Bugs (caution picture of a sexual nature)

The weather is warming up, 22 degrees yesterday and I am reminded of the flies of last summer!!
We have only moved 400 miles south but the Fauna is different. We see plenty of lizards, red squirrels, hear stories of sanglier (wild boar) whilst we hardly ever see rabbits and have yet to see a fox.
What we do have however is BUGS. So far this year there are three worth mentioning.
Gendarme bugs, red and black bugs that scuttle about. Apparently they are named after the gendarme uniform from the end of the 17th Century. The colouring is to dissuade birds from eating them
As can be seen in the picture below they mate by one dragging the other around!!



Shield Bugs
Green bugs about 1.5cms long these bugs fly about and buzz as they fly. They are also known as stink bugs as they smell when squashed.


The third and perhaps the strangest "bug" is the processional caterpillar. A number of pine trees in the area have what look like nest

The nests are the home of the processional caterpillars who live in these nests, destroying the tree as they go, until such time as the food run outs. They then drop from the tree and move en masse to a new location. When they move they link together end to end and look from a distance like a long twig. We recently had a procession from the tree opposite the bar and it looked like three twigs about a metre or so long moving across the road. That was until cars came and squashed the lot!!. These caterpillars are a pest in that they spoil the trees they live in. Each caterpillar is covered with up to 60,000 hairs that are urticating ( they come off easily if attacked) which can cause skin rashes, and eye and mouth irritation.

Spring

I realise that I haven't added to the blog for a good few weeks but rest assured we are still here. Spring has arrived in the Vienne in a big way. The hedgerows and trees are beginning to green up, there are masses of trees full of pink and white blossom, the magnolia trees are in bloom and of course the sun has been shining. We have also seen the returning V formation of geese, a local sign that winter is past, as well as red squirrels and lizards both of which hibernate. Another sign for us is the return of the Brits with maison secondaires or those that have been away for the winter. The "velos" made a welcome return albeit metro powered rather than pedalling.
We have new neighbours Erl and Anne from Glasgow who have purchased the house opposite and intend to be here half of the year. We welcome them to Champniers and thank them for the €10 that Erl bet on the England Scotland rugby match!! National pride is one thing but betting on the rugby team seemed a little excessive. No matter Erl, I will try and find an Italian for you to recoup your money from next year.

Life in the bar has been busy. We have just started breakfasts, added free wifi to our services and increased our draught beer offer by introducing Stella. We are tinkering with our offer rather than wholesale changes, the darts and quiz machines have gone and this gave us the space to introduce 2 sofas with a coffee table into the bar.
We have also offered space on a Wednesday to a group that teach English kids English. There are lots of children here who speak English at home but are taught in French so need extra tuition on writing English, grammar, spelling etc.

The bar has two more ornaments as can be seen in the picture, a Christmas present from Laurie. They are very different, the red one is indecisive, and keeps moving sideways, hides when spanish is spoken but looks very pretty. The blue one in contrast is more workmanlike, has come through a difficult spell but now is heading for his goal

Fish and chips

Monday was the return of the Fish and Chips van. They had been on holiday for 6 weeks so their return was eagerly anticipated by the expat community and some of the French.

They arrived at 6pm and were quickly followed by car after car some people coming into the bar for eat in and other for take away.
We were very pleased with the way the evening was progressing, the bar was filling nicely. But then it changed, murmurs of discontent, the chippie had run out of chips and fish!! They had calculated their requirements based on previous years and then loaded the van with double what they thought they would need. They ran at out 7.15 which was earlier than they would previously have even been here.
Fortunately we carry plenty of stock so my evening of no cooking very quickly changed and we ended up cooking 15 meals. Everyone that was in the bar was fed but we know that some people turned up and were dissapointed and didnt even get into the bar as they tried to order, failed and went home

whilst this meant we had a good day, it is a pity that people who came out couldn't get their dinner. Last year the customers could only queue in a cold car park and buy take away, this year they have a warm bar to eat in at no extra charge. It is bound to change the demand but working how much is required each week is going to be a learning process for the guys.

