Auchan and Catherine Deneuve

 

I spent almost an hour in traffic around Beziers today. There is a lot of road building going on and many drivers do not seem to have seen the large signs pointing out the disruption. My journey would not have taken 15 minutes but the number of cars bumping into each other was amazing.  So, I pulled off and visited a number of shops with nothing in mind to buy. I picked up two large bottles of mango iced-tea in Casino but after standing in a queue for 5 minutes, I put them down and moved onto Auchan

(Auchan Website - showing off this weeks bargans!!!)

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Last time we were in there, we had to go to customer services as we had been overcharged. This time, it happened again. I had a buy-one-get-one-free pudding and I was charged for both. I queued behind two very angry men who too had been overcharged. Turns out all our products were on offer but their tills were not registering the discounts. So, 100s of people were shopping in the store and being overcharged. Oh well… guess it’s back to Carrefour in Narbonne…. where they overcharge us too.

CarreFour - Largest Supermarket Chain ... after Wallmart... but they were first

I got home and just could not think what to watch. I wanted something new. So, I put on the Catherine Deneuve film, 8 Femmes. I have actually seen the film before, but not with English subtitles. Boy was it a different experience. There are a few nice songs to help fill the time. Here are two clips, one with Catherine Deneuve singing along, and one of her singing all on her own. I

if you would like to sing along, buy the DVD as the words appear along the bottom when the subtitles are up… its just like karaoke.

  Lets start with the rather Boppie  T’es Plus Dans Le Coup Papa

and now for the slower one.

Catherine Deneuve signing  Toi Jamais

Dates for your diary

 

During the Bank Holiday, lets pop along to Bize for the first Vied-Grenier on the 1st May.

 
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Now for those who like comics (it’s an acceptable hobby in France), there are two days of exhibitions, talks, films and of course, comics,

2nd and 3rd May in Gruissan. No idea where but the poster shows the old tower… so try the centre of the old town first.

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Well its open season here in France. The restaurants are opening, the ice-cream parlours polishing up the machines and the tourist shops are stocking their shelves.

16th May in Ginestas they are participating in the Féte du Pays.

18:00 sees the fanfares begin with the tango.

19:30 aperitifs are on offer at the Vins du Café de Marcelin.

22:00 here is a concert by Les Barbeaux Truités

http://www.payscorbieresminervois.fr/ for more information (note: the site is difficult to navigate).

 

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Houses in Cruzy For Sale

Well there are quite a few properties for sale in the village at the moment. Renting is available too for a few others, including a large place right in the heart of the village which we watched being refurbished over the winter.

Click on the photo which takes you to the estate agents site with prices, interior photos etc.

Now this four bedroom house is on the main road into the village and has a huge underground garage, a large terrace and and courtyard. You need to drive though the courtyard to get your car into the garage. The views must be spectacular as the terrace and the rear of the house face the hills and vineyards with very little in the way.

 

This property is on the small square at the back of the village and used to belong to the church here in Cruzy. The house was being used for choir practices and meetings. The grounds are secluded and green. There is plenty of parking in the square, and if you like parades and commemorative ceremonies, the house is ideally placed as the war memorial is just outside the front door. Alan thought the house was lovely, but he did not get to look around as he was there to play a little jazz.

 

This large four bedroom house is on for 183,000 Euros but if you look around, you can get it for slightly MORE at 195,000 Euros!

This is a large three bedroom house and one of the first as you entre Cruzy. The front of the house is always in sun and the front has a nice garden, a few outbuildings and plenty of parking behind the gates. The back of the house has a small garden with mature trees and an assortment of garden fixtures… including a well (we think).

These three properties are available from the same site, but please search around before contacting an agent. Prices vary from agent to agent as can be demonstrated with the last house.

CruzyHouse.com is not affiliated in any way to any estate agent. The information is purely for content and of interest.

Magazines and Coffee

Well our bar closed down just after Christmas. It reopened in October last year having been closed for a few months.

Then, this month, the newsagent closed down… but…

It reopened inside the Bar, and now its possible to buy a newspaper, a coffee and a lottery ticket all at the same time. We planned to buy a coffee once a week from the bar when we buy our local newspaper. Of course, you have to talk though the bar to buy your newspaper or lottery ticket,  so if the place is full it can make the trip a little daunting.

So far, so good.

The building has a great array of advertising including - Tobac, Chez David (former owner) Bar du Doux Mondes (the name of the bar) Midi Libre (the l0cal paper) and Lotto all over the doors.

Diggers

They arrived early one morning. The sounds travelled up from the bridge crossing the rather full and dirty river.

