The Dossier, or Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (part 2 of 6)

For part 1, click here.

Livret du Citoyen

On the 18th of May we could go back to Mâcon to hand in the dossier. There they checked all the paperwork, they found it adequate and at the end told me that I would receive an invitaltion for an interview before the end of July. I received a booklet, required to be read as part of the citizenship course. The booklet was, although concise quite interesting. It explained in simple terms how the French political system works, that France is a parliamentarian democracy, that France knows a strict separation of church and state, how France is split up in regions and departments, and for those who are into history it contained a time line ranging from the caves of Lascaux via Clovis, Jeanne d'Arc, the Bourbons, the Revolution, the first and the second world wars and the Vichy regime to De Gaulle and the fifth Republic. I asked whether I had to learn all regions, departments and their capitals by heart, and the answer was a bit evasive. I got the impression that the whole thing sounded more serious than it was.
On May 21 an envelope in a familiar handwriting fell in the letterbox; it was one of the self-addressed envelopes I had to hand in with the dossier, and it contained an invitation for "the" interview in the near future.

Envelope addressed to myself

To be continued.

Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

How to become French?, or Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (part 1 of 6)

Mid-April 2015 we entered the prefecture in Mâcon in order to find out what exactly was needed to obtain French citizenship.

Préfecture - Mâcon

In the prefecture there is a special office for Naturalisations, there was no queue at the counter, and hence we were immediately dealt with by a very friendly lady. Just to be safe instead of sorry we had brought along our thick folder with "important papers". It helps enormously when one can actually show that an international birth certificate issued by Dutch authorities has a French text as well, and ask the French official whether this would suffice or not.

Folder with important papers

Fortunately the answer to the question was yes, and we finally went home with a long list of required official papers, and of other things we had to sort out. Two identical long forms had to be filled in, we had to pay legal dues, four pass photos (French style) had to be supplied, they wanted three envelopes addressed to myself and stamped, and further a wide range of papers of which the only one that might cause some problems was the declaration of good conduct. This is only issued in Dutch (and English) by the Dutch authorities, and hence it needed an official French translation.

French pass photos

After this my homework began. Most papers from the Dutch town halls could be obtained via the internet. A list with all my home addresses from my birth up to now gave a few more problems, but in the end I managed to come up with a list. I think that in the end I only guessed the house number of one of the addresses. The next problem was the list with all the employers I had worked for. But again, with the help of the testimonials I received over the years, this was not such a chore after all. I found an official (court) translator in Nîmes who could produce (and very quickly) a translation of the declaration of good conduct at a reasonable price.

Court translater

We only went back once to Mâcon to ask for some explanation of one of the questions, and after that everything seemed to be under control. The only thing we were waiting for were the papers from the Netherlands.
To be continued.
Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

Guitares en Cormatinois

After months of preparations we are almost there again: the first concert in our festival series is about to take place.

Guitares en Cormatinois 2015

Dates and names can be found on attached flyer, and what to expect can be derived from the name of the program in combination with mentioned composers. Nevertheless a few minor remarks about some concerts:
I would categorise the Franceries Sound Connection under world music. How this combination works out I would not know, but a previous concert with a bandoneon player (music by a.o. Piazzolla) was a must.

Ticket sales - Chazelle

Jérémy Jouve was last year’s big surprise at the festival. He is a young, very talented classical guitarist with an interesting, thorough program. I would not like to miss him this year, and I personally rank him higher than Emmanuel Rossfelder, one of the regular crowd pullers of our festival.

Irish Kind Of is, as the name suggests, a (French) group specialised in Irish folk music. Hence no shortage of reels, hornpipes and gigs!

Jérémy Jouve - 2014

Of Philippe Mouratoglou I can only give his website. Of those artists not mentioned in this blog I simply have not found a sound bite.
All concerts are in Chazelle’s church, entrance fee € 15 pp (€ 12 is for benefactors of the foundation).
Reservations through the phone numbers on the flyer, or through us.

Chazelle's church

The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

Moving house

The Tabac in Cormatin, for years located next to Restaurant Les Blés d’Or, has moved early May to a different location.

