La Bloggerie

At one time replacing lightbulbs was just a hassle.  Occasionally it meant getting a chair or ladder to stand on, but as maintenance tasks go it’s not exactly rocket science.  Or at least it wasn’t until recently.

Trying to buy a lightbulb here in Chalais has become a real trial.  You always did have to be careful to get the correct size of screw cap.  E14 or E27?   Sounds like the food contents that used to drive our son into orbit.

And then there was the choice of how many Watts?  I used to take a very simplistic view.  If you want to be able to see, get a 100 Watt.  If it’s just for effect, go for a 60 Watt.  If only it were still that straight forward.

Normal lightbulbs are no more.  Where once there were any number of big, bright new bulbs that looked like lightbulbs, now we have contorted glass shapes that claim to be both 15 Watt and 75 Watt at the same time.  When you get them home you discover they are too tall to fit inside a normal lampshade, they take 10 minutes to reach full speed and leave a warmth of glow that is more associated with open-plan offices.  And 75 Watts is either too little or too much for any situation you can think of.

If I thought that this was just France being obscure I would be importing bulbs by the ton.  However, I get the impression the same situation probably holds true throughout Europe as well. 

 So as we head back into the Dark Ages we’re just glad that at least the Christmas lights in Chalais all seem to be working ok.  Even if they take 2 hours to warm up.

For the five years that we have been here the one restaurant that has been consistently excellent is the Relais du Chateau.  Sitting on top of the hill overlooking the town, the Chateau Talleyrand also has the best setting.

Jean-Louis, the Maitre d’, has to take the credit for building and maintaining the restaurant’s enviable reputation, so it came as a surprise earlier this year to learn that he had sold the business.  However, he seemed to be happy to continue in his role.  And then, only 9 months into the new ownership, Jean-Louis decided to leave.

That was only six weeks ago, but suddenly the rock-solid reputation is being questioned.  We have eaten twice there in that time and on both ocassions left with the impression that Jean-Louis’s presence and attention to detail were sorely missed and that the food was all just getting a bit too ‘clever.’

Now we hear of people cancelling their coveted Christmas bookings, something that would have been considered folly until now.

We have to hope that this is a temporary set-back and that the new team will soon settle down.  We need the chateau to be a highlight of our guests’ holidays as well as the first-choice for our own special nights out.

With no tea room this morning, it was our first chance in three years to walk around the market.  To be honest, it hasn’t really changed.  Many familiar stalls were still in the same positions selling the same old stuff.  True, there were many gaps, but this is November and the crowds who fill the three main streets during the summer months, making it difficult to walk anywhere purposefully, are no longer here.

Little money seemed to be changing hands and many stallholders were withdrawing behind their tables with a look of resignation.  Others, however, were resorting to more agressive techniques, and anyone who so much as paused alongside their stall was outflanked with military precision and drawn into haggling over the price of an item that they simply didn’t want.  I still don’t know how we managed not to buy that dress.

But anyone who thinks that a French market is there for commercial reasons has misunderstood a basic truth.  A market is a social occasion.  It’s a chance to catch up on the week’s gossip, to discuss politics and compare maladies. 

The French do not visit one another’s homes with the frequency that we did in the UK.  You simply don’t call in unannounced here in France. So the market is where it all happens.

We,  however, headed for Flore’s bar, deciding that a hot chocolate was really what we needed, and that, for a change, someone else could make it for us.

It will go down as the biggest, most anticipated event in Chalais this year. For weeks people have been talking about it, enquiring if anyone knew when it was happening, and quite frankly wondering what impact it would have on the daily lives of those of us who live here.

Then, finally yesterday it happened, and naturally enough we felt we had to be there. We had expected crowds but had not for one minute imagined that we would not be able to get near the car park, let alone through the doors. So we turned around and drove back home, bitterly disappointed.

Undeterred, we returned today and got our first look at Chalais’s new Lidl store.

 Coming from a town where you were spoilt for choice, with Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Tesco and Waitrose all only a few minutes away, the Chalais shopping experience has always been a little limited.  Sure, you can get everything you want, but as the only supermarket within a radius of 10 miles Intermarché has never felt the pressure of competition.

 But as of yesterday that has all changed and it can only be a good thing for the average consumer.  And when Lidl can sell a decent bottle of St Emilion red for less than 4€ you can’t help but think that things have just changed for the better.

Monday in Chalais is market day, and for the best part of four years it has been Tea Room day for us.

When we started it we had no intention of keeping it going beyond a few weeks – we just thought that once the bars re-opened under new management that would be it.

But they re-opened, new bars have opened since, and still people kept coming here to sit, chat, drink  and eat homemade cake. We have been genuinely touched by the support we have been given.

Recent weeks, however, have seen a significant drop in numbers, and we decided last week to close down after today for the winter months.

Sure enough, this morning we had our best week for a very long time. But we haven’t changed our minds. A break will mean we will come back to it at Easter with renewed interest, and maybe some new cakes with which to entice our customers back.

So next Monday we’ll be out there in the market with the rest of them. Or we will if it stops raining.

The first of November, and suddenly it’s all over.  With our final holiday guests of the year now gone we woke to the realisation this morning that the summer really has finished.

These past few weeks the weather could not have been better with loads of unbelievably warm sunshine.  It has in fact been a superb summer – the sort of summer that we always expected in the Charente. 

But October’s visitors have been especially lucky.  We have tried to look nonchalant as day after day we have woken to clear blue skies, and glanced furtively at the thermometer as temperatures rose above 25 degrees, but all along we have been thinking this can’t go on.

And then, as if to ram home the point, today’s weather has been every bit as miserable, grey and wet as anywhere in the UK.

So the summer is over, the guests have gone, and for the minute we are just going to enjoy doing nothing.