Crosswords0 min ago
MM Links November 2010 [Week 1]
56 Answers
Good morning all -- this is Sheila again (aka slaney) for my second reign as the MM Links setter. I’m so surprised to find myself here; foolishly I had thought I was immune as the memories of my last attempt to set the links (not to mention crofter’s corruption) are still fresh in my mind!
I think my last ramblings left me at my convent boarding school, but all good things come to an end, and one warm June day at the age of seventeen I left that school armed with one Irish Leaving Certificate (and perhaps too much youthful optimism). No time was lost in depositing my hated sage green hat, (now surplus to requirement) into the nearby hedgerows. My father stopped me from throwing out my over-sized blazer as well -- my mother being firmly of the opinion that two sizes too large was the only safe option.
Fast forward to that September, when I waited at the Gare du Nord to be picked up by a very elegant grey-haired lady, who took me to her Paris apartment. There I stayed for a few days before going on to the Loire valley, where I was to be an au-pair to her daughter's family. I suppose those first few magical days in Paris turned me into a lifelong Francophile. However, there was one sticky moment, when Madame mistook my pyjamas for some kind of bizarre Irish outerwear and lectured me on what was “not done”.
I think my last ramblings left me at my convent boarding school, but all good things come to an end, and one warm June day at the age of seventeen I left that school armed with one Irish Leaving Certificate (and perhaps too much youthful optimism). No time was lost in depositing my hated sage green hat, (now surplus to requirement) into the nearby hedgerows. My father stopped me from throwing out my over-sized blazer as well -- my mother being firmly of the opinion that two sizes too large was the only safe option.
Fast forward to that September, when I waited at the Gare du Nord to be picked up by a very elegant grey-haired lady, who took me to her Paris apartment. There I stayed for a few days before going on to the Loire valley, where I was to be an au-pair to her daughter's family. I suppose those first few magical days in Paris turned me into a lifelong Francophile. However, there was one sticky moment, when Madame mistook my pyjamas for some kind of bizarre Irish outerwear and lectured me on what was “not done”.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.That year which I spent in “le bel Anjou” was a very happy one, and I was treated with great kindness by the family. Their home was a château on a tributary of the Loire surrounded by woods and farms, so days were filled with long and tranquil walks, reading to my charges and drawing pictures to amuse them. Every care was taken to enlighten me in many aspects of French culture and history. At the end I could tell the difference between a Louis XIV and XV armchair -- so useful when shopping in IKEA!
And as for the food – this proved to be an amazing new world which I had little difficulty in getting used to.
And as for the food – this proved to be an amazing new world which I had little difficulty in getting used to.
Now, I’m in danger of getting “au-dessus de ma gare”, so will forego my plan to change all the rules, and I will follow those introduced by crofter. Each of my chosen link words contains at least four letters and at most eight. Stray outside this range and you will be wasting one or more of your attempts! Each of my selected words may go in front of or after my challenge word. The competition will officially close at 7.00pm on Sunday evening when crofter will declare my selected words, then apply the same rules for awarding points that have been applied during all MM Link Games in the past.
My first set of words to be linked will appear below at 9.00am.
My first set of words to be linked will appear below at 9.00am.