Eglise Saint Osmanne, Fericy

Sunday
Today we enjoyed our first bike ride since being in France. We cycled down to the River Seine, then along to Hericy and on towards Fontaine-le-Port, which was where we lived for the last four years of our last period in France. We didn't go quite all the way since, being my first bike ride in a couple of months, I felt it was time to turn around. Rather than going back the way we came, we returned across the fields to the village of Fericy, which brought back many happy memories. One of my good friends from years ago lived in Fericy at that time - right across from this church. We knew each other through the English-speaking church in Fontainebleau and also had children of similar ages, so we spent many hours at their house, either for church home groups or for the kids to play together. One particular visit sticks in my mind - not the visit itself, but rather the journey home. It was late on a winters afternoon and I came to a T-junction controlled by traffic lights where I had to turn left. The lights were red when I got there so when the lights changed to green I pulled forward and turned left, and this guy coming fast down the hill from my right came through the lights on red and ran into the back of me, with the three kids in the back. Happily none of us were hurt, just shaken up. It turned out the guy was totally drunk, and I was having no luck communicating with him, and from time to time he would begin to wander back to his car as if he was going to leave. Fortunately, a lady passer-by saw what was going on and went to the gendarmerie which was just up the road and a gendarme came and helped me out. The driver apparently ended up spending the night in a cell to sober up, and I got a police report for insurance purposes. Not an experience I care to repeat!