All hands to the pumps

If you have a well in your garden or in the street in your village, you need a way of getting the water from the bottom of a deep hole (our well is about 18metres deep) to the surface.

As shown in a previous post, the "ye olde" (is there a French equivalent of that I wonder?) way is the method favoured in fairytales and nursery rhymes: a bucket on a rope, wound around a spindle.

Anyone who grew up before town water came to town, and anyone who has visited the countryside will have seen force pumps. They are the pumps with a long arm you pump up and down, eventually getting water. They use a series of valves creating a vacuum to lift the water and were supposedly invented by Ctesibus of Alexandria, in Egypt. The Roman writer Vitruvius mentioned this device in the first century B.C. and examples have been found in Roman cities, notably Silchester near Reading in England.

A force pump near the Seminary in Bayeux,
now home to the famous 'tapestry'In the garden of the château at La Celle Guenand.
presumably for night watering.

Outside the same château, this more municipal example

The other kind of pump is the centrifugal pump, which uses a spinning impellor to create suction and lift the water. This is usually done with a motor or engine and is the most common type of powered pump, but there are human powered versions as well. The original was invented by Frenchman Denis Papin in the late 17th century.

At the visitor centre for the Roman ruins in Sanxay

Another fine example in St Pierre de Maille

My Personal favorite? A toss up between the "Dragor" dragon, and the impressive if possibly impractical light/pump, I think.

Simon

Plumberage

Avid readers may remember our PIAF (Plumbing Incident Annually in February), and the resultant rather basic facilities we were left with.

The main problems with the plumbing as it was last time we were here were; having to flush the toilet using a bucket, and only having one tap, low to the floor, which produced water. I am happy to announce that this situation is now resolved.

After a rather long planning period (about 10 days of wondering if I could do it on my own, to be absolutely accurate) I went to Bricomarché and bought a huge collection of plumbing bits: joiners, angles, T-junctions, washers, olives (ask yer dad), tape and spare nuts. I took a piece of the old pipework I intended using to check I was buying the right diameter fittings (this is called "planning ahead" I believe) and was quite pleased with what I managed to buy, if horrified (as ever) with how much it all cost.

Getting the parts home, I then carefully removed all the old pipework, as I intended re-using as much of the REALLY expensive copper piping as I could salvage. This went quite well, and I ended up with about 10 meters of reusable pipe.

It was then I hit a snag.

I had cut a section of pipe to make sure I was buying the correct fittings. Even cleverer, I had cut 2 sections of pipe from different places to check they were they same size. Unfortunately I had managed to find the only two lengths of 12mm pipe in the house - and all the pipes I was intending to reuse were 14mm. This meant I had 80€ worth of the wrong sized fittings. This was galling, but luckily I mentioned this as an aside to Jill, who told me John had done something similar (although hopefully not as comprehensively) and had exchanged them for the correct size. As I hadn't actually opened any of the packages I was able to return to Bricomarché and do the same.

To cut a long story short (and I mean a REALLY long story with more twists and turns than the pipework I was replacing), we now have a flushing toilet (that's a relief) and taps in the laundry for a washing machine and dishwasher. I also have moved Pascal's tap into the laundry, and put it higher up the wall for easier use. The whole thing took me 8 hours non-stop muttering and forcing bits to fit, and I was so tired I missed my dinner, and the house is a mess because I had to take the laundry ceiling down, and I bumped my head on the low doorway 4 times, and now I can't do bending or standing up straight because everything hurts so much, but apart from that I am happy.

Because pictures of plumbing can't be made exciting
or even attractive, a photo of Tuesday's sunset

We still have no hot water, or working kitchen sink, but dishwasher takes priority...

Simon

Visiting My Sister

Recently I made a trip back to Australia, and for much of my visit, I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law. I thought readers might be interested in seeing some of the photos I took in their garden.

This is a view of the back garden, which backs on to a bush park.

A Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans eating the seeds of a sycamore in the garden.

A Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes

A Chequered Copper butterfly Lucia limbaria, very colour co-ordinated with the chrysanthemum it is feeding on.

Bungee, my parents' dog, causing havoc in the waterlilies. Bungee is a Kelpie, an Australian breed of cattle herding dogs. She is a lovely dark chestnut colour, very lively and clever, and difficult to keep from getting bored.

Early one morning she found this Spotted Marsh Frog Limnodynastes tasmaniensis. My father rescued it from her attentions, but it remained defensively puffed up for quite a while.

With rather undignified consequences...

