A Busy Week

The past few days have been busy. Susan's been working, and there's been lots of other stuff squeezed in between.

This means that I haven't had much time to think about writing blog posts.

A Day Out

Yesterday was the longest day out I have had since June.

We started by visiting Loches, followed by lunch in Azay sur Indre, and driving on to dropping off Claudette with a friend near Amboise. We then drove back to Preuilly-sur-Claise (via NOZ).

This is Monica with Claudette by the gates of the chateau of La Fourchette, which has been owned by a very famous Englishman since 1980.

Re-meeting

Yesterday two friends from Canberra arrived in Preuilly-sur-Claise. Liselle claims to have known me since I was 9 (but I can only remember meeting her when I was in my twenties), and Monica I met when I was 18.

They're on a European trek, so I thought I'd show them some sights close to Preuilly - and therefore off the beaten track.

No photos, because we're still catching up.

The Festival of OZO

This is an oldified (rather than old) photo.

Susan wrote last week about the restoration of the OZO Station Service at Bellevue, south of Sainte Maure de Touraine. 

On Saturday afternoon TimB and I took Claudette to have a look. We missed the opening ceremony, but there was still plenty to see.

Claudette amongst her near contemporaries

The concrete petrol pumps have been detailed

Not all of the vehicles there were show queens

This sort of view would have been familiar to anyone heading off on holidays on the 1960s

Some of these photos are courtesy of Tim.

Look Out for Wild Privet in the Touraine Loire Valley

 Privet Ligustrum vulgare (Fr. Troène).

Privet is a shrub with aromatic white flowers and glossy black berries that is used extensively as an ornemental, and particularly in hedges, as it will tolerate being cut multiple times a year. If left to grow naturally it can reach 5 metres in height.

 

 

Some people are allergic to the pollen and the leaves and berries are toxic.

 

It has lots of names in French: bois puant, bois-noir, buis de Vierge, frésillon, herbe à l'encre, raisin-de-chien, truflier et verzelle.

 

 

It is the caterpillar food plant for the Privet Hawk Moth.

 

The flowers, produced in May and June if the plant is not cut, are rich in pollen and nectar, and are an important source of food for hover flies.

 

The berries are so bitter and unpleasant tasting that even the birds avoid them. Usually they dehydrate over winter and fall to the ground with their seeds the following spring.

 

Cultivated privets tend to keep their leaves over winter, due presumably to 18C gardeners selecting for this character.

 

Worldwide there are about 50 species of privet, but L. vulgare is the only one native to Europe, and it can be found wild throughout France up to 1200 metres above sea level. It should not be confused with the Japanese species L. ovalifolium, which is increasingly used in cultivation.

 

It will tolerate some shade but really it is a sun lover, growing on woodland edges, forest clearings and hedges, on rich calcareous cool damp soil. It can survive very low temperatures, down to -17C.

 

The long arching new growth can be used in basket weaving and fresh prunings can be chipped and used as mulch. The wood is white, tight grained and heavy. It can be turned to make knife handles, bobbins and balusters. In the past it was used to make vine stakes and charcoal for canon gunpowder.

The bark will make a yellow dye and the berries a purpley black ink which was used by illuminators. Furniture makers used the ink to darken pale wood to make it seem more exotic. Despite their toxicity the berries were used to improve the colour of wine, although care had to be taken not to spoil the flavour! An oil which burns well can be extracted from the seeds.

 

Privet is closely related to lilac, and can be used as rootstock for grafted lilac varieties.

 

The leaves and flowers were used to make a decoction to treat mouth ulcers.

 

The ingestion of just a few berries (maybe a dozen) is enough to induce vomiting and diarhoea for 48 hours.

The Forbidden Fruit

Noah is an American white grape variety. It's a hybrid of the native American species vines Vitis riparia and V. labrusca (the native European grape is V. vinifera). Noah was created in 1896 and was cultivated in France for decades. You can find it naturalised on the edges of vineyards, occasionally still cultivated in certain parcels of vines, and growing in private domestic gardens. It is one of the notorious banned grape varieties in France though.