Tabac old location

Nicole, who runs the Tabac, has taken the plunge and occupies a different shop now, a bit further down the High Street. Her husband, the owner of Café de la Poste, has disposed of part of his Café in favour of Nicole, who has now a lot more space available for the sale of cigarettes, newspapers and magazines and, possibly more profitable, lotto and lottery tickets. What is going to happen to Café de la Poste in the future is unknown to us. All indications are that the snack bar which is part of Café de la Poste will be turned into a proper restaurant, and possibly the café might cease to exist.

Tabac new location

The prices and the types of plates he offers presently are more in line with those of a restaurant instead of those he offered previously in his snack bar. However, that might be something for another blog.

Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

Chain Store Cormatin

Recently Monique Dégluaire, a sculptor in clay, opened an annexe in Cormatin, the Comptoir des Artistes.

Comptoir des Artistes - Cormatin

She is not really a potter, because she mainly makes figurative sculptures, while there are no or hardly any plates, cups, saucers, small household utensils, tiles and the like in her assortment. She exhibits her work throughout France (Lyon, Paris) and one can also admire her creations in her workshop in Bessuge, a hamlet in the commune of Chapaize. Last year she opened, together with another local artist Martine Borzycki a showroom in Cormatin itself.
Although taking pictures in her showroom and workshop is not allowed, I am able to show one of her works in this blog; I can do this for the simple reason that this sculpture is ours and stands in our garden.

La Tuilerie de Chazelle

Monique gives courses and stages in her workshop, which are quite popular.

Bessge as well the Comptoir des Artistes are not further than a 10 minutes drive away from La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

An ultrashort concert

Most of the information we obtain about concerts etc. comes from the Journal de Saône-et-Loire, a source which is not always reliable.

Concertzaal - Château de Burnand

In the Friday's extra the events for the coming week in the department are announced. One week we ended up in front of a locked door in Juliénas (Beaujolais) where the exhibition we wanted to visit should start on November 1, whilst in reality the exhibition opened one week later. Recently we read in the paper that a free concert would be given in the château of Burnand, starting at 17h30. We are always well in time, if only to find a good seat.

Repetitie

We were there around 17h00, time enough to put our coats on one of the few available chairs near the exit (the majority of the chairs had a sticker "reserved" on them) and to wonder around the premises. At 17h30 there were still hardly any spectators, except for a handful of people who were downing drinks. Later we found out that the bar where drinks were for sale opened at 17h30, while the concert did not start until 18h00. Everything was a bit obscure, because from 17h30 onwards every so often some musicians started playing.

Tentoonstellingsruimte

And they were not tuning; no, they were playing classical pieces of music. This did not sound very promising, however, it could well be that the whole group was stronger than the sum of the indivdual musicians. The waiting period gave us also some time to admire the paintings of the owner of the château, which decorated the walls in a rather abundant way.
When the concert finally started at 18h00 we did not need more than a few minutes to decide that we would be better off outside.

Eerste deel van het concert

We arrived home a lot earlier than expected, although not in time to join a concert in Chapaize. This concert, which takes place each Ascension day, is given by the Dutch madrigal choir Roundelay, is free of charge as well, and of exceptionally good quality. Ever since we live here we have not missed one of their concerts, except the one this year. So we have decided that this is not going to happen again. Next year we are going to see and hear Roundelay, unless someone with a real big name gives a free concert somewhere around here….

Click here for the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

Closed for renovation

There have been quite e few changes in Cormatin , on the shopping front.

Aux Délices de Cormatin old style

A number of shops has changed hands, like the épicerie of Berger (now called Epis & Riz) but of which the range of goods is still the same. Apart from shops which have been mentioned earlier, such as the butcher La Renaissance and the bio market cum organic bakery cum exposition area for a local potters collective in the former Musée du Vélo/Poilu a number of shops have combined anticipating the more severe rules for wheelchair access with a renovation of the interior of the shop.

Aux Délices de Cormatin after renovation

One of the shops that recently has undergone a face lift is the bakery Aux Délices de Cormatin. The shop has been, as long as we remember, a typical village bakery where one could hardly move during peak hours. And peak hour it was, the whole day through. The baker, Laurent, does not only produce the best French breads in the area, but he is also an excellent pastrycook.

