Pagnol Country

Santons by Daniel Scaturro

With Christmas coming up I think of Santons, those little characters you see all over France these days forming crèches or window displays, in shops and houses. Whilst they have kind of taken over the whole of the country, they are in fact from Provence and traditionally were made of the inside of a loaf of bread, squished between your fingers and rolled and prodded into shape, left to dry and then painted. The traditional Christmas characters are depicted but actually in the olden days it was more likely to be the butcher, baker and candlestick maker whose images were reproduced. Just looking at them and looking at the traditional Provencal scene created in the photo I found on the internet (from a blog of a Santon maker santons-creches-danielscaturro.blogspot.fr/) takes me back to our last holiday in Pagnol country.

Inside the church, then and now

I love Marcel Pagnol’s books, they are very easy to read, the stories are excellent and the images he invokes are so vivid. He was born and brought up in the heart of Provence, just north of Marseille and the sights and smells of Provence ooze out of almost every word he wrote. I have always thought of him as a novelist, but interestingly Pagnol was a film maker first. He didn’t write my favourite novels (Jean de Florette and Manon de Sources) until ten years after he had made the films of them, even though the most famous filmings of these books nowadays, are the Claude Berri versions made in the late 80s.

When we were in Provence in September, we decided to go on a Jean de Florette hunt. As this was a spur of the moment decision, sitting on a warm terrace, watching the sun go down behind the hills of the Luberon, we didn’t have time to do too much research. Out came the laptop and I put Google to work. The next day we were off to see the church and the fountain which were just down the road, the other locations were too far for a day trip.

Outside the church then and now

 

Interestingly the inside and outside of the church are not in the same village, in fact the two churches are not anything like the same shape, which is rather bizarre. The inside is in Ansouis a lovely, attractive village perched over the planes and the outside is in a village called Vaugines, a rather boring but traditional village in the hills. When I saw the inside of the church, I had no sensation of being anywhere special, just another Provencal church and not a very nice one at that, but as soon as I saw the outside of the church in Vaugines it was obvious where we were, we were with César and Delphine as she told him the secret that had been kept from all those years. Who can ever forget that scene in the film as César’s world comes tumbling down round his ears as he finds out that his revengeful and narcissistic actions have destroyed the one thing that he always wanted. As I walked up to the front of that church, I was there.

The fountain then and now?

The other place I wanted to visit was the village square with its fountain, which according to Google was also in Vaugines. However, when I saw the fountain I was a bit surprised, it didn’t remind me of the film at all, the fountain had become horribly overgrown with moss and didn’t seem to be either the same shape or have the same number of spouts as I remembered, even the square didn’t look right, but I took the photo anyway, to show I had been there.

On arriving home, we watched the films again and sure enough the village didn’t look the slightest bit like Vaugines, mainly I suppose because it wasn’t Vaugines at all, it was a village just down the road from there called Mirabeau. Oh dear, looks like we will have to back to Provence again to get that fountain picture and while I’m there I will have to stock up on some Santons for next year’s Christmas display.

Christmas nears

Cormatin decorations

Almost everywhere you go at the moment the build up to Christmas is evident. Every village and town has a Christmas market of local food goodies and handicrafts, all vying for your Christmas Euros. The supermarkets are stocking up on huge quantities of chocolate, foie gras, exotic fruit and vegetables along with the apparently unmissable shell fish and salmon.  Decorations are going up and the nativity scene in Taizé is working its way to the big day.

Rose in our front garden

But somehow it doesn’t feel at all like almost the end of the year. The weather is warmer than it should be. Last night the thermometer only dropped down to 8 degrees (Celsius for those Americans who might actually think that 8 degrees is cold!) and we would normally expect to be having frost at this time of year. I could not believe it when I saw some buds on the roses in our front garden the other day and even more so when one of them opened up this morning - in mid-December?

Our post box is filling up with cards from around the world - it is always nice to hear from friends far and near. All our cards are now in the post, there just remains the last one or two presents to sort. That’s this week’s job, along with preparing food for parties we are going to as well as making sure we are adequately stocked ourselves for the holiday season. So we are sort of on schedule.

