The Coarse Guide to: Plumbing

Plumbing is easy, assuming you have a shifting spanner, the necessary vocabulary, and infinite patience.

The best spanner to use is a really big one. This means you can tighten stuff up so tight no water can escape. This is a desirable thing.

The best vocabulary for the job is basic Anglo Saxon. This is put to best effect when you run out of:

Patience. This is important, because everything that can go wrong will (twice), and it can get really tiring retrieving your spanner every time you thrown it away in disgust.

First thing to do when planning some plumbing is to plan. Planning means that you only have to return to the hardware shop twice after having bought the wrong stuff. Not planning means that you use so much petrol returning to the hardware shop that getting a man in would have been cheaper. The best way to plan is on the back of a beer coaster with a pen that runs out half way through, but any scrap of paper and unreliable scribing instrument will suffice.

A Plan. Invent your own code, and try
to remember what stuff means.

Once you have a plan write a list of what you need on a piece of paper. It is best to get in the car and then ask your spouse if they have the list (repeat process as required). If the paper is small enough and gets lost between home and the hardware store you can be creative when you get there.

When in the hardware store, your vocabulary will come in useful, but only if spoken under your breath. Assuming you have any breath after seeing the prices. Walking around muttering and looking perplexed is de rigeur in the plumbing aisle, so don't worry.

Once you get your bits home, they are best sorted by spreading them out all over the kitchen floor. This shows everyone in the house that you are working and a man not to be messed with. Return to the hardware store and exchange the bits you have bought that are the wrong size (you can do this if you haven't been a coarse plumber and opened up all the packets), then lay your plumbing bits (angle pieces and T-pieces and all that caper) out so you are sure you have what you need. Return to the hardware store and buy the one piece you forgot about, then start work.

Bits. Don't get 12Ø and 14Ø mixed up.

Next, turn the water off where it comes into the house. An impromptu cold shower will not improve things.

Once you start work, it's a piece of cake. Vocabulary will help, as will not throwing your spanner too far. If you must throw the spanner, don't hit a window, because glazing is even more finickity than plumbing and you don't want to go there.

Once all the bits are connected turn the water on slowly. Joints will leak, so turn the mains tap off again and REALLY give them a tighten. Repeat the last two steps until you can flush the toilet without every pipe in the place making like the Versailles fountains.

If you're really clever (like what I am) you too can achieve something like this:
Yesterday was a busy day: Alex and Nicole came over to have a look at our back garden with a view to Alex amenagement'ing it (terraces are needed); then we went to bricomarche for my first return to the hardware shop to buy the rest of the plumbing bits for the shower; then I did some plumbing, then we picked 5Kg of cherries to go with the 3Kg we picked yesterday, making 29Kg so far with 2 of the 7 trees picked; then Bengt arrived and donated us his old portable electric hotplates (he now has a proper cuisinier); then I did some more plumbing; then I made cherry cordial.

Phew!

Simon

Cherry Surprise Cake

Why would any recipe we make at the moment with cherries in be a surprise? Well read on and see for yourself...

The basic recipe for cherry surprise cake is one that you will find on a number of French cookery sites. Kristin Espinasse from French Word a Day has posted Uncle Jacques' version, and Clotilde Dusoulier has put her mother's on Chocolate and Zucchini.

The cake recipe is all about ratios – un : deux : trois – so very easy to remember.

Take un individual pot of plain natural yoghurt and, using the now empty yoghurt pot as a measuring device, mix it with deux pots of sugar* and trois beaten eggs. Stir in trois pots of plain flour, a pinch of salt, 1½ tsp baking powder and ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda. Tip in une pot of vegetable oil and mix thoroughly. Pour the batter into your buttered cake tin/s of choice and cook for at least 40 minutes at 160°C. The small cakes I did in old pâté dishes (12cm x 9cm) took 40 minutes, but the bigger cake in a silicone log 'tin' (20cm x 10cm) took an hour in our mini oven, and needed a piece of foil over the top to stop it burning.

And the surprise?

