Coming back from a trip to Poland I got on this plane.

Which airline could it be?

Much like my former colleagues at Euronews did when the move to Brussels was announced – it is of course a tribute to Belgium hero Tintin on a Brussels airline plane.

As it was 11 November – a national holiday in France – we went to the local military cemetery – Le Nécropole Nationale in Luynes.

It is home to the graves of 8,347 French soldiers who died in World War I and 3,077 who were killed in World War II – largely in the operation to free Provence from the Nazis which began on 15 August 1944.

There are lots of fighters from the French Empire buried there – from North Africa and Madagascar.

It was, as in Lyon, a very moving experience.

The birds have been enjoying the sunflower hearts at last.

So much so that I have to top up the mangeoire every couple of days. There have been lots of:

Mésange bleue blue tits

Mésange charbonnière great tits

But today I noticed a

Mésange noire coal tits

With its distinctive white band at the back of its head.

And then the real local beauty.

Une mélange huppée.

And what a lovely crest it has too.

Aujourd’hui j’ai reçu un push notification de La Provence.

Il parle de l’arrivé de l’hiver avec les premiers flocons de la neige!

Mais peut être ils tomberont seulement sur le Mont Ventoux.

On a acheté des bûches du bois au cas ou.

Vous vous souvenez de ça – les aubergines très locaux.

Maintenant Coutheron fournit des choux-fleurs au supermarché.

For our latest Sunday outing we went to St Raphaël on the coast.

It was gorgeous. It was hard to believe that it was November.

It is the start of La Corniche d’Or that runs to Cannes.

There is a long, sandy beach. I even dipped my hand in the water.

There is a huge church Notre Dame de la Victoire Basilica. It is quite something.

Some of the other buildings are equally impressive.

All in all a very nice way to spend a Sunday.

In Les Logissons – the commercial part of Venelles – the Christmas decs are beginning to appear.

Apparently they light up – but that won’t happen for a while.

J’ai vu des potentiels travaux Chez France Travail.

I had a new appointment at France Travail – this time to hopefully get some help with setting up my own business.

After I explained my situation to my adviser about how my titre de sejour didn’t allow me to set up my own company she explained there was another way.

Portage salarial.

As far as I understood it it is a bit like a business cooperative who I would join so I could work as a consultant but under their auspices. So they would pay my contributions and then issue me with payslips for the work I had done.

In this way, my current visa for an activite salariee would still be valid. Obviously they will take a percentage for this service.

I now have three numbers to ring to find out more about how it works and how much I will have to pay them.

On the visa front, there is potentially some good news. I have managed to send off a form asking for a change to my visa status to allow me to work for myself.

Obviously I had to include a huge dossier of information but so far I haven’t heard that it has been rejected/is missing key pieces of information.

So fingers crossed – one way or another my consultancy work in France might become a bit more legitimate in the coming months.

We went to Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume which is most famous for the discovery of the tomb of Mary Magdalene – now housed in the basilica founded by Charles II of Anjou.

The story goes that Mary left the Holy Land and came to France – landing at the Camargue and then going to Marseille. She then lived in a cave in the Sainte Baume mountains.

Her skull is now on display in the crypt in the basilica.

I’ll leave you to Google it if you want to see the skull in a golden reliquary.

It’s a beautiful basilica with plenty of gorgeous sights.

Well worth a visit.