On Sunday the 11th of April the whole village was invited to a free lunch given by the fair commitee of Castandet. Apart from the pre lunch aperitifs everything was free. Aperos started at 11.30 but being used by now to the length of time that people will hang around the bar we didn't arrive until 12.30. Even then it was probably another hour before we sat down to eat. It did give us time though to chat to various people. Helene and her son Florian were there as well as Bernard and Pascal both neighbours of ours. Apart from them though and us we were the only ones representing our part of Perron. We met Nadine who is on the fair committee and she was verry chatty and pleasant, insisted that she bought us an aperitif.
We finally sat down to eat sitting with Helene and Florian. Florian was up and down like a yo yo and spent more of the meal time rushing about, outside with the other children,rather than eating. The meal as ever consisted of starter, entree, cheese, salad and pudding washed down with copious amounts of red or rose. As coffee and armagnac was served the singing started! One of the younger ladies had a microphone and she wandered around with it catching the sound, at one point she and a very elderly gentleman were smooching and singing. Then came the piece de resistance! One of the chaps started to sing
"Iam the music man and I come from down your way and I can play
What can you play?
Pia, pia, piano" etc etc this then goes on to include the miming of many musical instruments with the chorus being sung in between each one. Obviously he was singing it in French! Most people soon joined in myself included as ,amazingly, this is a song that I used to sing in the pub back in my youth!! By this time N was beginning to find the noise too much and decided that it was time to leave. I was enjoying myself and decided to stay as Helene would give me a lift back home.
It was perhaps as well that N left as soon afterwards Florian came rushing in screaming his head off. He had fallen, or been pushed, and had cut/grazed his leg. Helene immediately went into panic mode and asked me to look after him whilst she went home to get all the necessary first aid equipment! I am afraid, that hard mother as I was, I would have told him not to be such a baby and to get on with it! Anyway he sat next to me, sobbing, until she got back with a bag of stuff. She whised him off to the toilets to wash it, came back and sprayed his leg with antiseptc, at which he started screaming again. Then she dissolved an aspirin in water which he refused to drink and went off outside again to play with the other lads. So two outings with them which have ended in "injuries" and tears. What will happen the next time!!h
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Somewhat surreal.
I had to pay a visit to the doctor this week - nothing important just my regular bi-annual visit. Our doctor is very young and I suspect had not long been with the practice when we registered with him. The practice is in the small town of Grenade-sur-l'Adour (http://www.tourismegrenadois.com/Grenade.htm) about 12 kms from here. For the first couple of years he moved from consulting room to consulting room but now he has finally got his own consulting room and waiting room which are quite separate from the others with an entrance at the rear of the building. The approach to his surgery is via a narrow little alley, the impasse des Ramparts, which is lined on both sides by very old houses. Next to his surgery is the 14th century church (or the rear which is certainly showing it's age!)
One goes from this rather beautiful little alley into what can only be described as a very modern, aseptic waiting room which has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life! There are no magazines, when I inquired as to why he told me that they harbour bacteria - I didn't like to ask him if the rather elderly magazines in the other waiting room had been disinfected! Sitting there this week reading my book, I can't wait anywhere without some reading material, I listened first of all to the church bells tolling the hour and then became aware of the sound of the radio playing in the background. The music I heard was Leonard Cohen singing Hallelujah! Such a contrast between ancient and modern.
One goes from this rather beautiful little alley into what can only be described as a very modern, aseptic waiting room which has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life! There are no magazines, when I inquired as to why he told me that they harbour bacteria - I didn't like to ask him if the rather elderly magazines in the other waiting room had been disinfected! Sitting there this week reading my book, I can't wait anywhere without some reading material, I listened first of all to the church bells tolling the hour and then became aware of the sound of the radio playing in the background. The music I heard was Leonard Cohen singing Hallelujah! Such a contrast between ancient and modern.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Trip to the mooutains.
I have made a friend in the village, H, and we have started seeing each other once a week or so. We sometimes play Scrabble and chat and other times have a day in town browsing the shops and having lunch. We first met her at a boot sale and got chatting and discovered that we both lived in Castandet. After a first marriage and 5 children she divorced and remarried and at the age of 42 had a 6th child, F. Sadly her husband died suddenly when F was only 4 years old. The other children are now grown up and have flown the nest and F is now 12 years old. H and I get on very well, she has a good sense of humour and we laugh a lot.