Susan

One of my favorite shops

As you drive through Pleumartin it is easy to be distracted by the covered market in the centre of the town square. This is not Pleumartin's only curiosity - there is a little shop on the north side of the square that is well worth exploring.

As you drive past you will notice gas bottles, some punnets of flowers and one or two other disparate items, but inside is a real Aladdin's cave.

I first visited this shop when I was looking for disposable BBQ's to use on Tour de France day. They had; electric BBQs, charcoal, toys, headstones, paint, gifts, home decorations, tools, table linen, umbrellas, locks, fishing gear, videos, baby stuff, furniture, home electrical stuff, clothing, hunting gear... the list goes on (and on and on).

This is possible because the building you see has had a number of extentions built out the back - quite possibly 25 metres worth of tin shed crammed full of wonders.

But no disposable BBQs.

I mentioned this place to Bengt who visited next time he was in the area, and I believe he was as impressed as I was. So if you're ever in Pleumartin, call in on a flimsy pretext. Just be careful - if you tell them you are looking for something, they may well have it!

Simon

This last paragraph I am typing is special less because of what it says, than because I am typing it sitting at the computer in Preuilly, connected to the internet. The connection may look slightly Heath-Robinson (10 metres of telephone cable strung across the ceilings of two rooms), but the speed is 21st Century. Having an internet connection tells me I need to get my own weather station - as I type this our weather panel says it is currently 9c and raining, whilst outside my window it is sunny with the occasional fluffy white cloud.

Windvanes

Every building with any pretentions to style has to have a windvane. These three are not especially grand, but very typical of the species.

This understated windvane is in Montrésor, on top of a house

This is on the Old Mairie in Preuilly

and this is the church in le Petit Pressigny

Simon

Periodic Puppy Pics

Err...whose blog is this, you are thinking? Have I accidentally ended up on WCS – Another American in France?

No, but we have been dog-sitting.





We have known these little dogs all their lives (about 10 years). Every so often they come to stay with us while their papas are away from home. They are miniature dachshunds (teckels in French). Don't be fooled by their size; they are proper dogs, hugely entertaining and extraordinarily good-natured.

We are lucky enough to live next to a large more or less abandoned garden in London, which is great for exercising the dogs. The only problem is we can't let them off the lead, as there is a lot of rubbish in some parts, full of broken glass and other things they might cut themselves on. They find this immensely frustrating, as there are soooo many smells and places to investigate. If I let them free I reckon it would be at least a week before they emerged from the undergrowth again.

Some tulips, snakeshead fritillaries and a wood anemone in the part of the garden that is tended.

Susan

So Who Delivers Your Easter Eggs?

In Britain, the Easter Bunny delivers chocolate Easter eggs to children on Easter Sunday.

In Australia, introduced non-native rabbits have been an ecological and agricultural disaster, and about 20-30 years ago, Easter Bilbies started appearing as an alternative for those who felt that bunnies were inappropriate under the circumstances.

Bilbies are an endangered Australian native marsupial, with a superficial resemblance to rabbits. They have long ears, long noses and longish tails, propel themselves forward on powerful hind legs and dig burrows with their front paws. Many Australians now happily buy chocolate Bilbies and tell their children that the Easter eggs were delivered by the Easter Bilby. Some chocolate manufacturers donate a proportion of the profit from Easter sales to Bilby conservation projects. I reckon it's a great idea.

In France, bells deliver the Easter eggs. The church bells are silent from the day before Good Friday, then on Easter Sunday they ring out again. They've been to Rome and arrived back bringing Easter eggs!

Susan

Chambon

About 12 months ago Susan and I travelled along the back road from Boussay to Chambon whilst exploring new and picturesque routes to the supermarché in la Roche Posay. At the time we were both taken by the view as you enter the valley of the Creuse river above Chambon, but couldn't find anywhere to stop and take a photo. (As usual, once we saw the view we were past it.) Last week, however, I found a little chalk quarry by the edge of the road which gave me enough room to park safely and take some photos. You can see it as a white blob in the middle of this map.

Chambon isn't the only settlement you can see though - there are hamlets and farms scattered all along the valley, as you can see from the Géoportail map. This is la Penneterie,

and this is la Poussardiére:

One of the more interesting buildings in this view is the farm on the edge of Chambon, called le Château, although if it is really a château we don't really know.

All these photos were taken from the one spot and turning the camera through an arc of about 45°, which really does give an idea of how full the landscape is.

Simon

A half finished project

I thought it was a good idea at the time - travel on public transport from Preuilly sur Claise to London, taking a photo on the hour, every hour, to document the trip.