I hope they get it right next week as i too missed out on my large cod and chips with mushy peas!!

Valentine

Just a thought, why did Tesco do buy one get one free on their large valentine cards?
what next buy one get one free on wedding dresses

February

Tomorrow is one year to the day since we came to France looking at cafes. We had accepted an offer on the house and were out looking for a business and a new life.
As you know we opted for the bar in Champniers and our story has been told on this blog. I haven't updated since the new year so here goes.
We were told that the winter was long, cold and boring and business would be awful.
We were told wrong!! December was cold and we have had to get used to not living in a double glazed, fully insulated home but the heating works and you just pull on a jumper. January was a mixture of cold and ok but no snow. February has been excellent so far, even to the point that I have been able to sit on the terrace in the afternoon reading a book in shirt sleeves
The work is never boring, we have times that we don't have customers but we use these to read, to catch up on the sky plus, to go for a walk (not together) or to do bits around the house.
We opened Christmas Day for a couple of hours and have been open as normal since with the exception of New Year's Eve and a couple of weeks holiday when we closed the bar.
Business has not been awful, we have had some slow days and some very good and in general are very pleased
We have had two quizzes so far this year and have had over 70 people each time. We think that we can squeeze about 85 people max into the room so still have some potential. The Top Hat team who run the quiz and supply the food are very professional, stress it's for fun and not really about winning and have a very good banter with the participants. We have really hit lucky with them as partners.

We have restarted line dancing, with a group here every Friday morning, lots of stamping and yee hahs
we have Social (ballroom) dancing two evenings a month and again this is growing in popularity
Last night we had a charity Ceilidh in the function room. 45 people "danced" to a great band named Shoestring who are from Falkirk but on a short break in France. They had donated their services to the evening which raised money for a charity working with street children in Romania.

Fish and Chips starts again tomorrow and our partners in this, David and Suzanne, have now committed to us every Monday. Up until now their time was split between two locations, they will now spend all their time with us.

J and I took a break for two weeks to re-energise. The holiday was excellent but the high point was the enthusiasm with which we were greeted on our return. We could not believe how many people wished us a good holiday and said how much they missed the bar on our return.

A year ago when we were looking at cafes, one of the criteria was to be the hub of a village and to have a bar that would be important to people. I think we chose well

new company car

Reveillon De la St Sylvestre

Reveillon de la St Sylvestre is the French celebration of New Year's Eve

We closed the bar early and went to the salle de fete (village hall) for the celebration. 120 places all sold out a month ago. This is organised by the village Fete committee, but catered by a local hotel. The cost was €50 a person VIN COMPRIS
The start time was 8.30 pm but as this is France people were still arriving at 10.30
The evening commenced with a grapefruit kir, well actually a couple of them!!
This was served with some canapes, to wet the appetite at about 9.45

The starter was served at 10,30, foie gras together with a large glass of Pineau des Charente and 4 bottles of Muscadet between the 12 of us on the table

Fish course next getting near to midnight, salmon on a bed of leeks then up onto the dance floor for a dance where the disco guys did a countdown to celebrate the new year.



Back to the meal after midnight with a Trou Campenois, a glass of sorbet with a unknown strong alcohol floating on the top

Then at half past 12, 4 hours after the start, the main course arrives. Duck breast stuffed with mushrooms and veg. And well worth the wait!!
served of course with four bottles of red

Only two more courses, assortment of cheeses and salad and then finally at 2am dessert, a passion fruit pyramid with a red fruit coulis, served with bottles of sparkling wine.



Coffee, with cognac or eau de vie followed and dancing into the early hours.
we called it a day at 4am as the bar had to be opened this morning.
I have no idea of the time it finally ended but as we left they were atking orders for onion soup to be served around 5am!!

a great night, and it is suprising how you can communicate in a foreign language as the wine bottles empty