Papillon

wedding bells

2011-08-31T20:24:00.002+02:00

and thus it was. Benedicte and Renaud got married. Truly fabulous. This photo captures their very special day.

baby growing up

2011-08-31T20:20:00.002+02:00

..and finally it has happened. My baby girl has her period. Her monthlies. Granny's in town. She's on the rag. And all the other euphemisms that signify this huge transition from child to young woman. She is over the moon. I am wistfully musing the passage of time.

saturday tantrum

2011-05-28T19:34:00.003+02:00

Not a good day! Ran out of diesel after taking Scarlet and mates to gym class, so hit nearest supermarket for fill up. 24 hours only of course, no actual staff employed. Well bugger me if I didn't forget my PIN n° and as we all know 3 times the wrong code=OOPS no more card. Fk fk f**k. No more diesel in car, crept along until finally found manned petrol station. Phewwwww. . Only after 21 drips, nothing happened. No more diesel. But they took my cheque anyway. For a measly few euros. Limped onto next supermarket and fortunately filled up. Then did shopping and forgot everything, having left list at previous petrol station. Grrrr. And then joy, oh joy, en route to picking up Scarlet and friends from gym was behind exceedingly slow car with very full bin bags on roof, when suddenly - wham bam splat! My car covered in someone else's crap as both bin bags fell off roof and one went under my car - splat, bump, squelch, the other exploded on windscreen. This day is getting worse - I am now covered in someone else's crap, very smelly crap it is too I might add.. Driver stops to try help and I have to take VERY deep breaths so as not to have MAJOR tantrum. So weekend without bank-card looms. Great. Bad kharma somewhere out there. And it dumped its load on me.

sunshine and cherries

2011-05-22T13:37:00.002+02:00

life is a bowl of cherries right now, fresh from the tree in the garden

dastardly passwords

2011-05-09T07:10:00.002+02:00

just spent 10 minutes trying to remember, sans succes, my password for accessing this blog. After the laborious process of recuperating it has now terminated - cette fois avec succès - evidement - I have totally fogotten what I wished to blog about. Oh well, maybe next time. Ciao for now, and happy Monday :)

soggy feet

2011-03-17T19:54:00.002+01:00

raining too much here on the cote d'azur. still can't see what garden looks like, as it is just too damp. Still, onto merrier stuff . Happy St Patrick's day everyone..time for a Guinness with a Jameson chaser...

spring hasn't sprung

2011-03-13T16:13:00.002+01:00

at least not yet. Tis G's birthday - Scarlet and I made muffins for his birthday tea. Even at 47 this is a good thing. Meanwhile ici sur la cote d'azut il pleut. Big time. hasn't stopped all weekend. Tres moche.

dangerous sports

2011-02-13T12:01:00.001+01:00

poor Scarlet. Unexpected collision with basketball has resulted in dislocated middle finger joint. Ouch. Three hours in Casualty department in Grasse confirmed this. Who says sport is good for you?

Mondays

2011-01-31T06:54:00.001+01:00

what is it about Mondays? They seem to occur far more regularly than other weekdays, are seldom "good" days and always signal the end of the weekend. Hmmmmm Pity the person born on a Monday - good job they are fair of face.

tis the season...

2010-12-09T07:54:00.002+01:00

...to be jolly and all that...snow cover_ing 2/3 of France (not us - we are protected in the southeastern corner - all the white stuff stays on the alps and doesn't get down to us - exceot occasionally and then it is total mayhem). Fantastic sky over us this morning- fiery angry reds and oranges - very evocative, very very beautiful.
House is full of boxes again...must do some packing.

the big chill

2010-12-05T19:34:00.004+01:00

well, most of France and the whole of the UK seem to have been hit by blizzards and dastardly weather conditions. We have had extreme cold for la cote d'azur, but as yet no neige. The ski stations are all open so if we want to experience the powdery stuff we can catch a bus into the alps. Preparing for move to gorgeous house in Le Rouret. Back in boxes. feels like we moved here only yesterday, but somehow we seem to already have twice as much stuff to move. Help! Help! Need men with vans - NOW!

in a cottage, in a wood....

2010-09-18T17:14:00.002+02:00

...yay, we have found a house, a nice big house, with a nice big garden....and we should be moving in early December. faberscrooni. Meanwhile seem to have joined the yummy mummy set - we drink lots of white wine, talk about our daughters and their homework and teachers, discuss parenting skills and hang out together while the girls do rhythmic gymnastics. Cool.

growing pains

2010-08-22T13:31:00.004+02:00

et voilà. My baby girl is growing up...

Scarlet before...

and now....

la rentree approaches

2010-08-21T11:26:00.003+02:00

almost the end of les grandes vacances. 12 years in France and I'm still not used to this idea of everybody going on holiday in July and August. I am now off work for 2 weeks (quel bliss)yet still object somewhere in the back of my mind to HAVING to take time off at the same time as everyone else! Its the old rebellious streak - I just don't want to do what everyone else does. A permanent teenager is what I am :)
The child and I shall take a trip to la belle normandie this coming week and see if we can't do abit of travelling further afield - if not it'll be trips to Bristol, Amsterdam, Yorkshire and maybe Miami in November and January instead....
weather is hot, hot, hot and yummily lovely - the days are long and lazy, the mosquitoes are out in force, along with the cicadas.....

hot, hot, hot

2010-07-14T11:25:00.004+02:00

tis terribly hot, gorgeously, deliciously, gloriously, perspirationally hot. Bastille day but haven't yet found the energy to whizz Scarlet off somewhere. G is of course working like a dawg, the season now well and truly kicked off. The only sounds are the cicadas and the birds, with occasional splash from neighbouring pools. Midweek holidays are just excellent.

intact, barely

2010-06-27T18:20:00.002+02:00

well, I survived the birthday do...thank god it is only once a year. Terrifying to be in charge of other people's children, just terrifying. Scarlet got some brownie points and I got some good mother points too. So that's ok then.

hipbo birdie

2010-06-18T18:34:00.003+02:00

19th June is birthday time for young missy S. And this year she is 11. Yegods, 11 already. Cannot believe it. Tomorrow we have planned a birthday to beat all birthdays. Birthday breakfast en famille avec moi et la birthday girl (G working bien sur), pressie opening afterwards and cartoons all morning. I will meanwhile be preparing cakes and salads and the like - at 2pm off to local park to bagsy table and await guests. 5 girls in S's class will join for an apres-midi of merriment and fun - with the parcours de sante, climing frames and basketball court to keep 'em amused. Mid afternoon break of cake and balloon modelling then more running and jumping and tomfoolery. Back to ours for showers for them (breather for me) then its off to a restaurant in Valbonne entre filles ..les parents will come pick les filles up at 9pm...I'll drag Scarlet home and will then need A VERY VERY VERY large glass of wine. Camera is at the ready, nerves will be primed to be on muffle mode. No cross tempers, no shouting, no irritation.

the mystery of wednesday

2010-06-09T07:04:00.002+02:00

Wednesday is a strange day across france. There is no school and somehow about 75% of the working population manage to organise having their mercredi libre. Free Wednesday. Sounds like a radical group of day activists. So driving to work will be a pleasure this morning, no school buses, light traffic and the office will be missing some co-workers too. Bizarre.

ashes to ashes

2010-06-02T17:57:00.005+02:00

ha! Spur of the moment flying(or not) trip to Bridlington turned into 5-day marathon ...with the flying part of the return trip becoming impossible following the re-emergence of the old icelandic volcano dust cloud. Still, it meant we had a rather lovely extended stay with Louise & family, spent some qualideeee time with Emma and Hannah and Hebebebe, and got to touch base with Monty, Rob etc ...attached lovely family photos.....twas indeed a lovely time. Interesting grammar mistakes discovered too on seafront bench dedications...muched loved being by far and away the best.

