Where on Earth is Imogen? : Morgat, Bretagne

This is probably the longest I've gone without writing a post but whilst away in France it wasn't very easy to get internet access and since getting back home at about 2am on Wednesday morning having got the ferry from Roscoff to Plymouth arriving at 8pm and sat in the car for hours on our way back north, I just haven't got round to it!

I had a nice, relaxing time in France with my family though. Nothing too exciting - lots of getting up late, going to the beach, going to the pool and playing games in the evenings - but it was nice to spend time with my parents and youngest brother. We tended to get up late and have a brunch-type meal before heading to the beach either in the car or cycling as we brought three bikes with us. The reason we didn't bother taking four was that the cycle rack on the back of the car only holds three meaning that one bike would have to be inside, and that someone has to drive with the dog as they haven't invented a bike a dog can ride (yet! Did anyone else see the video about them teaching dogs to drive cars a while ago?). On the beach Ethan told me off for being "lazy" when I would say I was just relaxing, lying down sunbathing, reading a French magazine or revising Chinese characters. He and dad went bodyboarding in the sea most days despite how cold the water was, I did go in twice though. My parents and brother also spent a lot of time entertaining Roxy, the dog, by throwing a frisbee, kicking a ball or throwing her in the sea (not sure she enjoyed that as much) but she also found plenty of dogs to play with on the beach. Ethan set up a games tournament which took place almost every evening after dinner meaning that at times the games, including Scrabble, Hedbanz, Banagrams (another word game) and Analyze me! (a game testing how much we know each other), got very competitive between us, I finished second behind Mum in the end. I think the only night we didn't play games was when we went out to our usual pizzeria (not very French I know) but we had a nice meal

I probably could have practised my French a bit more. I only really spoke French four times - booking the vet appointment for my family's dog so that she would be allowed back into the UK, ordering food and drink at the restaurant posting postcards at the post office and being chatted up by a French guy on the beach! Dogs are required to have a vet appointment less than 5 days and more than 24 hours before returning to the UK to get a worming tablet (in Roxy's case an injection as she vomited the first tablet out and refused to have another one) and a stamp from the vet to say that the animal is in good health. Booking the appointment went smoothly, even slipped a couple of subjunctives in, but when I went along with my mum and Roxy for the actual appointment, the vet insisted on speaking English. In the restaurant I did speak more complicated French than "Un pizza margherita s'il vous plait" asking if we could have a starter as a side dish and discussing our options with the waiter when they only had one tiramisu left for dessert. Posting poscards barely counts as speaking French as that conversation went "Bonjour, je voudrais envoyer ces trois cartes postales a l'Angleterre s'il vous plait" but the woman was barely listening to me, it was quite obvious what I wanted! The beach conversation was probably the most amusing. I'd seen this guy looking across at me as I was sitting on the beach and when I went to see how cold the sea was, he slyly followed a stood next to me - "Il fait froid, non?" "Ouii" - was how the conversation began talking about the water. It went on to include him asking if I spoke French, I said I spoke a bit but was rusty as I'd spent over two months talking Spanish, and me pointing out that my Dad was not very far away. The conversation fizzled out and I went for a bit of a swim before bodyboarding and he left the beach quite quickly! Despite my lack of conversation practice, I did make sure I read some French magazines and watched French TV. There was a game show I particularly enjoyed as I knew the answers to more than hald the questions!

We didn't take that many photos this time as we go there a lot but here are a selection of ones taken in the past

A maze that Ethan enjoys, makes a change from the beach!

Camaret-sur-Mer - a small town also on the Crozon peninsula

Beautiful scenery

The marina in Morgat

Goulien beach

Town beach - Morgat

Kayaking in 2007. We went kayaking again this holiday - Ethan and Dad in a double, me in a single - but unfortunately Mum couldn't find us to take photos!