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.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

Since a couple of weeks Cormatin boasts a bio-market.

The market in Bois-dernier

Hence those who thought one week-market in Saint-Gengoux (Saturday) and one in Chapaize (Sunday) was not enough, can go shopping in Cormatin now for their bio-bread, bio-wine, bio-vegetables, bio-paté, bio-honey, etc. etc. on a Friday, between 17h00 and 19h00. The market is held in Bois-Dernier (just outside Cormatin direction Cluny) in the building of the former Musée du Vélo, Musée du Poilu and Aux Forges d’Antan.

Bio-vegetables, on the first day of the market

On the first day, Friday 13 February, the place was heaving!

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

Sarcophagi

Recently I stumbled upon a picture of a sarcophagus next to a church, in another blog about the Aveyron.

Alyscamps - Arles (13)

Obviously those sort of things are not so common in that part of the world, since the writer was asking her readers what this thing was. In Burgundy sarcophagi are not that rare, There are a number of Merovingian burial grounds around here, of which the most interesting coffins have been moved to museums, but often there are still a number of sarcophagi to be seen. The Merovingians ruled over parts of France, Germany and the Netherlands from the 5th century onwards, and were still in power well into the 8th century.

Carrière de la Lys - La Roche Vineuse

A famous location (although far from Burgundy) where still sarcophagi from the Roman, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval periods can be admired is the Alyscamps in Arles (13). Van Gogh as well as Gauguin painted the Alyscamps more than once.
Closer to home there is a quarry, the Carrières de la Lys near La Roche Vineuse, which has been used through centuries for the “manufacturing” of sarcophagi. According to the information panels there the Gallo-Roman coffins had flat covers, whilst Merovingian ones had a modest roof profile.

Curtil-sous-Burnand

Also quite near, in the village of Curtil-sous-Burnand, there is a Merovingian grave yard. As said earlier, the most interesting finds were moved to museums, a number of damaged coffins are on display, and the rest has been reburied.
During excavations in the Saint-Clément church (not longer in use as such) in Mâcon remains of an old church were found, and a big number of coffins from different periods. The church can be visited on request.

Saint-Clément - Mâcon

A beautiful example is on display in the Palais de Pape Gélase (part of the former abbey) in Cluny. It is a sarcophagus from the Merovingian period, and if I remember correctly it was reused for the remains of a relative of one of the Abbots of Cluny.
Finally I have sometimes also stumbled, in the vicinity of a church, upon a solitary sarcophagus. Almost always without a lid, and most likely something found during the clearing of an old cemetery.

Palais de Pape Gélase - Cluny

However, in the course of time I have seen so many churches that I cannot remember, not even with the best will in the world, which churches had these coffins on display (except inside the church of Anost, and outside those of Changy and Saint-Romain-sous-Gourdon)!

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

Saint-Vincent Tournante 2015

Saint-Vincent is the patron saint of wine growers, and not, strangely enough, of painters and plastic surgeons.

Folding flowers - Saint-Vincent 2013 Cortevaix

And since Burgundy appointed itself as the world’s most important wine region, the name day of this Saint, 22 January, is celebrated with gusto throughout the region.
The word “Tournante” indicates that the place of action changes every year. The emphasis is normally on places in the more prestigious wine areas such as the Côte d’Or (21), but also places in department 71 like Mâcon (2009) and Mercurey (2018) did or will host this big event in the past or in the future. However, on a smaller scale there are also Saint-Vincent Tournantes. In the South-Châlonnais for example, this festival is celebrated at the end of January.

Decorations - Saint Vincent 2011 Saint-Ythaire

Each year a different village stages the Festival, and the sequence of events is identical every year. This year it was Savigny-sur-Grosne’s turn. Months in advance the villagers, assisted by inhabitants of other wine villages in the area, keep themselves occupied with preparing the decorations of their village. After Christmas the Christmas trees are not burnt, but they are decorated with paper flowers to line the streets of the village at the end of January. Mannequins are dressed up in farmers clothing depicting the wine grower’s activities, in a word, at the end of the month the village has changed beyond recognition.

