My friend Thierry……

………this afternoon.
I have known Thierry now for a long time, having first encountered him when myself and my friend Cecilia had landed at Lyon Satalas airport en route for a week’s intensive French in Nyons, Provence, 2007. The people who ran it were picking us up for the 2 hour journey south from there.
Cecilia already knew him from having been on a week’s course near Lyon which Thierry was hosting,
She introduced me to him,
Little did I know then that this would lead to her and myself beginning to have French sessions with him at her home in Northfield, Birmingham.
When she moved out of the area I eventually started lessons here along with a few others. Each January when Thierry had been home to Grenoble for Christmas, he would bring back some Papillotes de Noël, little chocolates wrapped in cellophane, which each contained a pithy quote.
(Two photos in extras.)
These he distributed to the groups of his students on the first lesson of the New Year.
Papillotes were invented in Lyon last century by a confectioner named Papillott who made chocolate and sweets in his shop in Lyon.
When he discovered his young apprentice was sending stolen sweets wrapped in love letters to his sweetheart. Papillot was far from angry as this gave him his great idea!
( I know Thierry will correct me if this is wrong, as I’m sending him the link to this blip!)
After the Pandemic he kept his courses on-line, and it does save him a lot of travel.
At the moment I have decided to take a break since my Op and went to see him this afternoon to thank him for all his hard work and dedication. It was a very enjoyable time, catching up and chatting in French.
Stephen and I are going out to lunch with him and another friend, in a couple of weeks.
For now I will finish my French novel, and keep up with articles I receive in my inbox daily courtesy of France info:
Now as it is time to finish this having had our friend Karen here for her dinner as usual after work, I will catch up with your blips at some point tomorrow. After I’ve been to the second of my exercise classes at the hospital!
Back soon!