Get your head out of the sand and hop down to Lidl...

For something exotic...if you are into that sort of thing!

It's amazing what you can cram into a day...

On Thursday I was invited to join friends Cally, Dave and Jane for lunch at one of our favourite spots -  'Auberge du Vieux Port' in Maire. Cally had kindly offered to pick me up around 12.00.

Because of this I changed my work schedule so as in the morning rather than continue with my current project where I normally end rather 'hot and bothered' and a little dirty I decided to do my weekly grocery shopping (I also needed more cement) Before this however I harvested some more strawberries and some cherries to take to our current guests at 'Les Balcons'. This allowed me to check that they had settled in and answer any questions they might have. It also meant a cup of coffee and a pleasant chat with our guests who are, as it happens are frequent visitors to the Loire Valley. It also meant I had used up a little more time than I had planned...

So back to Barrou to change cars as had to take my trailer on my shopping trip (remember the cement). This entails dragging the trailer out of the drive onto Grande Rue and going  to fetch the trusty (?) Honda from the car park up the road, then I was on my way...clock ticking.




Shopping at Intermarche at  Yzeures-sur-Creuse, as usual not enough cashiers for number of customers - joined queue of four. Lady behind me had a plant plus one other item so I let her go before me, big mistake, price for plant scanned differently from marked price...took a bit of sorting out, telephoning, then back to where she bought it...but hey ho its only time! ...clock ticking.


Then to Bricomarche for the cement - straightforward enough - not. I'm sure many of you know the procedure, you go to the back of the store ,place your order,get a ticket ,pay at cash desk then go around the side to collect your goods. Unfortunately the chap before me was buying something from the current list of 'special offers' problem was they didn't have any left - he was demanding it  today as his leaflet said that the offer was still on and he wanted it. Listening to the conversation as best I could ,which was in French, I thought the assistant was handling it pretty well and trying to stay as cool as possible explaining he would love to give him the item today but there were none left - he could make an order and he would still get the 'offer' price but would have to come back.Now I've been that customer and it can be very frustrating but at the end of the day if they don't have any - they don't have any. He eventually agreed and was given the option to pay for it now at the offer price and collect it when it arrived - he was given a chit to pay at the desk. I then bought the cement but and headed for the cash desk in he certain knowledge that the 'man' would be in front of me as there was only one cashier. Sure enough there he was voicing his displeasure and making sure that although he wasn't actually getting it today he was getting the offer price. Two pone calls were necessary to sort whatever the problem was, out...clock ticking.

Eventually got round the side to collect my cement but had to wait as the guys there loaded 12 lengths of wood on to their delivery truck...did they not know I was in a hurry? - of course the didn't - but wouldn't it have been the proper procedure to see to the man standing under the warm sun who's order would only take a few minutes to satisfy rather than load up the van that certainly wasn't leaving anytime soon. I then headed back to Barrou,unloaded the shopping and picked up some blocks I needed from the house to take to the 'project' along with the cement. Only had time to abandon the trailer in the drive and head back down for second shower of the day. As it happens I made it with a few minutes to spare...oh and did I say I also hung out the washing!  

 At lunch we were also joined by Calley's charming friends from Paris, Stephane and Judith who I'm sure enjoyed the 'experience'. After dropping me off they were heading off to visit the chateau at Azay-le-Rideau.

I on the other-hand went back to my concreting for the afternoon before heading back down the road in time for aperos with David and Karen. We then did a collaborative dinner with both parties literally bringing something to the table. Lovely night sitting putting the world to right. 

Window shopping Tours..

 After dropping off our guests in Tours last week we did a bit of window shopping. Ladies, you may be excited (or not) to see that one of this seasons colours is grey!

Pull yourself together man...

After a very frustrating day in Tours* last Wednesday looking for curtains for the bedrooms and salon in Les Balcons, we found exactly what we were looking for locally in 'Centrakor' and 'Bricomarche' in Yseures sur Creuse.  'Rogary' at Chambray had the perfect match for the master bedroom but only had 1 pair and no we could not order another pair. We worked our way through all they had on offer but were unable to purchase enough curtains to fit our double aspect windows.We then tried another four stores without success - Jim was by this time, losing the will to live and said he wanted to draw the search to a close. (sorry!)

For anyone not familiar with Centrakor,  it is worth checking out.  They stock curtains, bedlinen, crockery, pots and pans and garden furniture among a myriad of other good value household goods, what is more we were able to order a 4th curtain of a design they had 3off (?) to finish dressing the second bedroom.

*The curtain search here was only because we were visiting a friend in hospital.

Not IKEA...BUT

On a recent visit to Tours to visit a friend in hospital we made a point of using the trip to do a bit of shopping which included a trip to Ikea. It is reported that the store in the city proved to be the most difficult to get approval for in all the company's development plans. The resistance to the store is said to be strong within France but anytime we have visited there certainly has been no lack of cars in the carpark - even their 'meatball lunches' seem very popular!

Our shopping trip meant we also choose to visit the 'BUT' store which has, perhaps not surprisingly, taken on the Ikea format of leading you around the store with arrows on the floor with no means of 'escape' other than going through all of their departments before exiting at the cash desks.

Now Jim has always tried to 'short cut' the system in the Ikea store by starting at the end and going 'backwards' or cutting through displays so as to miss items we don't need to see and we managed a shortcut within the BUT store.

We have had many 'Midnight Express' moments in Ikea, with customers looking at us blankly as if to say 'You are going the wrong way!!'