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Super Service from Mountain Warehouse

Posted on by Lisa
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Wednesday found Rosie, Molly and I wandering around Fontenay-le-Comte in the vain hope of finding Molly a new coat. The zip on her current one had broken this week; though, to be fair, she has had the coat for two years so we can’t really complain. As any Mum will tell you, two years worth of wear from a growing teenager is a real bonus!

We left Foussais in good spirits, but also with a feeling of dread. Given that finding a coat which Molly would actually like would be nigh-on-impossible, plus it is now the end of coat-buying season (swimsuits anyone…?) and our favourite (and reasonably-priced) sports shop Koodza had closed it’s doors, the ending could have been predicted.

Molly decided she would like a ski jacket, narrowing our chances even further. She did find some ski jackets in Intersport that she liked but the budget didn’t quite stretch to the price on the tag! After two hours we returned home empty-handed, apart from three pairs of bargain jeans.

So, Molly then spent another hour and a half trawling the Internet. She found plenty of ski jackets, but they were either the wrong size, unavailable to send to France, or, if they did send to France, the delivery charge was ridiculous.

After persevering, Molly googled “cheap ski jacket France”. Among the usual rubbish, she stumbled across the site Mountain Warehouse. Here we found a large choice of sports clothes and all at very reasonable prices. Within minutes, the choice was made and the order placed.

The order was made at 8.30pm on Wednesday night and the jacket arrived on Friday at 1.30pm. What great service! Molly is delighted with her jacket – the original price tag says “£99″, but we only paid £24.99 and £6.99 for delivery to France by DHL.

So, if you are struggling to find reasonably-priced sports, camping and general outdoor gear over here, we would heartedly recommend this site.

Find Mountain Warehouse on the web at www.mountainwarehouse.com. They have a Facebook Page (and so do we!)

A child’s duties, French style

Posted on by Lisa
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It’s half term in the UK, and here in the Vendée we are looking forward to ours starting next week. Of course school holidays means that the kids are at home 24/7, so I thought I would share these words of wisdom with you all that you might find helpful!!

Taken from a book I bought from Emmaus and gave to Richard one birthday, I think you will find this food for thought.

The book,  ”La classe en Anglais”, from The Green Series by E. Gourio, was written in 1918. It is a french text book for teaching english (written in english), split into different lessons.

This is lesson 57:-

Duties of Children

Treat your parents with respect.There are children who speak to their parents with rudeness, and grow sullen when their parents find fault with them. Beware of such disrespect. You are young, and you should therefore take the lowest place. You have much to learn, and you should therefore hear instead of seeking to be heard.

Be grateful to your parents. When you were sick, how tenderly did they hang over you! When you were in want of anything, how cheerfully did they toil to supply your need! Surely, there cannot be a greater monster than an unthankful child.

Obey your parents. Do not receive their commands with a sour, angry look, which says louder than words that you obey only because you must; but whatever they bid you do, do it cheerfully. Do not wait for them to repeat a command: obey at once. Even when only a look tells you what they want, fly to perform it.

Place confidence in your parents. You should have no secrets which you are unwilling to tell them. If you have done wrong, you should openly confess it, and ask their forgiveness. If you wish to undertake anything, ask their consent. A dissembling child cannot thrive, and is often very miserable.

Children! These are your duties. Love, obey your parents; trust in them. Be to them a comfort and an honour. So live, that they may ever look upon you with delight. So live, that the thought of your virtues may smooth their last hours.

I love this passage and have been known to read it to visiting children! Unfortunately they all know me far to well to take it too seriously.

Why don’t you try to read it to children you know. Let us know how you get on :)

Gnome is where the heart is. Friends are where the wine is.

Posted on by Lisa
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When we moved to France, there were certain things we hoped to gain from our new life which we felt Foussais would offer. We were very impressed on our first visit to Ecole St. Antoine and this has proved to be a school providing a great foundation for Molly (very briefly) and Joe. Along with the school came a really friendly community who welcomed us whole-heartedly. The village also offered chances for the children to join various groups, including football, handball, and both piano and guitar lessons. We have been blessed with great neighbours who are always there and willing to help, be it providing us with home baking (we are lucky enough to live in a hamlet with an ex-baker and a very talented Italian cook), gardening tips, home-made sangria or even JCBs!

