France 2014 Number 16

And so, as our holiday in France draws to a close once again, we have time to look back on all the memories we have made – places we’ve been, people we’ve met and things we have done and seen. We have certainly been extraordinarily blessed in meeting and knowing so many people here. People who are not only very kind and hospitable but who open their homes to us even when they are not there themselves. I sometimes wonder if they ever  realise just how much richness they add to our holiday experience. Staying in hotels around the country would certainly be another way of doing things but only by living in a village, amongst the locals, can one really experience the local culture. And it is this that brings back to France time after time.

This year we visited a new area – the Charente – where we had visited briefly last year and the year before that, but this year our two month stay there gave us far more time to get to know new friends. We were also able to join in with some of the community events which drew us even further into the local lifestyle, and which we enjoyed immensely.

Every week we have religiously bought a lottery ticket for the French National Lottery, (not the Euromillions, we are not greedy) hoping that by supporting the national game, we might have a better chance of winning! We tell ourselves that if we won a huge sum of money we would just stay here and not go home, but luckily we haven’t had to make that decision and our total winnings over the four months has been the grand sum of six Euros. It’s a nice dream, but only that. Moving away from South Africa at our age would be ridiculous and extremely difficult, but we have nothing against dreaming. Meanwhile, for as long as possible, we will holiday here each year, enjoying it hugely but always knowing that at a set date we would return to our own house and home.

Since we arrived back in Espas, our home-from-home, the good weather that we enjoyed in the eastern half of the country disappeared, and to start with it was very cold and miserable. After a while though, days became warmer and today is a whopping 30 degrees. During the past week, we have done very little but we did take a very pleasant amble along some of the country roads that we have not explored before.

Starting from the house, we took the ‘back’ road to Manciet and then went on to St Christie d’Armangnac, a little place slightly off the road that we would normally whizz past. Here we found probably the oldest chateau and church combination that we have seen. Neither were terribly attractive, the church was, surprisingly, locked and both were in a shocking state of decay. At some stage, the two buildings had been joined by a second story gallery, no doubt so that the Lord of the Manor could attend the services without getting his feet wet, but what a sad sight. Parked in the  portal of the church was one of those old horse drawn hearses with the coffin stands for use inside the church, standing alongside. It was in remarkably good condition, and having seen so many of them, I begin to wonder if they are still in use.

Continuing along our chosen route we ambled along through the prettiest countryside. The wheat fields and vineyards are lush and green at the moment, while the maize is just starting to appear. The Gers landscape is one of soft rolling hills with patches of natural forest in the gullies. It really is one of the most attractive areas of France.

We must have driven through about four little villages and a number of tiny hamlets before we came to Monguilhem at about lunchtime. This is quite a large village with a sizeable square surrounded by the usual plane trees. When we got there though, the square had been covered over with a deep layer of sand and wooden walls had been erected all around, with grand-stands outside that. Being ever nosy, we climbed the stairs that led to the stands and discovered that the square had been converted into a bull-ring. Had we been going to watch, I would have opted for a seat on the top row of the stands as the walls looked far too flimsy for my liking. In any case, the bull fighting was only planned for Monday, which is Pentecost. I have no idea why, but Easter and Pentecost are the two big bull fighting occasions around here. And they don’t kill the bulls – they just annoy them and the bull fighters get chased around.

The town also has a very old church which was re-dedicated in about the 1850’s to Our Lady of Salette after two children had a vision of the Virgin and were given important messages to broadcast to the world. I looked it up on the internet and the messages were mainly about living a good life, in the religious sense, and encouraging world peace.

We found a delightful restaurant to have lunch in before ambling home again taking a slightly different road back. Tomorrow is going to be busy as we try to squeeze everything back into the suitcases it arrived in, which always seems to be a battle, and then on Tuesday we will take the car to our friends house where it lives in the garden until we return, and then they will take us to the airport to catch our plane to South Africa. And so comes to an end the latest Cannyvanners blog.

