Two years ago we provided lodgings for barn owls and their two chicks and black redstarts and their four chicks. The barn owls nested in one of the chimneys and the redstarts in the redundant satellite dish on the balcony. Harry rigged up a webcam on the redstart chicks, which provided us with hours of entertainment, especially when there were four of them contending for space in the little nest, then watching the relief at having more space as each of them flew off.
Last year we were disappointed that neither owls nor redstarts took up residence, but this year both are back. We often see the adult owls flying around or hear their screech or become aware of them quietly gliding from our roof over to the trees or other rooftops. Just like a couple of years ago, we would hear a sort of screeching complaining sound when we were in the garden late in the evening and we decided that there was an owl's nest with hungry chicks nearby. Then, just about three weeks ago I worked out that the noises weren't coming from the neighbours, but from our same chimney again. Now when you go out and peer up at the chimney, there are two little Ollie Beaks staring down at you!
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed an adult owl high on the top of a big cherry tree which is lit up by a street light. The owl and I had a staring match for a good quarter of an hour, and I spoilt things by opening a window and scaring it off. Just now we had another bit of a stare with the owl perched high up in the same place. We've also seen them perched on next-door's chimney with a tasty morsel, ready to give to the babies in our chimney. (And there he or she goes now, giving a bit of a screech somewhere nearby.)
As for the redstarts quite a few weeks ago now they started off with a nest in the empty garage next to us, flying in through a crack in one of the broken window panes. Then we saw the parents regularly in our garden and flying in and out of our woodstore which backs onto the neighbour's garden. We thought this was maybe a short-cut to the garage, then last week I noticed bits of dry grass hanging out of an orange corrugated plastic tube, which Harry had put on a long old ladder which is suspended from the corrugated metal roof inside the woodstore. It looks a bit precarious, but sure enough there have been chirping noises coming from the tube, and that is where the redstarts are nesting.
They seemed to be getting used to us as we are often working or sitting in the garden, then today I noticed both mum or dad being very noisy with a blackbird-like warning call and flying and sitting very close to wherever I went in the garden. Then tonight - lo and behold! - we see a little fluffy chick perched on the balcony railings and trying to fly into our window. The window was closed and probably looked quite dark from the outside, so confusing for a little chick new to the world. After a few attempts, it was rescued and put on the right track by one of the parents. Another chick then appeared and there seemed to be quite a lot of flying lessons. We were a bit concerned that the chicks would be back under cover before the owls arrived, but hopefully the parent redstarts know what they are doing!
So, when all the chicks have flown, life will be a bit quieter, but there's still the other bird wildlife, plus the little dark red squirrel that occasionally dices with the traffic on the road, and of course the bats that we see and can track on the bat detector now on loan from friends. Other entertainment is provided during the day by numerous lizards, but thank goodness, the large grass snake hasn't put in an appearance this year.
© Marie Tyler, 2014.
Monday, 30 June 2014
Monday, 16 June 2014
Summer festivals underway in Chamberet! It's Famine or Feast Time!
Last weekend we residents of Chamberet had the Fete de la Cerise - The Cherry Festival. The weekend just gone we had the first Festival Africain - African Festival - and this coming weekend we have the Fete de la Musique - Music Festival, which promises a mass Zumba on the Champ de Foire.
The Champ de Foire is the large open space, with a large grassed area where the animals would have grazed or been tethered and markets would have taken place in the past. Every village around here (and probably lots of other rural areas of France) has a Champ de Foire. For Geordies who read this, and even adopted Geordies and even Mackems, who know Newcastle, the Champ de Foire in Newcastle is the old Cattle Market where there was a large car park, near the Arena(if that's still its name, but that may well now have gone).
From what I know, the Champ de Foire has also been the large area in a village which also accommodated the Fete Foraine - the Fun Fair, also known in Newcastle as The Hoppings or The Town Moor, and in Durham as The Shows. Often when there is a communal celebration in a village, such as the Cherry Festival, there will also be a Fete Foraine, with all the gaudy shows such as the Dodgems, candy floss stalls, Hook a duck, the Ghost Train and its many variants, and The Big Wave which involves participants being hoisted up-a-height, then plunged suddenly downwards, accompanied by lots of screams!