Well, the cake doesn't have cherries in it, but I did add a by-product of our cherry processing – the half lemon skins that were added to the jam for extra pectin. They have been candied and taken on some of the cherry colour so are now an appealing pink. I cut them into slivers with the scissors and added them to the batter prior to pouring it into the cake tins. The result is a rather moist cake which has maturing well over a day or two, and while some of the pieces of lemon are a bit chewy, the lemon-zesty-with-hint-of-cherry flavour is an excellent addition to this homely cake.

Susan

*French supermarkets stock extra fine castor sugar (sucre poudre très fluide) which I am really enjoying using. It comes in a packet with a pourer and I have been pouring it into jars with a few coffee beans, cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods that have been used once or twice before but still have something to give. After only a few days the spices will have imparted their lovely flavour and aroma to the sugar and it can be used. Note that this sugar does contain an anti-caking product (silica), but I am under the impression that silica is a harmless food additive, as well as occuring naturally in the skins and cell walls of many grains and vegetables.

The Abbaye in Preuilly

Compared to the church shown in yesterday's photos, the abbaye in Preuilly sur Claise is subdued, almost austere. They date from about the same time, but Preuilly's church was restored in the 1860s (around the time when the belltower fell down). We have a picture of the church with its old belltower (and an interesting story) here. There is no record (as far as I know) of Preuilly's abbaye being decorated in a similar fashion to St Savin's, but painting walls and ceilings was very much à la mode.

There is a date over the door of the Abbaye: 1009. Although there was a big celebration in 1909, as far as we can tell there is nothing special being done for the 1000th anniversary of the foundation of the abbey. The current building dates from the 12th-14th Century.

We visited here with Ken and CHM on Saturday, and once again I didn't have my tripod with me. One day I intend visiting the church properly equipped and take photos that actually show the building to its best advantage

Yesterday we didn't do a lot - I have cherry picker's shoulder, so apart from some light housekeeping and a lot of thinking it was a quiet day for me. Susan did a lot of cooking (cherry based), so the motif for June continues.

Simon

An Afternoon in St Savin

We have been to St Savin a number of times, but not since the restoration work on the 12th century paintings has been completed. So when Ken and CHM visited us on their way to there we took the opportunity to tag along (as it were - I drove).

The restored church is a lot more open and airy than I expected, the previous times we visited it was filled with scaffolding and temporary walls and you got no real idea of the scale of the thing. We were impressed by the "candy cane" columns, which have been painted much in the manner they would originally have been painted, but in muted, faded colours rather than the poke your eye out variety favoured by previous generations of restorers.

This is not to say the church is perfect - there was a quite appalling "installation" artwork with sub John Williams atmospheric movie score soundtrack. This has not gone down well with visitors, as evidenced by all but one of the comments in the visitors book.

I rather like this photo of the lime trees
outside, taken through a clear glass window

CHM knew St Savin well and while we sat in the garden behind the church told us something of the family who lived in the "Chateau" which is attached. He spent some time there as a child, including when he was evacuated from Paris during the 1939-45 unpleasantness. In a comment on a previous blog entry CHM said "This part of the abbey was known as the "château" and was the property of M. Édoux, of "Ets. Édoux-Samain," a Parisian lift or elevator builder of the late 19th and 20th century who was a friend of my father's. M. Édoux built this faux medieval tower to encase a hydraulic elevator, what else!"

The church gardens. The building on the left
was for many years the gendarmerie

After sitting in the garden and watching the swifts whirling and swooping we adjourned for refreshments (lunch, having been taken at least 3 hours earlier, had worn off).

Time for a beer and a history lesson

The view from the cafe.

We had a really pleasant, relaxing, but very informative afternoon with good company in pretty surroundings. What more could you ask for on a perfect late spring day?

Simon

PS. The morning was spent making cherry jam. We have to do our chores... This morning Susan will be making sauce from the last of the cherries we have picked. Unfortunately, it's raining, so we can't go and pick more cherries today.

Differences (and more cherry news)

Yesterday was sunny so...

We only picked 3Kg of cherries yesterday. This was because most of the morning was spent at the brico shop, and the afternoon was taken up using the stuff we bought at the brico shop to make a support for our boysenberry bushes/vines/whatever they are.

