Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Doors...not the band

On the barn, well NOT YET ON the barn, are 2 doors, actually three for the big openning as the 2 "little" doors include one smaller door. These were not attached when we bought the house and barn. We're sticklers for the preservation of olde mouldy things (bits the Brits call them) and these doors have fallen into that very mascyline "trap". They are HEAVY, very heavy, the Right hand one (at least it's GOING to be the right hand one, weighs no less than 300 lbs and likely more. It has the small door attached sort of. The left hand one weighs about 200 lbs or slightly more. It is no mean feat for me to lift them on edge or reposition them. They are BIG in demension as well being 3+ meters tall and 2.8 meters wide. The openning NOW has been made smaller (sometime in the past) and is 2.62 Meters wide and 2.8 meters high. That means that your trusty handyman (me) will be sawing the old rotton bits off to get the things down to the correct size AND refitting the little door.
Great fun all this. I spent the morning standing them on edge which took some doing, then power washed them to clean off the old white wash, spider webs and tendrills from the vines of years past. Now to allow them to dry and begin sawing them, that'll happen after the Olympics.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Le Mans and Points Beyond


An eBay purchase of 2 chairs, a sofa and a small coffee table of rattan created this adventure for us. Yesterday, a Sunday in August (important detail) we left our pile of rocks for Le Mans and the small village of Joillet north to pick up the set, place them in and on the trusty Toyota Avensis and haul them home to Lignieres.
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According to Bonnie, the voice of out Tom Tom GPS device this little trip would take but 3hrs and 15 minutes via freeway and other good roads. Sure. I remember going this way once before in 2004 and it took 6 solid hours filled with mindless map errors of our own and routine stops to pee and re-fimnd the right roads afterwards.
Well this promised to be MUCH faster so with that burden lifted from our little pointed heads we struck out. First to get a bit of gazoil (diesel) in the tank at Champion's low-cost (!) station. At 1.35 per liter it's a bargain. Top up the low tank was but 54 Euros...and at today's exchange rate of 1.49 that's but $80.46 for 10 gallons of oily crap. $8.05 a gallon, hmmmmm. Bonnie's sweet English voice points the way towards Saint Amand and the A71 pay-way there to join. We pass the ATM turnoff to the P.O. and banks just beyond, "we don't need any money, I've got enough and besides I can get some at the ATM's along the A road", Hmmmmm I think, haven't we been in this situation before? "How much do you have" I ask. "Lemme look...about 12 Euros, should be enough for the tolls anyway." Hmmmmm I think, hmmmmmm. Thru the town we wind then out on the supple hilly road past the brownish fields of newly mown and gathered hay bales so fat and rotund. The local contingent of braying Noir du Berry donkeys stare at us as we pass at the stately speed of 80kph (49 mph) with our load of tie-down straps and foam mattresses inside. We cross the countryside admiring it for all it's farming uses and the lovely lay of the land. Farmers plowing fields with Red New Holland, and the oh-so-familiar yellow and green John Deere tractors. No dust as it just rained but a couple of hours ago. We pull into the ticket box chute and get an entry ticket for the payant portion of this journey. Then accelerate in the right lane as Bonnie instructs and whoosh out onto the barren but oh-so-smooth concrete of the A71.
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Bombing along past miles and miles of farms and forests we congratulate ourselves for the eBay purchase as they will fit well into our existing rattan items only they are in better condition. Then the sign for an Aire (stop with services like gas, food; sometimes one brings the other! and local products) in 20 km(12 miles), a few minutes away. Kelly fishes out her ATM card as we drive into the aire and park. I stay with the car as I cannot find a parking spot what with everyone in Europe on their August vacations, they have all stopped here as well. Soon she returns with the look that says no luck, not an ATM in sight. Shit! So off we go, back onto the ribbon of highway to stop at another after about half an hour, same deal, no ATM machine. Hmmmmmm remembered. So on we go. stopping every once in a while hoping upon hope for the now missing ATMs remembered from the past. Upon us will be the change in A road that signals a pay-here station needing either a credit card or cash with a real human to take it and allow us through to continue our journey towards Le Mans. That's the plan anyway. The stop looms ahead, I select a line and pull up to stop. Kelly fingers her money. At the booth we hand in our ticket and await the verdict from the glowing green display outside my window. 14.40 Euros it states. Here comes the good part...Kelly gives me a Visa credit card, I hand it to the young man, the glowing tube states "Refused" and he hands our card back. We hand him yet another, this time a Mastercard, both types are said to be accepted. "Refused" comes the reply from our green digital friend. Another one is handed over, the young man looks astonished as the line behind us lengthens with each passing second. "Refused". With that we switch to cash, Kelly hands me a 10 spot. I give it to him with an appologetic look on my face. He smiles and waits while Kelly fumbles thru the ashtray where we hoild our change. Another handful this time of 5, 10 and 20 centime peices. More is found in the console between us, a Euro! We are gaining on it. I look behind at the line stretching on to infinity. Shit! Then another find under her seat. I try now, yes! a 50 cent piece! We wait, and wait as the young man counts each piece and drops it in the machine beside him. The machine says 14.30. He stares at us. I stare back while Kelly goes to the glove box and digs thru the refuse to the bottom...a DIME! I hand it over, say the obligatory "Merci Boucout", he answers back "Bon Voyage!" and we are loosed upon the world of the new highway! Yippee!