Shepherds arrive

We took some time off from Christmas preparations to visit the Nativity scene in Taizé this afternoon and despite the donkey, it lacks something this year. It is all very static and the only change since last week is that some bland cut-out shepherds have arrived, but that is about it. I really liked the live chickens last year, they stayed all through Advent and kept the stable scene looking like a stable all week and the somewhat amateurish models of the main characters, really added some life to the whole scene.

Advent wreath

Sadly this year there are also no bible verses to contemplate and no changing scenes to mark the Christmas journey which is a real pity, as it is the only set of decorations that really mark the meaning of Christmas for miles around. Don’t get me wrong I love our village Smurfs and Snow White is always a welcome addition to the cold damp streets of Cormatin, but Christmas should be more than Walt Disney and other cartoons.

I think I should take a little contemplative pause in preparations as the pink candles of Joy are lit around the world.

All new in Cormatin

The Rêv'othèque

The beginning of December heralded the long awaited opening of the Rêv’othèque in Cormatin as well as the surprise opening of a new shop, a delicatessen.

I have heard stories of the Rêv’othèque since the owner was complaining about the plasterer failing to meet his promised timescales and the summer opening having to be delayed, but I had no idea what it would be. All that I could deduce was that the name itself is a play on words. In French a library is a biliothèque, a video library is a videothèque and so a Rêv’othèque is a place you can go to, to find your dreams - rêves.

This idea has been conjured up by a chap who has two old wooden gypsy-style caravans full of games, which he mans at local events. You can go into these lovely caravans and play with all the bits and pieces he has on offer. So I knew that the Rêv’othèque would be something along similar lines, but I couldn’t imagine what. When we were collecting our pre-ordered petit salé (lentils with meats) which were being sold for charity outside the church this Saturday (Téléthon day) we decide we would go and see what Christian had made of his dream. The inside of the building has been kitted out with games and “dreaming” areas where you can sit and read a book, or dream a few hours away, hanging chairs, hanging “rooms”, you name he has got it. I can’t really put into words what it is like and there is just so much in there you can’t take a decent photo, so you will just have to go and visit for yourself.

New deli in Cormatin

The new shop opening was a big surprise. When we went to the parade for 11th November, we saw that work was going on in a shop that has been vacant for a number of years. No one seemed to know what was happening, until the end of November when a notice appeared in the window saying that a delicatessen was going to open up on 1st December. After visiting the Rêv’othèque, we went to try them out. He still hasn’t got all his stock, but he had an interesting collection of deli-like things and he has a double length fridge counter full of cold meats, patés and pre-cooked meals. We knew that the butcher was to re-open in the spring also selling cold meats and ready meals along with more traditional butcher fare and the existing grocer is changing hands too in the spring, so Cormatin it becoming an interesting food shopping town. Let’s hope that there is enough clientele to go round. If this new deli keeps up with the quality of stuff he sold to us, he should have a good number of repeat customers.

Eyes of God

Marry and Joseph in the stable

Last but not least, December wouldn’t be December without the arrival of the nativity scene at Taizé. This year Mary and Joseph look rather orthodox and I must say Joseph looks a tad miserable, but it was rather cold up on the hill on Sunday, so I can see why. They have ditched the usual journey on a donkey and Mary and Joseph are already in situ. This year the theme seems to be American Indian with traditional “eyes of God” being hung up around the stall like stars in the sky. These “eyes of God” are found amongst the Huichol Indians in Mexico, the Aymara in Bolivia and the Navajo in North America and they are placed on altars in churches to protect the praying congregation - a Christian form of dream catchers. The chaps and chapesses, who have been busy making them, have done a lovely job, these “eyes” look very attractive as stars over the crèche scene.

I'm now looking forward to all the new things that next week will bring.


For information on holiday accommodation near the Taizé nativity scene click here.

Train strikes and a weekend away

Bourges cathedral

When Cees’ son said he wanted to visit a guitar restorer in France, we were excited about the idea of meeting up with him for a weekend.  But things never go to plan do they? The weekend of our sortie was chosen and the accommodation almost booked, it was only our rather slow decision making that held that up. This delay was rather fortuitous, as just over a week before we were due to go, I heard on the radio that the French railways were holding a strike, the weekend of our trip. This would make Cees’ son’s journey from the airport in Paris impossible. A lot of quick work, on his part to change flights and on our part to find a new gîte, resulted in our trip to the Berry last weekend - all organised in one day, the day before our departure.