You can see the boysenberry trellis behind the tomatoes

Then we picked cherries. I have a new technique, which involves climbing into the tree, grabbing a branch, and shaking like a madman. Then all the cherries drop onto Susan's head and she collects them. It beats climbing ladders and plucking the cherries delicately from the branches.

That means we have picked 21kg so far, with probably another 11 - 15Kg left on the two trees we have been picking. Next week the two trees with big cherries will need picking, then hopefully we will get some respite before the last two trees need doing. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the peaches and nectarines won't be ready for about 6 weeks after that so we can get something besides picking fruit done. Susan stewed 2Kg of cherries this evening, and I made 500ml of cherry syrup concentrate with another kilo. (Actually it's Cherry and Grand Marnier ice cream topping). If we don't process the fruit when we pick it we will never keep up!

When we went to the brico place (that's a hardware shop to you non french speakers) I took a list written on my new French shopping list book. There are some things you just expect to be the same all over the world. I mean - notepads: it's paper in a block with some sort of binding, and sometimes they have lines on them to help you write in a straight line.

How many ways are there of doing this? One, you would suspect - the way it is done at "home". Imagine our surprise to discover that cultural assumptions can be misleading even when it comes to a notepad.

First of all I was excited to see that the French are obviously technical and use a lot of grid paper for planning stuff on. Then I was frustrated because although there was a lot of grid paper, there was no lined paper.

Then I was bemused to realise that the grid paper was lined paper - but lined both ways. I assume this has two benefits – it means that the notepad makers don't need to retool between making notepaper in landscape and portrait aspect, and if you put one letter in each box you end up with very neat writing.

Today no cherries (well - maybe a few); Ken, and CHM are coming over for lunch and then we are all off to St Savin, so we might make them pick cherries to work up an appetite. I intended to get out of bed early and go to BricoDepot to buy a shower cubicle and some more plumbing to install a shower, but the constant change in the weather and working in the garden has given me hayfever, so at the moment I am sitting...

Doing the shower should only take a couple of hours, so I expect to be struggling with it all next week.

Simon

Cherry Ripe

Weight of Cherries picked: 8Kg. Weather conversations:3

Progressive totals for month:
Weight of cherries picked:18kg (not including 4 or 5 kg eaten before weighing)
Weather conversations: (have run out of fingers and toes)

It will not surprise you, avid reader, that yesterday being a pleasant sunny day, we went and picked cherries. We had a picnic between bouts of picking, and I pruned the trees, which made picking the trees easier (the branches were on the ground) and will make picking cherries easier next year too.

Yesterday, from our gateway

When we got home I made Chillicherry Sauce:

1Kg Cherries, washed
1/4 cup white vinegar
little splash of water
Boil until fruit is soft, remove pips (easier said than done)

Grind together:
5 dried birds eyes chillies
2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds

Add to fruit, together with:
1 teaspoon Ginger Powder
1 cup sugar (more or less)

Boil until sticky and sort of sauce consistency (or about 104°C if you have a jam thermometer). This is my own recipe wot I made up all by myself and I am right chuffed wiv it.

It's easy picking cherries if the
branch is at ground level

We had it with chèvre at apéro time and it was pronounced a success. Our friend Chris (who is a proper chef and everything) said it did the job nicely. The chevre was bought by Susan at the market this morning, and was the strongly flavoured plugs from the cheese molds we first tried in May a couple of years ago. The chèvre maker farms at Champ d'Oeuf near Martizay and has a webiste here.

Simon

Via La Pouët

Here are some pictures from another of our favourite walks around Preuilly.

Going out of town up Route C1.

The wheat crop at La Pouët.

La Pouët.

Cattle near La Grotte

A very spic and span maison de vigne, in the ZA

(Zone Artisinal or Light Industrial Area).

Route C204 loops off the main road into town and allows
for a quieter, safer walk.

A link to the map showing the full route of this walk is here (in red).

Susan & Simon

Cherry Day

Susan wrote yesterday about the cherries and our plans for them, and today we finished processing the first 10KG (that's 22lb). That leaves about 30kg (at least) on the trees. Getting to them and then picking them will present a challenge, but not as much of a challenge as using them all.