Diggers, trucks and men with spades. They began to dig up the pavements (I mean to say, a mixture of pavement, private paths, gravel and the odd slab of concrete), and across neighbours’ drives they came. We thought a first it was new water as a chap knocked on the door asking to know the location of our water meter (just inside the front door should you need to know) and off he went. Turns out it is new cabling bringing taking the telephone wires that straggle the village underground, and boosting out broadband connection. Unlike some villages though, Cruzy have let them install the cables first, and then, joy of all joys, we will be getting new pavements and new tar on our roads. We drive though Ouveillan with envy as they have nice pavements, lots of parking and smooth roads.

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Cruzy to Ouveillan

We have been told it will take 8 months, so we shall live though another summer of drilling and trucks… just like our first when our neighbours' builders drilled and played loud music, and trucks re-doing the road from St Chinian to St Pons thundered though all day. We shall be at the beach if you need us.

Update Continued

Well, the rain continues to fall from the sky and from our neigbour's roof (they don't have guttering) and our little courtyard and drains have been unable to cope. Our bathroom and hallway have been taking in water at an alarming rate. Every hour we had to mop the bathroom; If we forgot, we ended up mopping the hallway too.

The rain has brought with it wind and hale. The nice thing is the car looks clean.

Mum and Dad joined us for Easter Sunday in Cruzy and thanks to their gifts, and a wonderful food parcel from Bob and Barbara (of Cadbury's chocolates including Crunchies) we had a great day...


Our friend Mike joined the choir in Capestang, which recently changed it name from the Alley Cats to La Chorale Internationale du Capestang (in a bid to be more inclusive). The concert was held in the large church that dominates the town and it was our first visit. The concert was very pleasant and we met up with a lot of people we have come to know during our adventures in the region.

Alan joined Monique and two singers (Renée and Sheila) to perform an Easter concert (Pergolesi's Stabat Mater) in the tiny village of La Cornette, which is very close to the medieval village of Minerve. Afterwards the village hosted a mini feast for the participants and audience. It was a lovely night; the wine flowed as the food was delivered in stages throughout the evening,and the company (including two new friends from the village) was great fun.

Catching Up

Just the other day we went cycling off into the fields round Cruzy and discovered this old stone sign on the side of the road under a tree. Apparently it was erected in 1884, just one year after our house was built in Cruzy.

In March we spent a great deal of time in Montpellier. One night we ate at a lovely restaurant in the heart of the old town. Bistrot d'Alco. For desert I treated myself to desert consisting of a small coffee, a crème brûlée, a vanilla fairy cake, and chocolate muffin. I asked for the coffee to be a Grande Crème (Coffee with milk) and I got a large cup of whipped cream!

The first Veid-Greniers/Brocante in the village was planned for the 14th March. We have boxes of stuff that could easily be sold on at one of these car-boot events. Unfortunately, the first one was not for us as we were both away. I heard it was a good gathering and lots was sold.

I love looking at old road signs and old adverts that cover the length and breadth of France. I have been building a small collection of photos and this Total advert is in Montady, but advertising the Total petrol station in Capestang, some 7km away. The station is now run by Intermarche, the supermarket chain.

Valentine weekend we drove though Maureilhan and just had to stop the car. There on the side of the road was a camel. There was nothing for it but to take a snap and wonder about its future... the zebra crossing was about a mile further back!

A full month after the storms that his the area, we went for a stroll along the Canal du Midi close to Cruzy and were surprised to see so many trees down, many blocking the canal itself.

Time for Spring Cleaning and we began by allowing Spring to see our courtyard. Our friend Roger came round with his very long ladder and chainsaw and he promptly took the tops off the trees... about 10 foot for each tree. The wood was then chopped into smaller logs that will keep us warm for months.

Along came February and I managed to get a stiff neck... old age! Anyway, we drove to the doctor in Cressan, who was very kind, and she suggested a little physiotherapy. She recommended a guy in Puisserguier. Well he pulled and pushed and even cricked my neck. Well, if I had not laughed, I am sure I would have cried. In the end, we spent 45 Euros on pills and cream. Ibrobruphen tables of 1000mg - that's the equivalent of 5 tablets from Boots.

There is nothing like a good Christmas Concert in a church... in the middle of January. Alan played along with violin, Monique tinkled on the piano and the Cruzy Choir (Les Cigalous) sang beautifully. Afterwards everyone was invited into the home of one of the singers were we all enjoyed a little Muscat and home baked cakes.

Driving from Cruzy to Argelliers I had to stop the car as a huge flock of birds flew around the car. There were thousands of the little dark birds and eventually I had to hoot the horn to create a route though.

In January the sun came out and we headed for the beach. The sky was a lovely blue and the beach was covered in debris. Mainly bamboo and wood, so we packed the car with as much as we could carry and spent the next month using it a kindle for the fire.

Update

We have been busy having adventures and will update the blog as the photos download.