Monastery of Noirlac

Bourges was a real find. It has a beautiful cathedral with some stunning stained glass windows and porticos and the rest of this attractive town is well worth a wander round on a nice day, however, the cold and damp got the better of us there and after lunch we headed off to see the most intact of the Cistercian monasteries in France - we were not disappointed. . A cellist was making a recording in the Scriptorium and the music resonated around the whole Abbey while we were there.

Church at Le Menoux

The next day we had a list of Romanesque churches to visit, all of which were worth the visit and all of which were open, always a bonus. In amongst the church tour, I managed to slip in a visit to a church I had seen in the guide book, La Menoux. The church from the outside is not worth a photo, it is a boring neo-something, the guide book describes it as “banale” which summed it up for me. But when you open the door you are confronted with an assault on your visual senses. A resident of the village, Mr Carassco an artist originally from Bolivia, has painted the ceilings and I mean really painted them. A quote from him in the description of this stunning work of art “Art is love, love is life and life has to be lived not just gone through.” True to his own words, this work of art is not just there, is it really alive even though it was painted about forty years ago.

The ending of our weekend away had a nasty twist when our car started emitting smoke as we drove down the motorway. Fortunately I cut the engine immediately as we cruised to a holt and the fledgling fire put itself out otherwise things could have been an awful lot worse. It turned out that the motor to the windscreen washers had shorted and started to burn, very scary and not to be repeated. I could write a whole blog about the numerous telephone conversations I had to have before we could get someone to tow us off the motorway, if the car had been on fire it would have been a gonner before the emergency services had accepted that there was actually an exit number 23 and quite frankly whether we were in Saône-et-Loire or Allier (we were actually 200 meters from the border) didn’t seem awfully relevant to me at that moment in time. Maybe I should buy a Michelin map for the police in S-et-L, so that they can locate the next person with a burning car at exit 23 direction Macon on the N79, it really does exist!

Jamon Iberico de Bellota

So an inauspicious end to our weekend away with our car being towed to a breakers yard in Digoin. There is a however a happy ending, the car was relatively easily repaired and back on the road after a couple of days with only a slight trace of “eau-de-burned-plastic”.

We and our car are now back at home along with a lovely souvenir from Spain that Cees’ son had brought for us to enjoy chez-nous. So today for lunch we had artisanally dried ham, hand-cut from the bone, served on fresh French bread with ripe mini-tomatoes. La vie est belle!

Normalement

Autumn has arrived

Autumn is well and truly upon us, finally all the leaves are falling and we have been bathed in fog for weeks. Today however, the sun has come out at last, to match my mood, you see yesterday I received a phone call I have been waiting for, for months.

Just as a glimmer of hope started to peak through the fog, I received the news that my Christmas present had arrived! Since last Christmas I have been searching for something to spend my Christmas money on and I finally found just what I wanted late in September. I have been searching all year, but the models available were too small or too big or not the right shape or, or, or, the list goes on, but at the end of September a leaflet dropped into our letterbox with just the thing I wanted. We rushed straight round to the shop in question to view what they had, only to find that, even though they were supposed to be on offer that week, there were none in the shop. One could be ordered for me and it would be in next week “normalement”.

Christmas present still wrapped

Anyone who has ever had dealings with the French and their “normalement” will know what that means. Next week came and went as did the following week. I chased them up after a month and they said, “oh do you still want one, we thought as the order had taken so long you might not be interested anymore” . Why not ask in future - I mumbled under my breath as I assured them I was very interested. It will be in next week “normalement”.

Two weeks ago I phoned again and was told that it would be in mid-November. “Normallement?” I asked, yes normalement. I went in to the shop on the 14th and was told that it would arrive mid-November (they know me and my order by now without having to look up the paperwork) I suggested that it was now mid-November what with it being the 14th and all, to which they agreed with a look of surprise, but still no item to be collected. So you can imagine my excitement when I received “The Call”. I was in the car and round to the shop before they could say “normalement”.