Cannes, Cam and Clegg

2010-05-13T17:49:00.002+02:00

Cannes film festi starts - blablabla - la cote d'azur goes bonkers, the locals get all snooty and the celebs flock to the Palais (or the palaaayyy as the americans all overstress in interviews of French telly). Meanwhile in blighty the general election turned into a circus and the libdems and tories are hanging themselves in government together. Old Etonians unite by the looks of things -and as the Cam'n'Clegg variety show hit town, poor old Gordy skulked off en famille to lick his wounds - he did some great things but everyone is already slagging him off. Wasn't his fault the world suffered a full-blown recession, Greece went bust and the unpronouncable volcano exploded. Poor bloke. Scarletini et moi are leaving Grogs to work this weekend as we jet off to Brid on BMIBaby..."be my - be my - be my pretty baaaabeeeeeee"....only for 48 hours, feelin' the need to see the north sea.....fingers crossed the volcanic ash stays high, high, high

a light sprinkling of dust

2010-04-20T18:06:00.002+02:00

ashes to ashes, dust to dust...blissful skies clear of aeroplanes - great for the environment and everybody's carbon footprint (can we save this as credits I wonder) but not so good for all things dull like the global economy, transport reliability stats etc.....dust from the unpronouncable volcano in Iceland is wreaking far more havoc than should be possible, but there you go. Extra kudos being given to journalists who have a bash at prouncing the word, super star status to those who manage to say it without stumbling, stuttering or blethering like an idiot. Altogether now.....Eyjafjallajokull ......

chocolate

2010-04-04T14:53:00.003+02:00

today is a day dedicated to chocolate. The delicious velvety taste of the darkest, blackest, stongest tablet melting gently on my tongue and palpating every one of my taste buds into heavenly pleasure has been the most delightful of experiences. Worth the 40 days of abstinence. Now I have exorcised my craving I can get on with simply enjoying :)

40 days torture

2010-03-30T07:10:00.003+02:00

I'll give up chocolate for a laugh I said. For Lent. How hard can it be? I am now 34 days in and god how I'm missing chocolate - in all its forms, shapes, sizes and qualities. The shops and boulangers and patisseries shelves are dripping and groaning beneath the weight of novelty eggs, chocolate cups and delights and general assorted cocoa-based treats. Iam in full cocoa cold turkey - but am hanging on in there. Sunday morning will not be a pretty sight however - chocolate fest here I come :)

let it snow, let it snow

2010-02-12T13:56:00.003+01:00

Glorious gorgeousness here - snow all aorund, the Alps behind us, the sea in front....blue skies, winter sun and seriously minus temperatures. We had a proper snowstorm yesterday which sent everything into negative colours. Just lovely. Today snow is slowly turning to slush, but it was so good to see the cote d'azur like this. A rarity apparently. And this was obvious from the way people drove - took me 3 hours to drive a normally 15 minute journey...this morning my drive to work was like driving through a post-apocalyptic winter ...cars abandoned on every roadside, central reservation and dual carriageway and lots of poor lost wandering souls searching for their cars beneath the deep layer of snow covering everything. The only sound was the beep-beep of keys unlocking cars remotely :)

IT-tastic

2009-12-29T14:05:00.002+01:00

am now fully fledged twitter-er, facebook-er and skype-r...so high-tech, just haven't got the hang of the mobile phone technology yet....one day, one day

noel has gone, a new year is nearly here...

2009-12-28T09:48:00.005+01:00

Autumn came and went in a flash, and Christmas is already over. A quiet and uneventful noel for us - poor G is working like a slave and making himeself ill - he finishes on the 3rd January and it isn't a day too soon....he hasn't had a break now since April 1st and I think he is going to have a breakdown soon if he doesn't stop. Scarlet had a most fantabulous term - is now a fully fledged member of the choir, and is currently enjoying the hols. We have a most delightful new car - a weeny Skoda fabia peps - pompier red and good enough to nibble. It ain't the XM but then we knew that - and god how great it is to be able to slip around the cote d'azurien treacherous bends without having heart palpitations in case another car is heading your way..

Despite snow covering most of Europe, we escaped with a few days of frost seulement. Bah humbug. No doubt there will be nasty blizzards soon enough, but for now, nothing.

No plans as yet for New Year, but am hoping that maybe we will be able to get out and do something .....on verra on verra...

And to finish, a few images of Noel ...

autumn chills

2009-10-16T21:53:00.003+02:00

autumn in the south of France. Frisky misty mornings and chilly stary nights. Different from Normandy autumns, no tractors ploughing up maize for a start. This weekend we are going to the fete de le courge (marrow festival) which I am hoping is some sort of harvest festival. We have a voucher for one free bowl of soup....hopefully not marrow.....

On verra, on verra. Went to the cinema and saw G-Force. Rhodents save the world. Stranger things have happened....

a snapshot of our life now

2009-08-22T10:34:00.007+02:00

shoddy blogging

2009-08-22T10:28:00.002+02:00

have been particularly bad at updating ce petit blog recently - I blame Facebook and other such distractions - but it could of course be laziness. Have spent the summer working and exploring the area. Still lots to see and visit, only really "done" Antibes, Juan les Pins, Cannes, St Vallier, Grasse, Nice, Mougins, Gourdon, Chateauneuf, Opio and Valbonne to date ..much more to see and do.....to follow are a selection of photos to introduce our new life a little. Am enjoying working - nice to have the old brain working again, Gregoire enjoying his job too, Scarlet loving the centre aere and has made some nice friends. Cool. It is currently hotter than hot - yesterday temperatures rose to 42°C and this weekend looks like it will be much of the same thing. We stay in the shade and go out in the evening - thus avoiding tourists who hit the streets and beaches in full belting sunshine. The beach in the evening is wonderful.....more soon....

on yer bikes boys

2009-07-04T20:03:00.002+02:00

hot sultry stormy weather, rolling thunder, flashing skies...no rain yet, probably hanging around in the clouds until tomorrow when the storm will let rip - just as the Tour de France passes through. No fun being lycra clad in lashing rain.

getta job gotta job

2009-06-17T15:52:00.002+02:00

phew. Found a job. Thinks it is gonna be a good one. Makes me happy, makes me smile. Makes me get up early too. 8am start means 6.30am wake up......only a 15 minute drive, but still need an hour to shower, drink coffee, drink more coffee and plump cushions. I admit it. My name is papillongirl and I am a cushion plumper. A fully employed cushion plumper - meaning I will have to neglect my settee cushions during the day.

hot, hot, hot

2009-06-12T08:34:00.002+02:00

35°c in the shade yesterday....the mistral strong and hot ....amazing really. Left the front door open last night( wide open) and so the downstairs was lovely and cool this morning. I think some of next doors cats came to visit too, as there were little slightly indented cat-circles on the cushions. They were very polite night-time visitors as they didn't spray and leave nasty smells behind them.

some time later .....

2009-06-03T11:57:00.005+02:00

what is there to say? We are now installed in a little house in the gloriously idyllic countryside around a village called Chateauneuf-Grasse. Lots has happened since the last blog, summed up in a few lines it reads - left on may 1st, joyous reunion with Gregoire, Scarlet started new school and now takes the bus every day, Gregoire's job at Le Nid d'Aigle in the mountainous picturesque village of Gourdon a dream come true, I am now officially a "demandeur-emploi" or jobseeker and am counted in the official stats, but most of all we were without broadband until yesterday - which was just the longest time ever and I felt as if I had lost a limb.

We are renting a most delightful little house - it is so small they call it a duplex, but we have a garden two terraces and a spiral staircase. It may be small (compact and tres bijoux) but it is also perfect for the 3 of us. No spare room at all, and also no spare rooms, so we are in a quandary about people coming to stay.

Gregoire is back on a motorbike and Scarlet sometimes goes to school as pillion passenger which has ensured she is part of the cool crowd. Very important in a new school. I have also been for a spin on the back of the beast and am now considering taking my bike test to see how much I can scare people round here.

