Shopping Day

Well here we are another day and its Friday. As I said in my previous posts, certain days have certain meanings and Friday is no exception. First of all its the end of a working week, and funny enough, even though I am retired, I still get excited when Friday comes along. Also it is treat night, and I think that comes from when I was an infant and my daddy would come home on a Friday night with chocolate treats. Old habits certainly die hard.

Up early this morning as it has been another hot day 33 degs and beautiful. On our way to the lake this morning we came across a few of our neighbours, Michel, Robert and Albert. There they were, with their ladder climbing up the apple tree and collecting some of the big apples. It was a sight to behold and will be locked in my memory.

We went for our usual shopping this morning, ah! Friday, love to get the food in at the end of the week, isn't it funny nobody does their shopping on a Monday. Also love my dinner on a Friday everything is fresh and you always have those little extra's you put into your trolley.  By-the-way, do you know what you call a shopping trolley in France, its les mousquetaires, yes like the three mousquetaires (musketeers). Well today's shopping was a little different as we had the foire du vin or wine fete in english. So there we were with our catalogue, which we had received through the post, looking for the wine we had ticked off. We bought about 12 bottles, only a couple of whites as I prefer red.



Had to show you a photo of our shopping store, its not a centre, just a stand-alone store. But over the four years we have been here we have gotten to know quite a few of the people there and they are all lovely people.


So cheers everyone, or as they say in France, a votre sante, (to your health). Have a lovely weekend and don't forget to come back for a chat.

quote for the day:
some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.

Communicating with the French

Well, the day started as usual, with a dog walk, although Bob, the male boxer, isn't feeling very well today, so he really couldn't be bothered chasing after apples.  Also it has been very hot today so it does affect the dogs. Today the temperature was over 30 degs, but with it being cool in the morning and at night it is very pleasant.

Bien! quelle journee, communicating in French is defiantly not easy, especially when your french is very limited.  We have a garden shed in the garden, and the plastic windows are in a really bad state. 

So we needed to go out and look for a sheet of plastic to replace them.

  

We went to a big DIY shop called Bricorama I would say it is equivalent to  B&Q.  So we walked everywhere looking for this plastic and couldn't find it. Then we went to another shop, which looked more like a builders place, but all they had was glass. The young man there was really helpful, and directed us to another place not far away. When we got there a man came out to see what we wanted. Now first of all I must say my french is really very limited, and my husband's is even worse. So I tried to explain that we have a jardin abris (garden shed) and we need plastique dur pour couvrir les fentetres. (hard plastic to cover the windows). So after him shaking his head yes, he understood, I asked him if he had that, oui he said, but nous somme ferme pour le dejeuner, (we are closed for lunch). Now you have to understand, that in rural area's like this, everything stops from 12pm until 2pm. There is nothing more important to the French man than his lunch. They will have a big lunch and a snooze before going back to work. So we went home without the plastic. But at least we know where to go now.

'Now what?. Everything I can pronounce is OFF!'

This afternoon we decided to visit our friends Francoise and Michel, they are friends we met when we first came here and have been a life saver when things have gotten hard. We always have a laugh when we visit them, or I should say they have a laugh. You see when I can't remember a word in french I just say it in english, with a french accent. I would say about 40% of the time I can get away with it, but the other 60% people just don't have a clue. So when I say things like 'je suis chaud' I'm not saying 'I am hot' what the french here is 'I am a prostitute'. I remember one day we were leaving their house and I said 'je vais manger mon chien', which I meant as I'm going to feed my dog, but what I had actually said in french was 'I'm going to eat my dogs. So you really need to be a bit careful, although most people are very understanding.

Françoise

Aligot with sausage

Michel

Franscoise and Michel, were the first couple we went out with for a meal, of course it was the village fete and the food was not the best. As you can see from this photo, but it was an experience.

Bonsoir a tous !!!