At the end of January a day trip to the mountains was organised by the village, mainly for those who wanted to ski. H asked us if we would like to go, Nigel declined but I thought it would be a good day out. So we booked to go, H and I and F and his friend N, the cost was only 15 euros and that included breakfast and lunch as well as the coach fare - not bad value. We had to be at the mairie for 6am so it was a very early start for me. Not being too sure when breakfast would be served I got up in good time to have coffee and cereals before I left to pick up H,F and N en route to the mairie. We left Castandet at 6.15 and arrived at La Mongie at 8.45, the coach having to stop on the mountain to put snow chains on as there had been a big snowfall the day before.
Everyone got off the coach and added several layers of clothing as it was very cold. Breakfast appeared from within the coach and a table was set up. Thermoses of coffee were put out as well as fresh baguettes, ham and cheese oh and red wine for those who wanted it - a bit early in the day even for me! By the time we had eaten F and N were pretty wet through from rolling in the snow and as they were wearing jeans and didn't have a change of clothing I could already see disaster looming!
The skiers picked up there skis, others went to hire skis and we went to hire a couple oof sedges for the boys. Getting to the sledging area was quite a challenge. Firstly it was not very obvious where it was situated and then when we did locate it the fresh, deep snow was not easy to negotiate all of us tumbling over several times. Thankfully the boys were able to occupy themselves with the sledges for an hour or so, getting even wetter in the process. H and I had a go as well, great fun but sadly I am not as agile as I used to be and getting to my feet is not as easy as it used to be. No springing up, more of a stagger!
After an hour or so we went and sat outside one of the many restaurants and had a welvome hot cholcolate and a sit down. The sun was beginning to warm up and had it not been for the constant whinging of the 2 boys it would have been a pleasant interlude.
Then it was back to the coach where everyone met up for lunch. I must say that whoever catered for the trip did a fine job in both the quality and quantity of the food provided. There was more bread,cold meat, pate and cheese as well as 2 huge platters of potato salad and pasta salad. More red wine of course and soft drinks. The only thing that I could complain about is that there was no seating! Had I known I would have taken a folding chair.
By this time the 2 "angels" were soaking wet and whinging dreadfully but they wanted to have another go at sledging so off we set again to negotiate the stagger through the thick snow to the sledging area. When we got there they set off again and H and I sat on our bags on the snow desperate to have some comfort after all the standing around that we had been doing! Sadly the afternoon sledging session was more stressful than the morning session. Having mastered the art of it the boys were now looking for more excitement and this culminated in F escaping our watchful gaze and trying to sledge down a virtual precipice that was out of bounds. On seeing this H yelled at him to stop but he of course took no notice and launched himself down the steep slope. Of course disaster struck and he came off the sledge and started screaming that he couldn't move his leg. We managed to disentangle him and get him up on one leg, screaming all the time. H was sure that he had done himself some serious injury so we set off with N dragging F who we had got down the slope and onto his sledge towards the first aid station. When we got there he refused to go in - I would have dragged him in if he were mine!- but no we then set off for the shop and restaurant area to gather our resources. At this point he was managing to hobble along and I was pretty sure that he hadn't done himself a great injury. On arrival at the shop/restaurant area I was pleased to see that there were lots of deck chairs on the terrace and the sun had warmed the area nicely. At this point I opted out of the childcare and said that I would sit in a deckchair, have a beer and enjoy the sun. H went off in search of trousers to buy so that the boys wouldn't be wet anymore taking them both with her. I then enjoyed the best hour of the day watching the skiers on the slopes, enjoying my beer and soaking up the sun. When they returned she said that F had been almost hyothermic but thankfully she had been able to buy some trousers for them and he was warming up. His leg seemed much better in fact I swear that he kept forgetting to hobble when he thought that no one was looking! Thankfully it was soon time to go back to the coach and leave for home. There was only one casualty, our neighbour S who has been knocked over on the ski slope and suffered a pulled muscle. It was good to sit in comfort on the coach, all I wanted to do was to relax and recover but with the radio in the background blaring out a frenzied commentary on the rugby match and H chatting away there wasn't much hope of that! When we got back to Castandet we were invited to partake of an aperitif much to the 2 boys disgust - in fact F stamped his foot and said that he would walk home and disappeared into the gloom. When H finally found him hiding at the back of the mairie she gave in and I took them home. What a relief it was for me to then come back home to blessed peace and quiet! Not a day that I would like to relive.
