Un an déjà !

It’s been almost a year that we have not posted! And a lot has happened since.
First of all, a Happy New Year to anyone reading this.
Now let me bring you on this short journey in which we will go through what we did in 2020 🙂
The year began with dad’s round the world trip in which he visited many people and places from Singapore, Perth, Auckland, Santiago, Belem and Macapá.
Then came the February holidays, when we went to Cambridge and visited friends.
On our return from the UK, we all made the decision to stay one more year in France to spend more time in the school we were in, the democratic school “Carré Libre” in Quimper, little did we know that 2020 had some other plans for us…
Shortly after we came back, we had to experienced the first lockdown, those were rough time to say the least, especially with the announcement of the Carré Libre closing down over the summer.
Despite that, we quickly got used to our small home and it became very cosy with a lovely smell of wood. Since our days weren’t very eventful, we made the most of it and decided to spend time outside walking Caramel under the apple trees and playing in the garden.
We entered in an eco-village project with few friends from the Carré Libre based on the idea of the “Village de Pourgues” and made plan to visit each other during the summer holidays.
After the announcement of the end of the lockdown, we spend the next few weeks before the summer holidays seeing friends, going to the beach, going horse riding for fear a second lockdown would come soon.
We were happy to see friends from Belgium in July before heading to Jargeau to see Papy & Mamy. After a very hot week, we went to Blois for our first eco-village meet-up at one of our member’s house near Chambord. It was a very fun bonding experience. Next, we went to a campsite in Cevennes with friends where we enjoyed ice-creams and a swimming pool. We met-up with our first au-pair at Marcilhac-sur-Célé where her parents live. We had a nice time visiting the area, one of the highlights were the visit of a cave in Pech Merle with prehistorical paintings, and eating at some nice restaurants.
In September, we decided to start the new school year with homeschooling. We picked up some school books, planned some visits and made our timetable.
To visit different places in Brittany and further, we bought a camping-car hoping to make the most of our free time this coming school year. Our first trip was to Brest and then Jambville to attend an eco-village festival to get some ideas for our own project.
At the end of the summer, we spent some time with friends from Carré Libre going surfing, on a donkey ride, and going on walks in the country side.
Toward the end of October, we did the second meet-up with the eco-village at another member’s house near Quimper.
As Louisa and Emily’s birthday came nearer, Louisa turned 13 and Emily 10, news of a second lockdown struck. So we were back at it again! This time spending more time indoors due to the weather. We started running to get some fresh air.
Work wise, Anne has been busy with volunteer work, homeschooling and finishing a genome editing project with former colleagues from Cambridge while Alan is contributing to one with his former EBI’s colleagues.
A bit before the Christmas holidays we came out of lockdown again, getting ready for a week at our grandparents and a week with the eco-village’s members to celebrate the new year at Les Jardins de la Source.
Luckily, we ended this year on a positive note despite the pandemic and we hope 2021 will bring more health to all of us, freedom to travel and time to explore.
Wishing you all the best, thanks for reading, stay safe!