 

Growing on a truffle orchard fence.

It can be identified through a combination of characteristics. The young growing tips are cottony white with pink leaf buds. The young leaves are downy and yellowish. The cottony adult leaves are three lobed, with shallow sinuses (gaps between the lobes) and small angular leaves. The petiole (leaf stem) joins at the bottom of a wide V shaped sinus.

It is a late maturing grape, being two and a half weeks after Chasselas (see my post on this popular table and hobby wine maker's grape). Noah is a vigorous, hardy and fertile variety even when pruned hard. It is resistant to mildew, blight and black rot, but not sufficiently to phylloxera or chlorosis (iron deficiency in plants growing in calcareous soil).

 

Sampling Noah.

The bunches and berries are medium sized. Bunches are cylindrical-conical; berries are round, greenish-white, with a soft, highly viscous pulp. Noah is one of the varieties that produces sweet wines described as 'foxy', considered highly and undesirably distinctive. The term 'foxy' is intended as an insult, to convey the idea that the wine tastes like fox urine. It's a taste you can find in blackcurrants too, but although they have a very distinctive taste too, no one uses perjorative terms to describe it. If it is distilled into eau de vie it has pleasantly raspberry and rose aromas.

As a table grape Noah polarises opinion. You either love it or hate it. Those who love it can detect ripe wild strawberry aromas along with litchi and raspberry. Those who hate it say the grapes taste like mulberries or strawberries that have been ruined by stink bugs. The grapes are very sweet, but with a lot of acidity to balance that. The flesh slips out of the skin easily so you can squirt the pulp into your mouth through the stem end just by squeezing each grape. Grapes that do this are known as 'slip skins'. The grapes don't keep or travel well, so they are no good as a commercial table grape.

Although banned since 1935, the idea that Noah will make you mad or blind is still widely believed in rural areas, especially winemaking regions. These banned grape varieties (there are several of them) were all developed for hilly terrain. Noah is also nicknamed the 'vin de trois' because it was claimed that two people were needed to support the drinker.

 

What a bunch of scrumpers!

The explanation for the mythology surrounding Noah and the other banned grape varieties seems to be that the methanol content of wine from these grape varieties is higher than that of Vitis vinifera. Studies confirm this higher level, although it is not "substantially higher" than in other wines. In addition to the grape variety used, the winemaking process also has a major influence on methanol levels. In any case, methanol can only be produced by fermentation of the grape juice, so it's safe to eat the grapes or drink the juice. 

In addition to public health reasons, the political and economic context of the early 20th century, notably overproduction, may have contributed to the questioning of the cultivation of these grape varieties. Noah was used as a progenitor by 19th-century hybridizers such as François Baco, Bertille Seyve, Pierre Castel, Fernand Gaillard and Albert Seibel. The best-known variety is baco blanc, the only hybrid legally allowed, and used in Armagnac.

In Europe, the variety has practically disappeared. However, it is still occasionally found in private vineyards, established on trellises. While vines based on American hybrids covered 20 500 ha in France in 1958, only 1500 ha remain today, mainly located in Charente, Ardèche, Cévennes and Vendée. 

When the Nazis occupied Alsace they insisted on all the banned varieties being grubbed up, on pain of severe prosecution. 

The French decree banning these grape varieties was repealed in 2003, to be replaced by a European wide ban, which includes not being able to commercially grow these grape varieties, or any varieties which include them in their parentage. The other five banned varieties are Othello, Isabelle, Jacquez, Clinton and Herbemont.

The photos are all of a Noah vine that came to my attention recently on a walk with friends. It is growing on the fence around a truffle orchard and I assumed it was a popular variety called Chasselas, but Monique quickly corrected me once she had tasted one. She said it was a blast from the past, a taste from her childhood and was the variety Noah, unmistakable once you know it. I have since discovered that another friend has an enormous one in her yard, which has grown many metres up a conifer. I'm pleased to have finally encountered one of these banned grape varieties in the flesh because I've been wanting to write about them for ages.

