Not long back from the meeting at Rehoboth with the residents of the plateau up on the Bosc meeting Veronique directrice from the Prefecture.
What a lady she is,one to be reckoned with, a big and responsible job she has, she was accompanied by her adjutant and the meeting was hosted by Florence.
A generally calm meeting with some concern about the refugiés being young men, why no families was asked? The answer that women and children are now starting to be welcomed in "centres d'accueil" in Calais whereas the young and middle aged men are left to fend for themselves.
Questions about what they would do all day? Answered by Veronique with, " there are 3 paid animatrices" to give ideas to entertain and 100 benevoles all ready to welcome them and find things of interest for them.
There was some laughter when a chasseur wanted to make sure the refugiés knew about the chasse and would not panic if they saw men walking round with rifles. A good point I thought... and I could also do with some reassurance about chasseurs!
The two gendarmes who had come were very helpful and made it clear to one lady that she could not just phone up if she saw a refugié wandering the lanes. If there was any concern about them contact the centre. If they were actually committing a crime as with any other citizen the gendarmes could then be called.
As the meeting finished I asked if anyone had a bike they could donate it would be appreciated, which elicited a smile from Florence.
The French were all polite and enquiring but Laura and I both looked on in embarrassment as a red faced Englishman sat looking at Veronique making gestures with his hands and fingers indicating she was all talk. Laura did suggest to me he may have a heart attack before the end of the meeting saving us more embarrassment.
One lovely moment when I met Cecile Ordanoff, she introduced herself and I said "I know the name"
She then said " Fanfaron" I jumped on her with bisous, she is the lady who looked after Fanfaron for a year till we found a new owner.
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