First of all today I stewed some cherries (about 3kg) with a little sugar to stir into yoghurt or crème fraîche (or maybe even fromage blanc) as the whim takes us. Susan had already put about 1kg of cherries in a jar and topped it up with preserving alcohol so we can do cherry liqueur, which still left a pile of cherries to think about.

I've had a haircut, too.

I decided to make jam, and settled on David Lebovitz's "No Recipe Cherry Jam" recipe. The only real variation from the script was that I boiled the fruit and then passed them through a colander rather than pitting them (I don't have a cherry pitter), and as well as adding the juice of two lemons I put two lemon halves in the jam to cook.

Jam (and booze), all cherry flavoured.

The results are ever so slightly too lemony for my taste, but that zingy tartness does stop the jam being too icky. We had it for breakfast this morning, spead on fresh boule with a little butter and it was good. I mean really good. This was my first ever attempt at jam making, so I am quite pleased with myself.

And best of all? There is still 1kg of cherries left - to go into alcohol with sugar and spices. So for now, that's the cherries sorted.

What isn't sorted is our computers. The plan was to put two computers online, so Susan can do work without interrupting the important stuff like blogging and looking up recipes, the cost of floor tiles, how to do plumbing and a million and one other things (watching and/or listening to the cricket, for instance). Our problem is that although I am quite computer literate, I know nothing about networks, and am not well disposed to the thought of learning about it on top of all the other things I am trying to learn.

Simon

Note from Susan: Simon told me he didn't have time to sort out our network, so I got in touch with the IT guy at my office in London, and Bob Toovey, who I've come across in the blogosphere, to see if they could help. Bob runs Computing in France, and responded very quickly to my email. After a short email exchange, I then rang him and he spoke to Simon, checked what gear we have, whether we were using the right cables, what type of modem we have and so on. Bob made a few suggestions, including contacting our ISP, which I have followed up, and Robert, my work IT guy sent some useful links, so between them, I am sure we can make it work eventually. Looks like we do need an extra bit of hardware though.

Bananas and Mayflies

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Source Saint Marc in Chaumussay to check on the orchids on the hillside there. At the bottom of the hill is a particularly lush potager, and its owner is almost always working in the garden.

I stopped to chat with him and he let me know that there were beaucoup d'orchidées on le Petit Pressigny road. I complimented him on his banana palms and he replied that they had been retarded this year by the very cold winter. According to him it got down to -17°C. I told him about our fears of finding a wine lake in our house after the freeze and he laughed and said that the alcohol content would have protected the wine. Then he proudly pointed out his Red Hot Pokers Kniphofia and told me their French name, Tritoma. These have obviously self-seeded, because there are half a dozen plants on the very steep slope above le Chameau, mingling with the Lizard Orchids, with the springwater below spilling into a small fishpond.

There was a mayfly larval case on the underside of one of the bananas, and quite a few adults of several species resting on the nearby box trees, grasses and Nottingham Catchfly.


And in today's news: It rained fairly steadily all morning, so I cut the paeony flowers and brought them inside. With the weight of water drained off them they are looking much chirpier and hopefully will last indoors for a good few days.

We called in on Steve Palluel, the new co-owner of the château at La Celle-Guénand and got to see some of the interior. He is hard at work restoring the bedrooms and breakfast room in preparation for receiving paying guests. The bathroom he showed us is enormous. The whole complex is so picturesque, and all the windows seem to look out on to different hidden terraces. It's a proper château, too, with architectural features covering most centuries from the 11th onwards. He says they've been visited by Bâtiment de France (the arbitors of what can be done to historic buildings). BdF were very pleased to see the interior and structural elements, as they have never done so before, and Steve's sister is an architect, so all went well with the visit.

On the way back from La Celle-Guénand we called in on Bruno Douady, the mason in Le Petit Pressigny, to see the salvaged fireplace surround he suggested for us and to accept his devis for building us a new chimney and fireplace. The fireplace surround is perfect, very simple, in local tuffe limestone. M. Douady says he can do the chimney and fireplace in October, but the windows and door surrounds will have to wait until the spring. We looked at some nice salvaged tomettes in his store too, but sadly there were not enough to do our kitchen floor.

