Xmas was in the air on wednesday 18th while gingerbread men, Xmas trees, stars and snowmen were happily being made, baked and eventually eaten with a nice cuppa!

Here is the story and recipe :

Jacqueline

C’est jeudi 12 décembre à partir de 16h30 que se tiendra, chez Chantal, le prochain atelier de conversation anglaise « Let’sTalk ».
Voir, à ce propos, sur le site du RNC : www.rouen-norwich-club.com, l’article rédigé à la suite de la précédente réunion.
Et pour s’inscrire, c’est toujours par internet sur l’adresse suivante : chantalferon@orange.fr.

Je vous rappelle également que l’atelier de pâtisserie en anglais « Bake’n Chat » se déroulera le mercredi 18 décembre à 15h à la Maison Saint Sever.Pour s’inscrire, c’est, comme d’habitude, par mail auprès de Jacqueline : ja.allanic@wanadoo.fr avant le 15 décembre.

Bien cordialement.Francine.

Hello everybody,

On Thursday the 14th of November 2019, we met at Chantal’s for our monthly Let’s talk meeting. She always welcomes us in a very friendly way and we spend a nice time there exchanging in English, having tea and homemade cake. There were seven of us: Chantal, Françoise, Gisèle, Monique, Myriam, Philippe, Yvette.

We mostly talked about cinema since the topic of the day was the film Downton Abbey by Michael Engler. The characters are the same as in the successful series we saw previously on television. The movie takes place in 1927 when the Earl and Countess of Grantham, their family and staff who live in the castle are informed that King George V and Queen Mary will visit Downton Abbey in a tour through the country. What a fuss!!! All the actors and actresses are excellent and the dialogues are filled with a delicious British sense of humour.

Françoise told us that the film she liked most this year was Chambre 212 by Christophe Honoré with Chiara Mastroianni and Vincent Lacoste, a comedy dealing with the slow decline of a couple.  

Chantal and Yvette were impressed by the film Sorry we missed you by Ken Loach, a social and family drama showing the dehumanization of workers in our society. They said it was an “excellent Ken Loach” but warned us that it was particularly tough.

Philippe was enthusiastic about a British film of the 1980s entitled Little Lord Fountleroy by Jacky Gold, starring Jacky Schroder and Alec Guinness, explaining to us that the atmosphere in both films was more or less alike, a family heritage being at stake.

Next time in December we will be discussing the festival This is England, knowing that the spirit of Christmas will already be in our minds.

Best regards,

Yvette

An afternoon at Monet’s

• 

• 

 We would have loved to have tea in his charming dining-room.

• 

• 

but wandering in his gardens and gazing at his nympheas made our day.

It was sunny and warm, too bad for tradition, we chose lovely ice-creams instead of scones and tea!

Jacqueline Allanic