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

A year in Champniers

On June 17th we celebrated one year at the bar. This was the day we moved here and started the hard work of getting the place clean after nearly three years of being empty and ready to start serving beer and food on July 31st.
It has been a great year and whilst we have not always found it easy in a number of ways expected and unexpected, we can honestly say we made the right decision.
Home is here now and we are very happy with our choice.
We have learned many things, perhaps the most important that the previously empty bar can keep us ticking over even if it wont ever make us rich.
Pour moi, le francais c'est tres difficile but Jeanne seems to have adapted to speaking French quite well. She is forever being complimented on her language skills as it is assumed that she is British. This is not considered a compliment!!
May I take this opportunity to thank all those who have helped us during the past year, too many to mention but you know who you are.

at last

we have finally had some rain just in time for fish and chips. At least it will be more like England

A Quick Update

Just a quick update on some of the previous blogs.
Our fryer is now repaired and back in use. Metro staff training obviously does not include offering any apology as the return of the appliance came with a stare and a grunt.
Our panini machine is now back in action as well. They worked hard to find a reason why not to repair it and have now said that no future repairs will be made as it looks as though it is being used too frequently.
The toilet floor is now dry.
Our internet user has been back, to shout at us complaining that we have "written nasty things" on the blog. J asked him if it was all true to which he left, got in his car, revved it and then flashed his lights half a dozen times into the front windows.
This could become a saga,I tell you he has been here, he comes again to complain and I tell you he's been back to complain.

Lastly, we have had lots of new readers from Karen's blog, Tout Sweet. welcome and thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy my ramblings

A lesson learned

We had a lunch party today, 27 people. As is usual with any group of French they arrived over a period of time with the agreed time about in the middle.
We cooked them an individual quiche with green salad for starters, chicken basquaise with cubed potatoes and a vegetable mix for main dish and an ice cream dessert for dessert. They had a small glass of wine, or coke or orange juice for the non drinkers.
For this we charged €9.90 a head (£8.60 at today's exchange rate)We also allowed them use of the large room for an hour or so after the meal so they could chat together.

We believe a good time was had by all, plates were cleaned and everybody was happy. Until that was it was time to pay the bill. Madame queried the coffees, "I thought they were included". J pointed out that what we had agreed was to substitute the wine we include for lunch for soft drinks, something we would not normally do.
They begrudging paid up but it left a bitter taste. Did they forget? Were they trying to get one over on us? We ended up being made to feel guilty for charging them when we were within the agreement to do so.
The lesson we learned today is to do a quote. Get it on paper and get it signed. It may be tedious but at least both sides will know where they stand and neither will have any nasty suprises.

Promotional Prices

Went to a supermarket the other day to buy some starters. They were advertised as a major promotion €5.30 reduced by €2.65 to half price.
When I got there they were pre-priced at €3.80 but went through the till at €5.30.

It gave me a warm feeling inside, putting prices up to bring them down in a promotion, it was just like being back at MFI

You've had your chips

In general the service in stores here is ok if not quite what we were used to in the UK. However we have recently had 2 instances where customer service is nowhere near acceptable. We have a panini oven which recently broke. We had to take it the 50kms to Poitier, to be met by a barrage of questions from the repairers. Is this the original box? ( you have to keep boxes in France as they form part of the guarantee apparently)
They then queried our receipt as it was from an internet electrical store and not from DeLongi themselves.All this was aimed at rejecting the repair. Eventually agreeing to do the repair they had no idea how long it would take. We rang them yesterday at 10am as we had to go to Poitiers and could collect it without a special journey. This was two weeks after they had taken it. Their answer, we are waiting for parts no idea when they will be received or when the oven will be ready. They rang at 3pm to say the oven was repaired and could be collected. Are they taking the piss or just unorganised?
The second example was at METRO (Makro in the UK). We bought a chip fryer from them last year as they sell professional equipment, not cheap but specifically for professionals. The machine broke down in March, the on off switch was faulty. We took it back, 100kms round trip, they mended it and two days later did the 100kms round trip again and collected it.
This week it broke again same problem, J rang them.We asked for the chipper to be changed, no chance! Bring it back. we take it back, another 100kms, no idea when it can be repaired, lots of shrugs and questions. they wanted to know how many chips we fry and if they are fresh or frozen. Again, all of the questioning is aimed at rejecting the need to do a repair.
There is never an apology, no sign of sympathy or understanding of the problems the lack of a machine can cause. J asked why they didn't suggest we buy two machines in the first place so we had a spare when the machine broke down again. This was met with silence. When we asked how we are supposed to cook our chips for the next few days, we were told that he had worked in a restaurant and they had alternative plans to allow for product failure.
it was a good job that my french is not up to interjecting!!!

My task today is look at where we could place a new front door as an alternative plan to allow for product failure!!!

Ps we have a spare fryer but that's not the point