So that's it in a nutshell. For Papillon we are on tenterhooks awaiting la suite as they say.....

I have started applying for jobs. And in the meantime I am writing a trashy novel. Got to do something to fill the days when I start to feel guilty about reading in the sunshine watching the washing dry...

les papillon s'envolent

2009-04-30T20:20:00.003+02:00

friday 1st May and Scarlet and Rachel head south - the old citroen XM packed to almost bursting point, the big lorry has left St F (almost bursting too) heading south to Chateauneuf Grasse. A new life awaits us ...very excitied, bit nervous too.....11 hours of motorway ahead of us, and then what...? We continue with our butterfly's dream - as considered by Zhuang Zhi - that will mould our future concept of reality, identity and eventual history

The papillons take flight

2009-04-19T13:08:00.002+02:00

Everything is packed up and ready to go. Grégoire is now completely and utterly into his new job as Executive Head Chef at le Nid d'Aigle in Gourdon. We have (enfin) found somewhere to live (a little tiny house with a weeny garden next to a rose plantation near Grasse) and will soon have a genuine PACA postcode. I have to start totally rethinking my wardrobe - I mean what does one wear in Cannes and Antibes in springtime? And will I have the right shoes? Scarlet is enrolled in a new school where she will do theatre and sailing and ski-ing and the like. We head south on April 30th ....and say goodbye to Papillon and St Fraimbault for good. End of another chapter in lives...11 years in Normandy draw to a close, and our new adventure in les Alpes Maritimes begins.

Take it Easy..Hotel California..

2009-03-28T16:20:00.002+01:00

Tis official.
Papillon closes its doors for the last time on Sunday 29th March. Gregoire has been offered a pretty fab super duper job as Executive Chef Manager in an amazing restaurant with good hours and good money and a brigade of people and all that jazz....the even better news (sort of) is that it is just north of Grasse. In a tiny village called Gourdon perched high up above the sea..the restaurant is called the Nid d'Aigle. And because we don't do things in halves, he starts April 4th. Yikes. So all we have to do is find somewhere to live, find a school for Scarlet, close the business, pack the flat up, I have to resign from the council and various associations, we have to negotiate a deal with the bank and accountant....oh and sell the business (it is already up for sale but we are now pushing for a quick one) asap. I plan to join Gregoire end of April so it gives him some time to find a home for us. We are dead excited , Papillon has reached the end of its line for us - we have done loads with it and feel very proud of what we have achieved - now it is time to move on and start afresh...

So the Papillons will become The Eagles....

lazy blogger

2009-03-11T15:45:00.005+01:00

I have been terribly lazy recently about blogging. I lay the blame squarely with Facebook which is totally invasive and despite appearing to be snippet-based takes up endless hours...I mean just how many scrabble, wordchallenge, geocities, and "what type of shoe are you" games can one girl play in a day? St Fraimbault is a very quiet little village right now .....spring has just started to peep through, with baby daffs and crocii (I never know - is it crocusses, crocuses or crocii?) pushing their heads up and the cherry trees budding up in an expectant blossomishousness kinda way. I love this time of year - the rejuvenation of spring - only 10 more days and winter is officially over. Blisssssss.

the holiday in words

2009-02-15T21:48:00.000+01:00

read a blog in a blog

http://essaouirafeb09.webs.com/

Essaouira February 2009

2009-02-15T18:32:00.005+01:00

so much to say, too much in fact. So instead here are a few photographs to give you an idea....if I knew how to upload a text link I could upload the holiday diary I kept...but I don't ...maybe I'll find out soon :)

Renseignements Generaux

2009-02-05T17:42:00.002+01:00

The home run now. Dual nationality well and truly in-hand. This afternoon a very pleasant woman from the French Interior Ministry (the RG) came and interviewed myself and G. All very casual and relaxed, but I did notice a few left-fielders thrown in just to test responses...maybe check/find out political allegiances and the like. Not that I ever hide this sort of info....but interesting interview techniques all the same. On verra, on verra....next step - interviews in Nantes or somewhere with a head honcho minister or Prefet I believe....and then (if what the judge and the police officers say is true)I get a carte d'identité of my very own.

Kewl. Rock on...

it's cold outside

2009-01-10T14:03:00.002+01:00

Ok. You are 9 years old. Tis cold outside and the whole weekend lies before you. Whaddayado? You invite your best mate over for the day for some serious ds gaming of course. As parents, we know nadda .

bon appetit mes petits

2009-01-09T20:19:00.003+01:00

MENU NOEL 2008
Au PAPILLON

Feuillete d’andouille avec une sauce au cidre*
Chitlings pan-fried in cider served in puff pastry
ou
Saumon fumé, sauce aneth
Smoked salmon with dill cream

~

Cailles rôties, sauce perigourdine
Roast quails with foie gras sauce
ou
Escalope de saumon aux airelles
Salmon fillet with cranberry sauce

~

Fromages affinés*
Cheese and salad

~

Bûche de Noël maison
Home-made chocolate log
Ou
Tarte normande chaude au Calvados*
Warm apple and calvados tart
_________________________________________________________________

MENU ST SYLVESTRE
New Year’s Eve

Cocktail maison et ses petits toasts gourmands
House cocktail with canapés
~
Emulsion Dubarry Truffée
Cream of cauliflower emulsion with fresh truffles
~
Le Foie Gras et son verre de Pommeau de St Fraimbault
Home made foie gras with a glass of Pommeau
~
Filet de Saint Pierre sur un lit d'epinards
John Dory filet on a bed of spinach
~
le trou normand avec son Calvados du village
Apple sorbet with St Fraimbault Calvados
~
Ying et Yang de filets de caille aux deux sauces, pommes de terres rôties et deux légumes
Quail fillets ying and yang with 2 sauces, roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables
~
4 fromages normands et sa salade, des noix, de la pomme
4 Normandy cheeses, fresh salad, walnuts and apple slices
~
Une symphonie gourmande avec une coupe de campagne
Symphony of 5 desserts served with a glass of champagne
~
Cafe et mignardises maison

Coffee and homemade chocolates

Sauvignon Tourraine 2006
Bordeaux 1er Cotes de Blaye 2005

Champagne

the big chill

2009-01-07T08:25:00.002+01:00

they say it is the coldest winter for years. Minus far too many degrees and falling and the roads are evil glittering accidents waiting to happen. EDF are desperately telling people to cut back on electricity usage - like - yeah that'll happen. And wonders will never cease - we have a table this lunchtime! Yeeeehaa! And the temperature on la terrasse this morning is currently -8°C. Cold huh? Anyone beat that?

2008 draws to a close

2008-12-31T18:30:00.002+01:00

strange year really.
Some highs - me being voted in as councillor, Gregoire being named maitre-restaurateur, the restaurant being reviewed in Le Petit Fute, trip to Biarritz, modernisation of the kitchen and bar, Scarlet turning 9 and growing up fast, seeing Sophie and Tim and boys settled in St Vallier...
and some lows
drop in customer numbers with the subsequent drop in takings, threat of closure and fear of recession, uncertainty about the future, crises around the world, wars springing up all over the place, sadness and financial problems amongst friends and colleagues

2009 will bring new hope, new highs, and of course new lows but most of all lets wish for a positive feeling of change for everyone around us

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

twilight..