Parade - Saint-Vincent 2014 Malay

On the day itself the statues of Saint-Vincent are carried to the church by members of the various brotherhoods, where a church service takes place, inaugurated by the incomprehensible noise produced by the local hunter’s guild on their horns. After the service a wreath is laid at the war monument and a glass of wine is served as a token of appreciation for those who braved the cold, the horn blowing session and the service.

Church service - Saint-Vincent 2011 Saint-Ythaire

The highlight of the day however is the lunch where everybody (at a price) can take part in. the lunch is served in the Salle Polyvalente in Saint-Gengoux-le-National. This lunch is not your average Christmas lunch; it is really something special, ad big scale as well. A caterer from Montceau-les-Mines prepares an excellent 6-course meal for several hundreds, the local wine farmers provide different wines with each course and in between those who made themselves useful in the wine trade are honoured and / or admitted to the overall brotherhood of wine makers. The meal starts at 14h30, and coffee is served at around 18h30.

Decorations - Saint-Vincent 2012 Bissy-sous-Uxelles

What happens afterwards is too painful to describe. The band that provides the dance “music” is even worse than the horn blowers. And ever since we managed to sit out 15 minutes of this racket during our first Saint-Vincent, at following occasions we did not take the risk anymore; we flee the premises immediately after we have downed our coffee. At home we then put on some music that deserves that name.

Lunch - Saint-Vincent 2015 Savigny-sur-Grosne

However, despite this painful ending of the day each year again we are looking out for the next Saint-Vincent Tournante.

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

Shifting loyalties

La Tour d'Auvergne in better days

Ever since we visited the Wednesday cattle market in Saint-Christophe-en-BrionnaIs, we have had our lunch at “La Tour d’Auvergne”, a restaurant in the high street of this small sleepy town that only comes alive on market days. The food there was excellent and cheap, the service very friendly and efficient, we got to know the staff as well as the owner, in a word, it was always a pleasure to pop by whenever we went to the market.

Lys'toire du Charolais, ex La Tour d'Auvergne

Last year we were going to have lunch there as usual. The boss welcomed us in his own, warm way, and everything seemed to be as it should be. Ordering our standard meal went as usual as well, and in no time we were indulging in our steak and French fries. The only difference we noticed was that some of the waitresses were wearing a brand new apron with the rather cryptic words “Frédéric Navez” printed on it. Further we noticed no changes.

Restaurant du Midi, open during renovations

The next time we ate there, we paid the bill at the table where the patron was seated. We had a little chat with him, and before we left we were introduced to the new owner, Monsieur Frédéric Navez.
During our next visit Monsieur Navez sat at the table, staring helplessly at a computer screen, which was supposed to help him settle the bills. He obviously did not want to follow in the footsteps of the previous owner, who settled bills efficiently on a piece of paper, using long hand addition. He rather preferred to do it on the computer, cursing and swearing at the blinking machine, but nevertheless…
After this visit we returned two times to “La Tour d’Auvergne”, rechristened now as “Lys’toire du Charolais”. The quality of the meat had deteriorated so much in the course of a few months, that we decided to try our luck elsewhere next time.
All restaurants in Saint-Christophe serve a more or less identical number of set menus on market days; the price is also more or less the same. “Le mur d’Argent” we had tried once before, but we preferred the atmosphere and the ambiance (then) in “La Tour d’Auvergne”.

Restaurant-du Midi, market day set menus

“Restaurant du Midi”, a few buildings away from “La Tour”, was, although in the middle of a renovation, open for the public, so we could do some consumer research. The results were very positive; the portions were slightly smaller but still more than sufficient, the steaks were of considerable better quality than the last ones we had in “La Tour”, there was a cheese platter and a desert, the service was friendly and adequate, in a word, our loyalty had shifted from “La Tour” to “Restarant du Midi” after only one meal!
The link to the website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle can be found here.

Discord in the expat community

One cannot leave the area for a short break, or things have irreversibly changed on return.

Disappeared!