In Chamberet tomorrow night and the following night, there's the Cirque Européen - the European Circus - which arrived this morning. That's the second circus in as many months. I'm not sure what this one is about, but I noticed in passing soon after they arrived that there were a couple of donkeys and horses grazing on the aforesaid Champ de Foire grassy area. This circus was down the road from us at the weekend at Treignac and they had a very impressive Big Top. I need to go and check that out as it's not quite visible from our house. (Also need to check if they are asking people to remove the manure which their animals deposit on the grassy area and which will all go to help our veg! The camel, zebra and alpaca dung from the last circus a couple of months ago seems to be helping Harry's veg.)
The Fete de la Musique looks interesting - this coming Saturday evening (21 June - isn't that Midsummer Day? I'm never sure about that) there will be a mass Zumba plus other music activities all for free on the Champ de Foire.
Then during the summer we have Les Heures Musicales (Musical Hours) with music in churches and our local Salle de Fetes, les Marchés Festifs, with local producers selling wine, cheese, meat, etc, which you then can cook and eat on site, with friends and neighbours, as you wish, the Vide Grenier (Village Car Boot Sale), 2 free concerts with Dance and Folk Music Groups from anywhere in the world, all accompanied by that great French institution, La Buvette - the outside bar, staffed and provided by local volunteers.
And during the summer, also there will be Exhibitions/Expositions, including an exhibition by artists who are members of Chamb'ART. The exhibitions will be at the newly restored Maison St André which is next to the church in Chamberet. (The church has some interesting relics on display in the porch, including a fabulous chasse/casket from about 1500) Harry Tyler is a member of Chamb'ART, moi aussi, but only as a supporter/committee member, not as an artist, as my talents lie in other directions!
The diary is filling up - Famine (often) in winter, Feast in summer! Let's feast!
© Marie Tyler, 2014
The Champ de Foire is the large open space, with a large grassed area where the animals would have grazed or been tethered and markets would have taken place in the past. Every village around here (and probably lots of other rural areas of France) has a Champ de Foire. For Geordies who read this, and even adopted Geordies and even Mackems, who know Newcastle, the Champ de Foire in Newcastle is the old Cattle Market where there was a large car park, near the Arena(if that's still its name, but that may well now have gone).
From what I know, the Champ de Foire has also been the large area in a village which also accommodated the Fete Foraine - the Fun Fair, also known in Newcastle as The Hoppings or The Town Moor, and in Durham as The Shows. Often when there is a communal celebration in a village, such as the Cherry Festival, there will also be a Fete Foraine, with all the gaudy shows such as the Dodgems, candy floss stalls, Hook a duck, the Ghost Train and its many variants, and The Big Wave which involves participants being hoisted up-a-height, then plunged suddenly downwards, accompanied by lots of screams!
In Chamberet tomorrow night and the following night, there's the Cirque Européen - the European Circus - which arrived this morning. That's the second circus in as many months. I'm not sure what this one is about, but I noticed in passing soon after they arrived that there were a couple of donkeys and horses grazing on the aforesaid Champ de Foire grassy area. This circus was down the road from us at the weekend at Treignac and they had a very impressive Big Top. I need to go and check that out as it's not quite visible from our house. (Also need to check if they are asking people to remove the manure which their animals deposit on the grassy area and which will all go to help our veg! The camel, zebra and alpaca dung from the last circus a couple of months ago seems to be helping Harry's veg.)
The Fete de la Musique looks interesting - this coming Saturday evening (21 June - isn't that Midsummer Day? I'm never sure about that) there will be a mass Zumba plus other music activities all for free on the Champ de Foire.
Then during the summer we have Les Heures Musicales (Musical Hours) with music in churches and our local Salle de Fetes, les Marchés Festifs, with local producers selling wine, cheese, meat, etc, which you then can cook and eat on site, with friends and neighbours, as you wish, the Vide Grenier (Village Car Boot Sale), 2 free concerts with Dance and Folk Music Groups from anywhere in the world, all accompanied by that great French institution, La Buvette - the outside bar, staffed and provided by local volunteers.
And during the summer, also there will be Exhibitions/Expositions, including an exhibition by artists who are members of Chamb'ART. The exhibitions will be at the newly restored Maison St André which is next to the church in Chamberet. (The church has some interesting relics on display in the porch, including a fabulous chasse/casket from about 1500) Harry Tyler is a member of Chamb'ART, moi aussi, but only as a supporter/committee member, not as an artist, as my talents lie in other directions!