2008-12-10T15:33:00.000+01:00

Which Twilight Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

christmas is coming

2008-12-10T08:40:00.006+01:00

Eh bien, c'est vrai, noel arrive. Our christmas "installation" that some might call a tree is up and decorated and looking splendidly modern and artistic and glittery and sparkly, we have a real stump from a pine forest in the flat that is also looking lovely and natural, and the freezing cold weather has made me feel extremely festive. Ho ho ho I say.

the chattering hatters

2008-12-06T16:02:00.003+01:00

they came, they ate, they drank, they chatted, and most of all they Red Hatted. Every three to four months we play host to a Red Hatter lunch. Lively bunch of ladies, all of a certain age, who come and eat a nice big lunch, drink much red wine (to go with the red hats - mais bien suuuuuuuuuuur) and leave red-cheeked and very merry. Red is indeed the order of the day for these lovely ladies.....and by way of respect I try to remember to wear my red pinny. Otherwise I would be left red faced

the munchies

2008-12-02T21:06:00.002+01:00

times like these that I am really pleased that I live with a chef. He saw I was stressed after a horrid drive back from Flers in the driving rain and battering side winds, and disappeared off to the kitchen for a few moments. He has just reappeared with ...a scrummy yummy hot melting fresh goats cheese salad liberally sprinkled with his hemp oil and walnut vinegar dressing....I can almost see your mouths watering :) So I shall away and munch and wish y'all a très bon appetit

ciao for now my lovelies xxx

2008-11-24T08:47:00.002+01:00

torn betwixt facebook and blogging. Facebook has become the home of silly stuff, dipping in and out of friends, acquaintances and family members lives, kinda like a cross between email and webcam and a giant virtual games room, whereas mon petit blog has become a serious introspective affair. Strange as it started out to be light-hearted. Hmmmm...maybe I am just getting too intimate with my very own Dell-boy le Poota and have forgotten about the general public sitting out there reading this. Like the people who have viewer boxes in their living rooms. You forget the general public have access too, and strip down to bare your soul. Scary stuff.

la crise, the recession - whatever

2008-11-20T14:20:00.002+01:00

blimey - so much doom and gloom in the papers, on the telly, on the radio. Depression is probably a better word as it seems to describe the general mood settling across the world. What a load of miseryguts the bloody politicians and medimongers are. Let's rock the boat I say. The only way to fight this flippin' recession is to get out there and do stuff - ignore the bad vibes coming over the airwaves and carry on living as best you can. After all, petrol is now cheaper at the pump, and if the general slowdown continues, think how much better it will be for the environment as factories stop pumping out so much toxic waste. Maybe there is an upside after all, and maybe, just maybe, we will all learn to temper the raging consumerism that has overaken our lives.

go barack go

2008-11-06T17:58:00.003+01:00

so Obie won. Phewwwww. That's a big sigh of relief from the rest of the so-called free world then. Raining and drizzlin' here in Normandy and being generally very November. Dark evenings and damp mornings make for quiet days in the restaurant, but hey, we're keeping cheerful. All the work in the kitchen and the addition of daylight lighting makes a massive difference - we could almost forget the fact there are no customers, cos we just keep admiring everything and smiling Cheshire cat grins.

prepare for chaos

2008-11-03T18:55:00.002+01:00

The US goes to the polls - Obama v McCain - expect chaos, cheating and much recounting. The latest perfumes say they will make you slimmer, sexier and brainier. Women with a high body mass index are more likely to have sex than those with a normal weight. In large parts of Britain it's now as easy to open a lap dancing club as it is a coffee shop. And according to the The Living Planet Report (by conservation groups the WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network) the planet is headed for an ecological "credit crunch. The document contends that our demands on natural resources overreach what the Earth can sustain by almost a third.

So there you have it. We are indeed doomed.

Monster Mash...

2008-11-02T20:24:00.005+01:00

And off Scarlet and I flew into the sunset, leaving Gregoire behind to re-do the kitchen and tart up the bar. We invaded the Farrells for a week, and had a lovely time. Just fantastic. Scarlet and Oscar and Felix became firm buddies (again) and have a sort of semi-cousin relationship that is lovely to see, I spent a very relaxing week just hanging out with Sophie, helping Tim unpack and generally being on holiday. Did some fab mountain walks, a cool bit of exploring, investigated trashy shops in Grasse (always good for fancy dress parties etc) and finished the week with the best Halloween of all. Kids dressed up (Scarlet was a green dragon, Foo was the monster of death, Oscar was a wizard every now and then, and Louis was the cutest little red devil - but he is such a gorgeous boy that he actually looked like a poinsettia flower fairy) and Sophie and I were witches ...I was the tarty one though, with high heel boots, a slinky little velvet dress and a rather fetching witches hat. Tim poo-poo-ed all of this nonsense until the marshmallows came out, at which point he cracked and started munching away :) Sophie made the best bat cake in the world, Felix totally scalded himself with a piping-hot-straight-out-of-the-fire-sizzling shmallow, and the wee ones ate far too any sweeties and fell into bed exhausted and halloween happy. Scarlet and I flew back Saturday morning and came back to a fabulously superb kitchen and bar. Gregoire worked like a trooper (ably assisted by Steve B and Ian) and the place looks feckin' brilliant. What a change. It is like having a new place all over again. Hit the Mont St Michel for oysters today - tomorrow our hols are over, though Scarlet aint back at school until Thursday. Lucky beggar.

a load of all tripe....

2008-11-02T19:54:00.004+01:00

and so the tripe day happened. The choice of boiled tripe and potatoes, or tepid gelatinous calves head pate with a fresh parsley sauce was on the menu. And guess what? They loved it. Flocked in droves in fact. Gregoire does a mean bowl of tripe or calves head apparently. Wash it down with a gallon of Muscadet (at 10am) and it is even more popular. Amazingly enough we had about 35 bookings prior to the day, and it only increased as time went on, so we must be doing something right. Pass the bucket. On offer throughout this strange and truly mysterious day that is the St Denis was the "guess the name of the sheep" (first prize - the sheep - alive, with butchering an option), "guess the weight of the goodies basket" and finally - but absolutely not least - "guess the circumference and length of the big black sausage". A day to be relished I kid ye not. A children's merry go round was set up on the square, but this received little attention from the locals - I mean, when you are competing with sausage-measuring and sheep-naming how can you possibly win? I ask you....

financial turmoil

2008-10-18T08:40:00.002+02:00

well, this recession is starting to have repercussions even in the deepest darkest part of rural France that is St Fraimbault. Customers just aint coming, companies are going bust left, right and centre and everyone is starting to look a little pinched and worried.

We are hanging on in there by the skin of our teeth and knuckles, but who knows what the future holds. Still, I am totally addicted to Facebook's Word Challenge so that keeps me busy when things are quiet :)

http://apps.facebook.com/wordchallenge/

a garden fit for a king

2008-10-07T18:48:00.006+02:00

Sunday found Gregoire and I on a stall in a trade fair in Versailles hosted by the Remarkable Food Sites of France association....having set off at 6am we arrived in Versailles remarkably early, mainly due to high winds literally blowing us east towards Paris. The gardens of Versailles, and particularly the Potager du Roi (the king's vegetable garden) were hosting the event, and we Domfrontais folk had a stand shared with the Beaumes de Venise crowd. Spent the day being blown around, eating many many many truly scrumptious oysters with the lovely and friendly people from the bassin de Thau, tasting the best St Nectaire in the world, the most delicious garlic soup, and fabulously tasty red wine....Gregoire wowed the crowds by cooking up a fantastically yummy filet mignon of pork with poiré and cream sauce .....oh how the crowds flocked as the odours wafted over the gardens - carried along by a most helpful gusty wind. A tiring, chilly, blustery and most of all extremely enjoyable day was had by all.....

la quete de la fete de Saint Denis

2008-10-04T17:52:00.003+02:00

twill only mean something to those (un)fortunate souls who live in St Fraimbault. 10am ce matin Franck F came to pick me up and off we went a-door knockin'. 5 hours later and we had gathered much dosh and many items - some useful (2 coffee machines, litre of wine), some practical (2 rabbits, lots of chickens) and then lots of more interesting, slightly more esoteric donations - pair of turtle doves, a giant pumpkin, 5 kilos of potatoes....