With all this rain, we are worried about our cherries. The sour cherries are ready to pick now, and the bigereau (sweet bi-coloured varieties) are only a week or two away. The rain will cause them to split on the tree and spoil very quickly if we pick them. We've chosen to pick as many as we can of the glowing scarlet sour cherries, with their translucent flesh. Today's harvest, which we managed to time to coincide with the pauses in the rain, was 8kg, of which we have processed 2kg into compote and 1kg in alcohol and destined to be liqueur. The other 5kg will need to be dealt with tomorrow, or they will go bad. Alex, Nicole, Isabella and Amélie Crawford came over from Les Limornières and picked a few kilos to make cherry wine with, but between us we've only picked about a third of the total crop so far. All our other local friends are disappearing under a pile of their own cherries, so we'll just have to come up with at least a dozen creative uses for cherries that can be achieved in a kitchen equipped with two campingaz stoves and a mini oven. Nicole very kindly brought over two mini pumpkin seedlings and a potiron seedling for our potager, so when the rain eases enough to make working in the vegetable garden possible again, they will get planted out near the melon, zucchini and cornichon.

The arrival of another storm put paid to any more cherry gathering, and we rushed home just in time for our appointment with our hairdresser neighbour Ghiselaine.

The one thing we did not do was return the car to Elvis. Since the temperature gauge on the dashboard never goes far above medium, we feel it is difficult to justify the car spending more time at the garage or spending more money on it.

Susan

Le Bois aux Prêtres

A few months ago Aynard de Clermont-Tonnerre, a wine producer from Saint Georges-sur-Cher, got in touch to say that he used to live in Boussay, a small village near Preuilly (so near, in fact, that our verger / potager is technically in the commune of Boussay). He particularly wanted to tell us that hidden in the woods on the edge of Boussay is a Roman theatre. It isn't marked, even on detailed IGN maps, and M. Clermont-Tonnerre says that the structure's stones were removed about a hundred years ago to be re-used in the road – quel dommage...

The Holy Mary Chapel, Boussay

Naturally we were intrigued, and as soon as we had a free morning, we drove out there to investigate. A wide grassy track (known locally as "the Roman lane") through the woodland leads you up the hill and then opens up to a clearing overlooked by the ruins of a chapel and a 19th century statue of Mary. We were delighted to see that the clearing was full of Fragrant Orchids and there were a few Fly Orchids, Lizard Orchids, Common Twayblades and Bee Orchids too. Moving off along the path which runs along the escarpment, we were even more delighted to discover abundant Red Helleborines in flower and White Helleborines in bud but not yet out.

Red Helleborine

We walked until the path ran out, and identified a shallow depression that may be the site of the theatre, although we can't be certain. M. Clermont-Tonnerre has sent us a couple of maps with the position marked, but even with a map reference and a GPS, once you are on the ground and peering through the vegetation trying to read the landscape, it is difficult to know what is natural and what is archaeology. There are certainly a lot of lumps and bumps in the ground, which suggests a lot of archaeology, but impossible for us to decipher.

A Roman Theatre?

In all we saw 10 species of orchid and had a very pleasant walk on a hot day. M. Clermont-Tonnerre tells us the wood is called le bois aux prêtres because during the Revolution the locals hid refactory priests who refused to change their allegiance from Rome to the French State.

Le Bois aux Prêtres

Susan

A quick note: my Uncle Geoffrey asked me last night about the ceiling that fell down, and whether I had done anything to cause this to happen. I was able to reassure him that the collapse was not totally unprovoked and he was in no danger of having ceilings fall on him unannounced when he visits, as one end of the ceiling had become detached when I took down the staircase, and my foot slipped occasionally when I was doing the bathroom floor, putting pressure on the other end.

Simon

The Instant Garden

When we moved from London we bought a lot of plants with us. True, we had two goes at it, and things didn't go as smoothly as they could have, but we got 95% of the plants we intended to bring over to Preuilly, and they are now installed in our front garden.

Add this to this and you get this

The front garden has prompted a lot of comments; apparently until quite recently foxgloves were a controlled plant (because of the digitalis) and the locals seem fascinated by it and often comment - goodness knows what comment the opium poppies will get! The other plant they cant resist commenting on is the twisted hazel - often we are asked if it is ill or diseased.