Bellevue OZO Service Station

 As I was leaving a family rolled up in a lovely Wartburg to do photos. This East German coupe was manufactured from 1956 to 1965.

Sitting alongside the Nationale 10 this service station has been designated as 'Remarkable Architecture', and has been much photographed over the years. The building is an iconic mid-twentieth century American influenced structure, especially with the sweeping, soaring spire at the front, like a totem, bearing the OZO name. It opened in the spring of 1956. Following the merger of OZO and Total in 1964, the service station changed names to become the 'Relais Charles Martel'. But with the opening of the A10 Autoroute between Tours and Poitiers in 1977, the traffic along the N10 inexorably diminished, and the relais closed in 1984.

 

Plan for the service station.

Like a number of decommissioned service stations, the building found a second life as the sales office for a second-hand car dealership. The spire served as an ensign for the roadhouse next door, l'Etoile du Sud. At the end of the 1990s, after the closure of the restaurant, the surroundings deteriorated little by little but the service station stayed proudly upright on the side of the road, waiting for someone to take an interest again. That happened in 2011, when the municipality of Sainte Maure de Touraine realised what a characterful heritage building they had in their territory and decided to protect it within their local Urban Plan. Interest in the former service station grew until in 2016 the Départementale Architecture and Heritage Unit (part of the Ministry of Culture) decided to award it the label 'Patrimoine du XXième siècle' (20th century heritage), which has since become 'Architecture contemporaine remarquarble' (Notable contemporary architecture).  

 

 Front elevation plan.

Initially the work to restore the structure was to deal the deterioration brought about by the weather over the years. Following that there was the desire to restore it to its original state and make it a recognisable icon of the heritage along the former Route Nationale 10. It sits in the heart of the Touraine, mid-way between Paris and Hendaye, so ideally situated. Since 2021 the Association Nostal'10 has regularly organised classic car meets here. At the beginning of the 21st century, when mobility is resolutely oriented towards 'green energy', it is necessary to preserve this element of the previous century's heritage, just like we preserve former stage coaching inns. The Relais Charles Martel is the incarnation of the 'Trentes Glorieuses', a testament to a bygone era that should be preserved.

 

 Side elevation plan.

If you are interested in staying up to date with activities at Bellevue OZO Service Station, the Association Nostal'10 has a Facebook page. It has become a tradition to stop to take a photo of your car under the canopy and post it on the FB page. https://www.facebook.com/p/Nostal10-100057312614789/

 

The petrol pumps are being recreated in concrete. I was told that it was because it was 'less risky'. I'm not sure whether that means in terms of vintage pumps being stolen or real pumps being a safety hazard.

We have participated in this event several times.

Why not go and join the fun tomorrow? Everyone is welcome. Simon is thinking of going in Claudette. I'll be working in Chinon though.

The River's Down

The Claise is a very controlled river. For instance, between Bossay and Humeau - a distance of about 7km - there are 4 sets of weirs, and there were more.

This means that if any work needs to be done on the river's infrastructure the water levels can change overnight. 

And that is what happened this past week. This is the river last Friday

And here it is on Monday.

No Blog Today

We've got stuff happening: various car based things  (taking them for a service and what have you) to do yesterday and today, and my walking continued yesterday with the furthest I have walked since I went into hospital 12 weeks ago.

At least there were no medical appointments!

Walking

After a break of far too long I am walking again. Not far, and certainly nowhere near the challenging distances or altitudes I was attempting last year before the diagnosis, but it's at least something.

So far the walks have been restricted to wandering at a leisurely pace around the village, but it's better than nothing.

Yesterday our doctor (médecin traitant - GP) suggested we get a dog to encourage us to get out of the house. I'm not sure I'm ready for that level of responsibility yet.

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.