Still, it got me out and about and I have now seen parts of St Fraimbault that I never even knew existed.....

tres interessant mes amis....

scary arachnids

2008-09-25T16:16:00.002+02:00

hairy spiders. super creeps. I love autumn, except for the 8-legged problem, when all the evil arachnids decide to come out of the garden and into the houses. Biggest fattest meanest ugliest hairiest of beasts appeared on a wall a few nights ago. It was ginormously massive - the size of a dinner plate - with equally proportioned body and legs. I shudder to think of it even now. Yeeeeuuuurrrgh. My sharp intake of breath and subsequent non-silent scream could be heard for kilometers and kilometers.

Binns Look-alike Meter

2008-09-11T16:19:00.001+02:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Black and white photographs - Family search

Charles Look-alike Meter

2008-09-02T21:20:00.001+02:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

ah c'est la rentree

2008-09-02T17:51:00.005+02:00

schoolbag at the ready, new bus pass in pocket, ever so slightly raised anxiety levels..and another school year begins.

New class {CM1}, new school{Passais}, new teacher{Stéphanie].....

so far, so good...

end of season wind-down

2008-08-31T18:23:00.003+02:00

and so it is officially over. The season that is. And it was ok. Not a brilliant one (chiffre wise), though we enjoyed it this year, and we have met some lovely new customers. Heartfelt thanks to all those that came and ate and supported us - you keep us in business :) Weather has been decidedly average - though nowhere near as bad as last year, we did quite a lot of terrace menus this time round - whereas last year we did a grand total of 3! My 2 lovely girls Savina and Suzanne did us proud, our 15th August super team was as efficient, as welcoming and as smiley as always, and we are entering September full of hope and promise. Fingers crossed for a good little arriere-saison and look forward to seeing many of you as the year goes on.

les flories d'antan

2008-08-16T15:17:00.002+02:00

We survived it. 15th August 2008 is now a mere memory ….the day went swimmingly well, though I have to admit to seeing nothing and no-one. Someone delivered some liquorice allsorts and they miraculously appeared at my feet – I say a public thank you to whoever this was, as although they must have been right next to me I have absolutely no recollection of them at all…the whole day passed in a blur, and then it was over. The stallholders went home, my lovely waiting girls (l’equipe d’enfer) collapsed exhausted and Samuel emerged bleary eyed from a very hot kitchen, where he and Grégoire had been slaving all day. Numbers are up on last year (a good thing) and we had a better day. The terrace was hoppin’, the bar was alive and kickin’ and the 3 services were full to brimmin’
The day finished with a country ball up in a marquee overlooking the lake…. perfect end to a perfect day.

Saint Fraimbault

2008-08-06T17:56:00.003+02:00

saint fraimbault
village fleuri
such a pretty village
hot balmy summer days

we are all gearing up for 15th August when St Fraimbault comes into it's own.

A man walks into a bar ......

2008-07-30T22:03:00.003+02:00

Sounds like a joke, but this is yet another day in the life of....us.

A young man walks into the bar. "I need a shower" he says (in English, no hello, no do you speak English, nothing). Grégoire looks around, wondering why he has walked into Papillon on such a bright and sunny Tuesday afternoon. "I'm sorry " says G " we aren't a hotel - have you tried the campsite - there are municipal showers there"....the man looks at Gregoire as if he has stepped off another planet. "But I went up there and could only see toilets and apparently a shower costs 5 euros! 5 Euros? Ridiculous - I'm not paying that for a measly shower" This time it is Gregoire who returns the 'you've-just-fallen-off-a-planet' look. He replies "But water costs money. And it is heated, also costing money....erm...did you think it would be free?" "But I've only got a bloody bath and I really need a shower" insists the by now somewhat irate (and increasingly smelly) young man. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to suggest" shruggs Gregoire helplessly. And so the young man storms off to accost someone else.
You gotta wonder sometimes.

sunday spinners and splashes

2008-07-28T18:28:00.004+02:00

What a fabulous day. With glorious sunshine to boot. A select group of spinners complete with baby alpaca in pen took up residence on the church square, whilst 15 or so artists using differing media set up in the trees around the plan d'eau. The sun shone bright and strong and Saint Fraimbault filled with happy tourists. Meanwhile Patrick Chopin continued his training class showing his eager and by now much-muddied students how to finish off the traditional wattle and daub bread ovens, Denis Leroy set up a solar powered oven to roast some chickens and Christelle the head gardener held rose petal jam-making demonstrations. Papillon did a roaring trade - kicked off by the picnic bags we prepared for artists and artisans alike - and a good time was most defintiely had by all. Ron the baby alpaca had to go home early though as the church bells scared him a little and he got awful tired being the subject of total and utter admiration all day long.

customer service

2008-07-18T18:40:00.010+02:00

god I hate 'em sometimes. Customers that is. Well only one or 2, and fortunately the remaining 99.99999% are sweet enough to take away the bitter taste left by the nasty ones. Yesterday lunch we had a coach party of 55 people in at lunchtime. We are only a small restuarant and they were having a full on top notch 7 course slap up lunch banquet. Being French they arrived bang on midday and settled in for the afternoon. We were rushed off our tootsie pegs, and closed to other customers - at least for the duration of lunch. Turned away a number of French customers - who upon hearing the word banquet and full, gave us understanding and sympathetic smiles and wandered away to look at the flowers. And then, just as lunch kicked off, along came a Brit couple who managed to annoy the pants off me and only very slightly escaped without being decked with a left jab. They sat at a table on the terrace and started to drum their fingers on the table and tap their feet impatiently. Leaving the lovely and fortunately very capable Savina to carry on serving 55 (hot) starters I zipped outside to offer my standard "terribly sorry, full this lunchtime, there's sausages and chips down by the lake if you're hungry - gotta dash" spiel. But no. They weren't having any of it. The guy looked pissed off and grumbled loudly that we were too bloody lazy to serve them and obviously didn't want to do any work, despite the fact there was a recession. Now, given that Gregoire and I had been up since the crack of dawn and I knew full well that we were likely to be working until the fall of night, and that the recession is being very much felt in France too, this rubbed me up the wrong way. Ever so slightly. He then swore at me and about me. And I lost it. I got really cross in fact. Decided it wasn't even worth justifying myself. I asked him and his good lady friend to please vacate my terrace and not come back. Now I know for sure that I have lost this customer and his family and circle of friends for good. But frankly, his sort of trade we can do without. We love most of our customers and we love what we do and wouldn't change it for the world, but why is it that every now and then someone comes along who makes you completely question your lifestyle choice? So come back nice lovely friendly customers - we love you and need you...just don't send in the nasties too often, cos after the couple had stomped away complaining bitterly, loudly and angrily and I had been shaken to almost tears, I then had to return inside to my 55 happy lunchers and look the perfect smiling hostess once more.

strange people

2008-07-04T08:36:00.003+02:00

there's nowt as queer as folk. This week we have had many strange and unusual customers ranging from the slightly eccentric to the downright bonkers. Yesterday an old man wandered in off the street asking of he could shelter from the guns - topped the week off for us really. What else can happen we wonder?

bad blogger points

2008-07-02T15:18:00.003+02:00

I have been a bad blogger recently. Life seems to have become unepectedly busy - not with work, just endless rounds of meetings, and sub committees and sub sub sub committees etc.....The restaurant trade is picking up - it ain't the mad rush just yet, but not far off. June was officially our worst June ever so that's heartening (wry grin), and we just received a nice fat VAT bill.....let's hope we win the lottery this weekend or I might have to consider selling my body (or soul) to the highest bidder. Doubt that either my soul or my body would get that much though - both being second hand, used and rather worn.....still, would give a whole new meaning to baring one's soul. On a more positive note, Gregoire and I had a much needed ego boost with a full page spread in the local rag (see picture from Pub. Libre - suspect I am maybe breaking copyright laws, so may remove it soon...) - nice photo as well, for a change, as usually their photographer fails to see the importance of including heads as well as feet, and this morning we received a free copy of the landscape gardeners trade mag as we are also featured in that too. Fingers crossed it will do the biz and bring the punters in.

