Chestnuts and Cidre

Today, we have collected a basket of plump chestnuts.

The fire is dying and the chestnuts are being grilled as we sit enjoying Bach, in the semi darkness only illuminated by several small candles.

The chestnuts are blackened so are tipped into a bowl with a big handful of coarse sea salt and are left to 'cook' further under a towel.... and then finally we can enjoy the sweet chestnuts with a glass of crisp dry cidre.

Headless and Flapping

There is a small hamlet a couple of kilometres from us which has five houses and is inhabited by three widows with the average age, as they enthusiastically tell all, of 74.

As I quietly clean the windows of one of our gites listening to the birds and the occasional proud crow of a hen having laid an egg, I hear a slightly disturbing flapping sound and then an agitated cry as the flock of 19 hens is reduced to 18.

Melanie has expertly wrung the hens neck. It is now hanging and flapping uncontrollable from a tree, which is quite accustomed to having hens hanging from its low branches.

Melanie has disappeared to dig some carrots….

Why do French women never get fat ?

It is very rare to see a fat French woman..why ?

The supermarkets sell very similar products to the UK, but there are some differences, more small cakes and sweet breads are sold in France, but these are mainly for children to have as a ‘gouter’ after school. There are slso fewer crisps and chocolate bars for sale in French supermarkets.

So how do French women remain so slim ?

Breakfast usually revolves round a hot chocolate, and any number of things can be ‘dunked’ into this beverage, from bread, croissants to even camembert, so not a slimming start to the day !!.

Lunch, at mid day on the dot, is usually a three course affair, even for mothers with small children.

Four o’clock, a gouter (snack) of a cake, fruit or yoghurt

Then, the main meal at 7.30pm.

I have no answers but they all must have incredibly fast metabolisms !!

Mushrooms

The French love harvesting the wild fruits and vegetables found on the hedgerows and in the local woods and forests. At this time of year you won’t go more than a mile or two without seeing a French man or woman partaking in this national past time, foraging in a ditch for that mushroom which is just out of reach or battling with a prickly chestnut. However, at the end of the day they have a heavy wicker basket full of plump chestnuts, extremely fresh mushrooms, and crisp sweet apples. Many communes traditionally have an orchard and everyone is free to pick up the apples that fall to the ground.. there are not many apples left to rot !!

Green field sites

Our corner of rural France is changing. On 1st October 2007 the house building regulations changed, and this largely means more paperwork.. we are not surprised !!..
There is more and more building land for sale, and at between 5 and 20 euros per metre squared it is possible to find, quite literally a green field upon which to build the perfect home.
Construction companies make it easy for individuals to build their own home and each company has about 50 or 60 different house designs and layouts to suit every requirement and budget.
Therefore in theory it is possible to buy the perfect field and pick up the keys for your new house a year later.... of course making sure that you have first completed all of the paperwork, understand all the small print and have the necessary insurances in place !!

Compromis de Vente

Today we have exchanged contracts on a piece of building land. Although we have bought several houses, this is the first piece of building land we have bought and I wondered if the procedure would be the same as for bricks and mortar. This is also the first time that we have bought anything direct from a notaire (solicitors, employed by the government to act for both the vendor and the purchaser). In the past we have bought through estate agents.

We arrived at the notaires' office, an ugly building with very obtrusive pale green shutters on the out shirts of the town. We waited in the reception while the harassed receptionist answered telephone calls, tried to free the photocopier of a paper jam, dealt with a couple looking to buy a house with 3 bedrooms and a garden suitable for a dog and got up every time someone entered or left the building as the front door never seemed to close properly.

We were soon ushered into the notaires' office, a room with a high ceiling, a large window but so obscured with security bars that it lets in little light and white walls. There is very little furniture, a large desk, three chairs and an open wardrobe which is used as the filing cabinet.

We know the notaire reasonably well as we have used him in all of our previous acquisitions. The Compromis de Vente (sale agreement) is shorter than those we have signed in the past.. 7 pages rather than 13 !!... We explain that we hope, in time, to build three or four houses on the land and that we have met with the Marie, the geometre (land surveyors) and a soil testing company and they have all agreed, that in principle, this is achievable.

We ask for a clause to be inserted into the sale agreement that says that if the soil tests confirm that it is not possible to build on the land then we are not obliged to complete the sale. The notaire agrees wholeheartedly with our suggestion and goes one step further and inserts another clause that states the we are not obliged to complete the sale if it is not possible to build four houses on the land !!.