Yesterday we got the car back. Elvis seems worried that the radiator fan doesn't come on and the car will overheat. It all seems normal to me, and the needle on the temperature gauge seems to go to its regulal place and no further, so I am not sure. We have spent a lot of money on the car this week and the thought of spending more doesn't appeal, particularly when the engine temperature is the same as it has been for the past 2 years.

We didn't get to the block though - it rained, so going to water the plants wasn't necessary, and by the time we had collected the car, taken a trailer load of ex-bathroom walls and ex-ceiling to the dechetterie, been to the supermarket, bought more plants and looked at wellingtons (gumboots/galoshes), it was time to cook dinner (petit sale, since you ask). Today we planned to go and plant our new babies - a whole load of chilli plants, aubergines, leeks, beans, courgette, cornichon, and melons - but overnight it rained again, and because we looked at rubber boots rather than buying them we may have to look at Fridays work and just move on. The soil is pretty light when dry, but fast becomes a quagmire when wet.

This may mean we pick some cherries, then go to the flower and second hand stuff fete at Chaumssay before going to "des livres et des Roses" at Azay-le-Ferron.

Simon

Day One in the Garden

I have never really got gardening. You do it outside in the sun (I don't really do sun), it involves bending over a lot (which I don't do) and it is hard physical work (three words that strike terror into my heart). When I was growing up we had a fairly large garden, some of which was given over to growing stuff apart from grass, but anything we planted always seemed to come to fruition while we were on our summer holidays.

It is therefore somewhat surprising to me that the drive to purchase our new garden came from me as much as from Susan. I think part of the motivation for buying the block we did was that most of the really physical work had been done - it has fencing, mature trees and the ground was tilled. But it is big - the vegetable plot would take a tennis court, and there is about 4 hours worth of grass to mow under the trees.

Cherry trees. None of the cherries are ripe yet

Yesterday we went to the block for the first time to do gardening. Because the car was still with Elvis (for anyone entering this conversation here, no, I haven't gone doolally) we walked down, carrying an assortment of hoes, rakes and seeds.

Ready to plant

First we built up some rows of dirt, weeding out weeds (naturally...), then we sowed stuff: carrots, beet, beetroot, lettuce, sweetcorn,courgettes, some herbs, and some flowers for the table. Halfway through our work the neighbour from the next block called over, and we were amazed to find out we already vaguely know him - it's the old chap from the market who always calls Susan la p'tite dame. It turns out that the hazelnuts Susan bought from him two weeks ago came from our block. Twenty minutes later another car arrived and it was the lady who owns the next block over from the old chap. She introduced herself, and when we explained where we lived, commented on the pretty front garden with the flowers.

On Thursday when we were assuming control of the garden we met the man who makes hay on the large piece of land that borders on two side of the garden. Yesterday he stopped heaving hay bales (his machine had broken and he was doing it with a pitchfork) and had a chat with us about how good the trees were looking and how warm the weather was.

Discussing the weather. Yesterday's weather discussion tally: 3

Anyhow; gardening. Susan says you can grow to enjoy it.* I will reserve judgement on that for a year or so.

Then - this morning I got up at 7.00, went to the loo - and while I was in there I heard an almighty crash. At first I thought it was the top half of the staircase deconstructing itself, but on opening the toilet door I found the ceiling that once sat under the new bathroom floor was now sitting on a table by the back door.

The ceiling. I took the sheet of plaster
down even before I had a cup of tea.

So now I know what my job list for today is: clear debris, ring Elvis (yes, the car still wasn't ready yesterday) and then hopefully pick up car, buy aubergine plants, bean seedlings, melons, more tomato plants; plant the purchases then water the potager (even though yesterday evening we had 3 drops of rain), and go to the decheterie.

I feel like I need a lie down even before I have started.

Simon

*can't tell if she was trying to be funny or not...

