Rural Life

Day 28 of lockdown - apparently it's a bank holiday

Today it really is quiet.  Normally on Easter Monday we would be able to hear the funfair in Baugé Place de l'Europe, and would discuss whether we were going to go in to see the crowds and the market, and most years deciding that we won't.  But this year there is no choice.  So quiet, that even though it is a day to feed the cats in the country, we haven't dared to go out to do that!

This morning I did go out on an abortive attempt to buy croissants and baguette, not realising that our bakers are now closed on a Monday.  Still it did mean I got out for a short walk this morning.  It was grey and dull but not cold and I never really tire of this particular view.

There should be a photo of the road leading down to the pub and the lake but it doesn't seem to want to load today!  O wait, I've got it sorted!

We did useful things in the garden in the morning and then in the afternoon I finished sewing all the pieces together of the new cover for the pergola.  Now I have to think about how it is going to be attached to the frame and where I can get any necessary supplies from!

And I want to put in a picture of the full donut of the cover - so far it hasn't worked...  sixth time lucky!

The quince is now in full bloom which looks rather lovely.

And I am now fed up with fighting technology.  Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday!

 

Day 26 of lockdown - waiting for the Easter Bunny

Although I doubt he will put in an appearance here this year but we do still have 2 Cadbury's Crème Eggs saved in the fridge for tomorrow!

Saturday is market day in Baugé en Anjou and each week the market gets a bit bigger in size as the stall holders work out what is possible in the current restrictions.  I have to go to one shop as well to pick up my vital order of loose leaf Earl Grey tea - left at a shop for me by the owner of the tea rooms that are closed for the moment.  As you can imagine, it is a struggle to walk to the top of this road to get my order!

It is also a bind standing in a queue when you can admire our 15th Century chateau, built by good King René d'Anjou.

The orchid has now opened, and it was worth the wait.

Finally, I managed to get all the cutting done, and then set to with the old faithful Singer hand cranked sewing machine and have got four lots of two segments, and one lot of four segments, which I laid out on the lawn to see what they looked like.

Day 25 of lockdown - trying to do crafts with a bit of "help"

Although not a bank holiday in France, Good Friday is not a day I work.  Normally I would spend the morning at the expat Hot Cross Bun party in aid of Children in Need, but this year we are all having to do it alone in our own homes.  Nibbles would like to demonstrate good practice in social distancing and isolation.

As the weather is stunning, I thought this afternoon would be a good time to make a start on the new fabric cover for the gazebo.  I made a new cover about 4 years ago now, but sun, bird poo, rutting ladybirds and rotting peaches have all taken their toll and it is probably a greater health hazard than Covid-19.  I use the outdoor dining table as my cutting and sewing table (hence needing nice weather) but others find the area useful as well.  While I was setting up, I had to avoid this.

Surprisingly, it isn't a bad accident between bantam and cats, but a prolonged dust bath in a human trap they have constructed near the table.  Bridie was not moving, so I had to work around her. 

I bought this fabulous material last year, and the turquoise piece is the pattern I made last time round, so I was able to start to pin out the 1m by 1.6m sections.

I'd got four sections done (I need 12) and was working on the next two, when Nibbles decided to help.

I had to give up and come in when Poirot joined in and Zola was making a nest in the fabric on the floor.  I'm hoping they are getting bored while I do this blog and I will be able to another few sections before apero time.

Day 20 of lockdown - the battle with the Asian hornet

Before we get onto that - just a reminder of how on edge people are.  A banal but heated discussion between someone with a right to park in the shared courtyard, and someone else whose right is pretty well non-existent escalated into a heated exchange between four neighbours yesterday evening.  One person with nothing to do with the conversation got right in there and started hurling accusations around in a very heated manner.  Now while I admit that the person in question would beat herself up if put in a paper bag on her own, it is evidence of the short fuse people are on, and when given the opportunity to get stuck into something that is non-Covid-19 related, will do just that.  Walk away people!  It ruined a lovely evening.

But on to more interesting things - the fight against the Asian hornet.  Before anyone says anything about "nature", these are an invasive non-native species that can eat their way through a hive of honey bees in about a week.  There is no up side to them.  We were recruited in February to be part of an "observatoire", made up of 56 sites across our district, to try to trap queens in the period up to mid-May when they are laying and nurturing the queens that will create the big nests of the summer.  Stopping one queen now prevents between 10 and 20 nests of hornets later in the summer, each of which can overwinter a further 5 queens.  Think of all those social distancing tree diagrams you've seen recently.

Anyway, we are hosts to 3 traps, one at home, one where the cats are and one with a client who has had trouble with hornets in the past.  The traps are designed to entice the queens in, but not let them out again (although their efficacy in that is also part of the test). 

In the trap you put a pot of bait with a lot of pebbles or similar, so that good insects don't drown in the bait which is made up of a third dark, sweet beer, a third fruit syrup ideally blackcurrant or grenadine (in our case out of date Ribena), and a third dry white wine, to keep bees away from it.

Today, John checked the one with the cats, as they needed feeding, and we think we have caught one!  The photo below has been sent to the main man running the observatoire for his views, so I will confirm if we have been successful properly when he gets back to me.  We are ever so excited though.