summertime...and the living is easy

2008-06-21T15:53:00.007+02:00

Saint Fraimbault's very own knitting in public afternoon took place in the salon de thé on saturday 14th June, courtesy of Maylin and her knitatatsic buddies - and it was great fun. Even I managed to cast on a few stitches and have knitted 2 very odd but rather pretty little squares. Not sure what I'll do with them - but I'm sure Scarlet will find a use....Apart from that things are going ok - Scarlet's 9th birthday came and went - she had a posh meal out and was spoilt rotten....is spending the weekend chez mamie and papi to get spoiled some more...Just finished off with a large group of 4th-agers (as they call them). Lovely lovely people - the oldest was a 96 year old lady, and boy was she rocking. They had a 4 course slap up lunch and have gone off to the plan d'eau to dance their socks off. Soup, yoghurt and early bed tonight with strict regime tomorrow, but today is the fete de la musique and the first day of summer - so party on folks.

saint fraimbault

2008-06-10T21:09:00.001+02:00

http://www.saintfraimbault.com/

saint fraimbault has it's own (very) temporary web site at last - until it is taken over by the professionals in September, this one will be running for the season. Fingers crossed..

secret squirrels

2008-06-03T18:15:00.004+02:00

photo shoot this afternoon au papillon for the cookery booklet that is due out in the Autumn..Gregoire surprised the photographer and co-author by thinking of a mise en scene for each piccie. I was teaching, as per.....still having fun, S. is a great student. And bonus - today I avoided minor collisions with juggernauts. The driver of the 38 tonner was very friendly yesterday considering I had just reversed into him, despite the fact that the truck was bright yellow, very very big and he was beeping as loudly and as frantically as possible. I was looking the other way ok?! Just a slight error..no damage and much laughter. Hey ho. Right off to set up for ce soir...2 tables booked, and I have a Familles Rurales meeting too......

Classroom antics

2008-05-26T17:47:00.003+02:00

Entre les Murs (or The Class directed by Laurent Cantet) has won the Palme d'Or. Brilliant news. In a France where the a**ehole of a president is systematically trying to destroy the public education system, a film about life in a tough Paris school wins the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Hailed by critics for the "simplicity and clarity of direction, and the honesty and charm of his non-professional cast ...like a refreshing glass of ice-cold water" it is proof that good gritty low-budget cinema still exists. Great news for french cinema and even better news for low budget production houses the world over.

wild rice

2008-05-23T18:48:00.002+02:00

am addicted to www.freerice.com

go on - just try it out - it is SOOOOOO cool.

I am in the process of creating a temporary website for the village, to bring us kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Am experiencing some resistance, but I shall battle on. The sun was out briefly this week - and sadly our rhododendron is now looking a bit pale and lost - having been most splendiferous for a while. Julian and Josie popped in for lunch today avec ma and pa. Lovely to see them, shame they left the monsterbus in Chatillon though..I would have liked to have seen St Fraimbault eclipsed into darkness by their campervan. Ce soir is council meeting pour moi.....efforts are being made to ensure that it doesn't finish at 2am, on verra, on verra.

beelzebub has a devil put aside for me....

2008-05-18T18:45:00.004+02:00

such amazing weather this week. Very end is nigh. Hailstorms the size of golf balls, car accidents littering the roads in a very messay fashion, dark, murderous skies hovering menacingly over the villages and orchards of the bocage. Scary indeed. And yet still I chose to drive to and from Flers every day - such madness. Do windscreens get tested for hailstone velocity I wonder...

had me in stitches

2008-05-11T08:46:00.002+02:00

had the nasty stitches removed - ouch ouch ouch - and yes, it hurt, and yes, I cried. But now my hand is free and nearly back to normal, though I still wear my black silk fingerless glove as a style statement. Last night we hosted Polo's farewell party (he is heading to Kosovo on a peace keeping mission with the French army) and it was very late, very rowdy, very funny, very good...as with all parties it finished with many "I really really love you" moments from the tipsier members of the group. This morning the terrace is littered with a confetti of tab ends - sure sign of a good evening.

Brrrrrrrrm, brrrrrrrm

2008-05-05T17:57:00.005+02:00

Sunday. Busy lunch au Papillon, hot, hot stormy sultry day, and after service off we drove to St Cornier for Grégoire's annual treat outing to the puces-moto. Looked everywhere for replacement side mirrors (and found them - the pair for ten euros - bargain) and just enjoyed hanging out with the bikers. Smell of leathers and lube everywhere. Lovely. Got home and I did a quick change out of my biker chick gear into a little 60's style dress and head off to Mandy's for a girl's get together. Elle & Mandy had done us proud and cooked up a fab feast ...topped off with a Mandy dessert special - a scrummy squidgetastic strawberry charlotte. Pontpierre cottage is looking rather gorgeous, very spacious and rather roomy, a lovely evening was had by all. Feels like summer is on it's way.

put to sleep - part II. hands up.

2008-05-03T16:45:00.006+02:00

Met a lovely surgeon (hand and bone specialist) who decided that I had trapped tendons and my bumpy finger was an irrelevant but fortunate aside (otherwise I wouldn't have noticed my finger gradually losing flexion). So last Friday I toddled along to la clinique and 8 hours later was back home and nursing a slightly sore and certainly unsightly hand, though as I was still sous l'effet of morphine I really didn't give a toss :) My supposedly straightforward operation ended up being *complicated*....mainly caused by me being a "bleeder" on the operating table and it involving tourniquets and lots of mops. Heh heh heh. The problem was more than just tendons apparently, a bit of bone reshaping happened too. Whatever. My hands now hurts like fuckery-duckery (the morphine only lasting 24 hours sadly) and I have the biggest motherf* of a bandage on it I have ever seen. Quite unnecessary. I need to exercise my fingers as much as possible, I'm just not allowed to do any turning or unscrewing motions. Handy when you own a restaurant and unscrewing bottles is a major part of my job. The stitches - a lovely little neat line of blue sutures across my palm - come out on 14th May. The clinic was fab, the staff delightful, my room lovely and sunny. I am of course still working, a bit slower than usual, but have wrapped a rather attractive red scarf around my bandage to hide it's ugliness. Very New Romantics. Very 1980's.

brithday treats

2008-04-21T14:27:00.003+02:00

A nice little pre-birthday get together. Gorgeous necklace from Trishty and her fab bead making exploits, lovely flowers from Mandy's garden, a beautiful antique glass carafe from ma and pa and the most cool super duper glowing orb egg light from Erica and Ian. Or Enrique as old Madame Letissier calls Erica. Gregoire made a chocolate fantasmagoria cake and the boys played lots of babyfoot. A good way to end the week. To top it all, Sietske called and we all had a happy birthday drink with her.

Tightening the belt

2008-04-19T16:03:00.002+02:00

Everyone seems to be feeling the squeeze right now. With food prices, petrol costs and power bills all increasing, even the average person in the street is starting to suffer from the effects of the global recession. As a business, we are in the position of having to pay higher prices for our products but are unable to pass the costs onto the customer. A lose-lose situation if ever there was one. If we get through the year we’ll be lucky I think….our bills have all increased by 35% since January, and yet our prices stay the same. People already complain about supermarket prices going up by 10% so how can we increase our tarrifs. Malheureusement for us, eating out will be one of the many things axed from the household budget if people start losing their jobs and ability to pay the rent. So this year, it is deep breaths, heads down and try to get by as best we can. No freebies for people though. After an already difficult year last year, 2008 might be the year that breaks us. C’est la vie.

scary monsters

2008-04-17T16:00:00.001+02:00

just thought these were funny pics. Taken today for Sietske's birthday card.

