Adventures in France Episode 22

Monday the 20th September started out quite cool but later turned into the most stunning day – clear and sunny. We had arranged to fetch Nicky from the airport in Toulouse that afternoon so left fairly early so that we could have a walk around the city, which we have never done before. We ran into the tail-end of the morning rush-hour but it wasn’t too bad and we managed to find parking in an underground parking garage without too much hassle. There are plenty of wonderful old buildings in the city, but there is no ‘Old Town’ as such and to our horror, ultramodern blocks have been squeezed in between gracious 18th century buildings, which completely destroys the impact of both architectural styles. It is obviously a ‘go-ahead’ city and the side-streets are full of earthworks and machinery, with the sound of pneumatic drills reverberating up and down the narrow, cobbled streets. I tried quite hard to find something to take a picture of, to remind me of our visit, but every vista was partly obscured by stationary trucks or huge compressors. Still, we enjoyed what we saw and had a good lunch. We also searched for, and found, a hobby shop where Neels bought himself a small model to build, before we ventured out to the airport. The plane was due to arrive at 4.30 pm so when we pulled into the parking area at 4.10 pm we patted ourselves on the back for timing it so perfectly………..until we went into the Arrivals hall and discovered that the plane was delayed by about an hour! Apparently the Air Traffic Controllers had gone on strike at the Paris end and a lot of planes were held up, while some were even cancelled. Thank goodness Nicky’s plane arrived, because she had to drive back there the following day to fetch a friend who was coming to stay with her.
The next day was another fairly early start as I had made a hair appointment with an English-speaking hair-dresser who works from home and lives about 35 kms from here. We had only been to her house once before, and on that occasion she had met us in the nearest town and led us to the house. However, she sent us very clear instructions and we were only a little bit late! This couple, with their ten-year-old daughter, arrived in France at about the same time as we did but the house they have bought was not quite complete, and both times that I have been there, the place has been a hive of activity with workmen dashing in and out all the time. Last time, I had my hair-cut in a funny little room off the front hall, that was piled high with boxes still waiting to be unpacked. This time the hair-cut took place in the front hall itself! One can’t complain though, as they are both so friendly and she is very competent. While I was being attended to in the front hall, the two husbands sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and setting the world to rights! What a very comfortable arrangement!
Leaving there with my shorn and shiny locks, we headed due north for about 50 kms to a tiny hill-top town called Brouilh-Monbert, where we were due to have lunch with a new-found friend. What a spectacular site! The house sits right on the top of a fairly high hill with wonderful views in all directions. The person we had gone to visit is a great horse-lover and has ten Haflinger horses. These are Austrian working horses and have immensely strong and solid legs, and are quite big horses too. Hers are all a beautiful shade of gleaming chestnut brown with blonde manes and tails, and are very friendly and placid.
When we went shopping later in the week, I was delighted to find oranges from Nelspruit on the shelf and bought a whole bagful. I felt like running out to the car to get our little South African flag off the windscreen and running around the shop waving it and cheering. We have been following the news from home, in a rather desultory fashion, via the online news services and have been getting quite depressed at all the bad news coming out of SA, so finding these oranges lifted our spirits enormously.
Late on Saturday evening, Pieter and Jessica arrived, both coughing and spluttering, but as pleased to be here as we were to see them. The next day we took them to lunch at our favourite eating place, Bassoues, but unbeknown to us, there was a Vide Grenier on that day and the restaurant was packed. Although we had booked in advance, we had been allocated a table outside which was quite chilly and rather spoiled the effect of the outing.
The weather has suddenly turned very cold again, which isn’t too bad if the sun shines and there is no wind, but every now and again a really sneaky breeze gets up and is not pleasant at all. We are hoping that we will still have a short burst of warmer weather before we leave at the end of next month.