Cherries, a new friend and some expensive repairs

Wednesday evening we took our now customary stroll, our route this time taking us down rue des Cygnes (Swan Street) and up the hill via the C2 towards la Pouët. As we came up the quiet sunken lane we could hear a bit of a rumpus eminating from the house at the top. There were lots of shouted instructions and a few cries of alarm or warning. As we came out of the trees and round the corner we could see why. Grandpère et petit fils were harvesting the cherries. That's Grandpère perched on a pallet held up by the tractor's hydraulic arm. When we first arrived, the young man on the ground was in the tractor cab, doing some final adjustment of his grandfather's distinctly perilous position.

Yesterday morning, after the usual domestic chores, we called in at the insurance office to sort out our health insurance. Marie-Hélène had given us a quote which we felt was outrageously expensive, so we went in to find out what the alternatives were. Fortunately, there seem to be a number of options and ways of reducing the cost and she is going to do us a new quote.

While we were there, a woman arrived and Marie-Hélène asked us if we knew one another. I recognised the woman as Louisa, an American who has spent most of her life, including much of her childhood, in France. We have run into each other a few times, but never been properly introduced or spoken beyond polite small talk. Many of our local friends know Louisa and ask if we know her, but somehow it has taken until now for us to connect. It turns out that Louisa's sister knows the blog and has also been asking Louisa if she knows us.

Two hours later we emerged from Marie-Hélène's office, having been almost completely side-tracked and having had a very enjoyable and informative conversation with Louisa and Marie-Hélène, who are clearly old friends. We only left when we did because we had an appointment with the vendor of our new orchard / veggie plot.

Louisa's barn (and if you think this is picturesque, you should see her house,
which apparently turns up occasionally in tourist magazines).

After an extremely hasty and inadequate lunch we walked down to the orchard and found Monsieur P, the vendor, had mowed and was waiting in the comfort of his car parked under the large walnut at the front of the block. We walked around the block and he showed us exactly where the boundary is and gave us half a dozen extremely sturdy looking Pierre Noir tomato plants, which we planted and watered together. He said he was giving up the garden because his wife is not well and they have moved away from Preuilly as a consequence. Although we do not pay for the block or get the deeds signed over until late July, he is happy to hand over the responsibility now and give us the benefit of this year's fruit crop and the opportunity to sow some vegetables.

We couldn't spend too long with him though, as we were waiting on a call from Elvis to say that the car was ready. When he didn't phone, I phoned the garage for a progress report. The receptionist said that the car was not ready and that we had better come up so Elvis could explain fully. That didn't sound good!

And it wasn't! Elvis said that the front passenger brake was leaking fluid and some of the mechanism needed replacing. He had ordered all the parts and was ready to do the work, but needed our go-ahead. We were expecting a bill of no more than a couple of hundred euros for the alternator belt and its associated parts. Instead, we will get a bill for nearly a thousand euros! And the car probably won't be ready until Saturday morning!

Susan

Elvis is alive and well...

... and works for M. Eric Petit.

Three weeks ago (is it really that long?) I wrote that our alternator belt started to fray as we drove out of London. I have been meaning to do something about it, but stuff was always getting in the way.

Looking down Route 8 towards Preuilly

Yesterday we went to M. Eric's garage to have it looked at. We had done all our dictionary work at home before leaving, so were hoping that communicating about the problem would not be a problem. I think we got away with it, too. We managed to communicate which belt was the problem, and that the cam belt didn't need replacing (which is an expensive job we had done 40,000km ago). The mechanic (the aforementioned Elvis) didn't want us driving the car around, so we left the car with him and walked home.

Yesterday was a hot day, but it was really pleasant in the shade

As it was a nice day we walked up to see to M Chaboisson, the menuisier, about "refreshing" our estimate for a staircase which was written about 2 years ago. From there we came back to Preuilly via Route 8 (see yesterday's post).

This year is a good one for Painted Lady butterflies

The rough grassy lane runs between banks about 2m high, so it is ideal for photographing wildflowers and the insects that visit them. The highlight of today's walk was undoubtedly the Golden-ringed Dragonfly Cordulegaster boltonii subsp boltonii (the French name is Cordulégastre annelé). We encountered a female, questing up and down for any opportunity to catch herself a meal. We waited patiently for a few minutes and she did indeed catch something. Although we didn't see exactly where she landed, Simon soon located her via the crunching sounds she made as she ate. This is a large and impressive dragonfly, always rare and only occurring where there is suitable habitat, so we are extremely happy to have seen her.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

When we got home the man who is selling our garden to us rang, to ask if we would meet him this afternoon. I never thought I would ever hear myself say this:

"I'm not sure - aren't we going to be waiting for a call from Elvis?"

