Fete de la Revolution in Molinot 2002

Originally posted 2017-09-06 22:54:12.

La Fete de la Revolution, also called Bastille Day, was a major celebration in Molinot, the village where I live in France. Every fourteenth of July, the village attracted visitors form all over the surrounding areas, because of the lavish entertainment. Today, it is but a ghost of its past self, but in the early years of the century it was a huge affair, and the children from the village school all took part and put on a mime show. As always, willing adults were drafted in to help.

In 2002 the theme was The Wild West — with a very French flavour.

In 2002, only twenty years ago now, La Fete de la Revolution was still a huge event in Molinot. Sadly this is no longer the case as the life of the village has collapsed as the French country side empties. We were lucky to see it when we did, and to experience the rural life of the Arriere Cote. It is gone and will never come back.

Our memories, however, are happy and something at least of Molinot and our dream life in France is preserved in these images and my writing. I doubt if I’ll ever see another La Fete de la Revolution there, but the ones I remember were amazing. We saw something really special and if the locals did not quite understand us, they made up for it in kindness and the warmth of their welcome.

You can read about all of this in my hilarious French Onion Soup! series of books. The second, Croutons and Cheese! was launched in September 2017.

Treat yourself to copies, they’re worth it.

10/08/2023

Wedding in Molinot July 2016

Originally posted 2017-08-11 21:57:07.

Weddings are a rarity in the village now, but this was nice. It was the last wedding in Molinot we saw here.
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10/08/2023

Penetrating Damp in your Traditional House (Damp 3)

Originally posted 2013-06-17 20:37:29.

Penetrating damp is the result of water coming through the walls.

Once you’re sure no water is coming through the roof by following the previous articles in this category—and the saving grace of that kind of leak is that it is very obvious and marks its presence clearly—the next issue is this one. Here’s an excellent overview of the problem.

I’ll take time for another of my provocative asides here. I’m pretty convinced—actually I am totally convinced—that there is no significant problem of rising damp in most traditionally built houses, at least as long as they have been left that way. Note that last bit. I’ll come back to this later.

Meantime, if we discount the possibility of rising damp in most cases, we must look elsewhere for the source of water and there are two issues to address here.

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10/08/2023

Why your house is damp and how to fix it 2

Originally posted 2013-06-11 21:48:26.

Damp in your old house and how to deal with it. Part Two in a series explaining where damp in old buildings comes from and what you can do to combat it. Most of the advice is applicable anywhere.

Before worrying about how to get rid of dampness that is already in the house, it makes sense to make sure no more can get it first. There are a number of important areas where unwanted moisture can make it into your house. The roof is the easiest to deal with so we’ll tackle it first.

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10/08/2023

DIY In France–Where to Get Stuff

Originally posted 2013-06-07 17:16:53.

DIY materials for your house in France

A good many incomers to France have no idea where to go to get the materials for their DIY restoration of an old French house. I have even heard of British second-homers filling the car boot with bags of cement and bringing it with them, which is laughable. This article is intended to help.

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07/08/2023

In France, Everything Shuts On Monday

Originally posted 2013-05-24 17:53:48.

Everything Is Shut On Monday.

Not for the French the quaint Anglo-Saxon habit of neighbouring towns staggering their half-days—or even taking half-days in the first place.

On Monday, the whole of France is as dead as that chap they poisoned on St Helena. You know the one. In fact, I think he was responsible for it. And of course, the reason is quite fair; all the shops are open on Saturday so that the people who don’t work in shops can do their shopping, and why should the commercants and their staff not enjoy a proper two-day weekend?

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07/08/2023

In France, Everything Shuts at Twelve- (Part Two)

Originally posted 2013-05-23 15:17:59.

“No,” I cried, and summoned up the best of my then limited French, “Cas d’urgence!”

But this made no impression on the battle-axe, who shook her head again, pointed to her watch and mouthed “Quattors heures et demi.” Whatever my emergency was, it would h

ave to wait another 150 minutes.

Aghast as she began to turn away again, and now completely at a loss for words, I was once again reminded of the sheer brilliance of my wife in situations like this. Knowing that she could not hope to plead her case in French, she had slipped over to the car, unstrapped Calum, and now appeared with him in her arms; when she knew she had the dame’s attention, she lowered the towel wrapped around him to show the lad’s bare bottom, and just said one of the few French words she knew by heart, because she needed it so often. “Couches!”

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07/08/2023

In France, Everything Shuts at Twelve- (Part One)

Originally posted 2013-05-17 13:38:11.

One thing the guidebooks never bother to tell you about France is also one of the most important of all that you should know. In fact this piece of information is so important that my imparting it to you, as I am about to do, is worth the price of the book of all this. So perhaps, if you’ve borrowed this from a friend, you should skip to the next chapter right now. (I jest.)

So what is this invaluable knowledge that no-one should travel in France without first having assimilated? Just this:

Everything Shuts At Twelve. For Two Hours. At Least.

That’s it. Outside of the major metropolitan cities like Paris and Lyon, and maybe even Marseilles these days, if you ain’t got whatever it is you were looking for by the time the midi rings, you can forget getting it until two o’clock at the earliest.

Believe me, you will not be in France long before you realise how much this immutable chronology affects life.

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14/07/2023

Croutons and Cheese! French Onion Soup 2

Originally posted 2021-01-08 10:47:24.

Croutons and Cheese: French Onion Soup 2 is the second in Rod Fleming’s hilarious series of memoirs about his life in France. Filled with anecdotes about aviating cats, the Bull in the Back Passage, what to do about ex-pats, transporting the cheese to Scotland, it’s a laugh a minute.

With the lovable and roguish characters you first met in French Onion Soup!, this book will keep you entertained all right, so much you’ll come back for a second read!

Available now in paperback: ISBN: 978-0-9572612-4-2

The stove story

Originally posted 2013-06-25 17:13:05.

Life certainly has an interesting tapestry here in P’tit Moulin. This morning I was awakened at some ungodly hour—well, just before ten actually, but I am semi-nocturnal—by an excessively enthusiastic clangour (good word that) of my front door bell, of which more later.

Well, I threw on a pair of jeans and a T and went to see who had disturbed the peace in this manner, and there on my doorstep was a rather scruffy individual, definitely of the traditional French horny-handed persuasion. Behind him was a truck that looked, to my bleary and unaided vision, even older and more dilapidated than my Isuzu, and that’s saying something.

He must have recognised my absence of recognition. ‘Sir,’ he said (in French of course, I’m just trying to make it easy for you. Do keep up.) ‘Sir, the last time I passed you said you had some scrap.’