Englishman Buys Bar 11 - in the groove

By John Harries-Harries

It is hard to believe that we have been living here for two months. Other than getting Lucy to school on time, we have no commitment to the clock. It means that we lose track of the days if we do not have a particular reason to remember them. We have just come to the end of the school holiday period so we are even more disorientated than what has become ‘normal..

12 Jan 2003.

It is interesting to review just what has become normal to us now. We go to bed fairly early by English standards. It is a ‘late night’ if we are out until 10 pm, and likewise it is a lie-in if we are not up by about 7.15 a.m. We no longer bother to dress-up to go out, as all our friends, of both nationalities, are casual and laid-back to the point of being practically comatose.

We find too, that shop assistants, bar and restaurant staff, and even the local ‘fonctionnaires’ for the municipality and banks, are dressed in what we would describe as smart-casual. Jeans, and in this weather, sweaters and sweatshirts are the rule and even at the village hall functions, very few seem to consider it necessary to dress up.

It appears to us to be a symbol of the values our neighbours place on good company and social intercourse, rather than appearance and possessions.

This does not mean that they do not take pride in their often beautiful houses, but they do take special pleasure when telling how the renovations and repairs were carried out in DIY fashion. It is a revelation to me in particular, just how many are excellent craftsmen. As I remember 30 odd years ago, most of the French guys I met wouldn’t have known their awl from their axe.

We have been to several of our new friends' houses since getting involved in the village functions and appreciate their obvious interest in our venture. It has become common knowledge that we are buying the bar, and most are very supportive and all are very intrigued. We think they were giving up on it opening again as few French people could afford the investment for the likely returns.

We have suffered from the spell of cold weather along with the rest of Northern Europe, and now are very aware that France is part of continental Europe.

Whilst we have avoided anything other than a flurry or two of snow, I was amazed at what minus 9 degrees overnight, after an evening of light rain, can do to the roads. We live just 30 or 40 metres from the church at the centre of our village. There is a sizable parking area in what years ago was the market place (complete with a little weighbridge for livestock), and it is quite smoothly surfaced. On Saturday morning the local boys had their own skating rink. Worse than this, the access roads to Bonen, the D23, and a back road to (almost) nowhere, all rise towards the village. The D23 has severe bends on it at the places where it is steepest, perhaps 1 in 15, and only tractors and the occasional lorry were able to get in or out.

We expected to be stuck there for the day, as we did not have high hopes of seeing a gritting lorry from town. This was to underestimate our Bretons, however, as several tractor-like farm implements turned out, with most of the men of the village, and a sandy grit was spread all over the place until lunch time. Oh, how we wished we could have had the bar open. All this activity around its doors, and the obvious potential of mulled wine, coffee and soup which would have done all the workers a power of good, and may have remarkable effects on bar takings.

We have noticed throughout the cold spell, that the Bretons are hardy people. We know that very few have central heating, and even less have heated bedrooms on the first and second floors, yet they open wide their shutters and windows to ‘air’ the houses in all but driving rain. Whilst we do not quite have their enthusiasm to do this on a routine daily basis, the two dogs have made it a necessity on one or two mornings, and it is always a good idea to be careful where you put your feet first thing!

The bar purchase date looms closer. The change in Notaire delayed things, and the seller, visiting from V'nam over the holidays tore round like the proverbial blue-tailed fly. We have now agreed to buy a bit more land and property at the same time. This will save on legal fees, but leaves us a bit strapped for cash until the UK house is sold. This is causing a bit (well a bloody lot, actually) of stress, as we had expected to have the proceeds by now.

It doesn’t cause too many worries on the ‘bar’ front, but it does mean we cannot order work on our house. I am obviously limited in what work I can complete here by my own abilities and speed of working, but also from the fact that we have to live in the house while I knock hell out of it. Together with the fact, as all DIY bods know, the preparation and preliminary works take all the time. Fitting things like showers and washbasins are the finishing ½ day jobs, which follow the days and in MY case, weeks) of setting out, levelling, floor laying and tiling, etc. The female members of the family do not always appreciate this, and as I am the only male member here, I suffer their impatience and criticism from time to time.

The surplus money I was anticipating from the original house sale would have enabled me to hire some help, but at least I am pretty fit now.

Mike K-H said something intriguing to me in one of our early e-mail exchanges, and it comes to mind as I write up the diary.

He commented that I could expect Lucy to start criticising her parent’s French accents and pronunciation as hers improved. Oh, how true that comment was, for she does it constantly. Better than that though, she wants to write back to her old school to complain at the way they used to teach her ENGLISH. She considers they didn’t teach her ANY French, but she now has to perform well at her French school in English. Her fellow pupils asked her why she didn’t get 20 out of 20 for the English exercises. She had to tell them that she has never been properly taught grammar in the way that the French teach their children. It is no use trying to learn a foreign verb in, say, imperfect tense if she has no idea what the English imperfect tense is. The staff are also surprised that two foreign languages are not compulsory in England.

What is most interesting is that Lucy has improved her English both spoken and written in a remarkable manner, pleasantly surprising us all. It is noticeable that she is a lot less aggressive than she used to be. I shall be interested to see just what her letter contains, should she decide to write it.

* * *

If you want to congratulate or encourage him (or sympathise with Chris and Lucy)  e-mail me with your thoughts or advice, or better still, write to the Notice Board.

Maybe some of you would like to comment on differences between the French and UK school curricula, especially since the UK now seems to be considering getting rid of GCSE and 'A' Levels in favour of a Baccalauréat system.

Have fun.

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