Pulses in France

In France, whilst pulses only take up 4% of cultivated land surface, nearly half are grown organically. Pulses are really popular here and a wide variety are grown.

 

Mogettes (dried white beans) from the Vendée in the Western Loire.

In the North and Brittany there are green beans eaten fresh, green beans called flageolets eaten shelled and dried, and the white dried beans known as mogettes and cocos blancs de Paimpol.

In the Centre and North-East it is traditionally green lentils which are grown, but there are also garden peas and split peas.

 

 Cocos blancs (navy beans).

In Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes they are famous for their green Puy lentils and white cocos beans.

In the Midi-Pyrénées and the South-East there is strong production of chickpeas and blond lentils.

 

Rose lentils from the Berry, to our east.

In the Western Loire they produce chickpeas and flageolets.

Down in Occitanie they are the leaders in production of green lentils, chickpeas and big white dried beans named for the town of Tarbe.

 

 Lingots (dried white beans).

Nouvelle-Aquitaine specialises in dried white beans (mogettes and lingots), peas and broad beans.

Pulses play an essential role in sustainable agriculture. They are a green manure, enriching the soil and vital in crop rotation schemes.

For those of you who have stood before the dried beans in the supermarket and wondered about which was which: lingots are the same as mogettes, but grown outside the Vendée, and both are what in English you would call cannellini beans; cocos are smaller, and in English are navy beans.

Further reading: My blog post on mogettes https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2022/10/mogettes-de-vendee.html

 

A Faster Air Ambulance Service

Back in January a very clever gadget was installed on a post at the football field by the council. It's called H.I.S (Helicopter Engineering System) and it's an automatic lighting system connected to 4G and containing a box with a weather station, anemometer, lighting relay and camera.

Historically, the SAMU helicopter (helicopter ambulance) from Trousseau hospital landed on the football pitch. During the day that wasn't a serious problem, but at night the hospital had to call whoever was on duty in Preuilly to switch on the lights. 

The new system gives the hospital (and I assume the pilot) a remote view of the area and real-time weather conditions. The hospital now turns on the lighting which can save a lot of time.

We intended writing about this at the time, but didn't have a photo. We're gradually catching up.

Walking in the Forest of la Guerche

I joined six friends on Wednesday 4 September for what was supposed to be a 5 or 6 kilometre walk from Rond du Chêne, the hunting lodge in the heart of the Forest of la Guerche. However, due to some rubbish map reading (not by me) we ended up doing nearly 8 kilometres. As well as the extra distance, luckily none of it uphill, we were plagued by numerous biting clegs Haematopota sp. Even I ended up with four bites, and I am not normally troubled by these persistant blood feeders. Along the way we encountered several groups of cyclists, a forester and his intern, and a Dutch woman who greeted us from her garden.

 

A somewhat mutant looking Wood Cauliflower Mushroom Sparassis crispa (Fr. Sparassis crépu) I think.

A group of cyclists crossing through the forest on the road.

The étang (dam) on the Allée de Dangé. You can just see white waterlilies flowering.

Teetering dead tree.

On a forest trail.

One of many Red Slugs Arion rufus (Fr. Grande loche) that we encountered.

Ash Black Slug Limax cinereoniger (Fr. Grande Limace). Unlike the Red Slugs, this was the only one we saw.

Red Slugs mating.

Heading out into the forest.

Sessile (French) Oak Quercus petraea (Fr. Chêne rouvre). 'Sessile' means 'stalkless' and refers to the acorns. It is one of the dominant species in this forest.

The Holly Ilex aquifolium (Fr. Houx) berries are starting to colour up.

Coping With a Medical Emergency in France

 Inside a 'private' (ie not pompiers or SAMU, but part of a fleet of private enterprise ambulances working in a public partnership). I was being shown around with a client by the Head of Accident and Emergency at Amboise Hospital.

This post has come about because a couple of energetic and motivated anglophone pompiers* in the south-west have started a new Facebook group called "Emergency Services France help and advice for English speakers". If you are on Facebook, your principle language is English and you spend time in France then I highly recommend you seek this group out and join it. It is full of clear practical advice.

 

A fleet of private ambulances based in a rural village.