2010 brought a new dimension to our life here and that is our friends Lynn & Alan and Curtis & Dee. We “met” both couples through this website. They had both bought plots of land in Foussais and, while searching the web for information about this area, they came across La Vie en Foussais and got in touch. Prior to them moving here permanently, we met up during their various trips to Foussais, but nothing could have prepared us for the fun that was about to come our way!

We have spent many a happy evening, or Sunday afternoon, sharing “aperos” and enjoying our time together. Both couples are marvellous with our children and we are very lucky to have them around the corner from us.

One particular sunny summer Sunday afternoon we were having a gathering. Let me set the scene….

The location was chez Curtis and Dee, the drink – pamplemouse rosé.

(I should give a quick explanation. We discovered pamplemouse rosé while attending a free jazz concert at the Salle Polyvalante at the beginning of summer. We bought what we thought was our usual interval drink, a little glass of rosé. On drinking, we discovered an unusual taste; not unpleasant but not expected either. “Mmmmm…” we thought, “not bad”. It was only when we got to the bottom of the glass that the true wonder of this drink became clear. This was rosé wine mixed with a pamplemouse (grapefruit) liqueur *.  Well, let’s just say, a trend was set, and the rest is history. Summer had a whole new dimension!)

So, back to the story. Fuelled by aperos and pamplemouse rosé, talk turned to “Let’s have a party!”. Curtis and Dee were spending Christmas in Foussais, but Lynn, Alan and us Barleys were all heading to England. However, it turned out we were all going to be back for New Year, so the plan was made. New Year’s Eve party – our house – more friends invited – good times ahead!

Now, I’m still not so sure how this came about, but we decided fancy dress would be a good idea. We discussed Super-Heroes, Musicals or Films and Nursery Rhymes…and then Lynn said “We once went to a party dressed as gnomes…”.  Great idea! We could all take a character. Rosie loves 1940′s style, so her character was “Keep The Gnome Fires Burning”. Molly, who loves football, would be “Gnome Goal”.  Joe, our James Bond fan, would be “Double Gnome Seven”. The possibilities were endless! A phone call, along with an invitation to the party, was made to Jim and Val (our super-hero seamstress!)

So this is how Foussais became invaded by gnomes on 31st December. The gathering included “The Gnome-Coming Queen” (me), “Gnome On The Range”(Richard), a “Metrognome”, “Gastronome”, “Gnome Improvements”, a “Gnome Help”, “Twickergnome”, a National “Elf” Service Nurse, some “Gnomads” and a smattering of Smurfs!

The night was to be a relaxed affair. As is tradition in the Barley family, quizzes were written, games were devised, food was prepared, candles were lit and costumes were on. Friends arrived, and what a huge effort they had made! After much eating, dancing and chatting it was time for quizzes. A note to friends who will be joining us in the future – learn your Christmas tunes! Who would have thought quotes from really well-known Christmas songs could have been the reason for so many blank faces? :)

Of course, with the hour’s difference  New Year gives us a chance to celebrate twice. Our friends Annie, Drew and the girls, along with the rest of their party, joined us on Skype for our midnight celebration and then we joined them for theirs. We will never forget us being put on Annie and Drew’s windowsill to watch the chinese lanterns being set of in the street!

I love New Year. A time to reflect on the good times shared, good times to come, family and friends. A big thank you to Val, Richards Mum, for our fab costumes and a great big thank you to our lovely  new Foussais friends who give us such great times and happy memories.

* You can mix rose with pamplemouse syrup which is a little less lethal, but not half as much fun  (Back)

A Curious Choir Call-Up

Posted on by Lisa
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Since living here, there have been many moments when we have said to ourselves “This could only happen in France!”. One Saturday, three weeks ago, I had one of those moments.

The morning started much the same as any other. Rosie was sleeping off the school week, Molly was in her room tidying (!) and Joe was heading out to his guitar group. At that moment the phone rang. Richard answered and, after a quick and confused chat, the phone was handed to me with a quick “Someone for you, it’s about singing and she speaks a little english.”

Here is a quick translation of the very fast, completely french, conversation:-

Lady: “Hello, I hear you like singing, your friend said so. Would you like to join a choir? We meet every Monday night.”

Me: “Um, yes, um perhaps….um, which friend?”

There then followed a conversation full of names I have never heard of and I still didn’t know the name of the lady I was speaking to.