France 2014 Number 15

Since our return from Breil to Lezignan,  Neels had been hard at work finishing off all the little maintenance jobs that he was doing around the house. Some of them were not so little, like fixing a major leak in an inlet water pipe, and others were quite trivial, like repairing the wooden slatted plate rack that had lost one of its slats. They all took time though. However, by Tuesday evening practically all the jobs were complete and we could look forward to a stroll around the market the following morning. Lezignan market is always worth while as it is one of the bigger markets and the stalls have a huge range of items for sale – fruit and veg, of course, but also clothes, toys, hardware, haberdashery, fabrics, electronic goods, cell phones, flowers and seedlings, fresh fish, meat and bakery goods – to name just a few. The stalls spread out from the centre of town, up and down all the side streets, and one could wander almost all day and still miss a couple of stalls. We had just gone to look, but when we saw the man selling cell phones and accessories, Neels nipped back home and got his phone which has needed a new battery for ages, and found the right one to replace it. And at a reasonable price.

The rest of the day was spent trying to get all our clothes back into the suitcases ready for the onward trip the following morning. It was at about this time that we discovered that our faithful ‘Jane’ had died. At first we thought it was also just battery problems, but when nothing would bring the device back to life, we realised that without a Tom-Tom there could be real problems ahead! The first part of the trip would be no trouble as it involved taking our hostess to the airport at Carcassonne, and since she has done the trip many times, she would be able to guide us there.

As expected, getting to the airport was easy although I have to say that without our guide we would never have found it. The French have this really annoying habit of pointing you in the right direction with a big clear sign, and then never giving you any more information  about the place you are trying to find. Having dropped her off and found our way out of the airport again, we drove around  a couple of circular scenic routes until we finally got on to the right road to take us towards Toulouse. We had decided not to use the motorway, but to take the more attractive ‘old’ road which runs almost parallel, but the closer we got to Toulouse and its complicated ring road, the more nervous we got and finally when we saw a sign pointing towards the motorway, we took it. We missed ‘Jane’ terribly and were both a bundle of nerves after a very short time. So many signs to watch for and so much traffic! And they all seem to know exactly where they are going, and all travel at great speed. But we made it and were soon on the stretch of road we know very well and heading for our home-from-home at Espas. On the way, we stopped in Auch which has lovely big shops, to buy a few groceries and while we were there, we thought we would treat ourselves to a new Tom-Tom. Well, it wasn’t so much a treat as a necessity – it was either that or a divorce – and the Tom-Tom was on special anyway!!

When we got to the house we found that someone had been in and cleaned everything beautifully and had even left some flowers in a vase for us, the frig was running and the water was hot. Wonderful. We unpacked a few things, had a quick supper and fell into bed. But before we could fall asleep, there was an ominous scampering and pattering of little feet on what seemed to be the ceiling, so we blocked our ears, deciding that whatever was up there could wait until the morning. By morning though, tenants in the roof took second place to the frig which had turned into a freezer overnight and frozen everything solid. Isn’t it strange how cucumber is never the same when it thaws out as it was before it was frozen.

So it was off to the supermarket again to restock, where we met my cousin and she ended up having lunch with us, which was lovely and we all had a good natter, but it was quite late when we found time to investigate our unwelcome guests. Having dealt with these creatures – stone-martens – before, we were not thrilled with the idea of doing it again so were delighted when we could find no sign of them in the main loft. But there were still scrabbling sounds coming from another part of the roof, a sloping, lean-to type of roof with very little space between the tiles and the ceiling, and definitely no chance of even seeing what might be in there. In the end, Neels stood underneath that section of ceiling and every time there was  a sound he banged the ceiling with a broom handle. They seem to have got the message as it has been quite silent since Saturday morning and it is now Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, while hunting for beasties in the roof, we came across an electric timer. On closer inspection Neels found it was defective but managed to fix it and we now have the frig-turned-freezer plugged into it so that it runs for two hours and then is off for two hours, and it seems to be fine. It will certainly do for the short time we will be here.

Since we arrived back in the Gers the fine weather we were enjoying on the eastern side of the country has disappeared and we are back into winter clothes. We haven’t quite got to the point where we switch on the electric blanket, but it is very close. It’s a good time for reading and relaxing but certainly gives a new meaning to ‘chilling out’!