Today was shopping day, first of all to the greengrocers where I get my veg and eggs. A nice little place not far from here and you get the feeling it is better quality produce than in the supermarkets, and also locally produced most of the time. And even better I found a small jar of mango chutney in the bargain basket! Hurraaah! However, the visit there was not without incident - nothing ever is when you are in a foreign country, that much I am coming to terms with! Upon returning to my car I looked at my receipt, because for the life of me I could not understand how I had spent nearly €40 on mainly vegetables. Upon close inspection of my receipt I realised that I had not been charged the correct €0.28 per egg, but €1! So €12 for a dozen eggs! Filled with dread I returned to the shop to try and explain my predicament. Surprisingly they understood me, apologised profusely for about 5 minutes, and refunded me my money. The women behind the till honestly looked quite traumatised at her error, and with my best cheesy smile and laugh I tried to reassure her by repeating endless times "Ce n'est pas grave Madame, ce n'est pas grave". I even attempted a joke and said in my rusty French "They must be special eggs at that price" but I am not sure she understood my humour. Then again, not a lot of people do!
Anyway €12 better off, I headed to the supermarket across the road to finish my shop, and spent far too long in there - you'd think by now I would know where things are, but alas, I don't! I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to find a bag of oats (because I want to make my own granola) but they don't appear to sell them other than in the posh, expensive organic and special diet section. Hmmmmm. Then I spent another ten minutes looking for needles and thread, and eventually found them in the bedding and curtain section - go figure! Buying meat is another thing I am having trouble with - now I am not a vegetarian, but in England I had gotten used to being reassured that the meat I bought was from animals that had been treated well. Here in France however, there doesn't seem to be the same concern over animal welfare, which does trouble me somewhat. You can buy free range chickens and eggs, but it is the pork and sausages that I find particularly difficult to buy. Now I know there are people out there who will judge me and say if I cared that much I would be vegetarian, but I honestly just don't think I can give up meat totally, as much as I would love to think I could. Despite experimenting with vegetarian dishes on occasion, it is just not something I think could 'sustain' me on a permanent basis. So the best I can do is to try and buy meat from suppliers who treat their animals with dignity and respect. It is proving difficult though and I certainly think we won't be eating as much meat as we did in England (don't tell Mark that though!).
Anyway, enough about my shopping trips, and to the important title of this post! The 'interesting' phone call! Yes yes, it was indeed 'interesting'. While eating lunch today the phone rang! Expecting it be for Madame de Cock, or someone trying to sell me solar panels, I was ready to tell them that it was extremely rude to be ringing during 'l'heure de déjeuner' (lunch hour). But I was stopped in my tracks by a very nice gentleman - admittedly he wanted to speak to the previous owners of the house, but rather than just tell him they had moved out, something told me to hear him out. And I am glad I did. For the gentleman in question was the owner of a bit of land that adjoins ours, and was ringing to tell the previous owners it was up for sale (as they had been interested in buying it some years ago). This is extremely interesting to us as we need too find an access point for our planned campsite (we want it to be separate from the entrance used by gite customers). And this piece of land would be perfect for us as it is attached to another main road which runs down to the town. It is 3000m² which is more than we need for just a track, so we may decide to approach him to see if he would sell us part of it - it could be very unlikely (as he did say he wouldn't split it) but you never know I suppose. If he sold us just a bit of it, it would still be a sizeable plot for someone to build a house (which had been his previous plan I believe). So watch this space - you never know. It almost feels like someone knew the issue we were having in terms of access and is handing us a solution on a plate. I also wish to say that, for the first time there has actually been an advantage to us having been given the previous owner's phone number! Hurraahhhh!
Now I know it is going backwards, but just a quick post about yesterday - we went to Brive in the morning to collect a sideboard kind of thing that we had reserved in this second hand store (a brocante). €20 it cost us. We knew it was going to be interesting getting it home, as we knew it wouldn't fit in the boot. Let's just say it was an interesting drive home, but we did make it!
In the afternoon I actually had a social engagement in 'Café Douceur' in town. It is a lovely little café that actually serves decent tea (although I do have to ask for milk!!). I met a lovely lady called Maria, another Brit that moved here a couple of years ago. It was really nice to just have a relaxing afternoon chatting and comparing experiences of being a foreigner in a foreign land, and sharing opinions of things we miss about England (mango chutney was high on the list!) but also talking of the things we are glad we left behind and what we love about France (2hr lunch breaks!). 2.5 hours flew by in no time at all, and not only did I come away with a new friend, I also came away with lots of useful information, including where I could buy a jar of mango chutney, and also where I could buy some lemongrass!
The lovely afternoon helped me navigate the long walk up the hill, back home. Although I do admit to stopping briefly to have a chat with someone.....here she is:
Anyway, must be off. Chicken house update tomorrow (especially for Madison Webb)! It's coming along nicely!!!
Bonne soirée!
Alison
xx
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