“Well,” said very nice french lady, “we are in concert tomorrow afternoon if you would like to see us”.

Me: “Sorry. Busy tomorrow but I am interested. What type of music? Where do you meet?”

Lady: “We sing classical. I will pick you up 8 on Monday night. I know where you live. What colour are your shutters? See you then. Bye!”

Then followed a stunned silence as I tried to take in what had happened. It appeared a “friend” had given the lady my number and I was going to a choir somewhere in Fontenay with someone I didn’t know.

After talking to my Mum, who came up with kidnap theories and declared “You can’t go, you don’t know her!”, followed by laughter, I decided to ring Lynn (my former friend!)

“Hi Lynn! You are not going to believe what just happened to me…!”

What followed can only be described as laughter of the highest degree, followed by shouts from Lynn to Alan, her husband, and then much laughing from him too.

It turned out this lady had rung Lynn first and suggested  she join the choir. Lynn told her she didn’t sing but had a friend who does and had given her my number. Lynn also had no idea who this lady was, or where she had got Lynn’s number from. It since turns out that another friend, Dee, had mentioned she likes singing to this lady’s husband, but hadn’t given her name. So this lady went to the Marie (mayor) to get the phone numbers of the english people in the village.

Of course, I am no stranger to singing in a choir and had been hoping to join one here at some point anyway.  When we lived back in Grimsby, I belonged to the Grimsby Philharmonic Choir under the direction of Sue Hollingworth. Sue is an inspiration to anyone who loves singing and for four years I was proud to sing in this great choir. The choir was made more special as I went with Val, Richard’s Mum, and my very good friend Annie. Along with other friends, Mondays were lovely nights spent singing great music with great people.

So, despite the unconventional introduction, I was actually looking forward to going to this new choir.

Monday at 8 saw Lynn and I (I wasn’t going to let her get away with dropping me in it!) awaiting the arrival of mystery woman.

What has followed since has been three very enjoyable Monday evenings singing with a great choir, Cantabile Opus 85 [pdf]. Lynn, sadly, has now stopped for the time being, due to various trips to UK while awaiting the arrival of her first grandchild. I hope she will come back as she is a great alto.

Fabrice Maurin, Conductor - Cantabile Opus 85

I have to say, this choir is great. The musical director Fabrice Maurin is really good. He knows how to have fun to get our voices all warmed up, but equally he is very particular about us singing correctly, precisely and with feeling. I am the only english person there, but I have been made to feel very welcome and anyone who has any english is very happy to share it with me.

As far as the singing goes, reading music is the same (though be aware, music-readers, in the UK I learnt A B C, over here it’s Do Re Mi) and apart from having to sing in french, it is all going well. The choir have sung in German and English in the past and of course Latin is a universal language for classical pieces, so there is hope.

So far, we have learnt two short pieces by Offenbach and a lovely Waltz by Faust. I have been told concerts are held in November but there is a chance of one in July.

So, from that Saturday when confusion reigned supreme, I have ended up being part of a very friendly and well-directed choir.

Happy Mondays are back on the song sheet!!

Noz – Well worth a rummage

Posted on by Lisa
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Having been a fan of TK Max I am always looking for that equivalent bargain shopping experience. I haven’t quite found it yet but NOZ comes close.

I have re-found NOZ, having gone there some three years ago while doing a reccy of the area. Back then, I was put off by the smell of smoke on that outing and didn’t go back. But now new english people have arrived and have been waxing lyrical about said NOZ, so I felt it was time for another try.

Never been to NOZ? Well let me explain….

This is a shop that sells end-of-ranges, cancelled orders, end-of-promotions, ex-catalogue etc. Unfortunately, here in Fontenay-le-Comte, the shop is not set out as well as it could be. It’s a bit of a ‘bargain basket’ type store but the shop advertising assures us everything has 70-80% off.  They literally sell everything from pasta to ponchos, tie-backs to teddy bears, cat bowls to cyclamens.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a very pleasant afternoon with Lynn and Dee having a good rummage around. I picked up a lovely children’s book but looked like a poor relation compared to  Lynn and Dee’s bargain hunting.

Today though, was a different story. I bought two beautiful pastel  green bowls. Very heavy pottery and very good quality. I think had they been found in a ‘nice’ shop I would have been looking at a price tag of €7-10  for the small one alone but I paid the princely sum of €3.95  for the two!

Small pleasures……