The diary is filling up - Famine (often) in winter, Feast in summer! Let's feast!
© Marie Tyler, 2014
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Shit (on and) off a shovel . . .
Aah. Sunday! What to do? Even though we are not working, as in working in a job, Sunday is a day of rest. So - how did we spend this Sunday afternoon? That's right - gathering manure from a camel, a zebra, a llama, an alpaca, a couple of donkeys, Shetland ponies and pygmy goats, which must mean the circus is in town! About three circuses a year come to Chamberet - of varying sizes, with some Big Tops not much bigger than our old purple family tent which nowadays I think does an annual Glastonbury trip.
Last Thursday I was delighted and excited to see a procession of assorted show vehicles with trailers and caravans passing our windows, on its way to the Champ de Foire, next to the Salle de Fêtes (community centre) about 100 metres from our house. As I mentioned in a previous blog, it made me think of the Hoppings on the Town Moor in Newcastle, also 'Something wicked this way comes' a great story by Ray Bradbury. The procession was the Circus Vazatta - in town for two shows on Saturday and Sunday. The Big Top was soon erected, with flags flying and the trailers and vans encircling it like a wagon train crossing the American plains.
We debated what the attractions might be, and whether there actually was a tiger as shown on the poster. We had a late night walk to have a look. There wasn't much to see - the trailers like the usual show caravans with fancy lace curtains and mirrors and fancy ornaments inside, but there was an open-sided trailer with metal bars and lots of straw. No sounds of lions or tigers though. On Saturday morning we noticed various animals grazing on the Champ de Foire. Most French villages have a Champ de Foire - it's where the monthly animal markets were held, until when I'm not sure, and ours is only used now about once a year at the Cherry Festival for a sheep show. There are still the hitching rails and a grassed area with trees. We had a word with an old gadgie who was sitting on the steps of the 'box office' then spotted a notice saying there was free manure for the taking. He said that before they left they had to clear away any animal droppings, bedding hay, etc., so they were more than happy for us to take what we wanted.
So, this afternoon, alongside the alpaca, goat and donkeys who were all still grazing, armed with my dad's garden spade, two small shovels and a rake, we filled two barrowloads of assorted manure. It's been warm today, so that was a good hour's work. The elderly woman who turned out to be the box office assured us that we could expect excellent results for all our fruit and veg, and flowers and trees and shrubs. She told us that the animals feed naturally, so there aren't any nasty chemicals in the manure.
Meanwhile, the circus show was getting underway - we saw the elderly man and a slightly younger man, both in ringmaster-type tail coats which had seen better days, one woman, probably of pensionable age and a young man, also in red tail coats. That appeared to be the circus personnel, plus our friend on the box office. The zebra, the llama and the camel were lined up outside the Big Top, but quite what the performance consisted of I'm not sure. The usual circus music and a commentary lasted for about an hour or so. We reckon there were no more than twenty adults and children in the audience so at 10 euros for adults and 5 for children, they could hardly be covering their costs.
There's plenty of gardening work ahead as none of the veg has been put in yet, but roll up, roll up and roll on an abundance of fruit, veg and flowers. Like flowers, shrubs and veg from cuttings from friends' gardens, they will be a reminder of the showfolk and that we live in a part of France which still has its culture and its rural travelling showcircus tradition.
© Marie Tyler, 2014
Last Thursday I was delighted and excited to see a procession of assorted show vehicles with trailers and caravans passing our windows, on its way to the Champ de Foire, next to the Salle de Fêtes (community centre) about 100 metres from our house. As I mentioned in a previous blog, it made me think of the Hoppings on the Town Moor in Newcastle, also 'Something wicked this way comes' a great story by Ray Bradbury. The procession was the Circus Vazatta - in town for two shows on Saturday and Sunday. The Big Top was soon erected, with flags flying and the trailers and vans encircling it like a wagon train crossing the American plains.