Aux Délices de Cormatin new style

And I can vouch for the fact that the renovation of the shop has not the slightest bit influenced the quality of his assortment!
Aux Délice de Cormatin is a shop where the guests of La Tuilerie de Chazelle regularly buy their bread and/or pastry.

A day out in Dijon

Not that we have seen it all in our own vicinity, but, as they say, variety is the spice of life.

Flower market - Dijon

Hence every so often we take the opportunity to see something in another department. One of our favourite outings is a day in Dijon. Dijon is the capital of Burgundy as well as that of the Côte-d’Or department (21), and it has a number of interesting things to offer. And I am not just talking of museums; Dijon is a bustling town, with lots of terraces, shops, half-timbered buildings, and, walking through the old town one is surprised time after time by views of yet another roof covered with glazed, coloured roof tiles in interesting patterns.

Roof of the cathedral Saint- Bénigne/td>

Burgundy once was a powerful Duchy, and the Dukes of Burgundy competed with the French King in power, prosperity and not in the least in cultural affluence. The former Ducal Palace, smack in the middle of the old town, hosted, once the power of the Dukes was broken, the Parliament of Burgundy, and presently the Musée des Beaux Arts.

Tomb detail - Musée des Beaux Arts

This is a beautiful museum, with a vast collection of religious art, but also with a department of contemporary art and a special section dedicated to the famous sculptor François Pompon. The highlights of the collection however are the tomb of Philip the Bold and that of John the Fearless and his wife Margaret of Bavaria. Both monuments are beautifully decorated with sculptures of the best (Dutch) sculptors of the late Middle Ages, Claus Sluter and Claus van de Werve.
Another work by Sluter, the well of Moses, can be found where once the Carthusian monastery of Champmol (also in Dijon) stood.

Detail - Well of Moses

This monastery once hosted the above mentioned tombs, which were moved to the Saint-Béningne Cathedral after the monastery was demolished. From there they finally went to the Palais des Ducs.
The originally Romanesque cathedral, which was replaced by the present Gothic church, still houses a Romanesque crypt which is the only remaining lower part of an impressive rotunda. Next to the church one of the former abbey buildings hosts nowadays the Musée Archéologique.

Polar bear - François Pompon

The lower part of the building is the old Romanesque scriptorium and chapter hall, while the first floor is the former Gothic dormitorium. This beautiful room displays capitals and tympanums from the old Romanesque cathedral, as well as remains of other, demolished abbeys in the vicinity of Dijon.

Dormitorium - Musée Archéologique

There is a lot more to admire in Dijon; this was just a random enumeration. For those who think that an outing like this will set one back quite a bit: all museums in Dijon are free of charge, hence the money “saved” this way can be utilised to pay for a lunch in one of the many restaurants in the old centre of Dijon.

Notre-Dame - Dijon

The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

Play on words

The French, as the British in their newspaper headlines, are very keen on plays on words in all forms: witty, funny, clever, but also plain stupid, or unfathomable for foreigners.

Epis & Riz - Cormatin

The best ones however are the “jokes” based on a foreign language, mostly on English. An example? “Yes, we can!” This slogan was meant for the Fête de la Voie Verte, a weekend with demonstrations by arts and craftsmen and women and stands for the inevitable wine tastings along the Voie Verte, a long cycle path. What this had to do with Obama? Nothing, really, except that the festival took place during a weekend, and that “Yes, we can!” automatically should be associated with “Yes, weekend!”. Far-fetched? Oh no, there are even better ones available!

Cormatin has for years now an épicerie/rotisserie, run by Monsieur B. The shop is well known, and rightly so, for its freshly ground coffee, sold by the bag, its thick slices of exquisite ham at € 1 a piece and for its grilled chickens. The shop is called an épicerie, a grocer, originally a shop selling épices which are spices; nowadays the word stands for an ordinary grocery shop. Monsieur B. had an assortment as can be found in any village grocery shop. Recently he decided to stop his activities and enjoy his well-earned pension.
His shop was taken over by someone who wanted to maintain the shop’s proven formula, and Monsieur B.’s shop started a second life, albeit under a different name.
What could be an appropriate name for a shop of this nature? The answer is as logical as it is French: “Epis & Riz” (Ears of Wheat & Rice) of course! When one slurs a bit and does not articulate properly, “épis et riz” sounds very similar to “’épicerie”, does it not? Monsieur B. still helps out on busy days in his former shop, and the ham, grilled chickens and freshly ground coffee are still available.