We paid at the till with the crisp notes that had been in my Christmas envelop since last year and were told to collect my present at the big gate. Along came a forklift truck with a pallet and more than 100kg of Christmas present. We looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Firstly, we hadn’t realised it would be that big and secondly, even if this burly chap could get it in the car, how the heck would we get it out at the other end? Never mind, we’re intelligent enough creatures, we will find a way.

Using our combined engineering skill base, we did manage to get it out of the car without either of us slipping a disk and there we had it - 100kg of log splitter, in a box, in our vide.

In action..

Now what? Open the top of the box to read the instructions. The first instruction is how to get it out of the box, which should have been done before putting it upright. How do you find that out, without the instructions which you can’t access until it is upright? We ad-libbed. The assembly went smoothly until I had two pieces left over which did not appear anywhere in the instructions - fortunately their website shed some light those and within a jiffy it was ready to roll.

So now to try it out, I dusted off my steel toe-capped boots and found my face protector and heavy gloves and set to. Dah dah, I managed to split a log and here’s the photo to prove it.

Now I have a couple more logs to sort out….

Wine tasting in the Beaujolais?

Vineyards in summer

I have been told off by a number of friends for never having been wine tasting in the Beaujolais. We have been into the vineyards a number of times and have seen numerous villages and some lovely sites, but have never tasted a drop in situ.

On 1st November we headed off yet again into the Beaujolais because there was an exhibition of jazz paintings - no I didn’t know what that would mean either. The reason being that Cees is a jazz fan and the icing on the cake was that the exhibition was in an ex-Romanesque church, what better combination could he dream of? For me the bigger reason was that this ex-church had been turned into a wine cellar. Ah ha, at last a drop of Beaujolais!

Door firmly shut

We arrived at the cellar in Julienas after lunch (because everything round here shuts for lunch) only to find the door firmly locked. The poster on the door (that I was too annoyed at to take a photograph of) said clearly that the exhibition started on 1st November and ran every day except Tuesdays until the 30th December. It wasn’t a Tuesday, but it was a bank holiday, which obviously they had forgotten when they made the poster and sent round all their advertising material. It was very clear that they had no intention of opening, much to the disappointment of a number of other people who were standing there shaking all the doors to this ex-church, turned wine cellar and exhibition room. At about an hour’s drive away I was not impressed at this bad organisation and I would have happily given it a miss, but Cees talked me into going on another day, not a Tuesday, not a bank holiday, this Saturday morning.

Non-jazz wall painting

Low and behold (and to my relief and surprise) the door of the ex-church was open and in we went. The huddle of old men around the bar didn’t even grunt a reply to my “Bonjour!” - obviously they don’t use words like that round there. And there they were, the paintings. Let’s put this in perspective, by the time we had driven home, we would have driven a total of four hours to see these things (2 trips of 1 hour back and 1 hour forth) and if I had known beforehand, I wouldn’t have driven into Cormatin for them. We did our bit however and stood and looked at them, but they weren't worth a photo.

Quick exit

The whole ambiance was unwelcoming, despite the cheerful painting on the wall, so we said “au revoir” to the huddle of old men and left. They grunted something back, so they obviously spoke some form of French.

To get a photo of the offending poster for this blog, I have been looking on the internet and can’t find one, but I did find the website for the cellar in question and I found out that you have to pay to have a tasting. Thank goodness I hadn’t asked for one while I was there or I would have been more than a tad upset. Obviously they are not confident enough in their product, to allow you to taste it for free.

So wine tasting in the Beaujolais was not a great success and we won’t be trying it again and we also won’t be trying this year’s over-hyped Beaujolais Nouveau when it comes out on Thursday, although I must give it to them, they certainly know how to maximise their financial return.

Henri Lafarge - he'll make you welcome!

I am so glad that our local wine producers are confident enough in their product to know that it will sell without hype and without charging their customers to taste. We are very lucky to live where we do, very close to some of the best wine producers around, Henri Lafarge, Peter Gierszewski and Christophe Perrin - why not have a tasting when you visit the area, free of charge and you won’t be disappointed. They know that anyone who comes in to taste can not possibly leave without a couple of cases of their nectar, it is far too good.

