Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Wednesday 28 December 2005
We have since had a good rest, and a warm and relaxing Christmas here at Saint-Denis. Not my first here, as I came last year, but very different as then I arrived as a guest on the 23rd after a very busy autumn at the office; this year I have been here for the build-up, which is altogether more relaxed than in Britain. We went food shopping last Friday for a capon, the obligatory foie gras – last week every second TV advert seemed to be for foie gras – a bûche, prawns, and chocolates, and also managed to find some Brussels sprouts. The best of both English and French Christmas food I think! Also on Friday I had a rapid exchange of e-mails with Abels regarding the delivery of furniture, still scheduled for Wednesday 4 January; they proposed 8 am which is impossible without staying again at the Relais des Amis, (!) but even from there it would be very difficult so early. I was also sent the final invoice by e-mail, and phoned my bank in London to transfer the money, although it will not go till today (28th) and probably not reach Abels until the 30th.
For me the festivities started on Christmas Eve with the radio carol service from Kings, while catching up with some ironing. Cambridge seemed even more remote this year than last. (N was listening from the other room, and made some comments about very English church music) Our réveillon supper consisted of an Italian Buon Natale tablecloth, and the Angel Chimes bought at Bon Marché, canapés, prawn cocktail and the foie gras. Christmas morning started with reading to each other poems from Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass; this wasn't planned, we were trying to confirm things we half remembered! We opened presents in the morning while the capon was in the oven; some had come by post, some from each other, and there were those M & C had got me when they were here, but N was missing the one from his elder daughter, which had been delayed. I also made phone calls to the family. After lunch (roast capon, stuffing, roast potatoes and carrots, sprouts, gravy, cranberry sauce, excellent red wine and bûche) we watched videos of two Jacques Tati films and laughed a lot, and in the evening recorded the film Le Hussard sur le Toit which I had seen before, and watched it the next afternoon. One of my most useful presents was a new and different Pilates DVD from my sister Issy; more varied, with different length programmes. So far I have done the warm-up programme two mornings running; this could be the basis of a very good New Year resolution! once we get the equipment sorted out at la Neuve-Lyre.
Yesterday we went out in the car (which had spent Christmas safely in the Parking Municipal) to Castorama – a large DIY store – to get all manner of things to take back to La Neuve-Lyre; various types of white paint, brushes, stain, a linen line, cloths, scrapers, carpet cleaner and a product which promises to get old glue off old lino – we shall see! We also went to the supermarket Auchan on the same site, to shop for ingredients for our lunch party today. I bought a phone for the new house in the France Telecom shop next door; we had looked in several and there did not seem to be a great deal of choice, it seemed to be the only one with voicemail which didn't have huge digits. I queued about 40 minutes for this; the whole time N was getting the shopping in the supermarket.
While all this was going on it had started to snow, and by the time we came out it was laying quite thickly; it took N some time to remember where he had parked the car as they now all looked alike! He eventually found it and we drove carefully back to the Saint-Denis car park - where fortunately the car will be under cover - leaving all our DIY purchases and phone ready in the boot. It was bitterly cold by the time we got home with our food shopping, but looked very pretty from the window. According to the radio all of Normandy is under a severe cold weather alert; another very good reason not to try to get to La Neuve-Lyre for 8 in the morning. My personal "plan grand froid" is a dark green cotton cardigan sales bargain from Etam; it is big enough to go on over the top of everything else.
Our lunch party consisted of just one guest, a long-term resident of Les Ursulines who is helping N with his project by providing a good deal of material, references from archives, photocopies and so on. I miss entertaining so enjoyed all the planning and cooking, and she brought a magnificent bouquet of roses – I had forgotten guests sometimes did that! It was also good for us to spend several hours speaking entirely French; another reason for entertaining, if we can find anybody to invite.
Also this morning N's parcel from his daughter finally arrived, including something for me – a black necklace with sparkling stones. This was a nice surprise, and I felt pleased that I was the one who had wrapped all of their parcels, inside and out.
Thursday 29 December 2005
According to radio and TV weather most of France is still under snow and freezing temperatures. There had been no more snow here until late this afternoon when we came out of IKEA; I said it wasn't real snow, as it was melting into rain, N said had it been laid on specially by IKEA then? I managed very easily to change my box of 3 table legs for one containing 4; I had never taken anything back to IKEA before, but it was very quickly done with no trouble. I also bought a long list of other things, including 17 metres of white lacy curtain material at 0.69 euros a metre; even the material shops at Montmartre couldn't beat that! This is for the four windows in the big ground floor room – we keep referring to it as La Grande Pièce, but it will be a mixture of TV room and dining room, and also where the books will go. I bought ready-made white curtains for the main bedroom too, more bedding for the bed, spice shelves and storage jars for the kitchen, bath mats, and two little key cupboards to try and rationalise the vast array of keys. All this is now in the back of the car together with the stuff from Castorama and the new phone, until we set off hopefully next Wednesday. Still no news from Abels; they must be worried about the weather conditions too.