So at 10.00am I took a photo of us all waiting for the 10.20 bus (I don't know why, but waiting from 10.00 seems obligatory - maybe it's because on other days the bus leaves at 10.00 and no-one can remember which day is which). You can see a Santa on a rope still gamely hanging on...

At 11.00 I was on the bus just north of Ligeuil

And at a couple of minutes to midday I had arrived at the Tours bus station.

At 1.00 (or 13.00 if you're French) I was at Tours - Val de Loire Airport (TUF), having lunch in the restaurant (steack haché et frites, with a bottle of coca)

At 2.00pm I was passing through security, and you're not allowed to take photos there, and at 3.00pm I was on the plane and asleep. Then, 20 minutes after I arrived at Stansted it was 3.00pm again and I was going through customs (where you're not allowed to take photos), at 4.00 I was on the bus into London and quite possibly had dozed off again and the project had ground to a halt.

So a half project documenting half a day's travelling. I am not sure what it was I was trying to prove, maybe I was just attempting to instill some discipline into my photo taking.

Simon

Sports lessons, Preuilly Style

In a previous post about the plan d'eau I wondered aloud if the water is ever used for recreational activities (as suggested by the name).

I am pleased to report that last week I was on a bit of a trek around Preuilly catching up on developments, when I saw kids (I assume from the local college) having a canoeing lesson on the plan. Although the photo shows a bright and sunny day, I was well wrapped up and wearing gloves and still feeling the cold and no way was I going to test the water temperature.

I arrived too late to catch the action, but here they are packing up before carrying the canoes back to where they are stored in the Cantonal Gymnasium. The white building in the background is the amenities block for the campsite, which is currently undergoing refreshment for the coming season. I don't think it has ever featured in a blog, so I have written myself a note to remedy that over the next couple of weeks .

Simon

Three Colours

As well as being coucou time, March going into April is when the forsythia, prunus and blackthorn flower.

With the French propensity for planting tricoleur hedges, sometimes the results in spring can be even more startling than the (we assume) looked for effect at the height of summer.

You can compare the colours with how the same view from the plan d'eau looks in summer here.

Simon

Glimpses 4

It's always worth turning around to see what's behind you when you've got a camera – in this case a 'secret' or 'hidden' view of the Claise.

This was behind us as we took a photo of the crane building the new part of the retraite.

Susan

Korean Stopover

I travelled with Asiana Airlines on my recent trip to Australia. This always involves changing planes at Incheon in Korea. Sometimes this just means a few hours in the airport, but sometimes it means staying overnight in Incheon Airport Town. Asiana tickets always include the hotel and dinner and breakfast in this case, but curiously, they never advertise it or even tell you about it. Anyone who has flown with them before knows this, but I wonder how many first timers book themselves a hotel unnecessarily? Simon did, and he is an experienced, well-informed traveller.

Incheon Airport is an exemplar of how an airport should be, but almost never is. It is spacious, well designed and with many extremely useful facilities for the long-haul traveller such as showers, massage, free internet and a museum and gallery. On my way over, the museum was displaying modern but traditional style textiles, pewter and lacquer ware. Two weeks later, when I returned, the exhibition had changed to beautiful celadon glazed classical ceramics.

An immaculately worked embroidered screen in the museum

On the way back, instead of just changing planes and spending a few hours in the airport, I actually stopped overnight. This should have given me a relaxing evening, with time enough to go into Seoul, an hour and a half away. Unfortunately, industrial action at Sydney International Airport meant that my flight was delayed by 6 hours and I got to my hotel in Incheon Airport Town at 00.15 local time. To add to my not very fun time, I had just spent 10 hours on a plane suffering with a migraine. I am so glad I was clued up that Asiana would take care of my accommodation and shuttle arrangements. I didn't have to worry about my heavy suitcase, as I had checked it all the way through to London from Sydney, and I just had my hand luggage with a change of clothes and the camera. I didn't bother packing any toiletries for the overnight stay, as they are a nuisance to get through security these days, and I knew the hotel would supply the basics anyway.

The hotel was quiet and extremely comfortable and in the morning I got up at 07.00 feeling quite spritely. After having breakfast of fresh pineapple, French toast, seaweed soup and some rather peculiar coffee, I enquired at reception if there was a nice park or a beach within walking distance. There was both apparently, so as I was not due to be picked up by the airport shuttlebus until 11.30, off I trotted, camera in hand.

A typical Incheon street corner

I made it to the beach! The haze is because of dust – an illuminated motorway style warning sign told me that there was a 'Yellow Dust from China' alert.