That happened to us when we came back in Cluny from a week in Provence, and wanted to buy some shopping for the coming days. The Intermarché? Well, that had gone with the wind. The façade was now decorated with a tarpaulin saying “Carrefour Market”. However, since we needed some fresh articles for the coming days we did not have much choice: Carrefour, here we come! Needless to say that the whole shop had been turned upside down by the new owners (where on earth can we find the eggs?), that trusted products like Intermarché’s own brand “Top Budget” had disappeared completely, that even shop assistants (fortunately the former Intermarché employees) could not find their way in the newly arranged aisles….

Out of the blue!

In short, what was supposed to be a 5 minutes shopping exercise for a few daily necessities turned out to be an endless hunt for a few bottles of fresh milk and other simple commodities.
The Intermarché had literally changed hands in a couple of days. They had been closed for one or two days, and after that it was all of a sudden a completely different shop. The main thing for us was to figure out which shop was going to replace the Intermarché. Carrefour, but also Carrefour market, had been considered in the past as being too expensive. Having said that, a number of (British) expats travelled the extra miles to Mâcon and paid more money without blinking an eye because the assortment of British goodies (think of the indispensable Marmite) was superior to that in other, local supermarkets.

Alternative 1

However, those who were not so gripped by the slogan “Buy British”, hence people like us, Carrefour had always been considered too far and too expensive. Honesty binds me to say that if Carrefour would have had Indonesian chilli paste, sweet soy sauce and beansprouts in the assortment, we possibly would have been very happy with the change as well.
Our price hunt in Cluny revealed that Netto and Atac were comparable pricewise and as with regards to supply with the old Intermarché; however, Netto lacked certain products such as pasteurised whole milk completely.

Alternative 2

Another supermarket with a good selection was Super U in Prissé, but that is considered too far away for the daily and/or weekly shopping.
And what happened to the Intermarché money off vouchers we still owned? Fortunately we could cash those in at an Intermarché we stumbled upon by accident in Mâcon. So fortunately we can say: “All is well, that end well”!

One bridge too far...

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

The bionic cow

When I still lived in the Netherlands, I cycled weekly from home to a farm nearby called “Het Geertje”, one of the few places that sold raw milk per litre.

French "milk" cattle

When the containers were empty at arrival, no problem: the farmer’s wife went off to the stable and came back with some still warm milk, fresh from the cow.
Cows there had something appealing as well. They were of the black-and-white checked variety, had two horns, four legs, a milk bag under the belly with four primitive taps attached to it, and they made strange noises resembling those of a mist horn.
After moving to France my consumption of raw milk came to a halt.

Supermarket - Prissé

The whole milk I drink nowadays comes from a supermarket, packed in a plastic bottle with a red lid. Until recently, when I found along the roadside an electronic or bionic cow giving raw milk. The udder had only one teat, the colour is not exactly what one expects of milk cattle, but who cares! The milk is considerably cheaper than what is for sale in the adjoining building, and here also one has to bring his own bottles. Besides the cow starts mooing the moment you drop your money in the slot and hold your bottle under the teat. Unfortunately this cow lives to far for a relaxed cycle trip on a sunny day….

The bioniccow

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

Christmas decorations

Like each year at the end of November / beginning of December we are looking forward to the local Christmas decorations.

La Grande Rue - Cormatin

De big hit each year is the illumination of Cormatin’s High Street. People flock from far and wide to Cormatin to see these wonders. Far is in this case not restricted to far-away places like La Bergerie and Chazelle; no, for this special occasion people from Ameugny, Taizé, malay and even from Saint-Gengoux come to gaze at these decorations.

Epicerie Berger - Cormatin

Also worth seeing is the yearly display in the Epicerie in Cormatin’s Main Street. In December it is virtually impossible to enter the shop because of the amount of spectators. For this special occasion the shop also opens its doors on Sundays, the whole month of December!

Nativity Scene - Notre-Dame de l'assomption Cormatin

And finally there is the traditional nativity scene, looking different each year, and each year again a sight for sore eyes. For those who like to visit: it is extremely difficult to find a parking space in the vicinity of the church; the SNCF however deplies special (free) buses.
La Tuilerie de Chazelle sends you its Season’s Greetings!