purelyfrance

One of the features of French villages is the time, effort and enthusiasm  that goes into beautifying roadsides, public flower plots, roundabouts, street lamps and the like.

Goodness knows where the money comes from to support all the plants, the planting, their upkeep et al but that’s by and by.

It has always impressed us as to how respectful the French are towards public property.

You never see the flowers disturbed; the maintenance of cemeteries for example are impressive; and outside of the big cities you rarely see any graffiti in public areas.

Or so I thought.

We have two big octagon shaped flower pots outside our home.  Last week they were planted out with geraniums by our ami Gilbert.

Yesterday, Gilbert was at it again. Apparently a phantom geranium thief had struck during the night. He says it is very easy for them, they just drive up, pluck out the whole plant and voila, the theft is completed.

Gilbert says it happens each year, soon after he has first planted out. Someone obviously has a very nice and inexpensive geranium bed. Probably some dirty out-of-towner too!

And the theft takes place literally right under our noses, the pot is directly below our office. Perhaps next year we’ll set up a stake-out!

As for graffiti. I don’t think I have ever seen any in this area in the past 7 years.

But on Monday, taking advantage of the public holiday and beautiful sunny warm weather, I was out cycling through the vineyards and along the Canal du Centre.

When I rested to eat ma pomme, I noticed the concrete support of a small bridge crossing the Canal was covered in graffiti.

I know some people see it as art, but it saddened me to see it, and it seemed so pointless in a location that would be seen by so few.

Compared to many western sociaties the French do preserve strong elements of public responsibility and respect.

But as the social environment has changed for others, perhaps it is also changing for the French?

It never ceases to amaze us how many boulangeries, immobiliers (real estate agencies) and coiffeurs there are in France.

In St Remy we counted 16 boulangeries serving a population of 9000, that is one for every 600 residents!

Immobiliers seem to be everywhere.  In Nice you could hardly walk 20 metres without tripping over one. 

And Coiffeurs of every shape and style are a dime a dozen.

It begs the question - how do they all make money, assuming that they do.

Hairdressers have a couple of things going for them. Firstly, most of their clientele are local residents which provides them with demand all year round and therefore they are not subjected to seasonal flows such as tourist businesses experience.

Secondly, a big driver of their cash flow is the regularity of visits from their French lady customers. It is quite common for many of them to have a weekly standing rendezvous.

And I’m not talking about celebs here, just your average French Madame.

We first learnt this from our neighbour in St Remy, Arlette. ‘1500 vendredi, je suis toujours à chez la coiffeur’.  Okay Arlette, we wont ever bother you on Friday afternoons.

The French image of dedication to ‘grooming’ is a reality, and is much to be admired.(I do frequently!)

In Nice, where there is a high percentage of ‘retirees’ it was very evident. Ladies strolling along la Promenade des Anglais in their two piece suits and immaculately coiffured hair styles. Très chic!

Here in Beaune, between us both, we have tried a number of hairdressers. Anne eventually found a gem, Karine at Jacques Dessange. Apart from being an excellent coiffeuse, Karine has a lovely warm personality which she projects with charm and grace.

For a long time I was forbidden entrée to Jacques Dessange - in case I caused any havoc through a combination of any mischievous behaviour and my pathetic French language skills. (that’s an oxymoron right there!)

I am sure it was nothing to do with Karine being very attractive.

However during one of Anne’s absences from Chaudenay I created some lame excuse why I needed to be subjected to Karine’s scissors.  As you can see from the image, I was able to tell Anne I was in good hands. Well my hair was.

A Bientot, Bruce.

There are many styles of architecture present in Burgundy.

Amongst the most distinctive are the colourful roofing tiles that can be seen on a number of major buldings  scattered around the region. 

Probably the best known of them, and the most photographed, are in the courtyard of the Hospice de Beaune. Coloured red, brown, yellow and green and laid in an interlaced pattern they have caught the eye of many a tourist, and indeed local residents.

One report suggests these glazed tiles may have originated in Central Europe, possibly from ceramics master Miklos Zsolnay of Hungary. But Zsolnay’s work occurred in the mid 19 th century and one suspects these attractive tiles were being installed in Burgundy well before that time.

A more common view is that the tiles orignated from Flanders at a time when the Dukes of Burgundy were in their prime with their Dukedom stretching well beyond the borders of France into present day Belgium and the Netherlands.

One could imagine that such artistic roofing tiles were part of the dowry when Marguerite of Flanders married Philip I, Duke of Burgundy.

Marguerite herself is a colourful historical figure. Actually Marguerite III, she was the only grand-daughter of Marguerite I, Countess of Flanders.