After signing each page of the Compromis de Vente, we hand over a cheque for the deposit and we were on our way, ensuring that we firmly closed the door on the way out !!

Agricultural Show..The French Way

An agricultural show is an agricultural show where ever you are.. but no, true, there are many similarities, but there are so many differences.
Today, the October mist failed to lift even by mid afternoon, but this seemed to heighten the smells, the noise and the colour at this agricultural fete in a small unknown village in rural Brittany.
A donkey, unwatched by the continual stream of people was quite contentedly ploughing a small area of the field, yet he seemed to 'sit' comfortably next to the modern ploughing equipment on show.
The colours of the gourds, pumpkins and autumnal flowers were superb and the upbeat African music penetrated everywhere.
But, the sense that was working the hardest was the smell.. roasting lamb on an open fire (the health and safety regulations must be a little more relaxed here!!), sausage galettes,couscous with garlic and peppers, bread being baked in wood fired ovens, pasta with chorizo sausage, lentil hotpots, crepes, chocolate fountains with fresh fruit kebabs....

School Governors

A notice has been posted outside the Marie for some weeks now, notifying all, of the date of the elections for the school governors for the forthcoming school year.
Well, I've done it.. I've volunteered to become a deputy school governor.

Jean Paul

A sad day. Jean Paul has died.
Jean Paul was a typical Frenchman, a short man with a stocky build, a thick black moustache and a navy blue beret.
He lived alone and was the village gardener. As the church bells chimed at mid-day, Jean Paul could always be seen making his way home on his blue mobliette with a baguette sticking out of the left hand black leather pannier.

Jean Paul was known and liked by everyone, and on his short ride home from the Marie, he would wave and nod to everyone he passed.

Today was his funeral and the whole village is sombre. Even though I did not know him personally, I too, feel a sense of loss.

Abri opening

Everyone had been invited to the opening of a large porch type construction outside the Marie building. It is really just a roof, there are no sides to this structure, but it provides shelter to those wishing to read the notices posted by the mayor, rain or shine.

We arrived at the designated tome, 11.30, but unfortunately the mayor was delayed, so the speeches didn't start until 12.15... and they didn't stop until 1.05 !!.. Five men in grey suits spoke and finally the tri-colour ribbon was cut and we all drifted out, with kir in hand to admire the new lean to.

French Plumbing

French plumbing.. the occasional whiff of a bad drain, toilets that are so unreliable that little taps are built into them to stop water constantly running through the cistern and regularly blocked drains are but a few of the many problems.

In an attempt to improve the drainage problems, a law was past a couple of years ago to tighten up on the installation of septic tanks. (Mains drainage is still not available in most rural areas) One of the aims of the new legislation is to prevent septic tanks discharging directly into the rainwater ditches, which up until now has been very common practice !!..

Following this new legislation every septic tank is being inspected, regardless of when it was installed, and if it doesn't conform to the current regulations, the homeowner must carry out the necessary works too ensure that it does.

Today, was Inspection Day. A shortish man with blonde hair in a pony tail arrived in his small van, armed with shovel, crowbar, auger and laptop. The inspection was very thorough, and then he completed his report, asking questions as to the location of the run off pipes, the filter and noting all this information on the land registry plans, who installed the tank, when, what was its volume...

Thankfully our tank passed his criteria, and he was soon gathering his now muddy equipment from the kitchen floor and was on his way to our neighbours. From the raised voices, I can now hear I don't think that inspection is proceeding as smoothly as ours !!...

L'Amicale

My first PTA meeting. For the last four years I have stepped very carefully round the tight cluster of women that run L'Amicale (Parent and Teachers Association) - but now it is time to take the plunge..

The first meeting is to discuss the school Christmas play, and how money can be raised to pay for additional school equipment or maybe a trip out for the children.

In previous years, there has been a stall selling handicrafts made by the parents, but the materials required are becoming more and more expensive that these handicrafts are almost unviable. My thoughts were that this theme could be expanded to include a cake stall, a tombola, Lucky Dip etc etc.

I tentatively mention these proposals to a couple of the other mothers, who looked mildly surprised, or perhaps it was amusement and couldn't quite understand why you would want to buy a cake to take home.. surely you could make a cake at home...

The evening of the meeting came, and it soon became quite clear that the only ideas that the small 'inner circle' really wanted were centred on the handicrafts, should we make Christmas tree decorations or paint small canvases.

At this point, I decided not to mention the 'rat in the drainpipe' game !!!!....