The very first thing you need to know is that the medical emergency number in France is 15. It works from any phone (French or otherwise), no extra numbers needed. You can also phone 18, which is the fire brigade, as they also deal with traffic accidents, domestic falls and will come if the specialist medical service is busy or your condition is not life threatening. You could phone 112, which is the European emergency number, but your call will be answered by one of the local emergency numbers, which may cause a short delay. In the Charente, for example, 112 is answered by the pompiers, who would then have to transfer you to the SAMU (specialist accident and emergency medical service, whose phone number is 15). 

 

Pompiers practice swift water rescue in the Loire at Amboise.

None of these numbers will guarantee the person in the emergency services centre who answers your call can speak English. Some of the staff can, some can't and it all depends on who is on at the time. Asking for an English speaker will also inevitably cause a delay, so best to have some well practiced phrases in French to be going on with. Check out the FB group, as from time to time they announce emergency call specific language courses.

 

 Fire brigade vehicles in our backyard, on a training exercise.

The call responder will ask you a series of standard questions such as the address of the location the emergency services need to come to. They will also ask if the patient is conscious or bleeding. It may be agreed that you can bring the patient in yourself, or they may decide to send an ambulance. 

 

 Fire officers engaged in an exercise to rescue a person from a burning building.

The Emergency Services Centre will direct you to a hospital. It may not be the nearest because they may be busy or not have the right facilities. These days, whenever you go to Urgences (Accident and Emergency) you are advised to ring 15 before so they can direct you to the appropriate hospital. This has become increasingly important as staff shortages sometimes result in A&E departments temporarily closing. You will be treated if you just turn up, but it is much better if the hospital knows you are coming. (We have personal experience of this, having turned up with a detached retina to a hospital, only to find Chatellerault did not have any ophthalmologists and we had to go on to Poitiers.)

 

 SAMU medivac helicopter at Poitiers Hospital.

Once you've got off the phone and are waiting for the ambulance to arrive there are things you can do to make the emergency services work smoother. 

 

A private ambulance in the drop off bay at Amboise Hospital.

• If it is dark, turn on all the lights, especially outdoors, so it is obvious which property they need to be attending. If you can, have someone in the street (with a torch if it's dark), waiting to direct the ambulance.
• Make sure there is space around the patient and a clear path to the door. There will be a team of people attending, and a stretcher to manoeuvre.
• Get a medical dossier together which ideally includes the patient's prescriptions, their carte vitale, medical insurance, and medical reports to show past treatments and procedures.
• Pack an overnight bag for the patient which includes their mobile phone and charger, and pyjamas.  A towel and toiletries are also a good idea, plus slippers, clean underwear and socks, a change of clothes and shoes.
  
• Be prepared with your own mobile phone to have a translation app on (DeepL is popular and easy to use), so you can communicate with the medical team.

 

Paramedics attached to a private ambulance company.

The medical team leader with you will report back to the doctor at the emergency services centre. A decision will be made about hospitalisation (whether it's necessary, and which hospital - based on the patient's condition and how busy nearby hospitals are). It may be decided to take the patient to a hospital which is not the closest. You will not be able to travel in the ambulance with the patient (unless they are a child), so make sure you are clear about where they are going. It's a good idea to try to find a friend to drive you to the hospital, and do not attempt to shadow the ambulance. They will be going much faster than you should, and they have flashing lights that you don't.

 

 A private ambulance dropping a patient off at a clinic in Tours.

Many thanks to Chloe Elliston and Yvette Hudson for creating the FB group, allowing me to plagiarise their excellent content, and taking the time to edit my post prior to publication! 

 

 Fire officers attending a burning car on an autoroute in Tours.

*Until recently the term 'pompier' could be succinctly translated as 'fire officer'. Prior to the beginning of 2023 if you volunteered for the Sapeurs Pompiers (fire brigade) you needed to be prepared to undertake all missions. But the ambulance duties are 80% of the fire brigade's interventions, and now you can volunteer just for the ambulance duties. Consequently, 'pompier' could now mean anything from a professional firefighter to a volunteer first aider. After discussion with Chloe, we decided to translate her and Yvette's roles as 'volunteer emergency services officers attached to the fire brigade'.  

 

 Examination room at Accident and Emergency in Amboise Hospital.

All photos from our personal archive.

Walking From le Grand Pressigny

On Monday 2 September I joined 30 friends and aquaintances to walk 5 km from le Grand Pressigny, in the Touraine Loire Valley, ending at the home of Jane and David for a walking club 'apéritif de la rentrée'. Super organised and efficient Jane single handedly put on a great spread, as always. 