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Hmmmmm I think, now what? I know...cross country! That'll give us an ATM in some village bank and we will be close to our goal...maybe. Sure. So we re-program Bonnie the Tom Tom to our new specifications. To the ETAP Hotel in downtown Le Mans with NO FREEWAY settings. We drive along the A waiting for Bonnie to come to her digital senses and take us off and onto country roads as instructed. 1 Km, then 2, then 5 and finally at 12 Km she instructs me to take the next turnoff and turn Right. I do as told and follow along interestedly thinking that maybe we are circling the road she wants us on, more right turns, then a left, another right and another right in a couple of kilometers. The l'Viola! We are on the onramp to...the same A we left some 30 minutes before! Oops, I must have screwed up somewhere. She instructs us once again to take the next turnoff and turn right. I duplicate the maneuver as before, the road remains familiar with all the rights and lefts and "cross the roundabouts" as before. Shit. 10 minutes go by, nothing is different, another 10 minutes...mem chose (same thing). Damn! Then ahead the same onramp to the same freeway A road! Oh boy Bonnie you ARE comfused I think. Very. So we stay on the A road for another instructed offramp some kilometers distant hoping upon hope that there's NOT a pay station waiting in the wings for us there, it can happen, and does. Often when you don't have any money to hand the nice man or woman or machine. Sure enough in a few "clicks" (km) Bonnie makes another announcement "Stay in the right lane" then "take the next turnoff" and "turn left" she announces. After a bit it becomes clear she's on the right track and we all bomb along quite happily towards Le Mans.
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Into Le Mans and within a bit we are lost once again somewhere near the center, enough so that we take a short detour to explore the old town center that has presented itself to us so handily. The narrow cobbled streets slow us to walking speed as we ogle the stone facades and walls of this ancient village. Flowers on all sides and frequent trees and bushes greet us as we amble by. What a beautiful inner city this is! The outskirts are not so pretty by comparisons, it is hit and miss. The outer parts of many French cities harbor the Big Boxes familiar by size if not names. That small businesses can exist at all seems surprising. This is especially so in the larger cities that have Zone Industrials surrounding them, these are the places of major marketing, as ugly as any in the USA or worse. We spy a nearby Auchan supermarket, huge it is, just huge, acres under a single roof, not a supermarket, a mall AND a supermarket that seems to spread out forever. We park and enter and look in the Vinegar sector for Champagne Vinegar which has remained ellusive to us for months of searching. Needed for the sauce for Oysters, we hunt the vinegar in frustration and to no avail. Off we go again. Back to The Core and wherever our ETAP Hotel is hiding. Same course is setinto the Tom Tom and we reintrepit the instructions and take off in yet another direction. YES! There it is! Our respit, and a FREE parking place only 20 feet away from the entrance! Wow,
the desk clerk is as friendly as ever, explains to us that we were in that very hotel 4 years ago (the magic of computer reservation systems at work!) and gives us our room key for number 404. Up we go in the elevator to find our room and relax for a while, recover from the 3.5 hr trip that was six. The room is very familiar as are all ETAPS, they are part of the Accor Hotel Group and a travel bargain everywhere they are found. Clean, inexpensive, this one was $39 per night w/o breakfast (we prefer that), light and airy with a view of the ETAP/Mercure parking lot below.
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I turn on the TV and find the Olympics swimming events. We watch and decide that dinner tonight was that stop we had at 3pm for lunch instead at a Buffalo Grill (Boof-a-low Greee) outside of Le Mans proper. We had 2 "cowboys", steak hashe (hamburger steaks) and frites (French Fries), came with a salad and a drink of your choice, Cokes in a bottle for both. The salad was nice with corn as an added crunch. The greens were fresh and crispy and it was NOT over-dressed with a tomatoe based creamy dressing. The hamburger steaks were done RARE (try getting THAT in the US!). The fries were wonderful, crisp and smooth potato inside, could not be better unless there were more! We pay the bill (just under 14 Euros...a bargain! And good too!)
