18 December 2015

Les années passent...

I went down into the village for a haircut yesterday morning. Amélie had given me an 8 a.m. appointment. Walt had had his haircut a couple of days earlier, and when he got home he said the village was sporting some nice holiday lights and decorations.

The village of Mareuil-sur-Cher before dawn on 17 Dec. 2015

I took my camera with me when I drove into the village center around 7:45. It was still dark so the photos aren't great. The weather here continues to be weirdly mild. I guess that big mass of warm air that was located over the eastern U.S. has made it's way across the Atlantic Ocean, following the Gulf Stream. It's over 11ºC this morning (low 50s), and yesterday's high temperature was 16ºC (low 60s). In Fahrenheit, that's nearly 20 degrees warmer than normal.


Amélie is the young woman who took over the salon de coiffure in the village when Mme Barbier finally threw in the towel 2 or 3 years ago. It was fun having a barber named "Mrs. Barber" and she was a very good barber, but she moved on. I've heard that she quit the business because she developed allergies to the chemicals a coiffeuse has to work with everyday. She apparently found a job at the local zoo, the Zooparc de Beauval. Good for her.


Another recent event has been the shutting down of the Garage Danger in Saint-Aignan. That's where I bought our little Peugeot 206 back in the summer 2003. The owner's name was Thierry Danger [dawn-ZHAY] (and still is I hope). The car has Garage Danger written on the hatch lid. It looks more like some kind of warning message than a car dealer's name. Now the Citroën dealer across the river in Noyers-sur-Cher is selling new Peugeots alongside his line of new and used Citroëns. The two car brands are made by the same company anyway.

Oh, and our dentist that we really liked, Dr. Christian Bigot [bee-GOH], retired a few years ago too. Plus ça change...

23 comments:

  1. In Abilly we've got Garage Bastard!
    Where I grew up one of the local undertakers was Mr. D'Eath...
    which was a great source of amusement for us youngsters.
    And the person my parents used to get to decorate was a Mr. Painter...
    but he was actually a fireman full-time!!

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  2. The funeral directors in Bléré is run by one of the many scions of the Forget family.

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    1. Our current dentist is a Dr Klotz in Montrichard. As we all know, in French Klotz sounds a lot more like "klutz" that it does "clots."

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    2. "Klutz" is listed in the dictionary as an Americanism. I think it has Yiddish origins.

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    3. Susan

      Forget family is found also amongst the first colons of the island where I come from.

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    4. Guy Forget is a prominent French tennis player and coach. The name is not pronounced like the English verb "forget" — it's [for-ZHAY]. In French, a G before an E or I is never the hard sound like in English "get" or "give", it's always ZH.

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  3. The photos of the darkened village are wonderful. 16 deg is short sleeve weather for me. I'm sure it is nothing to do with global warming.

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    1. Thanks for telling me that, Andrew. I was disappointed with the photos, but they did turn out okay. As for global warming, well, hogwash. Just kidding.

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  4. I remember riding my bike thru the village on many occasions last year when Coral and Mikee generously loaned their cottage to us. Having both a Citroen and a Peugeot in the rural area we are moving to may present a problem in the world of Holden, Ford and Toyota.

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  5. Beware Garage Danger! I love it. Our local motorcycle business is owned and run by Dave Death which is also quite apt.

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  6. I really miss Mme Barbier for my yearly haircut. Amélie is far from being as good. That's why I went to her salon only once!

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    1. I should have written my yearly professional haircut since I cut my own hair every so often!

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    2. I know, you took a dislike to Amélie immediately.

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    3. Your hair always looks good, com- so keep up the good work.

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    4. chm, I'm amazed you cut your own hair. It looked good, though, last time I saw it, so you're doing something right. Plus, you've got more hair than Danny and I combined....I guess that can camouflage any mistakes, mdr.

      Ken, your early morning pics are lovely - nice to see the decorations - and OUR follicles must be in sync, becuase I got an early morning haircut today too.

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  7. I think wikipedia explains your photos as "The Blue Hour". I think they are beautiful and not an easy shot. Your little hamlet is lovely and I am glad you have access to the things you need for everyday life. I loved your photos of the market you took a few posts ago, but was a little surprised someone is selling horse meat. I would have a hard time with that after having had them as pets. Is it popular?

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    1. The last horse butcher shop in Saint-Aignan closed a few years ago, though there is a horse meat vendor in the market most Saturdays. What is really the difference between beef, pork or horse? I have the impression that the taste for horse meat is dying out in France, but it's not gone entirely. I've eaten it a time or two — when I was a student in Paris and eating in restaurants universitaires — but I've never actually bought any and cooked it myself.

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  8. Your mornings are dark now- "the blue hour" is around 6am here. I didn't like going to work in the dark the year or two that I had to.
    Thanks for taking your camera for us to see the lights. Lights are my favorite part of the holiday season and I will miss them when they are gone.

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    1. I remember walking to the university in the cold and dark when I lived and worked in Illinois, and the same was true in Rouen except it was usually raining. But the time I really didn't like and felt endangered was when for all those years in California I had to drive many miles in the dark and rain to get to work in the morning and then again to get home at night. I decided to quit my job at Claris/Apple in late 19978 because I couldn't face another winter on the road driving 52 miles each way every day.

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  9. I thought your photos were especially nice and am surprised that they disappointed you.
    Tony once went to a Dr Payne; St-Aignan's names are a lot more amusing.

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    1. Walt's dentist in San Francisco was Dr. Hack.

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  10. I have noticed you don't have many trees and bushes along the road

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    1. That's true and it's interesting how "urban" the center of our little village looks. It's a village by population but it doesn't really look like the stereotypical village.

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