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Frenchay Community, UK

Semi-retirement

1/8/2016

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It amused me the other day to hear that a reader thought that I’m called “Esmé Page”! No, I am Esmé Feltham.

Older readers may remember Feltham’s Coaches, blue and yellow and called, Kingswood Queen. Very often when there were two empty seats, Ron and I would jump onto the coach. We didn’t mind where it was going. We just wanted to be together. At our wedding, threee coaches took the guests from Kingswood Church to the reception at the Berkeley in Clifton.

I’ve done many different jobs. Teaching was the most rewarding. Running a Post Office had the bonus of us being together, but working for Haven Holidays was the most fun. We did it for 9 years before moving south from Brittany. We chose a site in the Vendée. After the south of France, the Vendée has the most hours of sunshine per year. Perhaps it is because of this climate that the people there are so ‘smiley’.

The campsite that we chose is called Les Amiaux. It is the largest in St Jean de Monts. We soon became friends with the owners and they still keep in touch with me. Ginette the daughter told me that once it was a farm where one evening, a car pulled in and a young couple asked if they could pitch their tent! From little acorns, oak trees grow.

There were six different holiday companies with mobile homes on the site. The one thing that annoyed the owner was our party nights. They held a party night themselves once a week, so didn’t welcome any opposition. We were the only company that they allowed inside if it rained. Not fair on the others!

They came for a holiday in our Clifton flat. Their visit taught me a lesson. Their house on the camp site was huge but very dark. I thought they would absolutely love our beautiful turquoise and silver flat with its balcony overlooking the Downs. Their bedroom overlooked the Old Vic Theatre School which was always lively and interesting. Madame loved it, but not her husband. He said that he preferred their house because in our flat he felt like a bird in a cage. One man’s meat is another man’s poison!  The day we took them to Bristol airport for their flight back to Nantes, we drove straight to Southampton, caught the ferry and then drove to Cognac to look at a farmhouse for sale. I’ve told you before how impetuous we were, and I still am. But that is another story!

Enjoy August,
Esmé 

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