put to sleep - part I

2008-04-17T15:49:00.003+02:00

My rdv with the anaesthetist went well, I was early for my appointment and walked into a packed waiting room so expected a LONG wait. I HAD taken a book in anticipation, but no, my name was called immediately (I think the clinic must pay rentacrawd to hang out in their waiting rooms) and I was ushered through and told to undress. A very jolly but slightly mad professor looking guy bounced in to see me and, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was stark bollock naked and feeling somewhat self-conscious, starting prodding and taking readings and asking questions. He briefly suggested that I might like to watch the operation (!!!!!!) until he noticed my now ashen face and the sudden rise in my blood pressure.....as a result I am scheduled to be knocked out with a full general and plenty of hopefully mind-bending drugs and operated on on Friday 25th at 8.30am. Should be out in the early evening if all goes well. We are going to close the restaurant that evening, as Gregoire will pick me up just in case I'm a jibbering twerp. I am still, however, reeling from the swiftness of everything. The last time I experienced anything involving an operating theatre I was in my early 20's and living in the delightful borough of Lewisham. I suffered a rather badly timed burst appendix and peritonitis (on July 2nd - I had organised a big July 4th party to coincide with a visiting American friend) and I had the clinic staff rolling around in fits of laughter with my description of my appendectomy saga and the horrific treatment I received in Lewisham hospital (which also made me realise that the last time I was operated on was in 1987 - things have changed since then I was assured). I shouldn't worry, the clinic is very very posh and I have a lovely brochure about what to expect etc - they even give you an instruction booklet on how to wash.

fingerbobs

2008-04-11T08:38:00.003+02:00

finger flexing is not an option for me a ce moment. Had to wrestle with impatient patient (ha ha) with serious anger management issues yesterday at the clinic in Flers, but got to see the surgeon in the end and operation is scheduled for 25th April. Don't ya just love French healthcare - no waiting lists, no hanging around, just bish bash bosh and away you go. Have combination of flexor tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and Tinel's sign...much gobbledigook but means a little weeny teeny tiny intervention. Many drugs needed though as I am such a mega wimp.

les flories d'antan

2008-04-05T14:58:00.006+02:00

I feel like I have had nothing but meetings all week. Last Monday was the first official council meeting( budget setting) last night was the first meeting for organising the 15th August festival. After much paper shuffling and organising it would appear that the wheels are in motion and the festival preparations are in good hands (not mine I hasten to add, but the people who are on the committee and who have been doing it for years). Even the controversy over the changing format of the soirée benevoles went down better than can be expected. I just have to put my marketing hat on now and start seriously publicising the event.

helpess as a kitten

2008-04-03T18:52:00.003+02:00

too much money owed, not enough money earned and looks like we are about to be audited by URSSAF. That's all we need - not that they'll find anything untoward, and we may even end up getting some money back, but it will be extra stress we can do without. Heads, sands and ostriches comes to mind.

april fool

2008-04-02T18:25:00.002+02:00

spoke too soon. The dossier has been returned from madame le juge. Needs more info. Here we go again. This time we are talking family history and oh it gets too complicated, but I WILL see it through. It WILL be worth it. Meanwhile, took my first english class. Cool. Very good fun, lovely student, excellent for the lil old grey cells. No news from St Fraimbault, skies are grey and not yet springlike. Oh and the church clock has fallen out of time again. So now we are on GMT - as opposed to CET. Too many acronyms. St Fraimbault has slipped out of France's time continuum and into the UK's instead.

a schizophrenic citizen

2008-03-31T16:14:00.002+02:00

The calves head lined with tongue and tripe stew with carrots and tomatoes were a great success. A grinning group of 75 year olds left Papillon happy and content with full tummies and slightly wobbly walks following rather too much calvados and cider. Meanwhile we closed up, did some admin, then started to prepare for our Monday morning meeting avec madame le juge. Found the tribunal d’instance in Alencon and handed over the sheaths and sheaths of required paperwork. Amazing. Nothing seemed to be missing. Translations were in order, we had the right documents, the bank manager and notaires had come up trumps and provided us with the right stuff, the clerk of the court was more and more relaxed as the mile-long list of things required had their little boxes ticked. Phewwwww. All that needs doing now is for the dossier to be assembled and then Gregoire and I pass before a jolly of judges (not sure of the collective term, but jolly seems the least likely and yet most fitting) and one year later I get a big fat rubber stamp on all my papers as well as a lovely spanking new carte d’identité plus, most importantly, and my reason for doing all this really, the right to vote in Presidential elections. Et alors mes amis. Dual nationality could be mine in July 2009. We went to Alençon in my Golf (named the chick-mobile) and she drove like a dream. Even overtook on a coupla occasions. Gregoire has since replaced brake pads on the XM (which had merrily worn down to the metal and were probably highly illegal and extremely dangerous) and we are now back to having 2 roadworthy vehicles. Probably a first for us. Soon, the big motorbike will be going and we will be a truly happy family. Tomorrow I teach my first student, so am once more preparing for the lesson, and should therefore sign off and get back to my lesson planning.

boothie nights

2008-03-29T18:14:00.003+01:00

had a luvverly evening avec louise and Micky - and a restaurant full of punters too, but they didn't stay (too) late really. Tout le monde came for lunch today so Scarlet and her cozzies ate many sardines and rack of lamb and peppered steak and ma and pa and micky and lou chomped their way through large portions of Grégoire's yummy food too. At the same time we have been preparing for a mega buffet ce soir in Bellevue, the restaurant is chokka again ce soir and tomorrow we have our lads in for tripes and calve's head. A source of much amusement to les boothies I should add, am half-tempted to send them a little platter of the delightful delicacy via la poste. P'raps not such a bonne idée.....bit whiffy I would have thought. Scarlet all tired and happy and post-cousined out. A quiet night in front of Ratatouille for her methinks...the young Suzanne is helping out tonight so I should be able to nip up and down the stairs to check on the yung'un during service. Roll on tomorrer night I say.

chin chin

2008-03-26T13:54:00.004+01:00

first meeting tonight as a councillor. This is for the tourism side of things - hopefully I can kickstart my fellow councillors into seeing the importance of having at least a web site for the village. At the moment they seem to think that it is enough to have a little brochure with listings of shops and businesses. Hmmm. Have been a quiet little blogger lately - mainly down to lack of words in head. Have been busy and life has been jogging along nicely, but have lacked the wherewithal to put it into words. Strange. This weekend we have our annual birthday boys in for their tripe and calves head lunch. Yum yum. Not. They are the class of '53 (meaning that they were 20 years old in 1953) - think about it. Do the maths. A nice present arrived from Mr ex-mayor and his wife earlier on. They brought me some beautiful old champagne cups...dated 1900 and 1925 - all old glass and etched crystal. Had belonged to his grandparents whose house he is emptying following it's sale, he heard I liked glassware so keeps turning up with old carafes, decanters, glasses etc from late 19th/early 20th century. Cool.

Vote for meeeeeee

2008-03-10T17:52:00.004+01:00

2008 municipal elections in Saint Fraimbault. The current mayor is standing down and an all new all singing all dancing team has been chosen to represent the village. Amongst these brave and courageous candidates was petite moi. I was asked as I represent local businesses, local Anglophones and it has been said that I have ideas on marketing and publicising our lil old flowery town. Elections happened on Sunday 9th March and boy – oh boy – was it a heated exchange. Much mumbling, muttering' and general mitherin' and many old scores were settled outside the mairie. Luckily it rained so people couldn't stand outside arguing for too long. A rank outsider threatened to throw proceedings and hung around the voting hall all day reading his civil code in a menacing fashion and checking for irregularities. The polls closed at 6pm and 4 hours later after much counting and double checking and administrative bladiblah the results were finally announced. Jubilation all round. All 15 names on the list were voted in as a clear and outright majority. Yeeeehaaaaaa. Back to the new mayor to be’s house for much champagne …I crawled into bed at about 1.30am …..it all having got rather raucous chez Albert. And here we are pictured au Papillon. What a luvverly bunch of reprobates.

