Blog entries

Moving the earth in France

lesfragnes — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:44:35 +0100

The other day I was sure we’d witnessed an earthquake. We were walking up our drive when there was an incredibly loud crunching sound. Now, I’d heard that before, many years ago, when there’d been a very short earthquake in Washington, Tyne and Wear. I’d been doing an audit on a firm on an industrial estate there when it happened. Everyone came rushing out of the factory units to see what was going on. We found out later it had been an earthquake.

But our m...

Enter the Rentrée

lesfragnes — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:19:53 +0100

If you’ve been in France recently you can’t have failed to notice references to ‘la rentrée’ just about everywhere. So what is la rentrée? It’s the return to school, and it’s looming quite large on the horizon now with just over two weeks to go.

The summer term finished on 2nd July and the supermarkets started gearing up for la rentrée on the 3rd. So just when you are needing to buy replacement garden furniture, or swimming pool ...

Pushy .... or competitive?

janetlangman — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 06:25:30 +0100

The week kicked off with a phone call from a former client. A client who had seen every house in her budget range in the local area; and was still renting. My heart sank - please God, she didn't want to start looking again. Fortunately not, her sister wanted to sell her holiday home, which she had bought two years ago, refurbished and then gone back to Tokyo, never to return. We met up and she took me around. All of the furniture was covered in white sheeting.&nb...

Beware aoûtats en août !

lesfragnes — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:59:04 +0100

August – the height of summer, but also the height of the biting season. Everything seems to be out to get you this month – mosquitoes, horseflies, ants, ticks – and the very annoying aoûtat. This is its nickname, taken from août – French for August – as it’s now it makes its appearance.

But don’t panic. The aoûtat...

Why is French toilet paper pink? (Or mind your PQs!)

lesfragnes — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:20:39 +0100

Why is French toilet paper predominantly pink? This question popped up in my brain today as I was doing the weekly shop in the supermarket. There were a few packets of white toilet rolls, but all the rest were pink. And, if you’ve been to France, you’ll know that it’s not a particularly nice shade of pink.

So – why?

Well, toilet paper (commonly known as PQ here – from pécu which is short for papier cul ie bum paper) goes back to sixth cen...

Bringing your animal to France

janetlangman — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:30:33 +0100

If you want to bring your animal with you to France from the UK, there are various rules and regulations which apply.

Since 2004 EU regulations state that all cats, dogs and ferrets must be microchipped, vaccinated and hold a current EU pet passport. If you are bringing your pet from the US or Canada, then the same regulations apply. For people living outside of these countries, please check first with your local French embassy as the animal may have to be held in qua...

Bringing your car to live with you in France

janetlangman — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:56:15 +0100

When you bring a car into France from another country and intend staying for over 6 months, then the car must be formally registered with the French authorities. Your registration plate (immatriculation) will be changed to a French one, bearing a unique reference together with the number of the Department in which the car has been registered. The only exceptions to this rule are people who commute from a neighbouring country for work and EU students who are studying in France.

...

Recovery Sunday

lesfragnes — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:45:24 +0100

It's Recovery Sunday. Most Sundays in from May to October are. No, I'm not a seasonal Saturday-night binge drinker! I'm a gite owner, and most Saturdays and Changeover Saturdays.

Changeover Saturdays are frantic. All over France gite owners spring into action the moment the departing guests are out of sight. EDF generators spool into overdrive as thousands of vacuum cleaners and washing machines get to work. Clouds of dust rise into the air as myriads of pillows and cushions are plumpe...

Termites, capricorns and .... all that jazz!

janetlangman — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 07:44:43 +0100

Speaking as an English person, when one of my compatriots sees a few holes in a piece of furniture, their blood turns to ice and they hiss 'woodworm' through clenched teeth.

We in the South West are made of sterner stuff. Woodworm are literally the small fry when you put them in company with termites and capricorns. Woodworm, left to their own devices, don't make houses unstable.

Termites live in underground chambers and eat the ground floor wood....

Make music in June

lesfragnes — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:33:51 +0100

The 21st of June is World Music Day. Here in France it’s called ‘Fête de la musique’. This is a clever play on words. ‘Fête’ – as in festival, celebration – is a homophone of ‘faites’ i.e. you make. So as well as celebrating music, and the first day of spring, the occasion is all about making music too.