 

Simon didn't walk, but came to the apéro in Claudette to give both himself and her a little outing.

Jane and David's lovely home.

Sunflower crop.

Sunflowers (Fr. Tournesols).

Sunflowers.

Common Toadflax Linaria vulgaris (Fr. Linaire commune), a species that signals the change of season from summer to autumn. A species too that I have observed getting less common since we have lived here.

A buckwheat (Fr. sarrasin) crop. Buckwheat flour is quite widely used in traditional French cuisine (eg galettes). There were many honey bees collecting nectar, so I hope there is a switched on beekeeper nearby who is producing the dark strong tasting honey that comes from buckwheat.

The church in le Grand Pressigny.

Look Out For Heather in the Touraine Loire Valley

Heather Calluna vulgaris (Fr. Callune).

Heather is a perennial evergreen sub-shrub. In France it has lots of names -- Béruée, Brande, Bruyère commune, Bucane, Fausse Bruyère, Grosse Brande, Péterolle or Bruyère callune. The scientific name comes from the Greek word for 'sweep' or 'clean', a reference to the use of heather to make rudimentary brooms.

The plant is considered by some to have protective magical powers.

It usually grows to about 20 - 50 cm high and is the most common member of the Ericaceae family. Calluna vulgaris can be distinguished from Bell Heather Erica cinerea by the four scale like leaves around the stem in C. vulgaris, and only three needle like leaves in E. cinerea. The mnemonic in French for remembering how to tell the difference is Callune 'calme' and Bruyere (Erica) 'bruit' because when you run your hand across the plant it will be quiet if it is Calluna and noisy if it is Erica.

Wild Calluna flowers are made up of a mauve coloured and petal like calix surrounding a mauve four petalled flower. They appear at the end of summer.

Heather copes with being lightly grazed, and can regenerate after a fire. Indeed sometimes controlled burning is used to manage it. 

Heather can be an important source of nourishment for sheep and Roe Deer, as they can graze on it even when snow is covering other vegetation. Heather is also the plant host for a number of insects, for example the Heather Beetle. The caterpillars of several different lepidoptera species likewise depend on it for their food source, such as the Silver-studded Blue, Small Emperor Moth and the Chalk Burnet.

It is found throughout Europe and Asia Minor on sunny acid soil, a characteristic plant of heaths, bogs and pine forests.

Heather is a very nectar rich plant. The resulting honey is strong tasting and has a distinctive gelatinous texture.

There are thousands of cultivars, with colours ranging from white to red, developed for late season interest in the garden.

Before the use of hops in brewing, heather was one of the aromatics used in brewing in the Middle Ages.

Like other heathland plants, lichens and fungi, heather is liable to accumulate heavy metals and radioactive elements from the soil. Any animal grazing on heather is also liable to absorb these substances.

The Wild Success of a Village Guinguette Started by Two Friends

In the Sud Touraine Loire Valley, in Preuilly-sur-Claise, a pretty, no-frills guinguette run by two friends is giving the whole village a boost. A guinguette is an informal outdoor bar, usually on a river, where there is live music, space to dance and simple light snacks and meals.

  

One of the guinguette's excellent mocktails.

You've heard of Tic and Tac, Elsa and Anna or Asterix and Obelix. But in Preuilly-sur-Claise, the best known duo (after Maria and Christian from Les Bodin's, of course) is Arthur and Anatole! The two mates, both 28 years old, run Le Lavoir, the guinguette in Preuilly-sur-Claise, in the rural Sud Touraine.

 

Early evening at the guinguette.

On the banks of the tranquil river Claise, this festive bar-restaurant, where people come to enjoy burgers and fries made in-house with no frills or pretensions, opened its doors three years ago. On 30 April 2022, to be exact. Anatole said that they thought they would try something small, and it turned into something big in one evening. They thought they'd have family and a few friends, but it turned into a full-on rush, with three hundred people turning up! They had to immediately rethink the way they operated. All those who had looked askance and muttered that they would last about a week had to eat their words.

 

The guinguette at 10 o'clock in the morning.

The two friends, both from around here, Anatole from Boussay, Arthur from Preuilly itself, are not from the mainstream hospitality sector. They only distantly knew the hotel-restaurant business. Anatole, who has a degree in tourism, did an internship in a well known local restaurant and worked for seven years in the entertainment industry, skiing in winter and surfing in summer.