In 1357 at the age of 7, Maggie III married her second cousin Philip I, (beats me how that worked) but was widowed just 4 years later on his premature death at the very tender age of 15.

In 1369, Marguerite III, then 19 years old, married the celebrated Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold. Marguerite III lived to the age of 55 dying a year after her husband in 1505.

I’m not sure what all of that has to do with roofing tiles, but interesting to reflect on how lives were lived in those days. How on earth did they manage without the internet, facebook and twitter?!!

Another building with the Burgundy tiles worth checking out is the imposing Mairie in the wine village of Meursault.

 And even here, in our small commune of Chaudenay, our 12th c church steeple is adorned by these attractive tiles.

A Bientot, Bruce.

We are having incredibly unseasonal weather here in Burgundy, heavy clouds, rain, and temperatures about 10 degrees below the norm. Brrr!

Weather more suited to sitting by an open fire reading a book, than sitting in the courtyard sipping pinot or chardonnay, and trying to fix the world’s problems.

Here are two books we highly recommend. ‘Wine and War’, and ‘Champagne’ both written by Don & Petie Kladstrup.

They are hugely interesting and informative, written in a an easy style which make them very suitable for holiday reading.

‘Wine and War’ is set in the major wine producing regions of France during the second World War. It tells how the German military set about controlling the French wine industry and the resultant movement of millions of bottles of quality label wine being shipped, or rather ‘trained’ to Germany.

Against that, the French viticulteurs set about preserving as much of their stock as possible within a number of inventive hiding places.

There are also a number of sub-plots that run alongside the principal story. The German wine ‘Commissioners’ were often friends of the French winemakers; some French families were protecting Jews; there were vignerons amongst some of the French resistance groups; and a degree of insight is provided of the Vichy government. 

As an aside, the line of demarcation between Vichy France and Occupied France in this part of Burgundy was the Saone river at Chalon-sur-Saone just a few kilometres to the south of us.

‘Champagne’ is an equally fascinating and educational read. It traces Champagne -the wine and the region - back to its early beginnings. It covers the Champagne ‘uprising’; life on the front line during WW I; the failed and the glorious vintages; the dramas behind many of its famous labels.

A number of the personalities who created or strengthened the flamboyant Champagne image are presented, from Dom Perignon to the celebrated Veuve Cliqouot to the so named Champagne Charlie.

Above all you acquire a real sense of how passionate and committed the French are in producing Champagne. To them, risking their lives while harvesting in 1914-1918 just happened to be something that one does.

Both books are worth tracking down. English language editions are also available at the Athenaeum shop in central Beaune.

A Bientot, Bruce.

One of the quaint aspects of France which we often talk about is the way the French have the knack of living in a sophisticated contemporary environment while still preserving so many traditions and habits of days gone by.

I guess President ‘Sarko’ has learnt the hard way that the French public may wish to embrace change but only at ‘their’ pace.

 At a very basic level take advertising as a classic example.

In the small towns and villages the accepted practice of promoting some local area event is by affixing signs to street lamp posts, traffic signs, trees and any other conveniently located perpendicular support.

Just looking out my office window from where I am typing this I can see 3 such signs along our street front!

Sometimes the signs are professionally printed but more often than not they have been written up in free hand.  Occasionally you will see a poster that has even been recycled from the previous year.

 If you attend any of the promoted events or fetes you will see that they are extremely well supported, not just by the immediate village inhabitants but those from a much wider area.

So this style of advertising probably doesn’t rate in David Oglivy’s bible of best advertising practices, but the great thing is, for the French they work.

A Bientot, Bruce.

It has been a slower than normal start to the season for us this year.

That is not so good for income but has made it easier to get some repainting done; (more à la mode colours my wife tells me!) one or two bits of minor maintenance completed, the garden in better shape and the bikes and B-B-Q’s cleaned and ready.

The advanced reservations are currently well up on ‘09 but we have seen precious few guests during March and April.

Even over Paques you could have fired the proverbial cannonball across our central courtyard and your aim would have to have been spot on to hit someone. And hopefully miss our little red squirrel!

However, May is very good, June still a bit spotty but July is also very strong. Like last year there are a number of short lead bookings arriving, and also requests for ‘broken’ weeks.

Unlike last year we have started to receive a trickle of bookings from the UK. That may become more than a trickle after the election.

Also encouraging is a couple of bookings from the Etats Unis, have hardly seen an American for two years.

What we are going to see is a truckload of Australians. They are obviously convinced that the GEC is over for them.

What was that advertising slogan Australia tourism were promoting in recent years - ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ Well I can answer that - they’re all in France.

A Bientot, Bruce.