At the end of January a day trip to the mountains was organised by the village, mainly for those who wanted to ski. H asked us if we would like to go, Nigel declined but I thought it would be a good day out. So we booked to go, H and I and F and his friend N, the cost was only 15 euros and that included breakfast and lunch as well as the coach fare - not bad value. We had to be at the mairie for 6am so it was a very early start for me. Not being too sure when breakfast would be served I got up in good time to have coffee and cereals before I left to pick up H,F and N en route to the mairie. We left Castandet at 6.15 and arrived at La Mongie at 8.45, the coach having to stop on the mountain to put snow chains on as there had been a big snowfall the day before.
Everyone got off the coach and added several layers of clothing as it was very cold. Breakfast appeared from within the coach and a table was set up. Thermoses of coffee were put out as well as fresh baguettes, ham and cheese oh and red wine for those who wanted it - a bit early in the day even for me! By the time we had eaten F and N were pretty wet through from rolling in the snow and as they were wearing jeans and didn't have a change of clothing I could already see disaster looming!
The skiers picked up there skis, others went to hire skis and we went to hire a couple oof sedges for the boys. Getting to the sledging area was quite a challenge. Firstly it was not very obvious where it was situated and then when we did locate it the fresh, deep snow was not easy to negotiate all of us tumbling over several times. Thankfully the boys were able to occupy themselves with the sledges for an hour or so, getting even wetter in the process. H and I had a go as well, great fun but sadly I am not as agile as I used to be and getting to my feet is not as easy as it used to be. No springing up, more of a stagger!
After an hour or so we went and sat outside one of the many restaurants and had a welvome hot cholcolate and a sit down. The sun was beginning to warm up and had it not been for the constant whinging of the 2 boys it would have been a pleasant interlude.
Then it was back to the coach where everyone met up for lunch. I must say that whoever catered for the trip did a fine job in both the quality and quantity of the food provided. There was more bread,cold meat, pate and cheese as well as 2 huge platters of potato salad and pasta salad. More red wine of course and soft drinks. The only thing that I could complain about is that there was no seating! Had I known I would have taken a folding chair.
By this time the 2 "angels" were soaking wet and whinging dreadfully but they wanted to have another go at sledging so off we set again to negotiate the stagger through the thick snow to the sledging area. When we got there they set off again and H and I sat on our bags on the snow desperate to have some comfort after all the standing around that we had been doing! Sadly the afternoon sledging session was more stressful than the morning session. Having mastered the art of it the boys were now looking for more excitement and this culminated in F escaping our watchful gaze and trying to sledge down a virtual precipice that was out of bounds. On seeing this H yelled at him to stop but he of course took no notice and launched himself down the steep slope. Of course disaster struck and he came off the sledge and started screaming that he couldn't move his leg. We managed to disentangle him and get him up on one leg, screaming all the time. H was sure that he had done himself some serious injury so we set off with N dragging F who we had got down the slope and onto his sledge towards the first aid station. When we got there he refused to go in - I would have dragged him in if he were mine!- but no we then set off for the shop and restaurant area to gather our resources. At this point he was managing to hobble along and I was pretty sure that he hadn't done himself a great injury. On arrival at the shop/restaurant area I was pleased to see that there were lots of deck chairs on the terrace and the sun had warmed the area nicely. At this point I opted out of the childcare and said that I would sit in a deckchair, have a beer and enjoy the sun. H went off in search of trousers to buy so that the boys wouldn't be wet anymore taking them both with her. I then enjoyed the best hour of the day watching the skiers on the slopes, enjoying my beer and soaking up the sun. When they returned she said that F had been almost hyothermic but thankfully she had been able to buy some trousers for them and he was warming up. His leg seemed much better in fact I swear that he kept forgetting to hobble when he thought that no one was looking! Thankfully it was soon time to go back to the coach and leave for home. There was only one casualty, our neighbour S who has been knocked over on the ski slope and suffered a pulled muscle. It was good to sit in comfort on the coach, all I wanted to do was to relax and recover but with the radio in the background blaring out a frenzied commentary on the rugby match and H chatting away there wasn't much hope of that! When we got back to Castandet we were invited to partake of an aperitif much to the 2 boys disgust - in fact F stamped his foot and said that he would walk home and disappeared into the gloom. When H finally found him hiding at the back of the mairie she gave in and I took them home. What a relief it was for me to then come back home to blessed peace and quiet! Not a day that I would like to relive.