Arthur, who graduated with a degree in arts and entertainment from the Tours film school, had tentatively begun to work on film shoots.

 

In March this year the Claise flooded.  Luckily there was plenty of warning and the fire brigade assisted in removing all the valuable fridges and kitchen fittings before the guinguette was knee deep in water. The photo shows Arthur, Anatole and Louise (Anatole's girlfriend) ruefully checking their business premises after the water had receded a bit.

But for the two friends - who met as teenagers at the hairdresser's! - Covid was the catalyst. They went through the lockdowns together. Arthur had to retrain. And they were bored. So they thought, why not start their own thing?

 

 My swimming group having lunch at the guinguette.

At the time, there were no longer any restaurants or drinking establishments in the village. The Lavoir, the municipal building that had once served as the premises of the Communist Party's pétanque club, was available. Right next to a campsite and open-air swimming pool.

 

 Cheese and charcuterie platter at the guinguette.

The duo, working eighty hours a week in the summer, are now well established: Arthur in the kitchen, Anatole serving, backed up by a team of up to seven people in all. They only work with people they know, friends or friends of friends. The oldest of whom is only 31! A group of friends who serve up to four hundred people every evening during the week of 15 August (the Assumption Day holiday week).

The young team even organized a Joyce Jonathan [link] concert for its 2023 closing night, with 2,500 spectators... in a village of 1,000 inhabitants!

 

The aftermath of a quiet Friday lunch service at the end of August.

* Open from April to September every day except Tuesday, from 10.30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The kitchen is open from 12 to 2 p.m. and from 7 to 10 p.m.
* Alcohol abuse is harmful to health, consume in moderation.

13 000 -- That's how many meat burgers (vegetarian burgers are also available) were served last season at the Preuilly guinguette, consuming 1.5 tons of minced meat. Eight tons of potatoes also ended up as fries on the plates of Preuilly-sur-Claise guinguette fans.

60 -- that's how many mojito mocktails with great handfuls of fresh mint they'll make in an evening.

 

View up the Claise from the guinguette's covered terrace out the back.

If you head down there at 6 o'clock in the evening on a Friday, the guinguette won't yet be full to bursting. But there will be at least one small group already settled in for a drink in the shade of the hundred and fifty year old plane trees. Work colleagues such as groups of teachers come down here to take advantage of the friendly atmosphere, the space, the open air and the good weather. They appreciate that the food is good, fresh, cooked on site and made from local produce. Before the guinguette there wasn't really anywhere that colleagues, who might live in various locations up to an hour away, could get together like this.

Word has spread and people come from as far as Tours and Amboise, especially on the weekends and with families, as it is ideal for children, who can play and run around without annoying other patrons or putting themselves at risk. Themed evenings like the karaoke are especially popular. Being away from the tourist hotspots of the Loire Valley mean it is more affordable too.

A burger and French fries costs €12, a PFC ("Preuilly fried chicken") €10, and a mixed charcuterie and cheese board €12. Service is at the bar!

Source: Article from the Nouvelle République (in French) https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/indre-et-loire/commune/preuilly-sur-claise/on-va-guincher-a-preuilly-sur-claise-le-succes-fou-d-une-guinguette-de-village-lancee-par-deux-copains

My Shelf of Memories

After the most recent of our renovations were finished I moved a bookcase into the dining nook for stuff we needed to hand. The top shelf is awkward for Susan to reach comfortably, doubly so because there's a chair immediately in front of it.

That gave me an opportunity to get some of my momentos displayed. Most of these are gifts, and just as many are from previous times.

Left to right: in front is a piece of terracotta I found in the Mediterranean at whilst swimming at Sanremo last year (I'm claiming it's Roman). Behind that is "Dog" from Footrot Flats which was bought for me in 1982. The ceramic beer stein (with lid) is a 21st birthday present from Hugo and the South Pacific Lager glass and tray were part of a party pack I bought in 1982 (the beer was dreadful). The Olympic Phryge is a lot more recent, fron Niall and Antoinette. The Queen's Silver Jubilee beer glass I bought in 1981 in Carnarvon (it was on special, having been on the shelf for 4 years). The sports cup and the medal on the right are from 1968, when I played soccer with the All Saints Hunters Hill Soccer Football Club in Sydney (we lost only one game all season and were Under 8A champions). The Bavarian beer mug was a gift from my parents in 2003 and the Viking is from Peter Panda, and I think was a 25th birthday present. The hedgehog was a thank you gift from Donna, who I showed around southern England in 1998.

