watching the english comments

Composition

I am reading the book “WATCHING THE ENGLISH” and I want to write something in my blog about it.
I choosed this book, because my daughter’s teacher has suggested to her to read this book. For this second term she has to choose two chapters and to comment them.
We have choosed “Home rules” and I found it very very nice., with a lot of beautiful worlds like “nestbuildings” , “DIY doityourself” , “housewarming” or “fatherland”….
In 2006 we spent our summer holidays in Bretagne (France) , and we hire a little house (by internet) to an English couple.
Usually we spend our summer holidays in apartments, we have visited a lot of countries because we have two weeks in a “timesharing” society and we change our apartment with other people, so we know a lot of holiday complexes, but that year we had not any possibility to change and we had to hire the house directly from the owner.
And in the meanwhile that I was reading these part of the book I remember that house very well.
It was in the countryside in a little village near the sea, where the people speak French with a difficult accent .
The house was at the end of a county dirt road, surrounded by fields and trees, with climbing plants of the walls, It hasn’t the typical front and back gardens, but a mixture of them in front of the house, with some bushes and pots full of little colourful flowers, a wooden table and two seats.
The house was very little, as a holiday house to rent, with two floors. Downstairs a big piece: kitchen, dinning room and living room together , and upstairs two bedrooms and two bathrooms….but the thing that I remember the more is that it was full of details and personal touches, as curtains, cushions, carpets, beautiful bedclothes…, pictures everywhere, embroideries,
All the things that you need in a house and more….
But not the normal things, like pots and things to cook, dishes, glasses and so on. …matches, candles, plastic bags, nails knitting needles, soap, shampooing, toilet paper, cologne, food like: honey, sugar, tea, jam, salt, wine and cava wine too!!!! books, cd’s, videos… a lot of tourist brochures in order to know better the area, a book where the guests can write their experiences…. I don’t know if you understand me, but the owners try to create a warm atmosphere that the guests could feel there than in their own house.
I never lived in an English house, like a lot of Spanish students that go to England to learn the language, and I have just this image like a typical English house.
I hope to read more parts of this book and write my impressions to you.
Montserrat.-