Three School Tales

Story One
Yesterday some pupils in R's class dared to put their hands up and ask 'Sir, what is the point?' of some exercise or other, and the teacher, racking his brains, came up with:

"Le savoir c'est le pouvoir";  Knowledge is Power.  (You have to remember that education is one-pointed in France.  You aquire knowledge by being miserable over a long period of time but at the end of it you can become a Big Boss and enjoy using your power to make everyone under you miserable).

"Knowledge is Power?  Oh no it isn't!" said the class, enjoying the pantomime and employing delaying tactics.

"Well you tell me who there is in power who doesn't have knowledge?" replied the teacher.

Up creaks R's hand;

"Hollande, Sir!".

Even the teacher laughed apparently


(In a reference to a hostage situation in Algeria in January of this year, in which 10 Japanese people were killed, Hollande expressed  “the condolences of the French people to the Chinese people.”

The mistake was not corrected, and it could not have made his Japanese hosts happy to be mistaken for their most bitter rivals  International Times).

Story Two
Last week the traditional and strict French teacher (Known as Confucius in our family) introduced a radical liberal touchy-feely method into the class.  She asked each class member to mark the work of the person next door and add up the score.

The French Teacher "Madame Confucius"

Obviously in a school were all the pupils are treated like criminals, such laxity could only encourage an enterprising crime spree:  this was far too good an opportunity to miss, and 'everyone' (according to R, read quite a few people I suspect) set off on an unfair marking bonanza,  slashing their neighbours' scores by half.

R had the presence of mind to find the teacher's unaccustomed liberalism suspicious, especially as it was blatently obvious that 'everybody' was cheating so he decided to mark his neighbour's work fairly. (The boy is Cunning and a Born Survivor, although not yet Honorable).

The teacher waited until the moment she collected the tests to announce that she would be taking off minus 2 points for every incorrect mark given to one's dear neighbour.     R swears she was hiding a snigger behind her hand.  R's eyes glazed in ecstasy for several days afterwards, as he remembered the panic-stricken scramble to scribble out the wrong marks before the teacher took in the work...

Story Three
 "Today is National Music Day.  You must all Enjoy Yourselves' said the English teacher in a strong French accent.  She did not explain how this was to be achieved according to R.

'That's strange' I replied, 'Enjoying yourself has no place in the serious business of French education and is, au contraire, strongly discouraged'.

'It was a supply teacher, not the normal English teacher' said R, by way of explanation.

What  puzzles me is how is she going to ensure her instructions are carried out ?  Minus 20 points for being miserable, +10 for being happy I should imagine.

Recette pour Syrop de Fleures de Sureau

Cette année le Sureau règne!  Il doit aimer les nuages, le froid, le manque de soleil, la pluie, lui au moins!   Le sureau qui se plantait dans mon jardin à une multitude de fleures, assez pour moi et pour laisser des baies pour les oiseaux en automne.

Voici une recette pour un syrop de fleurs de sureau, c'est tres simple!

12 belles fleures bien ouvertes
3 citrons, jus et zeste (bio)
1.5 kg sucre
5 litre d'eau

Faire chauffer l'eau très doucement dans une grande casserole, juste assez pour faire fondre le sucre.  Une fois tiède, ajouter le jus et zeste de trois citrons.  Verifier que les fleures sont propres, et les tromper dans le liquide.  Couvrir et laisser au frais pendant 24 heures, et voila!  Une fois mis en bouteille le syrop se conserve dans le frigo, si dilue avec de l'eau pour un boisson refraichissante.  

Les fleures de Sureaus ont connues pour leurs proprietes medicinales, par exemple:  diuretique,  contres les rhumes, les grippes, l'arthrose, the rheumatisme...comme les fleures ne sont pas chauffées je dirais qu'elles gardent leur bienfaits.

Elderflower Cordial

There is a bumper crop of elder flower this year, obviously elder trees love rain, cold and absence of the Yellow Stuff (I believe it is called sun).

I cropped 12 ripe wide open flowers from the elder which planted itself  in our garden and which is now 20 feet high and has ended the career of my rotary washing line.  The tree had of plenty of flowers to spare, and will have plenty of berries for the birds in the late summer.

I dissolved 1.5 kg of sugar in 5 litres of water, put in zest and juice of 3 lemons  dunked in the flowers, and covered it and left it to infuse in a cool dark place.   Magic, 24 hours later, aromatic elderflower syrup!  If you dare leave it 2 or 3 days, it tastes even stronger.  R insisted that I filter it (ie sieve out the odd stray floret and the lemon zest), I bottled it and kept it in the fridge (it only lasted a week - because we drank it).  I've just made some more with double the sugar and lemons, and bottled in sterilised bottles, to see if it will keep out of the fridge...watch this space for news.***

Elerflower is perported to be helpful in the following conditions  rheumatism, arthritis, and gout; upper respiratory stuff (colds; the flu; sinusitis; tonsillitis, sore throat; chills; fevers) and if taken at the onset of chicken pox or measles it helps by increasing sweating and speeding up the healing process.  They also act as a diuretic which helps to rid the kidneys of toxins.  

Not sure what happens when mixed with sugar,  but as it hasn't been heated it may well retain some interesting properties.

Update:  the cordial ferments after a week or so, and tastes even better, but if left longer turns to vinegar.  So stored remaining bottles in fridge, but none left now, as very popular with family.  A friend of mine who also made elderflower cordial this year, suggests freezing ice cubes of it to add to drinks and desserts.  Otherwise you could heat it to boiling point and seal like jam, but would no longer retain same properties I guess.

*** Update  It certainly kept a few weeks out of the fridge with 3 kg sugar, but could not test any longer as we drank it all up and wished we had made more.  It is now May 2014 and the elder is flowering again, will make more batches and do more experiments.