Cows

Cows everywhere

This Saturday, ie the Saturday nearest to the 11th of November, Cluny becomes one great big party zone. It is the feast of Saint Martin. Quite why there are a lot of cows involved is a mystery to me, but there are.

This year we decided to visit a different cow before heading into Cluny. We have found an electronic cow, or mechanical cow, I am not sure quite how I should describe it, but in any case, it is a brilliant invention.

Electronic cow

A few weeks ago, we spotted a machine outside a supermarket in Prissé (not far from Macon) which dispenses milk. Not just any milk, but local, fresh, non-pasteurised, non-sterilised milk - real milk straight from the cow. Being a huge milk drinker and being very particular about the type of milk he drinks, Cees was very excited and so we decided to take a bottle and try it out. Here is the video to prove it. The sound effects were a delightful bonus…

Just what you need on a cold winter's evening

According to our aficionado, the milk is absolutely delicious, not tampered with, the way mother nature intended us to have it. Me, I am more excited about the price, at 1 Euro a litre it is by far the cheapest milk for miles around. A win/win in our household!

Following all that excitement we headed back to Cluny where the town was one great big chaotic party. All the tourists are gone, the holiday season is over and the party is just for the locals. The weather usually turns on about the 15th of November, so everyone comes out to celebrate what is normally the last weekend before the winter sets in. At least I know now where to get some good milk to make that late night cocoa to keep me warm in the months to come.

For information on holiday accommodation near a real milk machine click here.

My very own saint.

This is not Saint George despite the dragon

As most people probably know, every saint has his or her own domain and responsibilities. For instance good old George looks after us English as well as those from Barcelona, not to mention 20 other countries, 22 other cities, as well as of the Scouting Movement and a wide range of professions, organizations, and disease sufferers including leprosy, plague, herpes and syphilis.

But apart from being English, I don’t feel a particular link to him. In fact when I started visiting local churches, it surprised me to find out that the chap I had been identifying as St George all this time, was in fact Saint Michael.

Sain Curé

I can now admit that the only saint that I recognised correctly when we started visiting catholic churches, was Joan of Arc, the rest I have had to learn over time. For instance the weird looking priest whose head leans forward a bit like Scrooge is the Saint Curé d’Ars who is the patron saint of priests and who comes from a small town not far from here, the monk dressed in brown with a small child on his shoulder is Saint Anthony patron the saint who helps you find lost items, not to be confused with the Saint Anthony with the pig who it seems you take your pig to, to be blessed or so I was told the other day by someone showing us around his church.

In the sculptures or images, each saint is depicted in the same way every time, with the same features, so that you can easily identify him or her. I have slowly learned their names, some but not all have plaques, sometimes there are helpful old ladies in the churches to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, sometimes I can find the name by looking in the handy brochures left in the church or sometimes they take a lot of research on the internet when I get home. There are however a small cluster of saints who remain in my photo collection as still unnamed.

Who is he?

Let’s go back to my faux-pas with George to show how this works. He is usually depicted killing a dragon. Inside churches he is normally without a horse, but outside he tends to be sitting on a horse. In my ignorance I assumed that all dragon killers were George, but that is not the case, it appears that Michael killed a dragon or two as well, hence my confusion. So how do you tell the difference? If there is a horse, then it is obviously George, but without one you have to look further. I’ll put you out of your misery - Michael is the one with wings because not only is he a saint but he is an angel as well.

It certainly makes visiting churches an interesting puzzle at times. Now when I enter a church, I scan the saints for unknown ones, I photograph them for my collection and then try and find out who they are. Surprisingly even after all these years, we still run across a saint I do not know the name of. My latest unknown saint is this chappy. When I Googled “saint with watering can and shovel” I ended up with pictures of garden gnomes, which made me smile, but did not send me in the right direction as it could have done - I was stumped actually.

Google option

Then I thought to ask Cees the name of the church and all was revealed, the church was Saint Fiacre. When I looked him up it appears that he is normally pictured holding a shovel. Problem solved. So what is he responsible for? Well he is the patron saint of “those who grow vegetables and medicinal plants, and of gardening in general” (a Wikipedia quote) a saint after my own heart.