Adventures in France Episode 21

A very un-busy week! We seem to have spent a lot of time driving around from one place to another in order to get things done, but none of it of any great interest or importance. Early on in the week, Neels serviced our little car, which meant draining the oil and changing oil filters, and that turned into a bit of a circus. First of all, the car is so close to the ground that he couldn’t get underneath it to get to the nut that needed to be loosened; then, he found that he didn’t have a spanner the right size to loosen it anyway. Fortunately some friends who live about five minutes away could help so he went there quickly in Nicky’s car, which was spending the week with us while she was away and then was a very happy chappie until right at the end of the job when he ran the car off the chocks he had built up to raise it, the underside of the car caught the edge of the container into which he had drained all the old oil and upended it onto the gravel driveway. Disaster! But the French have cleaners for everything, and we found a bottle of liquid in the garage called a ‘de-greaser’ which we poured on, waited a while and rinsed off and hey presto! The gravel was clean. Quite amazing stuff, but I hate to think what it is made of. This sort of job would be accomplished in a short while at home with all the necessary equipment, but here it took almost all day.
The following day was just as bad. We needed to fax a document back to South Africa after it had been printed off our email, and signed. Unfortunately we haven’t got a printer attached to the computer, much less a fax machine, so we had to go to Nicky’s flat to use her printer, but someone else had the keys (to be able to water the plants while Nicky was away) so we first had to get the keys and then work out how to use her computer and printer and then it was almost twelve o’clock and Neels had to run to the shop to fax it off, and then we had to take the keys back, and then it was twelve o’clock and everything shut for lunch for two hours. Grr! We had wanted to go to the ‘cave’, the wine cellars, to get some wine, but as we parked the car the assistant drove off. There was nothing for it but to go home again, have some lunch and come back again in the afternoon. Once again, a whole day spent doing two fairly minor chores.
Wednesday turned out sunny but not too hot, so we both donned our shorts and went to do some gardening. Actually it was really a lot of weed-pulling and Neels also got the grass cut again so everything is looking all neat and tidy at the moment.
We were really looking forward to Saturday as we had been handed a flyer advertising ‘An exhibition of technology’ at the Aignan Lake One of the exhibitors happened to be a model shop from Tarbes and they were going to display radio-controlled models of all sorts – cars, planes, helicopters and boats – so naturally enough Neels was very interested. We thought we would give the official opening speeches a miss and planned to arrive in time to get a decent parking spot not too far from the lake. So we rolled in there at 1.30 pm, for an event scheduled to start at 3 pm and found ourselves to be the only car there. Puzzled, we went to the small restaurant and asked where all the people were and where the exhibits were, but the owner was as mystified as ourselves. She had been asked to put a long table outside, from which an aperitif was going to be served, which she had done, and then no-one turned up! What a complete disappointment. We waited a while in case, miraculously, hordes of spectators suddenly materialized out of the trees and then took ourselves off for a lovely scenic drive instead. So the day was not completely wasted.
On Sunday we heard about a massive ‘once-a-year’ Vide Grenier not far from here so thought we would go and have a look, for half an hour or so. It was a beautiful day and quite obviously a lot of other people thought the same as the little village was heaving. Our half an hour turned into about three hours and we came away with a very nice one litre china jug, two DVD’s and some odd balls of wool which are going to be just right for the little elephants I have been asked to knit for a friend, who wants them in different colours. Very definitely a case of ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. These sales are quite addictive though – even if one buys nothing. It is always fascinating to see what other people are offering for sale and what yet more people are buying!