We debated what the attractions might be, and whether there actually was a tiger as shown on the poster. We had a late night walk to have a look. There wasn't much to see - the trailers like the usual show caravans with fancy lace curtains and mirrors and fancy ornaments inside, but there was an open-sided trailer with metal bars and lots of straw. No sounds of lions or tigers though. On Saturday morning we noticed various animals grazing on the Champ de Foire. Most French villages have a Champ de Foire - it's where the monthly animal markets were held, until when I'm not sure, and ours is only used now about once a year at the Cherry Festival for a sheep show. There are still the hitching rails and a grassed area with trees. We had a word with an old gadgie who was sitting on the steps of the 'box office' then spotted a notice saying there was free manure for the taking. He said that before they left they had to clear away any animal droppings, bedding hay, etc., so they were more than happy for us to take what we wanted.
So, this afternoon, alongside the alpaca, goat and donkeys who were all still grazing, armed with my dad's garden spade, two small shovels and a rake, we filled two barrowloads of assorted manure. It's been warm today, so that was a good hour's work. The elderly woman who turned out to be the box office assured us that we could expect excellent results for all our fruit and veg, and flowers and trees and shrubs. She told us that the animals feed naturally, so there aren't any nasty chemicals in the manure.
Meanwhile, the circus show was getting underway - we saw the elderly man and a slightly younger man, both in ringmaster-type tail coats which had seen better days, one woman, probably of pensionable age and a young man, also in red tail coats. That appeared to be the circus personnel, plus our friend on the box office. The zebra, the llama and the camel were lined up outside the Big Top, but quite what the performance consisted of I'm not sure. The usual circus music and a commentary lasted for about an hour or so. We reckon there were no more than twenty adults and children in the audience so at 10 euros for adults and 5 for children, they could hardly be covering their costs.
There's plenty of gardening work ahead as none of the veg has been put in yet, but roll up, roll up and roll on an abundance of fruit, veg and flowers. Like flowers, shrubs and veg from cuttings from friends' gardens, they will be a reminder of the showfolk and that we live in a part of France which still has its culture and its rural travelling showcircus tradition.
© Marie Tyler, 2014
Saturday, 25 January 2014
All quiet on the chambertois front
Chamberet is often like many French villages around here - as you walk around or drive through there are probably no signs of life - not a soul about. Visitors and other English residents we know here often remark on this. Lots of villages are like English villages and have lost all their services - post office, shops, even the bar or café. So, unlike a busy town or city, there's no reason to be aout and about, other than on a stroll or walkabout. Also, if you happen to pass through after midday, lots of villages still have the holy hour, or rather two hours, when shops close for a long lunch break and the only signs of life might be at the boulangerie (open all day) or the café or restaurant which provides lunches, particularly 'formule' lunches - three courses, usually at a reasonable price and aimed at workers of whatever description.
We live about a three minute walk from the centre of Chamberet, on the official lorry route through the village. When traffic comes in on the back road from Limoges (60 kms away), arriving at the little mini roundabout, heavy vehicles are directed down our street, rather than straight ahead on a shorter route to the village centre where the street narrows considerably. So on most weekdays, we have all manner of cars, lorries with huge quantities of large tree trunks, tankers delivering oil for domestic and farm use, mobile shop vans, and all manner of agricultural machinery of all sorts of weird and wonderful ages, shapes and sizes. Depending on the time of year, there are pedestrians. At the moment, with typical winter January weather with grey, lowering skies and maybe rain, there are occasional pedestrians - a little old lady who goes past every day with her shopping trolley after her visit to the village supermarket, neighbours off to visit other friends and neighbours, residents out for their daily stroll, and kids from the village school on their way to do some activity up at the Salle de Fetes (community centre). And particularly on better weather days cyclists of course - this is the country of the Tour de France after all - usually small groups of men, chattering away in all their helmet and lycra glory.
This afternoon Harry remarked to me that there hadn't been any traffic since the siren and the Angelus bells went at 12 noon. I realised this was right - not one car, not one pedestrian. I ventured out a little while ago to take the rubbish and recycling up to the communal bins and listened to the silence! There were actually maybe five cars passing through and a lone cyclist and me - the only pedestrian.
Such a change from our former life with cars racing up and down a narrow back lane not intended for the purpose in a Durham pit village, then constant traffic ignoring the 30 mph speed limit, with the traffic noise from a busy bypass always in the background. And now, at 8 o'clock on a Saturday night, the occasional car until the occasional Sunday morning traffic from around 9 am.
