Tag: France
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A CHANGE OF SCENERY
‘Are we there yet?’ Archie asked. He was feeling claustrophobic in the hermetically-sealed caravan. Agnes peered out the kitchen window as the countryside whizzed by along the autoroute, ‘Not yet, just passed Paris.’ ‘Maybe we should have picked somewhere closer than the Mediterranean?’ ‘You wanted warm sunshine and the beach.’ Agnes brought the coffee over…
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DEAD ROSES
Dead roses in winter, withered and defeated. The Grand Armée reduced to an icy hell. The villages they entered had nothing to offer. They had stripped them bare of what little they had on their way to Moscow. Starving, frost-bitten and dog-tired, he stumbled on. To drop now meant certain death. No comrade would burden…
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BROTHERS
Every Sunday through that summer at eleven they had sat on the same bench, Patrice and his younger brother Henri, waiting while their parents attended church. At five past eleven the fountain would spring into life as the gardener, Hervé, turned it on. Father gave them a toy boat to sail around the pond. On the warmest…
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SEA AIR
Coming to the south of France had been the wisest choice of his life. Retirement suited him, as did the Mediterranean sun, the walks along the coast, the relaxed pace of Medville and the wine. He sipped the glass of rosé (given to him by the owner of the vineyard next door) and thanked his…
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Q IS FOR QUIMPER, FRANCE
A STORY OF QUERULOUSNESS IN QUIMPER, FRANCE ‘It’s unusual in that it bends in the middle to match the contours of its location and avoid an area of swamp,’ Agnes read from the guide. ‘Probably couldn’t build it right,’ muttered Archie. Agnes gave him a withering look and carried on reading from the pamphlet. ‘Some…
Iain Kelly 