Tuesday 31 January 2012

Loto / Bingo

Last Saturday was the big day in Cormatin; your humble narrator and a hall full of Cormatinois and Cormatinoises were playing bingo till death did us part, in loco parentis for our generous friends who could not play personally.
Alas, all to no avail.
Of all the 91 cards we managed to flog off note even one was good for a prize. We did try to bribe the Bingo Master, apparently also without success
But do not despair; next year there will be another Loto, and hence another chance to win a TV, a Home cinema or a ham!

Saturday 21 January 2012

Des chiffres et des lettres

We are now finally part of the real world; we have an address and a house number. This must be a relief for the Dutch tourists who call us with the question whether there is no betterbetter address available than “La Tuilerie de Chazelle - Cormatin”, because not having a street name, let alone not hsving a house number is for a Dutchman more or less a blasphemy. So for those who cannot cope, as of yesterday we live at 10, Rue de Chazeux.
Irrespective of this Great Leap Forward, instigated by our Great Helmsman, we will stick to our “old” address. The reason is quite simple: most people in Chazelle and Cormatin know exactly where La Tuilerie is; whether they can imagine where 10, rue de Chazeux lies is questionable.
The rue de Chazeux starts at the D881, and runs through Chazelle until it ends on the boundary of Cormatin between the hamlets Chazelle and Chazeux, in the middle of a forest. The agricultural path we live on, well outside Chazelle has been designated as a cul de sac of rue de Chazeux by the officials involved in naming roads and giving numbers.
The distance between no. 8 and 10 is approx. 1 km (slightly over half a mile).
Had these officials taken their job a bit more seriously, and better, had they sought our valuable advise, we possibly would have ended up with a slightly more poetic or romantic road name.
We knew that street names were about to be dished out, hence we had given this matter some thought, as one does.
What about “Boulevard Noël Marembeaud”? That would have been a nice tribute to the man who started the tuilerie or tile factory here in the second half of the 19th century.
A French play on words always goes down quite well with the local warlords, hence the link between “Avenue des Champs Elysées” and “Avenue de chez Sue et Cées” would be quickly established.
The house number 10 has strong associations with Downing street, certainly when one thinks of the British owner and of the recent film “The Iron Lady”.
We would have been quite happy with something simple like “Les Tuileries” or even with “Rue de la Tuilerie”, but no, the authorities knew better...
To summarize this complaint: the mairie has chosen the line of least resistance, and again we are the victims of this lax attitude.
But of course this is not the end of this nasty affair: I have already send a letter in high dudgeon to the mairie, including the relevant photos. And knowing our mayor, this will no doubt be part of the agenda in the next council meeting!

For our own website click here.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

The latest on Loto Cormatin, extra, extra, read all about it!

Hello everybody; I am only posting this to announce that we have managed to flog off all our 78 bingo cards for the Loto.
The remaining cards are with the other members of the Amicale and with the local shopkeepers.
We will certainly inform any possible prize winners after January 28th!
Thanks again on behalf of the children and pensioners of Cormatin.

Friday 13 January 2012

Again : a call for help

Just like last year we received a number of bingo (or loto) cards from the Amicale de Cormatin, which we were asked to sell. The proceeds of these cards are used to finance the yearly dinner for the aged of Cormatin (April) and for Christmas presents for all kids in Cormatin between 0 and 10 years old.
At the beginning of 2011 I placed a call for help in my blog, begging my readers to donate something to this fund raising event. I got quite a few positive reactions, and we managed to sell our 40 cards quickly to some expats and friends around here, to some guests who stayed previously on the campsite or in the gites and to friends and family abroad (the second prize fell on one of our cards!)
Because over time we have gathered some more friends and acquaintances among the French population of Cormatin, we made the rounds in Cormatin and environs, and we managed to sell all our 40 cards in no time. No call for help on my blog or on Facebook required, or so it seemed...
Until Sue spoke to some less pro-active Amicale members; they had been “unable to sell any cards at all”, and on top of that they possessed a box with more than 60 unsold cards! She will be on the road this afternoon, to try to persuade the shopkeepers in Cormatin to flog off some more cards. At the same time I will try to interest some of my readers in again buying some cards off us through my blog and through Facebook. Who says that social networks are useless?
I ask those who are willing to invest some of their hard earned money for this good cause, to send an e-mail to this address cees@latuileriechazelle.com, specifying the number of cards requested à € 2 (or £ 1.70) a card.
The potential benefactor will receive our bank details; continentals my (Dutch) BIC and IBAN numbers, islanders who want to pay in sterling will receive Sue’s account number and sort code.
On Saturday 28 January half the population of Cormatin will play bingo on your behalf for 3 prizes well worth the money:
1. a Techwood 32 “ flatscreen TV-set (PAL & SECAM)
2. a Life’s Good home cinema
3. a ham
None of these goods will go off shortly!
I hope this call for help will have the same effect as last year; all contributors receive a well meant “thank you very much” in advance.