The area around the hotel is residential, with many large apartment blocks, but also many large detached houses. Interspersed amongst the houses were the Korean equivalent of potagers.

Just like in rural France, no need to lock your bike to the pole here

A row of extremely robust exercise machines on the edge of the park. They are free and fun.

Susan

Note from Simon: No-one told Susan, but the beach she walked to was one of THE Incheon beaches - Incheon Green.

The Annual Coucou

For the third year in a row, here is a photo of a cowslip.

This year the cowslips appear to be slightly later than the last couple of years - on the first of April they were just coming into flower, and to find one that was flowering properly I had to climb down into a ditch where they were more sheltered.

The previous coucou photos are here and here

Simon

Well well well...

These two wells are in Roux. Both have their winding gear, and I assume both would still work, given a little attention. They are traditional Tourangelle wells, made of stone with a roof and a ledge for the bucket.

You can see these kinds of wells everywhere in Preuilly and the surrounding area - both in town (some are built in to the walls of houses) and further out in the country, where they tend to be (but aren't always) stand alone structures.

This third well is next to the church in Chaumussay.

I am not sure if our well will be reconstructed to look like this, because we are hoping we can use it as part of the heating system for our house.

Jill and John have a well on the edge of their garden which they share with their neighbour. It is full of stuff - old stone, dirt and rubbish and will need cleaning before they can utilise it for the garden. Interestingly, it was in use within living memory, well after the introduction of town water in the 1960s; but when the rope broke there was an argument over who would pay to replace it, and the well became defunct.

Simon

Pets de Nonne

I bought a cookbook as a present for my sister recently, and since I had it for a couple of weeks prior to seeing her, I got to road test some of the more interesting looking recipes. The first one that caught my eye was for Pets de Nonne, since it called for two ingredients I am always keen to be using up, egg whites and walnuts, and the book said it was a traditional recipe from the upper Loire. They are sort of like Rocky Road meringues with their chunks of chocolate and walnuts. The recipe also includes angelica. This is an ingredient I could have purchased locally grown, from the marais poitevin village of Coulon a couple of hours to the west of us near Niort, and which we visited last summer. Angelica grows wild in many wet places in central western France, and was traditionally cultivated in the Coulon area. However, I didn't have any, and to be frank, although it's a pretty green colour, it's basically candied celery, and I thought orange peel was a safer bet tastewise.

Angelica growing in a public garden by the canal in Coulon

I had not heard of Pets de Nonne before, but the name alone makes them stand out. Look away now if you were delicately raised...


The name means 'Nun's Farts'. Because this was a new recipe to me, I looked up other recipes for Pets de Nonne, none of which are anything like this one. Apparently, French Pets de Nonne are normally what I know as beignets – little sweet deep-fried balls of choux pastry, sold by the boulangerie in brown paper bags holding a dozen. The French-Canadian recipe is different again, being a way of using up scraps of pastry by making spirals of pastry and spicy Maple syrup.

Susan

les Patrières

Just north of the mystery mill on the River Creuse is another little mystery.

This is "les Patrières", which looks like a model farm. We have not managed to find out anything on the internet about the farm, except that they grow grain. The view from the road gives the impression that all the building are associated - big farmhouse, worker's houses, barns and animal sheds.

The big farmhouse is dwarfed by its Cedar of Lebanon, which looks to be one of the biggest I have ever seen, but also within the walled garden is what appears to be a Wellingtonia (or maybe a Sequoia) and an araucaria (possibly a monkey puzzle)

To identify the name of this farm/hamlet I used Géoportail, the French government's mapping gateway, which has arial photos and and all different maps. The difference between Géoportail and Google maps is that the maps on Géoportail are the official French IGN maps, with a lot of detail. There are also layers like cadastral maps (very useful for checking up which bit of land you own) and a watercourses map.


Simon

Events in Preuilly for April 2009

Friday 3 – Loto – APE des écoles publiques
Bingo.

Saturday 4 – Harmonie Municipale de Descartes
Descartes Town Band.

Saturday 11 – Cinéma

Monday 13 –
Easter Monday, a public holiday.

Friday 17 & Saturday 18 – Congrès Départemental – ACPG/ CATM

Sunday 19 – Course cycliste
Cycling Race.

Saturday 25 – Foire de la St Georges – Journée des Associations
St George's Day Fair.

Saturday 25 – Concours officiel – Pétanque
Official French Bowls Competion.

Market days in Preuilly are Thursdays and Saturdays. The market is held in Place des Halles in the morning.

On Saturday nights there is a pizza van in Place des Halles.