So when I am next out tending my garden, I will be thinking of my very own patron saint and I must say I prefer the idea of him looking over me than that of a dragon killer who I can’t always identify.



For information on our holiday accommodation surrounded by a lovely garden click here.

Changes on the Campsite

Since we started the campsite, 8 years ago, we have been constantly changing things in response to comments from the campers and changing things as we saw opportunities to improve the campsite, its facilities and the whole camping experience. It has always been our aim is to create a campsite that we would want to stay on. We wanted a simple campsite, with no frills, but one or two extra comforts. Hence the generous toilet facilities, the fridge, the freezer and telephone loading points, but no electricity on the site itself.

Originally we allowed caravans and campervans as we thought that if those campers were prepared to accept the lack of electricity, they were the type of people who would appreciate what we are offering, simplicity in peaceful surroundings. Sadly we discovered that the weight of caravans and campervans is such that we can’t permit them on the site, so we have been a tent only campsite now for a few years. It raised a few eyebrows when said we were not going to have any electricity on the site and it raised a few more eyebrows when we made the change to no caravans, but both ideas have have been sucessful and have been appreciated by the campers who come here.

Now it is time for the next big change.

Car park for the campsite

Our favourite campsite in The Netherlands in Loenen, was the model for what we wanted to create in France. We have followed most of their principles, but for whatever reason, we didn’t think that their policy of no cars on the site was a goer here in France. Having said that some damp summers have shown us that we can run the campsite successfully in this way and so from next year we are not only an electricity-free zone, but a car-free zone as well.

The car park has been spruced up since the summer, with measured and marked spaces and we have been looking round for the best way to help the campers transport their belongings from this new car park to their chosen camping spot. Thanks to Cees’ daughter and son-in-law, we have now come up with a brilliant solution.

New Brouettes

So here is a photo of Cees and me modelling the “his and hers” brouettes, just waiting for the first campers of our next season to use them to transport their camping gear.

I am sure our new policy will raise a few eyebrows yet again, but I am equally sure that our campers will appreciate what this will bring. Peace, quiet, your own tent and nature - what more could you ask of a campsite?


For more information see our website by clicking here.

Picnics, Buddhists and Magnificent Churches

When we have visitors to stay we always try and take them to places they have never been to do and do things they don’t normally do. When Cees’ daughter arrived with her partner, we had to think up a nice day out with something for everyone.

In my opinion, a day out wouldn’t be a day out without a picnic, so off we went to get to Digoin in time for lunch at one of our favourite picnic spots, the Pont-canal. This is where the Canal Lateral à la Loire crosses the Loire to enable the canal network to be connect through to the Canal du Centre. There are some nice benches there and a lovely view of the bridge and the fast flowing waters of the Loire. An excellent place to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

After lunch we headed to another of our favourites, the Temple of the Thousand Buddhas at La Boulaye. Maybe it is not the first place you would take visitors to give them a sample of Burgundian life and culture, but it is such a special place, it is well worth the trip.

Finally on the return leg of our journey, we were passing close by Perrecy les Forges and since that church has been reopened, after a five year closure for refurbishment, I can’t tire of making a quick visit. We are not the only ones either. Every time we visit, there are always one or two locals who pop in for a few minutes, possibly like us to enjoy the majesty of the place, but also to take a look to make sure that it hasn’t been closed again. This time Cees’ daughter got chatting to an old lady who was more than keen to tell her all about the place.

After a successful day out., we headed home to have one final dinner en famille before they headed home.


For information about holiday accommodation near all of these places click here.

Dirty Deeds?

Cluny cinema provides us with at least one outing a month, if not more. It has a great selection of interesting films, not your usual Hollywood pap, but lots of English films and the more arty American films. We have also seen less popular, but nonetheless very interesting, French films and even a Tibetan film once.

