Today we had to get out of the house. I must be feeling better, non?
I still put the brace on to passenger in the car...and yes, I'm still sitting in the back right seat behind the front passenger seat, because otherwise....I'm a bad enough back seat driver (see the holes in my tongue??) from the back, he wouldn't want me in the front....and off we went to retrieve the new vacuum cleaner from the Post Office in Verteillac.
Getting INTO the P.O. proved a little challenging...brings to mind the Far Side cartoon of the pimply kid pushing on the door clearly marked PULL, at the school for the Gifted....as it said, once we bothered to read the sign on the door (in French) that you have to push the button and wait to enter. Once we figured that out, we pushed, and entered, lol.
Passing the delivery card that had caused many problems in the past couple of days (dont ask), over the counter to the woman waiting patiently for us...I said something to the effect of "Do you have a large box for this person please" in French. She did understand me, reached for the card, asked for the ID (twice) which Waz produced,...and THEN she looked at the back with the signature (they are fussy here about letting only the signatory have the parcel etc) and all was well with the world.
She went out back and brought out two small boxes. Ok. Then out back again and a larger box, but all of these were very light. Knowing we were getting a vacuum cleaner, we waited ....yes, another box came out and this one had pictures of cleaners all over it! YAY!! :)
With my arm in a sling, I carried the three light ones, which fortunate for us had plastic strapping for me to grip.
We had parked just down the road slightly and so didnt have to walk far in this condition. Im very aware of the 'trip' factor everywhere I go, and it is a veritable mine field here! Hence I tend to look down everywhere I go, and miss some of the scenery in the process.
This was now familiar Verteillac, so I didnt really need to see the scenery, but the smell of the rotisserie chickens outside the charcuterie did give me pause to savor the bubbling tight skinned chickies going around and around. They were larger than most of the ones we see in the supermarkets, but there wasn't a price available, and we walked on to the car boot.
Today being Saturday, it was market day in Verteillac. We didnt need anything from the market, and being mid morning it was definitely time for a Grand Crème (they make them super hot) at Le Calice, the English Pub.
Bex the publican didnt look very well today...she is open 8am till 10pm, and we could tell that the long hours were not doing her any favors. We offered some remedies for this...ha! knowing what it's like to be sole traders and the hours you do to establish a business, I'm afraid we weren't actually very helpful! lol. She took it well! Poor girl just needs a few more hours sleep!
She made our coffee and had enough time to have a chat, with only one other person in the place.
I have to add right now, that we are watching Ireland and Scotland playing Rugby in the 6 Nations Tournament. Scotland is kicking off!
Anyhoo...
After our grand crème we set out for our ultimate destination...A restaurant called Rouge, which is owned by a couple from Hamilton, NZ in the town of Tocane St Apre. Wouldn't you know it, we didn't check to see if they would be open today....they have been in the past, when Waz checked... we were a bit mortified to find they were only open during the week for lunch. Bah!
We had a lovely drive there down these skinny country roads, winding up and down valleys with stunning views everywhere. It always does us good to go places and see such beauty.
We stopped at the top of one long hill and took photos. I'm not very good at this yet, especially with my right hand, so you will have to forgive the left handers. Not the best. I tried my hand at taking photos of countryside as we drove along the Dronne Valley (Dronne River) towards Riberac afterwards, but more on that later...
These are the 'roses' from the Indian Cedar. Waz told me that they used to have one of these trees as kids. The 'seeds' were all over the ground. You can see how large they are by the one in his hand.
We are in the Dordogne here, so there are also little forests along the way, with plenty of brown bracken at this time of year, and plenty of glimpses of pink and white blossom, yellow forsythia, and little green buds on all the trees. The country-scape is changing to her Spring colors.
First I have to tell you about our visit to a Brocante!! I had spied this place on the road into town. The GPS girlfriend kept telling us to turn left, and we did eventually, obviously we were meant to see this place, right?? lol. We had gone too far past the Centre Ville, so went back and parked in the middle of town opposite the Church which is undergoing a renaissance, fortunately.
No, its not leaning, its my left handed pic taking.