Centrakor

Centrakor is a store selling household goods and decor items. It positions itself midway between the discount stores like Gifi and La Foir'Fouille, and the home decorator shops like Maisons du Monde. The Centrakor chain has 450 shops (345 of them franchises), averaging 1500 m² of floor space. In 2020 the chain's turnover was a billion euros and they employ 5000 staff.

 

The  Loches store.

The business was created in 1990 by an entrepreneur from Toulouse, initially as a central purchasing and distribution unit. By 2004 they were supplying 40 shops and in 2006 bought another chain of shops, doubling the number of outlets the business supplied. In 2007 the business adopted the name Centrakor and came under new management as part of Cargo, who were expanding their network of indepedent stores in out of town shopping centres. In 2011 Centrakor opened its two hundredth store.

Between 2013 and 2018 Centrakor steady bought up regional decor chains. Then they took over Fly, franchising their stores. Since then they've concentrated on opening stores first in the French overseas territories, then Belgium, and most recently, Spain.

 

The Loches store sells these quite nice posters of the Touraine Loire Valley towns.

We have two Centrakor stores within easy striking distance -- one in Yzeures sur Creuse which is in the process of doubling its floor space, and one in Loches. We shop in them several times a year for this and that. The last item we bought in there was a length of 'waxed' cloth to serve as a picnic tablecloth, and the time before that we bought lampshades.

Source: Wikipedia https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrakor

Look Out for Sweet Chestnut in the Touraine Loire Valley

Sweet Chestnut Castanea sativa (Fr. Chataignier).

Sweet Chestnut is a deciduous tree with fruits that are widely consumed by man. It is often cultivated.

Chestnuts are mostly eaten in areas where cereals cannot be grown and they are valued as a food source, nicknamed 'arbre à pain' (bread tree) or 'pain à pauvres' (poor man's bread) around the Mediterranean because chestnuts replaced cereals in times of shortage.

 

 

 

Sweet Chestnuts are magnificent trees, with big canopies and rapid growth. They can be up to 35 metres high and can live more than a thousand years. With age the trunk develops a twist and often becomes hollow.

 

 

 

It flowers from mid-June to mid-July, with the male flowers forming long cream honey scented catkins. Pollination is by insects (not wind as was previously believed).

 

 

The fruits are enclosed in a spiky husk (Fr. bogue) which dissuades potential attack. Inside the husk there will be 1-3 fruits, in a hard brown skin, which can be harvested in October.

 

 

 

The original distribution of Sweet Chestnut was a narrow band around the northern Mediterranean. But humans have extended the range enormously into Central and Western Europe.

 

 

 

In France Sweet Chestnut is now present everywhere, one of the most important trees in the forests and nearly three-quarters of a million hectares is dominated by the species.

 

 

 

In areas where the soil is calcareous or clay it is not so dominant as these soils don't suit it. It prefers light acid soils. Although it tolerates winter cold while it is dormant, too continental a climate, with late frosts, does not suit it as it leaf buds quite early. It also does not like a dry climate, preferring gentle humidity. With its Mediterranean origins it can support summer drought, so long as it gets sufficient rain at other times of the year, even if it is delivered in large quantities at a time. It needs about 700 ml a year. Those who cultivate it say it needs to be growing in an oven in August and in a well in September.

 

 

 

It needs lots of light and deep cool poor soil. In the wild it grows with bracken, heather and evergreen oak. Once cut it will come back vigorously from the stump.

 

 

The original restricted distribution in fact reflects its retreat and refuge from the last Ice Age. Potentially it once had a much larger natural distribution. But the mountain barriers and the presence of more competitive species such as oak and beech probably prevented it naturally reconquering to the north. By the Bronze Age it was present in the Dordogne, and its deliberate cultivation gathered pace in the Middle Ages. From the 16th to the 18th century chestnuts were an indispensible staple for many in France.

 

 

The wood is durable and easy to work. For centuries it has been used as firewood, fence posts, vine pickets, mine props, roofing timber, furniture, wainscoting, small sculpted objects such as castanets, and thin strips are used in basket weaving. It has a very high tannin content (higher than oak) and in the first half of the 20th century a lot of sweet chestnut was used for tannin extraction.

 

 

Honey from Sweet Chestnut is dark and strongly flavoured.