January in Castandet.
The first event for the New Year was a visit to our neighbours, Jeanne and Cristel, to celebrate Epiphany. We had not got back for their usual celebration with all the immediate neighbours but were invited to go on our return. We ate petit fours and cake of the Kings and drank champagne. We had a very pleasant afternoon with them and chatted a lot about times past in Perron. We came home laden down with petit fours and cake of the Kings, enough to keep us going for several days!
Next was the annual mayors reception to wish everyone a happy new year and to hear the mayors speech. As is usual there was quite a bit of hanging around before the speech and this time was taken up with new years wishes. The form is to shake hands, or kiss, everyone whether one knows them or not and to wish them "Bonne Annee and Bonne Sante" - quite timme consuming! After the mayors speech when he wished us all happy new year and good health, spoke of events that had happened over the year and thanked numerous people the annual aperitif was served. Last year we also had a sit down meal but funds must not have allowed that this year and only nibbles were served to accompany the aperos.
Event number 3 was a Jazz evening and meal given by the village music school. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening. There was an ensemble of 4, 3 musicians and a singer, and they played and sang whilst the meal was served. One chap who we have seen at previous visits provided some entertainment as well, by getting quite drunk and barracking the jazz quartet!
Next was the annual mayors reception to wish everyone a happy new year and to hear the mayors speech. As is usual there was quite a bit of hanging around before the speech and this time was taken up with new years wishes. The form is to shake hands, or kiss, everyone whether one knows them or not and to wish them "Bonne Annee and Bonne Sante" - quite timme consuming! After the mayors speech when he wished us all happy new year and good health, spoke of events that had happened over the year and thanked numerous people the annual aperitif was served. Last year we also had a sit down meal but funds must not have allowed that this year and only nibbles were served to accompany the aperos.
Event number 3 was a Jazz evening and meal given by the village music school. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening. There was an ensemble of 4, 3 musicians and a singer, and they played and sang whilst the meal was served. One chap who we have seen at previous visits provided some entertainment as well, by getting quite drunk and barracking the jazz quartet!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Christmas and New Year in Devon.
It was a big event, this year, for us both to go back to Devon for the festive season. I have been back once for Christmas since we came here but this was the first time that we had both gone back since we came over here in 1997.
We had snow the day before we left, not a lot, and the weather forecast was pretty grim both for France and the UK. Friday the 18th, the day before we left, I had to take Rambo to the vet to complete the paperwork for his passport as he too was going with us. After that I packed the car, Steve had requested that we took wine and cheese, so with all that as well as our luggage and the whole of the boot area left free for Rambo the car was as full as it could be!
We had a good journey and an overnight stay in Cherbourg before catching the ferry to Poole. Rambo travelled well and once disembarked we were on our way to Kilmington.
It was so good to see Steve and Sasa and start our holiday with them. Steve had booked us into a cottage in the village for the first 10 days as Jennifer and Margaret would be down on Christmas Eve. The cottage was tiny but comfortable apart from being rather chilly as the weather was so cold. Rambo stayed with Steve and Sasa and soon made friends with their dog, Scout.
The weather remained very cold for the length of our stay and at times the side roads were virtually impassable due to ice, It was quite a thrill to shop in Tesco's - and be able to buy the things that we hadn't realised that we had missed when at home in France!
Christmas day was very special, Steve cooked a beautiful breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon served with champagne and orange juice. After opening all our pressies N and I and Jennifer and Jason went for a long walk, mmore than a couple of hours, in the woods. Christmas dinner, cooked by Steve, was quite late but well worth waiting for!
On Boxing Day, Steve, Sasa, Jason, Jennifer and Scout walked to Dalwood whilst N, Margaret, Rambo and I drove there. We had a walk through the village and fields and met up with the others afterwards for a drink at the Tuckers Arms. So many memories!
