Day 1209 (Wednesday) 30th September 2020

 Day 1209 (Wednesday) 30th September 2020

It was lovely and warm this morning but there were a few wispy clouds in the sky and I had an issue with what to wear today because I was working until 6.30 and it has cooled down a bit in the evenings now. Huw gave me a lift to the Old Port of Nice on Kisbee so I wore long trousers for the first time in months and months and even wore a light cotton jacket, which was needed on the scooter.

I wasn’t as early as usual but I still managed a short walk along the prom and it was as lovely as ever.

  

It was great to see Gilles again, it’s been three weeks since we had a class. He is very worried about his job because they are still cutting his hours. He is confident that he will have a job until Christmas but he doesn’t know after that. There are 140 rooms in this Marriott and at the moment 100 of them are empty. He is a single parent and his daughter has just started a new school so he has had to buy a new uniform, gym kit, books etc which costs around 1,000€; the government has paid half but if his daughter should quit before January he will have to pay it all back, so he is going to tie her to her desk until that threat is over!

The tram was just about to leave when I got to the stop and I pressed the button to open the doors and the driver was watching me doing it and drove off anyway. I was furious, I bet if I’d been a 25 year-old the bastard would have waited. I got off at the Old Port and walked very quickly to the bus stop to get the 2.20 bus and I was just about 50 metres away when I saw the bus leaving. I had 20 minutes to wait for the next one and I ended up being 20 minutes late for Florence and the girls in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. I spent the whole lesson with Ocean who has grown up so much since March. She has started a new school and we spent the lesson reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery – it was fun.

I walked from Saint Jean to Beaulieu which takes half hour. I have done this walk many, many times, but today the light was gorgeous because it was later than I usual. 

This sign makes me giggle every time I see it – it says ‘private property do not enter’ – enter what?

I spent an hour with Odile’s daughter Sarah working on a school project about the Harlem Renaissance and gentrification on Harlem, which was really quite interesting. For the last half an hour Odile joined me and sang ‘Cherish the Love’ to me twice – as I said the other day, my job can be quite surreal at times.

My train home was delayed and I didn’t get home until 7pm – I want to work mornings again!

French word of the day: Chouchou

Chouchou is a versatile French expression that changes depending on the context - and how many chous you use.

Why do I need to know chouchou?

Because you want to understand the (very) different meanings of the word as to avoid (big) misunderstandings.

What does it mean?

Chouchou (pronounced as if you were saying 'shoe' twice) has three meanings.

The French online dictionary l'Internaute defines chouchou as “a person who is preferred over others and towards whom all attention is targeted.”

In other words, chouchou refers to a 'teacher’s pet'. This is the most common way of using the expression in French.

But if you've been to the beach in France, you have probably heard salespeople yelling Glaces, beignets, chouchous !

That does not mean that they are selling 'ice cream', 'doughnuts' and 'teacher's pets', however. Here, chouchou refers to (very sticky) caramelised peanuts that French people like to eat as a treat.

Beware however that just chou means cabbage. So while it's unlikely that any beach vendor would have cabbage on their platter it's good to know that if you ask for chou, you're not asking for a salty treat.

Chouchou also means 'bobble' or 'hair tie', so if someone asks you tu n'as pas un chouchou par hasard ? (you don't have a chouchou by any chance?), chances are they're looking for something to put their hair up with, not a teacher's pet or a salty snack. If in doubt, check the length of their hair.

Use it like this

J’aime bien ton chouchou – I like your hair tie

Paul est le chouchou de sa maîtresse – Paul is his teacher’s pet

Synonyms

Préféré - Favourite

Elastique – Hair tie

Joke of the day