If you would like to check whether this story is true, visit La Tuilerie de Chazelle.

Quite a shock

It was quite a shock when last Friday morning the water bill arrived in the post. Not only was the bill sky-high (approx. € 1150), but there was also a letter attached suggesting that we had a leak somewhere. This leak, if there was one, had increased our water “consumption” in most likely not more than two months from the normal amount of water (based on a yearly consumption of 130 à 140 m3) to approx. 1200 m3.

watermeter in the fore ground, the leak near the house

What to do? We could not think of anything else but phoning the water board, who told us that since the leak was between the water meter and the house we had to find a plumber to repair the leak. Between the water meter and the house? In the Netherlands the water meter is normally located by the front door, hence a leak this size should not be very difficult to detect. Our water meter however is located in a field, at around 150 m away from the house. The pipe runs underground, so where to start?

Sue (in yellow) near the leak

The plumber arrived on Saturday, saw the meter running and promised to return on Sunday to start digging and make the repair. Sue tried to follow the pipe from the meter to the house, in the hope to find the leak. And lo and behold, she found at 25 m from the house, but still in the meadow a place where she could see and hear water gurgling out.
The pictures illustrates the size of the problem quite well: the picture of the meadow was made from where the meter is located; the yellow figure in the distance stands by the leak. The second picture is a cut out from the first one, where Sue (dressed in yellow) stands by the leak.

the leak, a small hole just under the tap

The plumber of course was quite happy that he did not have to dig up 150 m of pipe, and had the whole problem solved within two hours. The leak happened to be a hole in a tap, which was installed in the field for no apparent reason. What rests is trying to convince the water board that we do not want to pay the full amount of lost water….

The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

Potters of the World, Unite!

Bois-Dernier

Other than the established potters around here, such as Monique Dégluaire, Claude Mouton and Pierre Arnaud, who all exhibit their work in their own workshop, a group of “free” potters have formed a collective “Les Communs”, which shows its work between April and December in the former “Musée du Vélo/Poilu”.

The former museum

This is an old farm building, just outside and south of Cormatin, hence in between Cormatin and Chazelle. This hall is made for exhibiting work like this.
The space however is not only used for expositions; on certain days it is also used for an organic market and an organic bakery shop (see a previous blog).

Expositionhall - Bois-Dernier

Don’t hesitate to ask if you want more info about craft and arts near La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

A quick trip to the Netherlands

I knew that my Dutch passport was running out somewhere in January, but that was no problem….., so we thought.
We had it all done before: making an appointment with the consulate in Lyon, find the one photographer there who produces recognised Dutch passport photographs, have our fingerprints taken, do some sightseeing in Lyon and then wait for the passport to arrive by registered mail. Easy peasy…., so we thought.

Bergeijk

In five years things can change considerably, we found out. The passport facilities were taken away from the consulates (cost cutting), and a passport could be obtained from the embassy in Paris where the Champs Elysées boasted an authorised photographer as well. The passport had to be collected in person, after at least a week. Price tag attached : 4 trips to and from Paris @ approx. € 100 pp., or 2 trips and an expensive stay in a Parisian hotel, plus the cost of a passport, also over € 100 pp. Quite a costly affair, when one thinks about it.

The centre of the universe

However we found a better solution.
One can also apply for a passport in the Netherlands, in The Hague, but also in a number of Hicksvilles, such as Haarlemmermeer, Enschede, Maastricht, Bergeijk, Echt-Susteren, Oldambt, Bergen op Zoom en Montferland. To find some of these places I had to resort to Google maps…. Now of course a trip to the Netherlands is not free of charge (here the passport has to be collected in person as well), but at least it can be combined with a lightning visit to family that lives not far from Bergeijk and with a shopping expedition to stock up on necessities unobtainable in France, as there are Indonesian sweet soy sauce, Indonesian chilly paste and real Dutch gin.

Townhall, or passport printing office?