Jennifer and Margaret left on the Monday. Nigel spent a night with his parents, I spent the night with Titch. In betweenn all the other activities we managed to visit old friends, have a trip into Exeter, go to the pub quiz and of course go to see Chippie. Jennifer and I met up withn Jackie and Laura and went to the Christmas carol service in Dalwood church - more memories.
Unfortunately, Jennifer wasn't too well when she was there and N caught whatever it was and he wasn't too well for the last few days that we were there. We had all planned to go to the Old Inn to celebrate the New Year but N opted to stay at home due to feeling unwell. It was a good evening which ended with a very impressive firework display to herald the New Year
All too soon it was time to leave and make the long journey back home. Always sad to say goodbye but once on the road we were looking forward to being back home.
After spending the night in Cherbourg we were on the last long lap home where we arrived at about 7pm. I had phoned Alain, our neighbour, and asked him to put the heating on for us so it was nice and warm when we got back.
a
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
4 Etoiles de Pau - Dressage Day
Friday the 23 October was the first day of the 4 star event in Pau.When I wrote my blog, last year, I was contacted by Jill in New South Wales who had read it. She was visiting family in the UK this year and was very keen to visit Pau as well. We started e mailing each other and I helped her sort out flights and booked her into a hotel very close to where the event takes place.
Her flight landed at Pau at 10am and I met her there and we went straight to the event. We had a very pleasant day, alternating between watching the dressage tests in the main arena and watching the riders warm up in the practise ring. In between we had a picnic lunch and a couple of glasses of wine. Lots of chatting and we got on very well. I was very interested to hear about her life at the other side of the world.
At the end of the day Oliver Nicolson was place first, Andrew Nicolson 2nd and Dirk Schrade was 3ed. We had both been very imressed with Dirk Schrade's test. When the dressage was over I dropped Jill at the hotel and came back home after we had arranged to meet again tomorrow.
Saturday 24th October – Cross Country Day.
I didn’t have a very early start as the 4 star cross country wasn’t due to start until 1pm. I got there about 11.30 and despite going to the paying car park I still wasn’t asked to pay any car parking charges which was a bonus! There was a considerable queue at the entry and it must have taken a good 20 minutes to get through. Once inside the park I wandered up to the restaurant area and Jill found me almost immediately. She was very pleased as she thought she had found something that she wanted to take back home with her as a souvenir of a trip to Pau. We went and had a look, at one of the tack stands, and it was indeed a good idea. It was a folding mounting block which should easily go into her case and also be very useful. After she had purchased it we went and got some water and a sandwich each and walked over to the lake complex where we had decided to spend some time watching the first few competitors. Jill’s portable mounting block came in very useful as a seat and I had my shooting stick so we were soon settled and eating our sandwiches. It was very mild and I had left coat, brolly and hat in the car but we did have a shower at some point but fortunately it didn’t last for long. In the end I was thankful that I had left everything as I didn’t have much to carry around.
Although the event was due to start at 1pm it was in fact 2pm when the first rider,Mark Kylke, came through. He is a very brave man as he has 3 horses in the event today! We watched the first few horses through the lake complex and then moved around the course staying at different fences for a while. Thankfully, although there were more people there than last year, it wasn’t too crowded and it was easy to wander around and choose which fences we wanted to see. At the end of the day Dirk Schrade was in the lead. William Fox-Pitt had a stop at one fence and Oliver Nicolson was well placed.
One of Jill’s requests was that she wanted to have a “real” French meal whilst she was here and this had cost me some sleepless nights!! What a responsibility. After much trawling around restaurant reviews I had picked the “O Gascon” in the old area of Pau and booked a table for 7pm. The cross-country finished at 5pm and we made our way to the bar tent and had a drink and looked at the results. Then back to the car and we drove into Pau. We had an hour or so to kill so Jill was able to see the castle and stroll around the old area of town before going to the restaurant. Thankfully the meal, and the wine, was good and Jill thoroughly enjoyed the gastronomic experience. It was good that I had booked as the restaurant was full by 7.30 and they were turning people away. We left about 9.30 and rushed back to the car through some pretty heavy rain and I took Jill back to the hotel and we said our goodbyes. I felt quite sad leaving her as over the last couple of days I felt that we had become good friends.
Neither of us were there for the final day as Jill had to catch a train back to Toulouse for her flight to London and I didn't feel like driving down there again.
Dirk Schrade was the eventual winner.
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