uploaded some new photos to Flickr this morning. We're making really good progress on the Strait of Georgia model, we found a furnished house in Saint-Renan to rent from September to January, and Doug's parents are coming to visit in October, after they tour Normandy.

Wim's post on the bc-randonneurs list drawing attention to the fact that ACP has posted the preliminary route for PBP 2007 was the inspiration for this ride.

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