Back home

A little weary from a very full-on trip that was part business, part pleasure. I've got so much to catch up on, and this blog has to be fairly far down the priority list.

But, I couldn't resist having a quick look at what's been going on in Spankoland while I've been away. And I have to say you're all very, very naughty - and if it doesn't stop somebody is going to get their legs slapped...

One thought I will quickly share is this - French teachers, surprisingly strict. I found myself spending the night in accommodation that I was sharing with a French school trip; both me and them were away from our home country, by the way.

My room was at one end of the building and, thankfully, the 60+ 12-year-olds were at the other. During the evening I went outside to send a email (mobile coverage a bit lacking) and found I was sharing the car park with one of the French group's teachers and a pupil.

She was in the process of giving the boy a scolding that would have stripped paint if applied to an appropriate surface. It was something of a surprise as I'd seen her earlier and thought her petite and rather pretty, but in disciplinarian mode she was a woman transformed.

Go girl, I thought to myself. In the morning the school group left and hour before I rolled up for my breakfast. The guy who served me asked if I'd been woken up by the kids, but I told him I hadn't.

He wasn't surprised, he said, because those lady teachers were something else. Really, I said to keep the theme going. Yes, he said, a couple of boys had stepped out of line a little and had been hauled out of the breakfast room for a major telling-off from one of the women.

Not that relevant, but very French

He seemed as impressed with the standard of French scholastic discipline as I was. Plainly, while the rest of Europe may have gone soggily liberal about pupil behaviour, in France 'non' still means 'non'. Vive la France! 

PS The French martinet-in-action image is a borrow from the excellent Desseins Coquins, a personal favourite.