Still, we Brits abroad have never had good press, we are, as a nation pretty closed minded, lazy and intolerant of anyone who has the audacity not to speak English.
From our early experiences however, the French were proving to be very polite and tolerant of us English folk. That is, it seems, until they get in their cars.
The drive to Ernes took us down the major N roads with the thundering traffic to be expected on a major artery. The sat nav 
then turned us off onto the quieter D roads linking the towns and onto the even quieter winding minor D roads linking the villages and hamlets. We were driving through the Plains of Caen and Falaise, which are, as you would expect, flat and reminiscent of Lincolnshire, only with fewer potatoes and more je ne sais quoi.