Market Day and the Île Callot

After breakfast and cleaning the dormitory, everyone met in the classroom. A market study worksheet was handed out and explained. Then their pocket money was distributed. Each child had the same amount and it was given out every two days with the forlorn instruction that they didn’t need to spend it all in one day. Some budding entrepreneurs did lend money to those who were always ‘spent up’ and there were, sometimes, a few parents or grandparents who thought their progeny were worth more than the official amount and tried to give extra. Children often saw, very clearly, the unfairness in this and teachers would soon learn the offenders’ names.

The last instructions, before boarding the coach were to do with some of the stalls. Now, like any French provincial market, many of them would be familiar. Indeed, many of the stalls at St Pol would also be at Roscoff or Carantec or even Morlaix on their market days.

So, the usual stalls were: fruit and vegetables, cheese, garden plants, clothes, records and CDs, a basket maker, a stall selling knives, hot food stalls, sweets, meat, fish and shellfish, a special stall selling la viande de cheval, (horsemeat) and a few stalls selling cheap bracelets, leather goods or beaded necklaces. It was these last stalls that always attracted the children.

Unlike the vast majority of the stalls, these usually showed no prices. So, there was haggling to be done. The cardinal rule was that once the haggling had finished and you agreed on a price you shouldn’t then say, “Thanks” and walk away. This behaviour, as I had seen on a few previous visits, had led to angry outbursts from some of these traders.

Once the market study had been completed then the children had their free time to wander around and buy what they wanted. Well, not quite. They had been warned: no knives, no fireworks, nothing that I would deem inappropriate. Such a wonderful word inappropriate - it covered anything I or the other teachers wanted it to. Then back to the coach, a count of heads and a five minute journey to the château.

In the afternoon, if the weather was fine and the tides were right, then perhaps we’d make a visit to the Île Callot at Carantec. This small island could be reached from the mainland, by road, at low tide. However, accessibility was only for a few hours before the road became fully submerged. A couple of parties of children at the château - not ours - had been stranded because not enough notice had been taken of the times of the tides. It was said, in château mythology, that some locals on the island knew of a shallow crossing and showed a party of children across whilst the coach remained. Who knows?

On the island itself were some beautiful beaches and we often gathered, from one of them, a smooth kind of slate that would be washed, painted and varnished.

If the Île Callot was not available because of the tides then Carantec, a family resort, had six or seven wonderful beaches to choose from.