Personal Blogs

I am reading 'Germinal' in french by Emile Zola. It is a hard book to read because it is about the crippling poverty and the inhuman working conditions in a coal mine in northern France. The time it takes place in is around 1884-1886 and explains the harsh working conditions and the events surrounding the strikes.
In this country it was a similar story, with the rich mine owners who had a comfortable happy life, whereas the miners had a life of poverty and  misery. It is the working classes who are often exploited by the upper classes, This is a realistic story of a mining community in the 1800s.

I am very interested in the environment and environmental issues. I spent a lot of time in my garden today, it is quite a good size garden. A couple of years ago, we sowed some wild flower seeds,  but didn't see any flowers appearing for a long time, then we stared to notice the odd one or two. However, now we have an abundance of wild flowers growing in the garden. The whole lawn area is just full of them, oxdaisies, clovers, marigolds, marsh marigolds cornflowers, corncockles, cowslips, a few poppies and others. Some flowers may have been there before, but some are new. Each day I don't know what I will see next, It is a real joy to behold!
The housing association is leaving the grass to grow longer for a while, which I think is a good idea,  to allow more insects to thrive and this will then will help to boost the ecological system.

I  managed to read the first chapter of my current french  book 'Germinal' by Emile Zola.
There were quite a lot of french words that I didn't understand, so I had to look them up in the dictionary. I am slowly making prgress, it is a bit difficult at the moment, but hopefully I will get more involved with the story , as I get further along in the book.

I have now finished reading my book in french by Agatha Christie. 'Meurtre  en Mesopotamie'  I read it quite quickly, because I was eager to find out  'who did it?'

I had to look up a lot of french words throughout the book, but near the end I just read it and tried to get the gist of it, i managed to understand it and as usual it was always surprising at the end.!

Today I will start reading another book from my little collection, which I bought from Oxfam book shop. This next book is called 'Germinal' by Emile Zola.

I hope I will be able to read it,  unfortunately the printing is quite small ! but I will have a go.
I will put on my spectacles and I have a magnifying glass, so I will have a try to read it.

Today it felt like a heat wave had arrived!  The weather seems to be getting hotter!
I have done my daily housework tasks and sorting out things that needed to be done at home, as well as going to the shops.

I have applied for next term for student loan. I am taking L332 BA degree  in french language and culture. I have to wait about 6 weeks to hear from them. I also have my place reserved. So it is just a matter of waiting now.

We stay in the cool lounge this afternoon and he was happy to read to himself quietly. We had a good walk yesterday but had to sit in the shade most of the time.

This afternoon I read my novel in french language. It is a detective story by Agatha Christie translated from english into french. The language is not too difficult and is every day language.

 I am getting the gist of it,  because I vaguely seem to remember reading it a long time ago,  but  in english. As always, I have my  french/english dictionary beside me, to look up any french words I don't know. The storyline was interesting so I read with great enthusiasm. 

I am now halfway through the book!
Hopefully,  I will be able to understand it all and become familiar with all the words in french. I wish ! 

Aujourd'hui, Je continue à lire mon livre en français par Agatha Christie.
Le temps est frais et aéré, avec un peu de soleil.

Je peux m'asseoir dans mon jardin sous les arbres pour lire.
Apres - midi J'ai emmené mon jeune fils faire une promenade. Nous marchons assez lentement.

 Nous avons acheté des légumes chez le marchand de légumes. Après, nous avons fait un saut a l' épicerie et nous avons acheté deux crême glacées.

Nous avons été au parc publique, pour nous  s'asseoir et manger nos crême glacées.