Putting on the Biar-Ritz

2008-03-03T11:50:00.002+01:00

What a truly fab holiday. Biarritz is oh so chic and yet at the same time super cool surf trendy. A pretty interesting mix. Neighbouring Bayonne is a lovely town - much more hippy in its feel, lots of bookshops, second hand clothes boutiques, narrow winding rickety lined cobbled streets etc. Forgot to bring some bayonne ham back though. Scarlet swam in the sea and pretended to be a surfer chick, we visited museums - absolutely fantabulous museum of oriental art covering Tibet, India, China, Nepal, Japan ....found a cool militant basque shop and learnt about the Basque people and the separatist movement (the Welsh could learn a thing or two from them) and tried to understand (in vain) their strange language, ate many many oysters and mussels and lots of very good food, oh and did I mention the sunshine? It just blazed away over our heads and onto our pale normandy skins every day. Feckin' marvellous. Chocolate museum was a treat - if a tad contrived. Oh and there are scooters EVERYWHERE.

electioneering

2008-02-16T17:28:00.006+01:00

oooh - it is all getting very exciting. Poison-pen anonymous letters sent out unstamped in the neighbouring village, rumours flying about private and not-so private lives of all and sundry suspected to be on *the list* and general houhah's all round. Never known anything like it - Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama eat your heart out. Come to rural France and see where the REAL action is. Have posted a snippet of a photograph of the St Fraimbault list (the St Fraimbault Famous Fifteen) - but am not allowed to publish it until Thursday.....bit of a teaser campaign for y'all. Roll on 9th March when the electorate make their feelings known.

Jigs and Guinness

2008-02-10T16:48:00.001+01:00

Irish night 2008 in St Fraimbault. 9th February 2008 saw the reapparance of Cattlegrid (namely Pascal, Pierre, P'tit Pierre, Dominique, Christian) at Papillon. With 100 people booked in it looked set to be a grand ole evening. And indeed it was. Much Guinness was consumed, much beef pie and steamed sponge pudding too. We danced and jigged and sang into the wee small hours and on Sunday the boys bid us farewell and head off back to Rouen. Roll on the next one.

bejaysus

2008-02-03T18:13:00.000+01:00

flamin' 'ennery tis cold. Parkin. Freezin'. and other such terms. But winter is drawing to an end if the *chandeleur* is to be believed. Twas a fine and sunny and bright day - no rain at all. So in true groundhog tradition, we say goodbye to winter. And eat pancakes.
As that say here "Le 2 février, c’est la Chandeleur. En France la tradition veut qu’on fasse des crêpes, qu’on mange avec la famille ou avec les amis. Il ne faut pas oublier de faire sauter la crêpe avec un objet d’or dans la main : comme ça, on aura du bonheur tout au long de l’année"

1st February

2008-02-01T14:56:00.000+01:00

And February begins beneath the rain. January slipped away with a whimper, despite having been a bit of a bumper month for us. Quiet times ahead I fear which may give rise to the need for job hunting. How scary is that thought? Not sure we can spread ourselves much thinner but we may not have the choice. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I am a liquorice allsorts addict. I ate 3 packets yesterday. I have no nasty side effects from the black stuff, and I can't get enough of it. I particularly like the pink beaded aniseed ones. I can feel the craving returning as I think about them. Damn Bertie Bassett. Damn him.

cake and chevaux

2008-01-20T17:53:00.000+01:00

may sound a strange combination, but the riding stables have a canny and cunning plan in hand...every time a rider falls they bring in a cake the following week. So Gregoire being superchefdaddy made a light and fluffy chocolate sponge cake and freestyle drew a horse's head on top from marzipan and icing sugar. Oh what a popular girl Scarlet was - and for her - it makes the prospect of falling again less nerve wracking. News from Sophie and Tim in Kenya and they are ok - safely at home to Nairobi, up to Malu this weekend if possible. Fingers crossed things start to calm down for them and life returns to as normal as possible. The aforementioned alternative theatre evening was very avant-garde for round here - luckily it was also a huge success and everyone left very happy if slightly bewildered by some of the *physical theatre* rehearsal they had seen. "Comedie" round here means Moliere and vaudeville so a modern English language-take on classic French film noir complete with mime and movement was somewhat radical. Still, we are now well known for taking the locals slightly out of their comfort zone - and they are rarely unhappy about it, surprised sometimes, but in a good way.

lost in time

2008-01-13T08:46:00.000+01:00

The restaurant has been oddly busy since beginning of January. For example, this week we had a 70th birthday do (Wednesday), an official village do (Friday) and today (Sunday) is a birthday do. All of them have and will end up as drunken burbling songfests - which we have to pick our way through and clean up afterwards. Next week we go cultural and are having a theatre night - open rehearsals with an English theatre company in fact. Will Saint Fraimbault rise to the occasion I wonder? No doubt it will still end up a burbling drunken songfest. Watch this space...

happy new year

2008-01-03T17:10:00.000+01:00

snuffles see in 2008. NYE went swimmingly well, finished in the wee small hours, and then we hit Cancale for oysters and surf on 1st January. Weather was gorgeous on the Brittany coast - despite leaving Normandy in freezing fog and shouts from neighbours and friends that we were bonkers. Cancale was sunny and cold and crisp and well worth the hairy first 30 minutes of driving :) Restaurant still ticking over nicely, 'cept I am full of a massive cold and feeling miserable. Why does blowing your nose hurt so bloody much? Still, as Grégoire's grandmother would have said "a treated cold takes 7 days to clear up, an untreated cold takes a week" ....so only 3 more days to go and I should, in theory, be fine.

fare thee well 2007

2007-12-31T14:03:00.001+01:00

2007 - a bad year for our business. French presidential elections, awful weather and global recession meant that it won't go down as being the best year for Papillon. Still, good things have happened too.

so here we are - some highlights and lowlights.

Went to Kenya in February. Holiday of a lifetime.
Grégoire stopped smoking in April.
Visited Amsterdam in April.
Car (Evasion) blew up in April. Replaced it with XM.
Papillon flooded in June. Insurance finally agreed to pay in November.
Sold 2CV in June. Replaced it with Golf.
Visited Sophie and Tim in St Valier in July.
Took Lones to London for dinner in September.
Made new restaurateur friends throughout the year.
Visited Montpellier and the Camargue in October.
Watched Scarlet doing first public piano performance in November.
Did les vitrines de Noel des grands magasins in Paris on 26th December.

and much more......

happy new year to all

the marathon that is noel

2007-12-28T15:43:00.000+01:00

Christmas Eve - restaurant full, finish at 11pm, frantic stocking and sack filling, fall into bed at about 1am. No time for even half a glass of champers to celebrate Christmas.
Christmas morning - woken up at 7am by Scarlet - who has discovered Papa Noel's carefully planted sock surprise.....the surprise being that it is inside a hood, as Papa Noel couldn't find the socks. Much joyful squealing and present opening later and it is time to a) open the bar for Christmas morning die-hards and b) Scarlet to get dressed and go to church to deliver baby Jesus into his creche. Duties over, bar closed, guests arrive. Much food is consumed and wine drunk. Scarlet gets bored and invites friend Claire to play - so we adults are left alone to get really silly. Oh dear. Christmas day ends with me falling down stairs and bumping head hard. Ouch.
Boxing day - set off for Evreux - lunch with Bruno, Corinne and girls; dinner with Monique and Jean, and early bed. Thursday morning - hop a train for Paris (carefully ignoring Scarlet's increasingly irritated coughing) After 3 hours of window-admiring and licking (as they say in french)in Paris realise guiltily that Scarlet is actually really ill and feverish so decide to grab a bite and return to Evreux and then home. Found the best restaurant ever called Le Roi du Pot au Feu - selling, believe it or not, pot au feu. Absolutely fabulous, jam packed heaving with celebs, bang in the centre of Paris, one of those rare little gems that you only find once in a Paris-time. Train to Evreux, dose Scarlet up with much paracetamol and head home in thick pea-souper of a fog. Amazingly arrived home alive and in one piece, and all hit the sack. We slept like little and big logs and awoke this morning feeling fine. Scarlet much better, very busy lunch, even busier tonight. Life is looking good :)