En bourg.

A few shots whilst out & about this morning.

Shop fronts are always decorated when the Tour de France comes to town.

Oignons.

 Of all the places to find New Zealand onions. France.

 

Tour de France Femmes.

 

Shot of the Tour de France Femmes yellow jersey hanging in town. Counting down to their arrival on the 26th of July.

Le Tour de France à Plumelec.

A voté!

 I didn't actually vote at the Mairie comme d'habitude but at the salle communal. Regional & Departmental elections.

Out & about.

Tangata whenua.

My first ever blog, in fact the only other one I've ever had, was called Displaced Kiwi. This is what I am. A New Zealander who has been displaced to France. Against my will? Well,  I wouldn't say that. The things we do for love. Nonetheless I remain a Kiwi at heart. NZ is the country that I love; the most beautiful country in the world and I've visited nearly 30. But, and this is a big but, I now have dual nationality. I am a Frenchman. What's more, I am proud to be French, although I have not yet been able to support le XV de France!

However, I would move 'home' at the drop of a hat if I could, but my son lives here, despite also having New Zealand citizenship, and I would never leave him. It may be a different story once he turns 18 and becomes a majeur. I'd also find it very hard to leave my big boy's grave. It is my link to him and not being able to visit it would hit me hard. So, in France I remain and I am trying so hard to make the most of it. I've been living in France for 17 years and despite listening to NewsTalk ZB everyday, watching Kiwi films, watching the ABs and eating the odd leg of lamb, I remain French while I'm here.

The life of an expat is one that is so hard to define. Only other expats can fully understand. I'm comfortable having dual nationality and count myself lucky. I'm also glad that I ended up living in Brittany. My kind of place.

En plus, Asterix and Obelix come from here. What more could you want?

Word of the day: Cuisine.

Baker's route

My morning walk up to the boulangerie to get a baguette.

You've got to start somewhere.

Well, here I am.  I'm going to try and start writing my blog again.  This is only a short 'Kia ora' as my post for the day was the About me/Moi page of this blog.  I can't go overboard now can I?

I'm worn out already.  More to follow, live and en direct, from our little Breton village of Indomitable Gauls.

                               Image from Asterix and Obelix by Goscinny and Uderzo.

First up.

G'day all. This is my new attempt at blogging. For those of you who don't know me, I am a New Zealander now with French nationality too, living with my wife and son in a small village in Brittany, France.

Unfortunately, we suffered a tragedy in 2010 when our oldest son died suddenly from meningococcal septicaemia shortly after his eighth birthday.  Our lives have not been the same since and never will be.  The loss of our darling son has really taken the life out of us, but we are fighting, especially for his younger brother.  It is hard and we often don't know how or where we will find the inner strength to continue.

I have often tweeted about our son and how I/we are coping or not. Twitter, in it's own way, has helped me cope.  It has enabled me to express myself, often to people I don't know personally and I have had so many messages of support from both people I know and complete strangers.  Nobody has judged me.

My wife and I are soon to start an association in our son's name to help raise awareness and fundraise for Méningites France.  This is something that is very important to us and we hope to have it up and running in early 2012.

Anyway, this blog is not only going to be about the loss of our treasured son.  It's an effort on my part to re-find certain passions in my life and be able to share them on the web.  I have simply lost interest in so many of the hobbies, interests and passions since our son died that I feel constantly hollow.  Hopefully 2012 (and perhaps this blog) will help me find a new equilibrium.

Off the top of my head, I'll probably share typical family life goings on, geekiness (I was quite a geek), and things I used to love; travelling, photography, reading, gardening, cooking...who knows?

Anyway, feel free to comment and we'll see where this blog leads to.

Voila.