RETURN TO AUSTRALIA 2016

 

GUEMENE - SUR - SCORFF

 

 

 

Monster Agricultural vehicle passing front door.

 

They have demolished the house which had been attached to the ancient gate of the Chateau. Amazing that it ever got approved in the first place.

 

A last look at the ruin next door and lease car parked outside, a Renault Clio. Vandals stripped chrome trim from around side windows and boot.

 ABU DHABI AIRPORT

 

 

This is just a small section of a shop in the airport lounge whose entire produce was smokes. Read the labels! It's not that they don't warn you these days!

 

RIVERSIDE OAKS

 

Back home the tulips I planted just before we left have made quite a display though some have dropped their petals.

 

The tree which is leaning towards the house with leaves within reach of our balcony is still there. 

 

 

However the bank towards the other side of the house has been denuded of trees! Apparently the weather had a lot to do with the halt in progress so not long afterwards the tree people return. We were surprised to find the culling of the trees by course management had become so extensive and a number of established trees had been marked for felling.

 

The guy in charge of the operation we discovered is from Gibsons, north of Vancouver, Canada where uncle John, dads brother and cousin Chris and family resided. His name is Matt Chamberlin, which is a well known family in Gibsons and he is connected with the Soames family, also well known.

 

Good, we thought, a real lumberjack in charge! However he told us his days of going up trees is over. The bloke who did that was a local.

 

Good entertainment!

 

They took down five trees of this stature outside the neighbours house although the neighbour had only requested three. They could have damaged the house had they fallen so I suppose they were thinking insurance. 

 

 

Life back to normal!





INTERCELTIQUE FESTIVAL

 

 

Each year in early August, the city of Lorient on the coast to the South of us, holds a Festival to celebrate Celtic culture. This year the Celts of Australia were the "Guests of Honour".

 



 

It is a well attended event. I wouldn't be surprised if there were half a million visitors in Lorient.

 

We purchased seats in the stadium where the parade, which goes through the streets of Lorient, comes to for "The Finale".

 

 

At the head of the procession is the Brittany flag followed by the Australian and New Zealand flags.



 

These are the flags of the other participating regions. From left to right CORNWALL, ISLE OF MAN, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, WALES, ?, USA, ?, ?, CANADA, ? I will have to check on the others but one is the Basque flag and one is Nova Scotia, Canada, I think.

 

Breton "Line Dancing"

 

Indian elephant. Not sure of the significance of this!

 

Breton music played on instruments of limited range is interesting to begin with but then gets a bit monotonous. Great to doze with in the sunshine though! The other side of the stadium might have been a better location for photos, of which there are not too many as the camera battery died.

 

We enjoyed a walk around the harbour which was crowded and had many exhibits but the highlight of the day was trying to find where we had parked the car!!

 

We have been to Lorient a few times. It's not a complicated place so we just went with the flow and were not particularly careful remembering the route. It took us 15 minutes to get to the stadium and more than two hours to find the car afterwards. It was Sunday so not easy to find anything open. After much walking I found a café which fortunately had tourist give away maps of the city. Cathy and I were barely talking by this stage so she sat on a bench while I made my way to the car!!