The first official Fête de la musique took place in France 1983. It’s been going strong ever since. Village...

Maison Arnaga and Edmond Rostand

janetlangman — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:24:23 +0100

It is my birthday today. Early morning heralded thunder and lightening followed by torrential rain. Happily followed by cards and presents - Rick Stein's Coast to Coast (must start cooking something from all of my cook books or at my great age I am never going to get through them all) and chocolates.

Decided to ignore ...

Things to do in June

lesfragnes — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:45:48 +0100

Here are a couple of 'dictons' or sayings about June from the 1932 edition of La Prosperite a la campagne' magazine:

Mai froid et juin chaud, Remplissant grenier jusqu'en haut.

Cold May and warm June will fill the granary to the top.

(We've had an incredibly cold May, so if June turns out to be hot, it will be a good year for the famers according to this saying.)

Tonnerre de juin, Paille et foin, mais pas de grain.

If there's thunder in June th...

French Dogs

janetlangman — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:28:19 +0100

There are four types of French dogs. There are handbag dogs, hunting dogs, tied up dogs and dogs on the loose.

Handbag dogs appear in the coastal resorts. They are immaculately groomed and prance alongside their bejewelled and be-furred owners on the Promenades of Biarritz and St Jean de Luz. Fur has never gone out of fashion or...

Another new llama but with less drama

lesfragnes — Sun, 23 May 2010 18:32:44 +0100

Georgina of Les Fragnes arrived today - very quickly! We missed her arrival, despite checking mum Gabby several times an hour.

Newborn llamas always look rather scary, usually a limp pile of damp fluff for a little while.

But dry them out ...

... and it's not long before they look ...

Cartes de fidélité - is it worth being loyal?

lesfragnes — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:11:43 +0100

My purse is bulging with cartes de fidélités (loyalty cards). I’m a sucker for them. But to be honest I’m not entirely sure how some of the loyalty schemes I've signed up to work. So I decided it was time to take a closer look at these ubiquitous little bits of plastic that are an essential part of French life.

First up, the supermarke...

Llama Drama

lesfragnes — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:23:14 +0100

I never thought I'd have to milk a llama! However, baby Victoria, who arrived yesterday on Victory in Europe Day, is stubbornly refusing to suckle. So we've been bottle feeding her colostrum, as much of mum Katrina's milk as we can get, and now we've moved onto goat's milk as well. She is drinking more and more each time we feed her. She gets very close to latching on to Katrina, but hasn't managed yet.

Seriously - it's snowing

lesfragnes — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:45:47 +0100

Snow in May! Creuse is experiencing its coldest weather in May since records began in 1946. Today it hovered around 1.7 degrees most of the day and it snowed for several hours. It's warmed up to a toasty 3 degrees this evening! It touched 30 degrees a week ago.

Here are Seamus and Brendan the alpacas, and Bernard the llama, a bit puzzled by the sudden blizzard.

The weather hasn't...

May Sayings

lesfragnes — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:44:10 +0100

We inherited a huge pile of newspapers and magazines, dating back to the 1860s, when we bought our farm, Les Fragnes. The journals were stacked in the attic of what is now the gite. A lot had been ruined by the weather and an obviously abundant population of rats at one time! But plenty were in a good state. These included two years’ worth of La Prosperité a la Campagne, a very practical, hands-on monthly magazine for country dwellers. Every issue opens with ‘dictons’...

Muguet in May

lesfragnes — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:44:32 +0100

May has more jours fériés (bank holidays) than any other month in France. There are two fêtes civiles - the Fête du Travail (Labour Day, 1st May) and Victoire des Alliés (VE Day, 8th May). Then come two fêtes religieuses, namely Ascension and Lundi de Pentecote (Whit Monday). Disappointlingly for the children, the first two bank holidays fall on Saturdays this year. No compensatory Monday off over here – if a jour férié falls at ...

Spring Into Action

lesfragnes — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:46:19 +0100

Now that the good weather’s here and everyone has crawled out of hibernation, there are lots of fêtes, competitions and open days going on. The French know how to enjoy themselves! Today we’ve been to two events. This morning we cycled down to Nouzerines to see the Trec Attelage – horse and carriage trials. We haven’t ever actually seen them underway. Last time we rode down, it was dinner time and everyone’s barbecues were smoking cheerily beneath the ...