Susan and Simon

On Hidden Roads

I wrote on Sunday that we have discovered a new evening walk, but what I didn't say was how hidden it is.

There are a number of road classifications in France, the main ones being: A (autoroutes, often with tolls payable), N - sometimes RN (national roads, maintained by the French Government), D - sometimes RD (departmental roads, maintained by individual Departments), and C, maintained by communes. There are also ( although I can't find out what it means) R roads. Rurale? Rough? or maybe Ahhhhhhh - I'd forgotten about them...

This walk is mainly on R roads around Preuilly, but you start at the Mairie and head north along rue du Chaumont Patin, which beomes rue Notre Dame and then Route de Loches. Already it sounds a long way, but all this happens within the first 500 feet or so. Once you are at the bottom of the Chateau you turn along Chemin de la Garenne and things start to get rural. There are potagers on the left and the trees that surround the chateau to your right. Just before the chemin rejoins the main road there is a track on your right, boldly proclaiming itself to be R22

If you take this road (the other sign points toward "la Folie") you come across Route 7. Although it may not look like it, this is a crossroads. Taking a right turn here will lead you back to the chateau, but here we turned left.

These roads look abandoned and uncared for, but someone has been doing roadworks on Route 7, as evidenced by the following photo

A bit further along (It's difficult to judge these things - this is a 1½ mile walk that took us over an hour) you reach another intersection. Althought there are no signs to this effect, the new road is Route 8. Turn right here, looking out for traffic, naturally.

Standing on Route 8, looking towards Route 7

Follow this road and you eventually find the Route 8 sign. One hundred metres further along, and you're back in Preuilly.

I have done a mashup map type thing here (in blue), just in case you're ever in the area and looking to stroll.

Simon

A New Start

Yesterday was a Public Holiday in France, but in a couple of ways for us it was the first day of our new life.

We have been coming to Preuilly for 3 years, and for most of that time have been working during the day, and then after dinner (if not too tired) going for a walk. Yesterday we had breakfast, went for a walk, then Susan started doing her working from home, whilst I did some demolishing. (The fact I did some demolishing won't particularly be news, I am always demolishing).

After lunch we did some work tidying the back garden of the house and I planned my next move, which is installing the shower.

Having a walk in the morning was interesting - different birdsong, and because it was a nice day, amazing light. The whole day was so sucessful we are planning on using it as a template for the rest of the year - at least.

I have made a little movie, which was taken from the old roads surrounding the chateau.

Simon

Events in and around Preuilly for June 2009

Monday 1 – Tournoi de foot – USYP
Football (soccer) tournament.

Friday 5 – Tournon Saint Pierre – Concert
by the choir "la Chantournelle"

Saturday 6 – Cinéma

Saturday 6 & Sunday 7 – Ste Maure de Touraine – foire aux fromages
national cheese festival

Sunday 7 – Chaumussay – Fête des Fleurs et du Terroir
flower, local food and crafts fair.

Sunday 7 – Azay le Ferron – "des livres et des Roses"
book and rose fair


Tuesday 9 – Vaudeville – Salle des fetes

Friday 12 – Spectacle MCJ
Preuilly's young people dance concert – Classique, Modern jazz.

Saturday 13 – Kermesse – Ecole Notre Dame
Fair, Our Lady School.

Saturday 13 – Martizay – Fete de la Saucisse

Friday 19 – Auditions école de Musique
School of Music auditions.

Saturday 20 – Méchoui – ACPG
Anciens Combattants et Prisonniers de Guerre
The old soldiers and prisoners of war association are having a spit roast tonight

Saturday 20 – Fête de la Musique
Music Festival.

Sunday 21 – Concours de Pêche – La Brême
Fishing Competition.

Friday 26 – Fête – Collège Gaston Defferre

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.