If there is one recurring motif that I’ve noticed in many French homes, it would be souvenirs from Brittany – even if it’s just the one, token, statuette or piece of crockery.

Some will admit to being avid collectors of all things Bretagne, but for many others, the item is dismissed with a shrug as just being a random gift.

Of course, I read much further into it and was down-right jealous that everyone had a name bowl. Otherwise insignificant, these bowls have a standard folkloric design, with a little girl or boy in regional costume revealed at the bottom with the final sips or mouthfuls. There are two simple little handles on the side of the bowl that make it either a bowl or a cup, perfect for breakfast French-style – a huge steaming bowlful of hot chocolate to dip one’s brioche into.

Of course I had to have a name like Bettina (see September 23rd for any previous angst). I’ve only ever found a necklace with my name on it in Austria, and a mug in Germany. Not much name-kitsch to be had in English-speaking countries .

Nevertheless, we went on the quest for a “Bettina Bowl”. We scoured every tourist store in Carnac, and then, on a chance trip to Quiberon, we stumbled upon the holy grail of crockery – we found the “Bettina Bowl”! (I had a good feeling about that particular store when I noticed they also sold “Günther” and “Marlies”).

We also found (no struggle there) a Guillaume bowl, so now we have matching bowls. Are you feeling slightly nauseous yet? Don’t worry, the end result isn’t so cutesy. I just get in trouble every second morning for not checking and using the “Guillaume Bowl” for my muesli… (I’m still holding out against the French-style breakfast for some good old fashioned fibre!)

I feel I’ve come of age. Guillaume and I are the proud owners of a two-second tent. Not that it’s doing us much good at the moment, but in summer the possibilities were endless! For those who are not yet familiar with the two-second tent, it’s the better-than-sliced-bread invention of French brand Quechua, a self-assembling tent that takes shape in two seconds (or one-second for the one-person model, three-seconds for three people). All that’s left for the now happy camper is to hammer in the pegs.

Here are some videos which aptly convey all that is about a two-second tent:

In theory… (followed by the real-life application!)

On the first rung of the passage to becoming landed gentry, be felt like absolute lords of the campsite on the first unveiling of our new two-second tent. Not that it was unique in any way, we were surrounded by a field of one-, two- and three-second tents, but because no one else in Guillaume’s family had one. This gave us an extra fifteen minutes to loll around, and add this to an evening of camping sloth and an early night, yep… we felt pretty content with ourselves.

The test run didn’t go so well though – Guillaume managed to launch it into his face when practising in the garden at home…

The tent meets all water-proof requirements too. We decided to go camping in the rain-renowned Bretagne (Brittany) in August, and a soggy affair it was too. Camped near the megaliths at Carnac, the tent was tested in epic proportions for it poured, dripped and sprinkled (the former being of the most frequent occurrence) for the three days that we tried desperately to hold out. That the tent remained reasonably dry was of little consolation, for everything else was sodden, squelching and smelly.