18 - 28 juin

Samedi, 18 juin

Le dÎner et le tour

Last night’s meal was good. The restaurant is run for and by people who might find it hard to get into employment because of learning or social difficulties. The young woman, who we take to be Josephine, is very busy, helping our waitress with taking our order, serving food and clearing the plates for the twenty-five customers in there. Three champagne corks pop so we reckon it’s a good place for a celebration.

The usual trip to the market on Saturday morning is followed by a walk to the library for a guided tour of the Salle de Jésuites. Though our knowledge of French history is limited the guide explains it all very well, at a specially-reduced speed for us and a Dutch-Flemish f amily. She is very down to earth about various aspects of the story and obviously loves her work, pulling out some of the larger books to show us. The shelves are 26ft high, with smaller books at the top to make it easier to bring them down.

 She was very pleased when one illustration was a pear from England

It’s the Fête de la Musique this weekend and various things have been going on, from brass bands to beat boxing. The late afternoon and evening calm is disturbed by loud music coming from what we though was a service yard behind some nearby shops. There’s a DJ, there may have been a band earlier. After a few hours, curiosity gets the better of me and I drag Wilf out to see what’s going on before it stops for the night. A bar has overflowed into the yard and there are people sitting out enjoying a beer, some of them dancing and a small girl doing cartwheels in the middle of it all. As we come away, a fast French song is playing which sounds like “Je veux un pissoire.” So French……….

Dimanche, 19 juin
Le calme du dimanche

Sundays are very quiet; those shops which are open are all closed by 12.30, apart from one town centre “express” mini-mart. Wilf’s had a run, we’ve had croissants, and spend the rest of the day doing very little. I’ve nearly read a whole book. I can’t think of the last time that happened.

Lundi, 20 juin
Il pleut encore

Since we arrived, almost six weeks ago, there has been rain almost every day. There has also been a workman in the flat next door for a fair bit of that time. Rain and drilling the wall are not a good combination. I listen to the local radio station which plays “music for all generations.” It’s a fairly safe bet there’ll be something at least ok during the day. Most of the music isn’t introduced but I’m happy today to hear that they are about to play “Smeels laik tin speereet” before I go out to do some shopping. I go out and get wet but console myself with a mint tea and the café’s wifi on the way back.

Later on, the station has waltzes played on the accordion. Never a dull moment.

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Mardi, 21 juin
La Fête de la Musique

A fairly empty day stretches ahead of me so I decide to go to the sous-prefecture and see if I can get any further with the various things we need to do to confirm our residency. I get there just before noon, but go in anyway. It’s a bit like an over-crowded jobcentre, held in a sauna where people are sweating out the smoke of a year’s worth of cigarettes. I decide I’ll make appointments by phone and head back home.

It’s still the fête de la Musique: lots of things going on, all free and many outdoors. We go out after we’ve eaten to see what’s going on. There are three bands in the small square, lots of people, eating, drinking and enjoying the first warm evening we’ve had in a while. We walk along to the main square, where crowds are waiting for a performance by the winner of La Nouvelle Star 2015, past a church with people singing outside to another square where the band are one we’ve seen before, to the pub (where we saw the band first time around), then back towards the centre of town. 

We divert to yet another square where it sounds as though people are having a good time and it doesn’t take us long to see why: it’s a walking/dancing street band, playing “Seven Nation Army.” They’re wearing bright wigs and painted overalls, there are flashing lights in the sousaphones and are putting all their energy into the performance, slightly to the detriment of the correct notes but it really doesn’t matter. Their repertoire is limited and after a few more tunes they wander down the square, random and raucous pied pipers, with the audience strolling behind, drink in hand, pushchairs and kids joining in as we’ve now got back to Seven Nation Army and we all “po-o-om, pom pom pom pom po-o-o-o-om pom” our way to the main square. A couple of encores but they are obviously tired, particularly the two sousaphone players. The leader has a word, says they’ll do one more just to try it, but they need more practice and they launch into a trunacated version of Uptown Funk, abruptly terminated when the leader decides he’s had enough and apologizes for their lack of skill. None of us was too concerned.

Mercredi 22
Allons enfants de la Patrie, l’internet est arrivé!

The workman came to fix the doors and lights today. He will need to return tomorrow to continue with the repair to one door and one light.

At last we’re online. This will make things a lot easier, we hope.

Jeudi 23
Le Jour du Referendum

The workman returns and almost finishes the door but will need to return to finish it tomorrow.

We have tv now so manage to see a little bit of what’s been going on over the last few weeks. I’m not sure we haven’t been in the best place.

Vendredi 24
Brexit

The workman rings the outer doorbell to tell me he can’t make it today and will come on Monday.

Being online has its disadvantages. I hear about what was going on in the campaign but knowing more is quite depressing.

Samedi 25 Market
Nous visitons Leroy

Our regular market stall-holders are shocked and surprised at the result of the referendum and commiserate with us as we shop. After we’ve done the rounds, we go to Leroy Merlin, the French equivalent of B and Q, to look for light bulbs and fittings. This immediately becomes complicated: wide or narrow fitting, screw or bayonet, long-life or old-fashioned, warm, white or cool. We decide to go back home and check all the lights so we don’t get the wrong type before going back for another Supermarket Sweep type visit and we get to the till before closing. Wilf’s not got his cards, though, and neither have I. We remove a couple of items and scrape together enough cash. Why is it never simple?

A swift visit to the cheese shop turns into a slightly longer one, as the cheese-monger is very surprised about the Brexit result and tells me in rapid French just how he feels. I follow most of it but hope I haven’t nodded when I should have looked worried/alarmed/sad/whatever. I ask for a blue cheese and he chooses the most suitable: one from the Vercors region as it was a strong area for the Resistance in the war. He couldn’t find other similar-thinking cheeses for me and I had to make do with Brie and one from Auvergne.

Dimanche 26 juin
La France joue du foot

The supermarket is open and we have a 4€ off voucher so stock up on the essentials, though can’t find granulated sugar anywhere, even though there are at least twenty different types on the shelf.

I haven’t been following Euro 2016 but we have a sort of commentary from the bars: France appear to have scored a couple of goals and won the match. The cheering, fire-crackers, car-horns are so loud I go out to see what it’s like at ground level. All good fun.

Lundi 27 juin
L’Angleterre joue du foot

The workman rings to tell me he’ll come at 4pm, rather than as planned. I don’t really have a choice. A Flanders and Swann song is going round my head. I know it starts with “Twas on a Monday morning when the gasman came to call.” That’s all I can remember but I have a feeling it didn’t end happily. He comes, does some work, and tells me it’s finished. Not sure I’d agree with him but………….

Football again tonight. It’s been a very popular win and I guess it was Belgium as we’re so close to the border but it turns out to have been Italy. There is a large group of Italians here who moved to the area in the 1940s to work in the mines. Unfortunately, I can’t report similarly loud cheering for England later, nor Iceland, for that matter.

Mardi, 28 juin

Je rencontre une amie 
I go for a walk rond to finish of the A roads and see Janine as I cross the square.This is quite an important event: it's the first time I've bumped into anyone and had a chat with them in seven weeks. I tell her I've been struggling to find self-raising flour and granulated sugar so we go to the supermarket and she shows me what I should look for. The granulated sugar is out of stock, despite there being three bays of sugar (lots for making jam) and sweeteners