Club des Ainés outing

Champniers has a suprising amount of associations for so small a village. The Club des Ainés is the club for the Troisieme Age, ( the retired). We were invited to join them for a day out which had been arranged for a Thursday, our one day off, to a rural museum.
The coach pick up was 10.30 in the cafe car park, not 50 yds from home, but "we" were still nearly late.
The 30 or so people were driven for an hour to a village named Blond for lunch. I was amazed that we managed to drive for an hour with 29 old people and not one loo stop, old age seems a little more welcoming (unless of course they all have bags)
Half hour in Blond was enough time to see the church and find the bar where we were having lunch. As the bells chimed noon we took our places at the seats



We were sitting at the English speaking table with two English ladies and a Dutch couple from the village. I know three things about the dutch, their language is impossible, they all speak good english and they like to have a good time.


Lunch was "tout compris" with four courses, a kir to start, wine with the meal and a coffee to finish. Most bars that give wine included offer the basic vin ordinaire which is the stuff in plastic bottles or 5 litre casks, not the best wine to say the least but if you drink enough it does get to taste a little better. The taste of the first glass is best summed up by the photo of Karen below




Lunch lasted until 4pm!!!!! and then we were back to the coach for a ten minute drive to the village containing the rural museum. You walk round the village and at various points there are buildings either as they were previously or containing displays of the life and times of people in the village. There is an old school, the lavoir(photo below) where the women did their washing, a mill, an old bar etc etc


The village was very interesting but of course because lunch was 4 hours we were limited on time and only had an hour to see it all. Jeanne coming from a farming background particually enjoyed the trip, even going back to her childhood and climbing the biggest tree on the village green before we were called back to the bus for our return journey



The BBC news is reporting today that the over 65's should cut their alcohol intake to half of an adult allowance. It wont be happening in France, I can tell you