Still in Pouancé.

I have driven along this road dozens, even scores and possibly hundreds of time, without noticing this almost tumbledown cottage tucked away in a corner. While over there earlier this month I did spot it out of the corner of my eye so turned back to take a picture. I love the colour the doors and window have been painted and the way it blends with the stone and the roof tiles. I like the way plaster is falling off the wall to display the stone beneath, and somehow it all seems to gel beautifully. And to think I hadn't noticed it for all those years!


So that's the Christmas holiday over - for some people, anyway. With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year, many people have had a four-day break and by taking just three days' holiday many will have stretched the break to ten days. I have always felt sorry for folks in other countries who have a holiday of just one day at Christmas compared to our normal two days. But I was always happy to go back to work the day after Boxing Day! This was partly to get away from the noise of the children and partly because the end of the year was always my businest time at work, both in the bank and with the newspaper, so I needed as much time in the office as I could get away with between Christmas and New Year.

And that's something I have never understood. Why do Americans call New Year, New Years? And is that New Years (plural) or New Year's (possessive)? Neither seems to me to make any sense. But I suppose I really shouldn't expect . . . No, I won't go there in case I spoil the "special relationship"!