Latest News from the Barging Baileys

The boys have a very full timetable and there is rarely a dull moment.
In April they both took part in the inter-schools cross country run. Callum had to run 1 mile; Dan had to run 2 miles. The course was fairly dull and involved running after a man on a bike who cycled around two football grounds. However, it did mean that as a spectator you could see what was going on.
Cal was the first to run and had a sticky start where he got caught up in the pack. However, he worked his way through and surged into first position and finished with a comfortable 50metre lead.

Dan had a really tough race and got a very respectable time and 6th place overall. And, independent of his school, he also raised over £60 in sponsorship for UNICEF. Many thanks to all the family and friends who supported him.
There were no medals, no certificates and no further mention of the day. So unlike school in the UK where every achievement and ounce of participation is celebrated and encouraged. Interestingly enough the boys did not miss this element at all, and were just happy to have taken part.

They have really enjoyed their time in French school and learnt so much about themselves.

Callum in his school courtyard

The race to get out of school starts here!

And Dan has been lucky enough to go on a school day trip to Paris. Better still, I was one of the lucky parents who got to go too. We had a very long, hot, Paris filled day with a whistle stop tour of the Louvre, a picnic in the glorious Tuilerie Gardens, a boat trip through Paris and a march down the Champs Elyssees.

Disaster in the Old Lock

The ice and the biting grey cold have long gone. Spring has arrived and the days are warm and blue again. You can sense a communal sigh of relief. Gardeners are rejoicing and rotivators are revving. Bargees are hosing down their boats and dusting off the paint tins.
However, this morning the residents of the Old Lock had a bit of a shock : silently in the dead of night a barge had sunk. Fortunately there was nobody onboard.

River Saone closed

The continued cold spell has cast its magic on the River Saone and large sections of the river have frozen over and are impassable. The VNF (French rivers and canal authority) have closed the river to all traffic for the first time since 1956.

And now it has started snowing too...

Champagne on Ice

The extreme cold weather hitting Europe at the moment has made its mark at the Old Lock. The Lock is frozen solid and the ice incredibly thick. Andy drilled a hole and estimated that the ice is about 25cm (10 inches) thick. The boats are fine but the noise that the ice makes, as it flexes and cracks, resonates through the boats' hulls and makes you fear for your life.
However, it is not all bad. On Sunday our madder than mad French neighbour invited us for a drink on the ice. In the middle of the lock.

News got round rather quickly and a crowd gathered.

Even the cat's curiosity got the better of her.

That sinking feeling

Lots of drama on the towpath between the Old Lock and town. A 2,500 ton commercial barge laden with grain began to sink. Fire crews, divers and local Police gathered and did what they could to help in the freezing weather.
Opportunistic ducks and swans gorged on the jettisoned grain.

The drama continued for several days until another vessel arrived and the grain could be unloaded.

And in the same week Andy had to jump into action and help our neighbours whose barge had sprung an alarming leak late at night. Let's hope this isn't a run of three!

Allez Callum et Les Petits Tangos

Couldn't resist putting this photo on the blog. Great action shot of Cal with the ball en route to scoring a try against Dijon.

Man jumps off mountain

Fitted in some great skiing days this winter at Les Rousses in the Jura. However this year we invested in day passes for both the French and the Swiss sides of the resort. The boys thought it was cool to start the day in France and ski over to Switzerland for hot chocolate before skiing back to France for lunch! However the cool factor was even higher when we saw this guy jump off the top of the mountain...

It took a lot of reinforced persuasion to convince Callum that it was not a good idea to copy him!