A wide open square which will be pretty once those heavily pruned plane trees get some foliage. I really dont know why they prune them to the nub each year, poor things. Im sure someone will enlighten me.
Back to the Brocante:
WOW! hard to describe all the goodies inside this place. Plenty of period pieces, silver in need of shining...My mum would be in her element!...Gold velvet covered Chaise Longue for 700 euros! hmm...I have two of them in the new house...well, a Chaise and a Recamier, to be exact. I will have to take good care of them and reupholster them methinx!!
Plenty of wardrobes...so few of the old homes have built-ins...., dressers with gorgeous carved details...I was told in no uncertain terms not to take photos!!!Waz!
The young man who restores furniture (the owner to be exact) came and greeted us, speaking reasonable English. By now, Waz had found something that showed promise for future work. These 'positives' are historic, and the viewers...all three of them are classics. Two are almost new in condition and the third might need some restoration...Waz is happy. He excels at these things!
We have to make sure we say the sales amount ( in the future) in French and English, because what we took to be 15 euros turned out to be 50 euros...a steal we have found since going on the internet to find out if we could find similar, and we bought well, I have to admit.:)
They are photos of Paris, Rocamadour, Naples, Rome, ...all over Europe. Some are easily recognizable scenes, others will need some research. Dont ask me what he has planned, but he is very excited. They were taken with a stereoscopic camera so that they can be viewed in 3D!!!!
We thought this was a great time to leave, having handed over a 50 euro note, lol...NO MORE STUFF!!!!
SOO tempting to buy lovely things, but our new house is full of them, and they really aren't pieces that we want to keep in the house, to be honest. We tend to favor more modern furnishings, but when you are surrounded by these gorgeous pieces of artwork, it is very hard not to be taken in. We will, in future, admire without pocket books at the ready:) PROMISE!!!
It was getting on for lunch time, and we had to make a decision. We had expected to have lunch at Rouge, but as they were closed, we had to make other arrangements. Needing some supplies, we decided to stop off at E.Leclerc in Riberac on the way home.
Following the Dronne River to the supermarket, we were on the bottom of the valley looking up at the hills we had come down.
The bistrot at the supermarket was full, for lunch and we still hadn't figured out what we were doing. We didnt buy a baguette at the supermarket, but decided to get one around the corner at a favored Boulangerie. Waz went in there on his own. He came out with a smile on his face and a pain cereal under his arm:) 1.10euros, which he said the woman had to write on her hand for him to understand the price. Well done! They obviously had some fun with his order.
We had bought some fresh Mousse de Canard at the supermarket...Waz's lunch meat of choice...like pate, but smoother. Pate, here, is chunky.
We had also bought two little Tartlette au citron meringue for our lunch. Deciding that most of our calories would come from the tartlettes, we ate light. Fresh baguette cereal with mousse de canard, some blue cheese, little tomatoes and a chunk of cucumber...and tartlette! :)
A walk to put out the trash up the road and around the block, stopping to chat with the local Gossip, Madame Annie who was out in her Potager...kitchen garden (vegetables). We recognized the last of the Swiss Chard (US)/ Silver Beet (NZ), and the last of the leeks. She was digging up weeds in preparation for new seasons salad veges. She enlightened us as to how much she already knew about us and our business...always fascinating! and we were able to give HER a bit of news she didnt know, from the neighborhood! lol. We learned, with her yelling it down the road after us as we departed, that she had once lived in New Caledonia! Bravo! She also yelled that she knew about New Zealand:) A bientot, Madame!
It's half time for the Rugby and the Irish are leading the Scots, 14-3. The Scots need to pull finger...some pretty shitty rugby from them, so far! Just as well I'm not writing a blow by blow account from the armchair critic across from me! lol
I picked up a Memoir from the bookshelf yesterday. The life of John Thaw, the English actor who played Inspector Morse, and from The Sweeney, and Goodnight Mister Tom, who died in 2002. It is written by his widow, Sheila Hancock. We loved Inspector Morse...dry old sod that he was.
I'm going to put the photos in here and then put my feet up with the book. Waz has stacked the wood for the fire tonight, if we need it...we had our jackets off today, though not our sweaters. That too will come.
A Bientot.
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