© Marie Tyler, 2014
We live about a three minute walk from the centre of Chamberet, on the official lorry route through the village. When traffic comes in on the back road from Limoges (60 kms away), arriving at the little mini roundabout, heavy vehicles are directed down our street, rather than straight ahead on a shorter route to the village centre where the street narrows considerably. So on most weekdays, we have all manner of cars, lorries with huge quantities of large tree trunks, tankers delivering oil for domestic and farm use, mobile shop vans, and all manner of agricultural machinery of all sorts of weird and wonderful ages, shapes and sizes. Depending on the time of year, there are pedestrians. At the moment, with typical winter January weather with grey, lowering skies and maybe rain, there are occasional pedestrians - a little old lady who goes past every day with her shopping trolley after her visit to the village supermarket, neighbours off to visit other friends and neighbours, residents out for their daily stroll, and kids from the village school on their way to do some activity up at the Salle de Fetes (community centre). And particularly on better weather days cyclists of course - this is the country of the Tour de France after all - usually small groups of men, chattering away in all their helmet and lycra glory.
This afternoon Harry remarked to me that there hadn't been any traffic since the siren and the Angelus bells went at 12 noon. I realised this was right - not one car, not one pedestrian. I ventured out a little while ago to take the rubbish and recycling up to the communal bins and listened to the silence! There were actually maybe five cars passing through and a lone cyclist and me - the only pedestrian.
Such a change from our former life with cars racing up and down a narrow back lane not intended for the purpose in a Durham pit village, then constant traffic ignoring the 30 mph speed limit, with the traffic noise from a busy bypass always in the background. And now, at 8 o'clock on a Saturday night, the occasional car until the occasional Sunday morning traffic from around 9 am.
© Marie Tyler, 2014
Friday, 10 January 2014
Temperature's rising . . .
Today, 10 January 2014, in Chamberet, Corrèze, France, it was 20 degrees centigrade in the shelter of the canopy over our front door, and 15 in the shade! Luvverly! You imagined yourself in a warm spring or summer's day.
We made the most - doing some weeding, but couldn't dig too far as the ground is still cold, or maybe just beginning to be cold - and having coffee in the warm sun, and taking the opportunity to do some washing which hopefully would actually dry before the old evening sun went down. Our neighbours have a big garden (here called 'un parc' a park) with some wonderful tall pine trees on sloping higher ground and the sun goes behind them at this time of year at about 15.30, 3.30 in English-speak. Wit the shortest day now gone, it's light until about 18.00.
Sitting in the warm sun and feeling the heat refreshes the spirit, warms the soul and the cockles of heart, but in case you think we're smug or complacent, we know that it's too soon to last, with rain and snow on the radar in the next few days.
© Marie Tyler, 2014
We made the most - doing some weeding, but couldn't dig too far as the ground is still cold, or maybe just beginning to be cold - and having coffee in the warm sun, and taking the opportunity to do some washing which hopefully would actually dry before the old evening sun went down. Our neighbours have a big garden (here called 'un parc' a park) with some wonderful tall pine trees on sloping higher ground and the sun goes behind them at this time of year at about 15.30, 3.30 in English-speak. Wit the shortest day now gone, it's light until about 18.00.
Sitting in the warm sun and feeling the heat refreshes the spirit, warms the soul and the cockles of heart, but in case you think we're smug or complacent, we know that it's too soon to last, with rain and snow on the radar in the next few days.
© Marie Tyler, 2014
Happy New Year 2014! New Years past and present
And a belated Happy New Year to all my readers!
Or, as we say here - "Meilleurs Voeux" - 'Best Wishes', sometimes "Bonne Année" and added to that everyone seems to add "Bonne Santé - surtout Bonne Santé, parce que ça c'est la plus importante" - 'Good Health, especially Good Health, because that's the most important.'
The first person who wished me that, I thought that was their particular good year wishes, but I soon realised that everyone added the good health above all, stressing it with absolute sincerity and seriousness. Maybe there's something I haven't discovered yet about keeping good health locally. Mind you - having suffered from a cold which lasted about five weeks without relenting - also passing it on to Harry who never suffers colds - maybe there's something in the Chambertois air that we haven't yet discovered.