 

Day 12 of lockdown - market day

On Monday, our lovely and somewhat scary Prime Minister tightened the rules on lockdown, including open air markets - and I was devastated.  What he said was that in principle, all open air markets should be banned, but that Prefets could change that decree at the local level.  I believe that his reasoning was based on Paris and some of the other major cities, where there had been something of a scrum at the markets, and bizarrely it is easier to ban at national level and allow local exceptions than the other way round.  This is the case with bonfires for example.

So on Wednesday I was able to go to my principle market and get all sorts of good things, including raw milk and butter, as the Prefet of the Sarthe allowed la Flèche market to go ahead, strictly regulated of course (see day 9).  The Prefet of Maine et Loire was much less open to exceptions, and it was getting really rather nasty on social media.  The mayor of Baugé en Anjou, Philippe Chalopin, contacted the Prefet, told him about the measures that had already been put in place for a producers market to ensure security and access to local produce, and told him about the potential revolution, and was accorded the right to run the market today!  We found out yesterday.

The Saturday market is normally very vibrant, food only and vendors come in from around the department, but today it was restricted to local producers.  Nonetheless we had dry goods (pasta for example that is made down the road) and flour, eggs, vegetables and fruit, goat's cheeses, a butcher - 9 stands in all providing an excellent local service.  The stands were well spaced and those waiting were well disciplined and kept a good 2 to 3 metres between each other.  I was also able to pick up my order of loose Earl Grey tea (without which life becomes very harsh indeed) from a shop on the high street.

Thank you Mr Chalopin for perservering with the Prefet!

Day 8 of lockdown - there's weird sh1t out there!

Here it is - well just the headline really.

So we are on lockdown and a bloke goes round to a house he owns, but rents to a chum, at 11pm at night, apparently to demand the rent he is owed.  Naturally he takes his hunting gun with him.  Tenant (and hunting buddy) won't let him in but they shout at each other through the door and then the tenant shoots the door, and landlord (and friend) on the outside is hit.  Police turn up, arrest one and send other to hospital (not too serious but still in).  Tenant is being charged with attempted murder and his brief is trying to get that down to aggravated assault.  Our Boys in Blue locally really don't need this crap, but I have to admit to some giggles about it.

But not as much as over the two Parisian teenagers who decided to spend last weekend with a Facebook pal in the styx south of Angers, but following a bit of an argument they headed back to Paris.  However, in order to get to the station at Angers, they nicked a couple of pushbikes.  They were spotted cycling up the motorway so the motorway staff stopped them and were pelted with stones and the bicycles.  Motorway staff call the police who turned up and with a bit of effort, nicked the charming duo, who admitted what they had done (bit difficult to deny much of it really).  The Police took them to the station, having charged them with theft, resisting arrest (rebellion), driving on a motorway in an unsuitable vehicle, then also fined them 135 euros each for being out without a valid attestation and sent them back to Paris.

Only in rural France!!

Here is a pretty picture of pear blossom and forsythia for a bit of more normal colour!

Comice 2015

Having failed to blog about last year's Comice, I thought I had better get down to it today, as the event has just finished, and before other things got to me.  This annual highlight of the agricultural year in Anjou is the one in a series that will now go on for a few weeks.  Each has its own flavour and traditions, but decorated floats are generally part of it, as are ploughing matches.

This year the theme for the whole event was land from here and elsewhere and for the procession of floats, each commune drew from a hat a French region and a foreign country and could chose which one to show on their float.  And here they are - with apologies to Echimere and Montpollin, whose efforts I failed to photograph.

Boce will host next year so started the parade - here I saved everyone's sensibilities by not taking a picture which included the "chaps" on and with the float - the coconut bras were truly disturbing on too many levels.  They decided to share with us La Reunion.

Next came Clefs, who chose to show us the gritty side of Nord, with their interpretation of the coal mines of the north.  There were any awful lot of spectators who were kissed, fondled or otherwise groped by the miners on their way to the Comice venue, including stewards, who were covered in charcoal dust.

Cuon showed us the "national" sport of the Basque country, which I can't even begin to spell!

Then there was St Martin d'Arce who I think must have got Provence and who decided to demonstrate that with the Gendarme de St Tropez, complete with beach, 2CV and Gendarme.

Vaulandry took the theme of the Alps.

Fougere went for abroad and showed us all the best of Italy, complete with ice cream salesman, gondola and a pizza oven.

Le Guedenieu, our hosts last year, produced a fabulous float and team, complete with bull to show Spain.

Pontigne apparently drew England (so I was told) but instead went with their French region - Normandy.  This lovely float including the landing beaches, Mere Poulard and a Camembert.

Chevire le Rouge - our hosts - brought up the rear with the local region of Anjou, including a fine gabare and a pretty landau for the Carnival Queens.

There was also a fine Western caravan, nice during the day, brilliant illuminated at night.

And le Vieil Bauge?  Well, we had the option of Alsace or Switzerland.  We ran out of inspiration thinking about Alsace, getting as far as sauerkraut, but no further, so went for Switzerland instead.  See what you think!