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We relax, lie about and watch the Olympics for a while, then Kelly chirps, "a wine would be nice". Yes, we carry wine with us in the trunk in an insulated pack we bought some years ago in South Africa. Keeps them cool and in the dark...so I say "I'll go get it", slip my shoes back on and wander down the hall entry code in hand along with my car keys and room key. Down to level one I find the front door locked. Hmmmmm...ok so down one more level to Parking I go. The door is there with a one way lock and a box visible just outside the door. I tentativly open the door and look at the box, yes it has keys that would allow me to enter the code the clerk wrote on the room key folder. So I venture out to the car gate and nothing happens, there is no box, nothing, just a gate on rollers, a sensor in the ground and me.
I hear something, it's Kelly up there on the 4th floor looking down at my predicament. "Hi" I yell to her. "Hi" she replies...and adds "There's a door over there" pointing just beyond the car entrance. I walk over and pull on the handle, nothing. Oh well. Back to the gate I decide to just wait there til a car comes along and depart...wondering, of course, IF I'll be able to get back in after getting the wine. Along come several cars shortly and the gate opens and I slip through. Out on the street I walk the block to the corner and down a few feet to the Teresa (Teresa the Toyota as in a previous Life she was a French Ambulance car taking people to see the doctor and to the hospital). The red wine is there along with a Pink and a white. I take the Red, then close the car once again and return to the gate. Upon the wall is a box with Mercure and ETAP marked. Which to push? I push ETAP, sensible since that's where we are ensconsed for the night, at least Kelly IS. Nothing. Then I push Mercure and sure enough the speaker comes to life and a person answers after three pushes of the call button. She lets me in, the gate opens before me. I go to the entrance to the hotel, hit the code and I'm in.
Up to our room, open the wine and settle in for a quiet evening reading and watching the Olympics. The wine, a Vin de 'Oc is delicious in our ETAP supplied plastic cups.
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Morning comes soon enough. We suit up for our trip out of town to Joillet some kilometers distant from here. We drop the key off at the front desk and away we go!
On our way our of town I spot a Boulangerie and a nearby Tabac with tables in front, ah, a coffee spot for us. Off to the Boulangerie I go on foot to get us some goodies for breakfast, to Chasson du Pomme (Apple turnover-like pastries) and two Croissants. We sit and sip our coffees and talk over our morning. Here out to the little village then wander around and gawk in our style of gawking. Take some pics along the way too as always. Back in Teresa, Bonnie delivers us rather quickly to the countryside once more. The kilometers roll by and we realize that we have until 1pm to wait, it is now 10. Three hours to while away, get lost and found again if necessary. So be it. We are used to this pace and like it. We stip at a village north of Le Mans and marvel at it's bridge accros the Sarthe River, beautiful with it's houses along the banks and small boats tied up in the passing stream.
Kelly walks alone along the main street looking at the archetectual details here and there. I took to the car again to rest my arthritic hips and stay near her. Soon she is in once more and we continue north. Bonnie does magnificently, we are getting closer and her instructions are more precise, more satellites on-line I assume. We drive about following Bonnies instructions and seemingly getting nowhere, it is still early but this IS frustrating, almost there and NOT there at all yet! Suddenly she commands "You have reached your destination!" Really? How?
Where? Then Kelly too says "We're there!" and sure enough the street that our eBay sellers are on is right before us! Whooppee! We take the right as instructed and drive to the front of the house. It's still too early so we wandered back into the village and stopped at it's beautiful 10th century Priory, gawk at the interior of the attached 12th century church and it's magnificent frescos and the equally amazing tile floor of tommets and encaustic tiles. Thank you Audrey for turning us on to these amazing churches, such a part of the history and none to be missed.
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Back to the car we drive slowly thru the village taking in the wonderful old iron gates and the overall beauty of the place. Truely outstanding in every aspect.
Then we head to our liason with our seller and our new outdoor furniture. We arrive outside the house, I ready the tiedowns and place the foam mattress on top of Teresa. To the door. A bell, another, a rustle inside then a rather stern appearing french woman opens the door. Kelly announces that we are the eBay buyers of the rattan items. Then the husband issues forth with a big smile and we turn to the garage and the almost new set! A terrific find! Hooray for eBay! Hooray for us!
We place the chairs upside down in the backseat, the table and it's glass in the trunk and lay the sofa on it's back on top and begin strapping it down. The ratheting straps are the ones we used to strap the gate down to Teresa about a month ago in siuthern France. Done, we say our goodbyes, kisses all around and off we go cross country to Lignieres.