We made an appointment at the earliest possible date in Bergeijk on a Monday, drove the Saturday before to Den Bosch, had photographs taken there, and walked into Bergeijk’s townhall at the agreed time. There we were told that the passports could be collected the next Monday. Fortunately the civil servant gave us a phone number we could phone from Thursday onwards. And on Thursday the passport was indeed ready, so on Friday we could drive home, the car filled up to the brim with Indonesian and Dutch goodies, including a Surinamese take-away for two people that lasted us three days, and armed with brand new legal documents.

Old and new

Right after crossing the French border we were overtaken by a French customs car, which summoned us to stop. However, after we had solemnly sworn that we would smoke all the cannabis in the car ourselves, including the 400 cartons of cigarettes and the 12 kg of heroine, we could continue our journey, without having to show our brand new passports!

Arrêter, s'il vous plaît!

The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

Referendum

Of course there was no formal referendum organised when the new butcher opened his doors, but one could say in hindsight that “the people” has spoken.

2010 - The festive opening

What happened before: in September 2010 the new butcher’s was opened with a great fanfare. We went there several times, and we never were really impressed by what he had to offer. His meat as well as his charcuterie were mediocre, and that is a bit of an understatement. The same message we received from other villagers, and we were not really surprised when this butcher closed his shop fairly soon. After that another butcher gave it a try, but through some marital problems between the butcher, his wife and a third party, this butcher closed his doors almost as fast as he had opened them.

In the meantime we frequented for special occasions Xavier Balon in Salornay-sur-Guye who sells superb meat, salads and charcuterie. His roast beef in slices, although not always available when you want it, has so far been unparalleled.
Some time ago there was again some movement on the butcher’s front. Signs about opening soon appeared out of nowhere, and on 12 March the new butcher’s was open. We were a bit sceptical, once we stood at the till. The meat looked good, and the same held for the patés and the charcuterie. However, one never knows….
When we ordered a piece of steak, the butcher advised us to take a different cut, which was fractionally cheaper, but would have a better taste. We followed his advice, and went home with a bit of everything, including the two pieces of steak.
Everything tasted fine, but for the steaks I am still looking for words.

Just before re-opening

The meat was as very tender, so tender one could have cut it with the blunt side of a knife, had one wanted to. I can honestly say that I do not remember ever having had a piece of meat of this quality, and since I love steak in all forms, and since we are living in the Charollais, an area with reputedly the best beef in France, I believe I can speak with some authority. Now what does this have to do with a plebiscite?

Each meeting of the organising committee of the Guitar Festival ends with a mâchon, freely translated as a light meal. The new butcher had the benefit of the doubt, and the whole group, approx. 18 people, were very impressed with the quality of his meats.
Every year the commune together with a local association, organises an extensive lunch for those over 65 years of age. And since the date for this lunch more or less coincided with the opening of the new butcher / caterer, the traiteur was judged by a group of approx. 80 people. And also here the opinion was unanimous: excellent food at a very reasonable price.
And in a commune of just over 500 inhabitants, this can be seen as a plebiscite, true or not?

A lunch for those over 65 (and for those younger - at a price!)

The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

Free of charge

The abbey of Cluny and the Musée d’Ochier are free of charge open from November until March the first Sunday of the month.

Spiral staircase - Musée Ochier - Cluny

And since that period is outside the tourist season mainly locals take this opportunity. Why spend € 8 per person if not necessary, and without any effort as well?

Transept Cluny III - Cluny

I wanted (or had to) produce some pictures on the theme “Curves”, and since Malibu Beach is not exactly around the corner, and neither fever nor exchange rate curves seemed very appealing, I decided to try my luck in Cluny. Romanesque as well as Gothic architecture is based on all sort of curved arches and vaults, hence it should not be too difficult to find some interesting curved constructions or decorations for this chore.

Monumental staircase ENSAM - Cluny

Making a choice from an extensive series of photographs very often turns out more traumatic than taking the pictures itself. This blog contains some curved construction or decorative elements I stumbled upon this rainy Sunday.

Gallilée - Cluny

One extra remark: for those who do not stay in this part of the world between November and March the investment of € 8 to see the abbey and museum on a non free of charge day is worth every penny!


The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.