Adventures in France Episode 20

After the beautiful weather for the motor races last Sunday, things started to get greyer with each passing day. Autumn has surely arrived! Monday began well but turned grey in the afternoon and as a Grand Finale degenerated into a crashing thunderstorm that night. About 25mm of sorely needed rain fell and the on/off drizzle continued all next day On Tuesday night, we had a massive windstorm which threw the trees around and rattled the shutters. The scaffolding erected to (one day) repair the loose slates on the church steeple hummed and sang all night, but nothing came loose which was a blessing. In the morning we discovered that the only damage around here had been done to our own garden as a huge branch had come off the linden tree and had fallen on to the one pergola, while other smaller branches had strewn themselves right across the garden. Once Neels had used axe and saw to clear the big branch, we could see the full extent of the damage – the pergola supports were broken off at ground level. So far we have not done anything more than prop them upright again as it is going to be quite a big job to do.
Toulouse Airport was our destination for Thursday, to drop off Nicky who was going for a giddy week in Paris. Not really! She has long-time friends who live near Paris and others in Normandy who have been begging her to come and stay, so she decided to take two weeks away and see them both. We will collect her from the airport again on her return.
The garden now has delicious figs and grapes to offer into the village barter system, so we took a mixed bowl over to Ady and after enjoying a cup of coffee with her and a fairly understandable and lengthy chat, we came away loaded with tomatoes, courgettes aubergines and green peppers. With those ingredients added to the onions and garlic from our own garden, I managed to make a pretty good ratatouille!
Saturday turned into a major shopping day! In the beginning, it was just a shortish trip to exchange a faulty dust buster for Nicky at a large supermarket in Vic Fezensac . We had allowed ourselves plenty of time as we had heard that ‘after sales service’ and ‘exchange of faulty goods still under guarantee’ is not a strong point in France. How surprised were we then, to be greeted cheerfully (although we quite obviously had something to return) and to be given a replacement immediately with any further fuss. No filling out forms, no quibbling; no details of why and how the appliance didn’t work. Just a very pleasant man who took the one machine and dashed off to find a replacement and that was that. So much for all the rumours!
Of course, we were now inside a fairly big supermarket so it seemed a pity to let it go to waste so we wandered around finding a couple of things that we possibly didn’t really heed, before discovering the clothing section. This is something we both need. Winter stock is just coming in and is exactly what we will need when we return next year. However, we were unlucky at this shop and walked out without any new shirts or jerseys.
Reluctant to come straight home seeing that the weather had cleared up into the most stunning day, we went, first to Eauze where Neels needed some hardware bits and pieces. It was around lunch time by now so we had lunch in a café on the square and watched the world go by. Eauze is a major stopover point on the Route de Compostela, and the Café de France, where we ate is a favourite with the pilgrims, so we often have lunch or a coffee there and listen to all the different languages being spoken. After lunch we explored parts of the town which we had never seen, before taking off on yet another huge detour to get home. Quite fortuitously, this happened to go right past the biggest supermarket we have ever seen so we just to go in and have a look. What a treasure house! Everything one’s heart could ever desire is for sale there, and I suppose one could only compare it with Game in SA but with groceries and perishables. The clothing section is immense and there too, new stock was being packed onto shelves and rails. What fun we had! And came away with jerseys and shirts suitable for a European winter. Or we hope so anyway.
On Sunday the weatherman had changed his mind again and it was cloudy and cool but this didn’t worry us as we were off to watch the Italian Grand Prix on the television in the house we will be occupying next year. It was a good race, and the house was cosy which bodes well for our return.
We have got into the habit of buying a newspaper which comes out monthly called the “French Paper’ It is written in English with news about France and plenty of articles which are of interest to non-French people staying here. On the back page though, are the puzzles and two are our favourites. One is a multiple choice, 30 question quiz about France and French affairs. This is always fun to do and shows just how little we really know! The other is a crossword puzzle with a difference. It is cryptic; some of the answers revolve around a particular department of France (which changes with every puzzle); and to make it even more interesting, if the clue mentions French or France, the answer could be a French word! So the two of us sit at the dining room table surrounded by dictionaries, map books, guide books and anything else that may be of use until we have battled our way to the end. Actually it isn’t really so hard because the answers are on the next page, but we try not to look at them until we are completely foxed! It certainly keeps the unemployed employed!

