back streets, alleys and dead ends 5-2
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back street in Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis (image from Street View)
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map showing distance travelled (map from Google Maps)
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On the second day of Phase 5 of my virtual bike trip toward the Atlantic coast of central France, I think I was on every possible type of road. I began on the highway and almost immediately decided it was too boring …
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At the next turn, I took a detour into the village of Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis. With its charming yards and flower gardens, it was much more interesting …
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charming yard in Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis (image from Street View)
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Once I had peddled into the village as far as possible, I turned into a narrow side street. I tried hard not to peek into the windows as I drove by …
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side street in Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis (image from Street View)
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Everywhere in France I have encountered side roads labelled ‘Impasse de … ‘. When I saw ‘Impasse du Moulin Corneau’ in Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis, I looked up the word and found ‘impasse’ means ‘dead end’ or ‘blind alley’ …
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Impasse du Moulin Corneau, meaning ‘Corneau Mill Dead End’ (image from Street View)
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In another part of the village, I saw an alley running between adjacent houses. In fact, it was not an alley at all, but access to a house set far back from the main street. Where I lived as a child, our street had a back alley. It was very convenient, used for garbage pick-up and to access the rear of our property. Back alleys are almost non-existent in our towns in New Brunswick. I think they are considered a waste of land, but, in fact, they serve a useful purpose …
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narrow alley in the village of Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis (image from Street View)
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back alley behind the house where I grew up … when I lived there, the back alley was not paved … I used to skip beside the power pole to the left (image from Street View)
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Best View: trees in autumn splendor beside the main highway …
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
nichepoetryandprose 
Another wonderful drawing. 🙂 I love the purple shutters on the house in Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis. Back alleys can be very useful. We used to live in a house in St. Louis that had a back alley. It was great for lots of things (as you mentioned), including unloading the groceries.
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Robin
May 20, 2013 at 11:45 am
Hi Robin. Thanks! I also remember that neighbors often met to chat in the back alley. Here, my back alley is the fact that our drive goes to the back of our house. Jane
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jane tims
May 20, 2013 at 9:05 pm