In February every year they dedicate a week to Chinese films and they have a smattering of other interesting films from around the globe, most often in the original version (ie not dubbed which I despise) with French subtitles. In short we look forward to our monthly email from the cinema. Well actually we look forward to our monthly letter from one person, Anne Krief, the mythical woman who sends out the emails. We had no idea who she was, or even if she existed, until quite recently, but her mails were awaited with eager anticipation, along with the weekly updates to remind us of the films we might just have forgotten about.

Comfortable cinema

Anne has worked for the cinema as a volunteer for the best part of 10 years I think. She chooses and organises the delivery of the films and makes sure that we, the viewing public, have an interesting selection of good films to see. At the beginning of September, after all those years of doing this work for nothing, she was offered a contract to be paid part-time for the work. Finally a small reward for all her years of dedication, or was it a poisoned chalice?

housed in the histroic St Hugues stables

Last night we received an email from her which saddened me immensely and made me very cross. Her contract to work for the cinema was being cancelled after the one month trial period. So as from 1st October she no longer works for the cinema for free or paid. This all smacks of nasty work to me, how can someone who works for free, for so long and provides an excellent service to the likes of us, someone we appreciate and admire for their efforts, suddenly be no longer required after one month of being paid?

All I can say is beware of Greeks bearing gifts, or should I say Algerians. Enough said. We will miss Anne very much.

As You Like It

One of the best albums ever made - but is it suitable for mass?

I have had a pet theory for a while - that the priests round here seem to make things up as they go along during a service. Being an English Anglican - where things are well organised - you get a book when you enter the church and you just follow the instructions. Sometimes there is an either/or option and depending on the church you go to, they may take a course you are not used to, but, if you remain on the ball, you can follow things.

The church services I have been since we moved to France (excluding Taizé which is extremely well organised) you get given what could loosely be called an order-of-service sheet when you enter. This piece of paper serves to give you the songs to be sung (I refuse to call many of the offerings put before me, hymns) and a rough guide as to what might or might not happen. Then it appears that the priest does and says what the heck he likes. The songs are not necessarily sung in the order given on the sheet and as to the instructions, well forget it. The one Protestant church service I went to, I failed to spot the God link at all. Don’t get me wrong I am a great fan of Pink Floyd and Shine On You Crazy Diamond is my all time favourite, but how that fits into a religious service is slightly lost on me.

Whilst I have shared my theory with our church-going French neighbours, I have tended to get blank looks, as though it is obviously me that doesn’t get it. Well this is France and things are different, so I suppose it is just me and I certainly don’t get it. But now I know I am right and I have the proof!

We spent a few days in Provence and we visited the Basilica of St Maxime la Sainte Baume, reputedly the last resting place of Saint Mary-Magdalene. The church itself was not that spectacular and I am not a great fan of looking at caskets full of bones no matter who they reputedly belong to, but there was a notice in the church that I just have to share with you.

Proof !

Rather freely translated it welcomes visiting priests to the church to pray and to say mass if they like. However there is a condition, that they stick to the words given in “the book”. Ah ha, so there is a book, there are proper words and priests must be commonly making it up as they go along otherwise there would be no need to politely remind them to do things according to the liturgy or to not to do them at all.

So bravo to St Maxime la Sainte Baume for sticking to your guns and demanding that things are done properly. Sadly there was no mass said the day we were there so I couldn’t experience a French service along official lines. Next time we are near there, I will make sure I go on a Sunday.

Away for a couple of days and look what happens

Much loved logo of our favourite supermarket

We went off to Provence for a short break (don’t worry I’ll bore you with the details in a later blog) and we have come back to a very unwelcome surprise. They have changed our supermarket. I don't mean just reorganised it a bit, I mean totally changed it. The Intermarché we have loved and been loyal to for the last nine years is no more and Carrefour have invaded its hallowed space. No warning, no thought for the trauma it could inflict upon returning holidaymakers who just want to buy some oranges, milk and eggs for their first breakfast at home – oh no, they couldn’t care less.

It had been a difficult journey home in horrendous weather conditions and arriving, as we did, when the Friday afternoon rush started in the supermarket, with staff and shoppers alike looking bemused at what was going on, probably wasn’t maybe the best of times to be trying out the place

Temporary banner proclaiming the change - nice trolley though

We bumped into a friend in the supermarket who was equally lost, in fact she had returned from her holiday on Wednesday to find the shop totally shut and today she, like us, was struggling to find the simplest of things. The poor woman at the till, was battling with the new computer system trying to find the price for our oranges, or even to find the right button to get the fruit price-list. Did the staff know in advance I wonder? Or was it just as much of a surprise to them as it was to us?