Friday 30 December 2005
I have a phone number! A nice lady from France Telecom phoned twice during my breakfast (which was late as I had just been doing the longer part of my new exercise programme) and first of all said she could not find the previous line under Mme V's name. She asked whether it could have been registered in the name of a monsieur, and when she spelled the name I recognised it as one of those I had removed from the mail box. (Oh what secrets are hidden in such data!) She then phoned back about five minutes later with the number. The next important thing was to let Abels know, having heard nothing from them since before Christmas, so I phoned my contact, and she confirmed that the drivers had been told we probably wouldn't arrive before 10.45 am, but that they would arrive earlier. I explained about the weather, and hope it will have improved by next week. We will try to set off shortly after 7, as last time. Hopefully this will be the last time we have to leave early for a set time, and can do the journey in daylight in future.
Sunday January 1 2006
I think we must have done something to offend the god of bathroom lights. After the failure with the fluorescent tube at La Neuve-Lyre, two of the three little bulbs at the top of the bathroom unit here at Saint-Denis unaccountably went dead earlier in the week, and it took N a good deal of time and two visits to BHV (where it was originally bought) plus another to Castorama to manage to fit new bulbs and get them working again.
I went with him the first of these visits on Friday afternoon, by train in very cold snowy weather. The snow was blowing horizontally into our faces as we waited on the platform, and we imagined that in central Paris it would be drier but no, even the pavements of the Rue de Rivoli were covered in wet slush, and N nearly slipped several times – I was glad I was wearing my snow boots with non-slip soles. Apart from the bathroom department we also looked at curtain poles and fittings, all very expensive, and at a bedding sale, as I wanted to find plain white pillowcases to go with the sets I'd got from IKEA. Also very expensive; I thought not for the first time that BHV is a very expensive shop. By the time we got back the snow had become very small pieces of hail which stung our faces, and we were very glad to dry out and sit on the sofa with tea and cake and watch another of N's Christmas present DVDs – Lord Peter Wimsey in Strong Poison. We have also watched a DVD of Holst's The Planets, complete with various pieces of film and graphics, and parts of BBC's Coast.
Between now and Christmas we have re-watched Porterhouse Blue in several sessions too; N's college is in the process of electing a new master and at one time he was receiving post to do with the election nearly every day, so when I caught sight of the video (which I gave him several years ago) on a shelf, thought we should watch it again in tribute, as it were. This has resulted in some new catchphrases; N often replies to questions with: "I wouldn't know about that, sir" and I would like to adopt "Exemplum habemus!" if only I could remember it when relevant.
Since Friday the weather has improved considerably – from 2 degrees to 8 – and we are continuing to enjoy relaxing here until next Wednesday when we set off for Normandy as early as we can, and start working hard there again. We did very little in the way of New Year celebrations; staying in as restaurant prices rise sharply for 31 December, and there were forecasts of riots like those in November. In the event we went to bed early and celebrated today by watching the New Year's Day concert from Vienna on television with a glass of sparkling white wine in hand, followed by a festive lunch. In the afternoon we watched a video of Cabaret, which I hadn't seen since it first came out in 1972, at the Arts in Cambridge.
Monday 2 January 2006
This morning we went down to the cellar again to dust and clean all the pieces of furniture to go in the van next Monday – two wardrobes, two bedside tables and a double bed. It doesn't sound very much but there are an awful lot of pieces! It also involved dropping down a flex from the first floor so that we could attach a lamp to see what we were doing.
N received a phone call from a string-playing colleague with an invitation for next Saturday – including me – as it will involve a sort of party and food as well as the music; at the moment we don't know exactly where apart from northern Paris. (N is practising the Schubert quintet in readiness as we write) A nice prospect though, especially as we will have come back from La Neuve-Lyre ready to load the van; it will be a good break and change of scene. When I asked whether this quintet was the Trout, N said cryptically that this was the Schubert Quintet and that the other was the Trout Quintet. It reminded me of a programme I once heard on Radio 3, taking this nomenclature to extremes asking whether a piano trio should be played with three pianos, the Trout Quintet by five trout and the Archduke Trio by three Archdukes. But I digress……
I have taken down all the Christmas cards and what few decorations there were; my little tree from Madeleine and its accessories and the few free decorations from Yves Rocher have all gone in a large shoe box ready for Christmas decorations on a much grander scale next year, I hope.