 

Another new critter in the zone - cynips!

Today's Courrier de l'Ouest had as its main story dire warnings about a new critter, not native to Europe that is decimating sweet chestnut plantations in France.  Big news guys - the wee varmint has been here for a year or two, and specifically in the One Acre Wood.

Last spring we spotted galls on some of the low branches of some of the young sweet chestnut stems, and wondered what it was about.  Now we know - Cynips de Chataignier - or Dryocosmus Kuriphilus - or Chestnut Gall Wasp.

Self-fertile (nasty) wasps lay eggs in next year's leaf buds in the summer.  The following spring, the eggs hatch in the bud and create a gall in which they live and feed and grow.  They hatch out in late spring/early summer and fly around laying more eggs.  The effect on sweet chestnut trees is to reduce fruiting drastically - by up to 70% some claim - as well as sapping the strength of the branch their gall is on, and in the long term, reducing the strength of the tree.

It is a notifiable pest, so that is today's job, finding and reporting it to the relevant authority and waiting to hear what happens next. 

If you spot galls on sweet chestnut trees, check them against this website/document and then contact your local authority with responsibility for control of foreign pests.

Pub Excalibur Soap Box Derby 2014

Our village is lucky to have a pub, and lucky also that the current owner is a chap with ideas who likes to see things happening.  He also has two teenage children.  So the last weekend in September, and for the second year running, he organised the Vieil Bauge Soap Box Derby.  He had help from a load of local farmers, the quad bike club, a number of local companies, the council and the comite des fetes, and put on an amazing spectacle that closed the village to traffic for a whole Sunday.

There is quite a gradient in the village, so the unpowered vehicles started at the top by the school and relied on gravity to get them down to river level, and skill and decent steering equipment to get them through a number of hair raising bends and a chicane, and adequate brakes to stop them disappearing into the river at the bottom of the hill.  The following photos are from the quad bike putt to the top of the track and the final series of timed descents.

Then in order of racing:

They were very safe, very yellow and quite slow.

Quite scary this one.

This elegant machine handled well, had good if simple brakes and was incredibly fast - not to break the suspence but this was the winner with the TWO fastest times.

This was the 'home' team, the Excalibur car, driven this time by Alain's daughter.

Closest perhaps the the Soap Box ethos, this terrifying machine with its three riders was so much more stable, robust and fast than it looked.

This sleek little number had amazing handling.

These guys had wheel problems, with 3 different types/sizes.  It could have been that which caused the problems with gravity - at one stage on one descent they ran out of impetus and had to use a straw bale to get themselves moving again.

This one was scary, but the pilots had clearly been practicing and never missed a turn, however not one for the girls as you can see from the back view....

You know what the caption is to this, don't you?

This one juddered so much as it went, it was impossible to get a front view that was in focus (my excuse anyway).  It looked to us like it was built on a ride on mower base, with a water barrel as a front hood.

On one run, this mean machine had the nastiest accident, and everyone's hearts were in their mouths, but it was the fact that it had a roll cage and seat belts that made it hard to get the unharmed crew out, in order to get it upright again.

These are the official times for each of the cars on each run.

And here is the trophy being handed over to the winning team by the mayor of Vieil Bauge, Beatrice Tessier.  Thanks to everyone for a really fab day - even the weather was on our side!

 

2012 Comice at Fougere

The weekend of the 18/19 August saw record temperatures for heat in the Baugeois and also the 2012 edition of the Comice, held at Fougere with a theme of gardens.  Due to the heat, we didn't spend much time there on the Saturday, so can't report on the Inter-village games, but we did go along to see the traditional procession of decorated floats.  Fougere presented five floats and numerous decorated carts, all other communes apart from Chartrene presented a float each.

The 2013 Comice will be hosted by Bauge, so they had the honour of opening the procession.

The 2011 Comice was hosted by Vaulandry, so they came next.

I can't remember the order after that, apart from the fact that the main Fougere float went last, so will do the rest in alphabetical order!  Boce!

Chevire le Rouge had the one float, but it was a "wagon and drag" affair, with the usual Chevire musical accompaniment on the second trailer.

Next up was Clefs with a magnificent display of garden produce.

Cuon produced a magnificent float once again - how do they do it?

Echimire went for an English Country Garden - any one for tea?

Le Guedeniau had the furthest to come so have to be forgiven if some of their natural folliage looks a bit faded.

Le Vieil Bauge chose the Garden of Eden, however Adam and Eve could not resist the apples on the tree, so weren't allowed on the float.  Will they never learn?

Monpollin had a secret stock of water on their float and weren't afraid to use it!

Pontigne chose an Alice in Wonderland theme, hence all the playing cards.  They were followed by a bunch of people on stilts.

 

St Martin d'Arce had a load of produce and a load of critters.

St Quentin le Beaurepaire had a change of tractor driver this year (where is your MEP when you need him?).

This year's Miss Comice were in a donkey cart.

And last come the Fougere Five.  It looked to us as though there were a mix of districts, societies and the village itself behind the floats, and well done Fougere, as it is a lot smaller than Vieil Bauge in population.

Well done to all concerned.  I wonder what the theme will be next year?