Adventures in France Episode 19

Last Monday we went off to Nogaro, a medium-sized town about 30 kilometers away, because we had heard and read about an historic Grand Prix that was due to take place there at the end of the week. Apparently Nogaro used to host real Grand Prix races, although it hasn’t done so for quite some years. The track has been well maintained though, and has even been modernized over the years, so in recognition of the fifty years of it’s existence, this historic race was planned. As we are both keen motor racing fans, we thought it could turn out to be quite a fun day, but wanted to check first on where to go, where to buy tickets and where to sit. We found our way to the track quite easily as the signboards were already up, indicating parking for drivers and public. The ‘stands’ are just concrete terraces, so we made a note to bring cushions and an umbrella against the sun. While we were walking around, Neels saw a woman walking purposefully towards the control tower so he intercepted her to ask a few questions about the best places to sit etc. We were delighted to find that she spoke very good English and even more delighted when she invited us to accompany her into the control room. What a surprise! I’m not sure what we had expected, but it wasn’t the very modern set-up we found. This person that we had met quite by chance, turned out to be the race controller and was in charge of a bank of ten TV monitors and all the video cameras around the track. She showed us how, by using a joystick, she could access any of the cameras, move them around, and zoom in and out. Using this method, she showed us where the good places were to sit, and also what our view would be. We must have spent a good half-hour chatting to her and watching her at work. Then we went off to the Circuit Boutique and bought tickets for the following Sunday.
The following day we had invited Nicky to lunch, but a knock on the front door turned out to be Ady with an apron full of tomatoes and peaches for us. We persuaded her to come in for a coffee and while we waited for the kettle to boil, we showed her the photographs we had taken so far. She was quite complimentary about the scenic ones but obviously enjoyed seeing herself on the screen. For a change, she did not rush off but eventually left just in time to go and ring the church bells at twelve o’clock, which was just about the time our lunch guest arrived.
On Wednesday we just pottered about but received an email from our landlords asking Neels to do a few tasks around the house, for which he needed other tools, so the next day we went to borrow suitable bits and pieces from some friends in Aignan. One of the tasks was to install a power socket in the wall at the end of the passage, for which he would need a plug box so we made a big detour to get to the nearest hardware shop. In the old days, these were always made of metal with little push-out circles to allow for wires and conduit, but nowadays they are, unsurprisingly, made of plastic. When we arrived at the till, Neels searched his wallet for some small change, but, finding none, tendered a E20 not to pay for the box which cost E1.10. The cashier sighed and asked if he hadn’t got coins, which we hadn’t, and at that moment the previous customer, who was still packing his purchases into a bag, dug into his pocket and pulled out two 50c pieces and a 10c, said ‘C’est bon?’ and walked off. I think ‘gobsmacked’ would be the right word for what we felt!
The next few days were spent doing our various chores, although I spent most of the time doing my new piece of embroidery, which I am having misgivings about. It is an awful lot of satin stitch, which I am not fond of doing, but I will complete it and probably give the cushion to the Hospice shop!
On Sunday we were up bright and early and were already in our seats by 8.30 am. Racing started soon after and we were treated to a large variety of types and classes of cars. Highlight of the day for me, wasn’t even a scheduled race, but was supposed to be a parade during the lunch break, which was, of course, two hours long. A long line of immaculately presented ‘deux chevaux’ ( Citroen two horse power mini cars ) streamed out of the pit area onto the track and started driving around quite sedately until the one in the front decided to make it into a race. The next minute they were hurtling along looking positively dangerous as they leaned precariously into the corners sometimes lifting a back wheel completely off the ground. By modern standards, they are quite high off the ground; not very wide; and have these ridiculous ‘Marie biscuit’ wheels, all of which tend to make them look even more terrifying. Watching them, we were constantly amazed that they didn’t fall over!
We had a wonderful day, full of excitement and only left after 5.30 in the afternoon feeling we had really had our money’s worth