When I was growing up in the North East, there were various New Year customs. Apart from celebrating the New Year with friends, family, song, dance (everyone doing their bit to contribute to the entertainment), food and drink, there was 'first footing'. The first person into the house after midnight had to be possessed of a lump of coal which was to bring you good fortune in the sense that you would always be able to keep warm - the 'Long may your lum reek' idea imported from over the border. If there was a celebration in the house and people were impatient for the first foot, some unlucky person - preferably a dark-headed male I seem to think as they brought better fortune - would be sent out, maybe just before midnight, to lurk about in the cold back yard, and knock at the door with a lump of coal just after midnight. On New Year's Day, called 'Newres Day' by my dad and still now by a lot of people in the North East - you would be asked 'Who was your first foot?'.
The other tradition that persisted where we lived until a few years ago, was that where you saw a light on in someone's house on New Year's Eve or after midnight, you could knock on the door, or maybe just go in, and join in their celebrations with a New Year drink, whether or not you knew them. I suspect that particular tradition has now gone in most places.
Another tradition in our family and community, maybe now gone was to offer a New Year's drink with a slice of Christmas cake to anyone who made their first visit to your house in the New Year. Children were included and their drink would be a small glass of home-made ginger wine. The toast was 'All the best! Here's wishing you all you would wish yourselves .' Sometimes with the addition of ' . . . health, wealth and happiness.' A tradition I love and we still keep up the tradition, asking New Year callers what they would like for their New Year drink.
And so to other New Year wishes in Chamberet - last year in early January we noticed there was to be some sort of event at the Salle de Fêtes (Community Centre) which we knew we had missed out on our first January here. (We live about 100 metres from the Salle de Fêtes so often notice if there's a happenning there.) This was and is a celebration where the Mayor and councillors of our commune (a sort of equivalent of the Parish Council) present their good wishes for the New Year to the local community. It was a lovely event - everybody and their granny seemed to be there, wishing each other 'Happy New Year!' or maybe "Meilleurs Voeux!" with the usual kissing on both cheeks and shaking of hands. The Mayor then spoke for a good 45 minutes on the past year's events and forthcoming events and projects. Everyone listened attentively to him, then another speaker from the Conseil Général (like the County Council), and then there were drinks and snacks, and more kissing and shaking of hands with people you might have missed before the speeches.
We live now in very much a widespread rural community, where most events are well attended and supported. We are also now members of two community groups ('associations') in our village, so now will be greeting more people than last year and looking forward to the forthcoming New Year wishes community celebration.
© Marie Tyler 2014
Or, as we say here - "Meilleurs Voeux" - 'Best Wishes', sometimes "Bonne Année" and added to that everyone seems to add "Bonne Santé - surtout Bonne Santé, parce que ça c'est la plus importante" - 'Good Health, especially Good Health, because that's the most important.'
The first person who wished me that, I thought that was their particular good year wishes, but I soon realised that everyone added the good health above all, stressing it with absolute sincerity and seriousness. Maybe there's something I haven't discovered yet about keeping good health locally. Mind you - having suffered from a cold which lasted about five weeks without relenting - also passing it on to Harry who never suffers colds - maybe there's something in the Chambertois air that we haven't yet discovered.
When I was growing up in the North East, there were various New Year customs. Apart from celebrating the New Year with friends, family, song, dance (everyone doing their bit to contribute to the entertainment), food and drink, there was 'first footing'. The first person into the house after midnight had to be possessed of a lump of coal which was to bring you good fortune in the sense that you would always be able to keep warm - the 'Long may your lum reek' idea imported from over the border. If there was a celebration in the house and people were impatient for the first foot, some unlucky person - preferably a dark-headed male I seem to think as they brought better fortune - would be sent out, maybe just before midnight, to lurk about in the cold back yard, and knock at the door with a lump of coal just after midnight. On New Year's Day, called 'Newres Day' by my dad and still now by a lot of people in the North East - you would be asked 'Who was your first foot?'.
The other tradition that persisted where we lived until a few years ago, was that where you saw a light on in someone's house on New Year's Eve or after midnight, you could knock on the door, or maybe just go in, and join in their celebrations with a New Year drink, whether or not you knew them. I suspect that particular tradition has now gone in most places.
Another tradition in our family and community, maybe now gone was to offer a New Year's drink with a slice of Christmas cake to anyone who made their first visit to your house in the New Year. Children were included and their drink would be a small glass of home-made ginger wine. The toast was 'All the best! Here's wishing you all you would wish yourselves .' Sometimes with the addition of ' . . . health, wealth and happiness.' A tradition I love and we still keep up the tradition, asking New Year callers what they would like for their New Year drink.