Carrefour is not my favourite supermarket, they are expensive and the quality is not always what it should be, so the Tuilerie jury is out on this one. I hate to change my habits, but I can feel a change of supermarket coming on. Even though I detest the Atac car park, the aisles are far too narrow and the floor looks like it hasn't been changed since the place was built in the sixties, they have always had much nicer cheese and their grattons are the best in the region, so they will possibly be getting my custom from now on, I'll give the new shop one last chance then.....

La Renetrée

Look no wobble

After three weeks of family staying with us and with closing the campsite for the season, we have all too quickly arrived at La Rentrée – return to school. When the kids go back to school for the autumn term, it is a big “thing” in France. You see “rentrée” everywhere, it is as if the country is reawakening itself after the soporific summer months. Strangely enough the rentrée this year has seen a return to some summer weather - sunny and hot - after a miserable and cold August. The hottest day so far this year was Saturday, when the local clubs and associations were having their annual membership drive in Cluny and we were called into action to do some Tai Chi demos.

What better way to spend a Saturday than gentle exercise on a sunny grass verge with the towers of Cluny in the background.

Tai Chi on a sunny lawn

Moments before impact

Unfortunately it was hot and I mean HOT, so we retreated further into the shade of a tree. That however, brought certain hazards with it. Even with my somewhat diminished height, twirling your stick under a tree means that it will eventually bump into some branches and if that doesn’t put you off your stride, I don’t know what will. The second stick demo and I made sure I was in the sun!

It was the first public set of demos we had done as a group and I thought we coped very well, the 24 of Beijing went well, no one fell over or even wobbled on the leg kicks and apart from my argument with the tree and Christophe’s fan flying off into the blue yonder at an inappropriate moment, we did rather well and at least the audience applauded, which made it all worth while.

Maybe next year

So it is back to school for us all, this time next year maybe I will be able to join in the fan demo as well – we’ll see.

Stolen goods or just recycled?

Please put your reclable stuff in the crates provided!

We are fanatical recyclers. It helps if you have to pay for all the rubbish that is not recycled of course, but I have always been a recycler. Ask the poor people I have shared houses with in the past, about the stacks of old newspapers and boxes full of bottles and cans if you don’t believe me. I even used to recycle the aluminium cans from work many years ago, you could get 1p a can from the scrap man. It was a pity I didn’t realise that half of the cans sold in those days were steel, which meant I had to spend a whole afternoon checking which ones stuck to the fridge doorpost (did you know there is a magnet in the fridge doorpost?) to split the recyclable aluminium from the non-recyclable (in those days) steel cans.

So it is no surprise that we provide the people who stay in our gîtes and on the campsite with recycling boxes. Most (but not all) people use them and we then make sure that the waste is sorted and gets to the right place. Often there are interesting magazines or useful jam pots put into these boxes and then I truly re-cycle them by using again.

But just the other day we found something which might have been stolen. So what do you do? Do you go to the police? Do you contact the owner and return the goods (we knew where it had come from), do you turn a blind eye because this is after all a rubbish bin and are we our campers’ keepers? Or lastly do you assume that the person who put the item in the bin had in fact bought it and after use, decided to throw it away?

Hanging out to dry

I’ll clarify things a little. The afore-mentioned item was in fact soaking wet, it had either been left out in the rain or dropped in a puddle, but even so it was worth saving. Cees brought it indoors and asked if I wanted it.

Having never owned one of these things, the answer was yes of course, so he carefully removed the centre staples and I peeled it apart sheet by sheet and set it out to dry. After a few hours on my wash rack all was dry and reconstructed and now I am the owner of a Taizé song book.

Recycled

There still rests the tricky question of whether I will be arrested for handling stolen goods or not... so please don’t tell anyone.



For information on holiday accommodation near the shop in Taizé where you can buy a Taizé song book click here.