And so to other New Year wishes in Chamberet - last year in early January we noticed there was to be some sort of event at the Salle de Fêtes (Community Centre) which we knew we had missed out on our first January here. (We live about 100 metres from the Salle de Fêtes so often notice if there's a happenning there.) This was and is a celebration where the Mayor and councillors of our commune (a sort of equivalent of the Parish Council) present their good wishes for the New Year to the local community. It was a lovely event - everybody and their granny seemed to be there, wishing each other 'Happy New Year!' or maybe "Meilleurs Voeux!" with the usual kissing on both cheeks and shaking of hands. The Mayor then spoke for a good 45 minutes on the past year's events and forthcoming events and projects. Everyone listened attentively to him, then another speaker from the Conseil Général (like the County Council), and then there were drinks and snacks, and more kissing and shaking of hands with people you might have missed before the speeches.
We live now in very much a widespread rural community, where most events are well attended and supported. We are also now members of two community groups ('associations') in our village, so now will be greeting more people than last year and looking forward to the forthcoming New Year wishes community celebration.
© Marie Tyler 2014
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Too busy to blog!
And here I go again - and, what a disgrace, I hadn't realised until I signed in that it's been almost a year since I put anything on here.
Too busy to blog - or maybe too lazy? I've composed an amazing number of items in my head, but they've never made it to the page here. I've also added many a comment or commentary on the dreaded Facebook - maybe it's quicker and easier when you type stuff in there. There's more urgency about it and no need to be so critical and review what you've written like on here. I'm not on Twitter and don't intend to go there, not just because my phone is ancient, but because I have a life! All too tempting to publish your thoughts for all to see.
So, rather than a review of the last year's events, just some of the latest. We are now all set for the winter. Winter and the weather are a serious matter here. It's a very rural area, with practically no public transport (near by anyway), quite high in altitude and quite hard winters, so watching the latest weather forecast is an important highlight of our evening! So, the wood for our ancient woodburner in the living room arrived about two months ago and that took a good day to barrow in to the woodstore, the chimney has now been swept, the oil is in the 4,000 litre tank in the cellar, candles and tinned food in the cupboard - oh, and wine in the cellar as well! The weather turned fiercely to winter a few days ago, with heavy snow over a few hours, but that has fortunately all melted here in the village, although you can see it all around on the high ground. It is however very cold, but we are prepared for the long haul ahead. It wasn't like this when we arrived two years ago. We were then lulled into a false sense of warmth and sunlight with good weather until the end of November when the curtain came down and winter came in.
So, apart from hauling wood and arranging cupboards, what have we been doing recently? Well, we are now members of four almost exclusively French associations - local community groups (plus a gardening group and we volunteer at an English library - quite a busman's holiday). The first association we joined was Les Collectionneurs de Treignac (Treignac Collectors' Club and more of that later), and two groups in our village here - Les Artistes Chambertois (Chambertois artists, even though I'm not an artist), and we were asked if we'd like to join and help set up another group Les Heures Musicales en Monedieres (Musical hours in the Monedieres - our local mountain area). We also joined a group in the next small hamlet Soudaine-Lavinadiere which has a vineyard and an fabulous archaeological dig going on on the site of a medieval abbey).
With my vast experience of community groups - friends will know what I mean by that - I was determined to be involved but not take on any more committee roles. Yesterday, Saturday, was the meeting to set up the music group and it was also Harry's birthday. The music group would organize the annual concerts of professional musicians which take place in the church or community centre every summer. The meeting was at 2.30 (to give everyone time to get over their two-hour lunch break which is practically sacrosanct in this rural area) in the Mairie. There were half a dozen people there - a couple we knew already, including one of the deputy mayors who had asked us to join - and we adopted a new constitution, with all the paperwork well organized and the meeting well conducted with no philosophical discussions or disruptive conversations. Then we were all invited to one of the local bars for a 'vin d'amitié' - literally a wine of friendship which is often offerred after meetings, official ceremonies such as the Remembrance Day parade, the New Year wishes meeting. Somebody pointed out that all the bars and cafes were closed (very rural France - not very commercially minded, especially once July and August are over) - but then two bottles of local Correzian wine were produced and a bottle of Chambertois cider. Harry's health was toasted and for the next good half hour we enjoyed sampling the local wine and listening to and trying to join in on a good bit crack. We have always been made very welcome and included and I think people appreciate you getting involved in local life in this way. But, so much for me refusing to take on any role! I was persuaded to become assistant treasurer, which I was assured would not be in the least bit onerous - I've heard that one before.
So, that's one meeting under our belt. On Tuesday we have another meeting of the artists group to form an association. The last meeting reminded me of many an experience in County Durham - a meeting of 12 or so people, with two or three people having their own separate conversations and meeting all the way through. I must make sure I get the right translation of 'Can we have one meeting please?' before Tuesday.
© Marie Tyler, 2013
Too busy to blog - or maybe too lazy? I've composed an amazing number of items in my head, but they've never made it to the page here. I've also added many a comment or commentary on the dreaded Facebook - maybe it's quicker and easier when you type stuff in there. There's more urgency about it and no need to be so critical and review what you've written like on here. I'm not on Twitter and don't intend to go there, not just because my phone is ancient, but because I have a life! All too tempting to publish your thoughts for all to see.
So, rather than a review of the last year's events, just some of the latest. We are now all set for the winter. Winter and the weather are a serious matter here. It's a very rural area, with practically no public transport (near by anyway), quite high in altitude and quite hard winters, so watching the latest weather forecast is an important highlight of our evening! So, the wood for our ancient woodburner in the living room arrived about two months ago and that took a good day to barrow in to the woodstore, the chimney has now been swept, the oil is in the 4,000 litre tank in the cellar, candles and tinned food in the cupboard - oh, and wine in the cellar as well! The weather turned fiercely to winter a few days ago, with heavy snow over a few hours, but that has fortunately all melted here in the village, although you can see it all around on the high ground. It is however very cold, but we are prepared for the long haul ahead. It wasn't like this when we arrived two years ago. We were then lulled into a false sense of warmth and sunlight with good weather until the end of November when the curtain came down and winter came in.
So, apart from hauling wood and arranging cupboards, what have we been doing recently? Well, we are now members of four almost exclusively French associations - local community groups (plus a gardening group and we volunteer at an English library - quite a busman's holiday). The first association we joined was Les Collectionneurs de Treignac (Treignac Collectors' Club and more of that later), and two groups in our village here - Les Artistes Chambertois (Chambertois artists, even though I'm not an artist), and we were asked if we'd like to join and help set up another group Les Heures Musicales en Monedieres (Musical hours in the Monedieres - our local mountain area). We also joined a group in the next small hamlet Soudaine-Lavinadiere which has a vineyard and an fabulous archaeological dig going on on the site of a medieval abbey).
With my vast experience of community groups - friends will know what I mean by that - I was determined to be involved but not take on any more committee roles. Yesterday, Saturday, was the meeting to set up the music group and it was also Harry's birthday. The music group would organize the annual concerts of professional musicians which take place in the church or community centre every summer. The meeting was at 2.30 (to give everyone time to get over their two-hour lunch break which is practically sacrosanct in this rural area) in the Mairie. There were half a dozen people there - a couple we knew already, including one of the deputy mayors who had asked us to join - and we adopted a new constitution, with all the paperwork well organized and the meeting well conducted with no philosophical discussions or disruptive conversations. Then we were all invited to one of the local bars for a 'vin d'amitié' - literally a wine of friendship which is often offerred after meetings, official ceremonies such as the Remembrance Day parade, the New Year wishes meeting. Somebody pointed out that all the bars and cafes were closed (very rural France - not very commercially minded, especially once July and August are over) - but then two bottles of local Correzian wine were produced and a bottle of Chambertois cider. Harry's health was toasted and for the next good half hour we enjoyed sampling the local wine and listening to and trying to join in on a good bit crack. We have always been made very welcome and included and I think people appreciate you getting involved in local life in this way. But, so much for me refusing to take on any role! I was persuaded to become assistant treasurer, which I was assured would not be in the least bit onerous - I've heard that one before.
So, that's one meeting under our belt. On Tuesday we have another meeting of the artists group to form an association. The last meeting reminded me of many an experience in County Durham - a meeting of 12 or so people, with two or three people having their own separate conversations and meeting all the way through. I must make sure I get the right translation of 'Can we have one meeting please?' before Tuesday.
© Marie Tyler, 2013
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