Tuesday 3 January 2006
Yesterday evening after the news we found ourselves watching the film Lawrence of Arabia which suddenly came on after the news. Neither of us had seen it before and it was so gripping that we had to keep on watching it till well after midnight. Today I am packing ready for an early start to La Neuve-Lyre tomorrow, and am glad that the weather is much better than this time last week; in some parts of Normandy no lorries were allowed on the roads!
We have since had a good rest, and a warm and relaxing Christmas here at Saint-Denis. Not my first here, as I came last year, but very different as then I arrived as a guest on the 23rd after a very busy autumn at the office; this year I have been here for the build-up, which is altogether more relaxed than in Britain. We went food shopping last Friday for a capon, the obligatory foie gras – last week every second TV advert seemed to be for foie gras – a bûche, prawns, and chocolates, and also managed to find some Brussels sprouts. The best of both English and French Christmas food I think! Also on Friday I had a rapid exchange of e-mails with Abels regarding the delivery of furniture, still scheduled for Wednesday 4 January; they proposed 8 am which is impossible without staying again at the Relais des Amis, (!) but even from there it would be very difficult so early. I was also sent the final invoice by e-mail, and phoned my bank in London to transfer the money, although it will not go till today (28th) and probably not reach Abels until the 30th.
For me the festivities started on Christmas Eve with the radio carol service from Kings, while catching up with some ironing. Cambridge seemed even more remote this year than last. (N was listening from the other room, and made some comments about very English church music) Our réveillon supper consisted of an Italian Buon Natale tablecloth, and the Angel Chimes bought at Bon Marché, canapés, prawn cocktail and the foie gras. Christmas morning started with reading to each other poems from Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass; this wasn't planned, we were trying to confirm things we half remembered! We opened presents in the morning while the capon was in the oven; some had come by post, some from each other, and there were those M & C had got me when they were here, but N was missing the one from his elder daughter, which had been delayed. I also made phone calls to the family. After lunch (roast capon, stuffing, roast potatoes and carrots, sprouts, gravy, cranberry sauce, excellent red wine and bûche) we watched videos of two Jacques Tati films and laughed a lot, and in the evening recorded the film Le Hussard sur le Toit which I had seen before, and watched it the next afternoon. One of my most useful presents was a new and different Pilates DVD from my sister Issy; more varied, with different length programmes. So far I have done the warm-up programme two mornings running; this could be the basis of a very good New Year resolution! once we get the equipment sorted out at la Neuve-Lyre.
Yesterday we went out in the car (which had spent Christmas safely in the Parking Municipal) to Castorama – a large DIY store – to get all manner of things to take back to La Neuve-Lyre; various types of white paint, brushes, stain, a linen line, cloths, scrapers, carpet cleaner and a product which promises to get old glue off old lino – we shall see! We also went to the supermarket Auchan on the same site, to shop for ingredients for our lunch party today. I bought a phone for the new house in the France Telecom shop next door; we had looked in several and there did not seem to be a great deal of choice, it seemed to be the only one with voicemail which didn't have huge digits. I queued about 40 minutes for this; the whole time N was getting the shopping in the supermarket.
While all this was going on it had started to snow, and by the time we came out it was laying quite thickly; it took N some time to remember where he had parked the car as they now all looked alike! He eventually found it and we drove carefully back to the Saint-Denis car park - where fortunately the car will be under cover - leaving all our DIY purchases and phone ready in the boot. It was bitterly cold by the time we got home with our food shopping, but looked very pretty from the window. According to the radio all of Normandy is under a severe cold weather alert; another very good reason not to try to get to La Neuve-Lyre for 8 in the morning. My personal "plan grand froid" is a dark green cotton cardigan sales bargain from Etam; it is big enough to go on over the top of everything else.
Our lunch party consisted of just one guest, a long-term resident of Les Ursulines who is helping N with his project by providing a good deal of material, references from archives, photocopies and so on. I miss entertaining so enjoyed all the planning and cooking, and she brought a magnificent bouquet of roses – I had forgotten guests sometimes did that! It was also good for us to spend several hours speaking entirely French; another reason for entertaining, if we can find anybody to invite.
Also this morning N's parcel from his daughter finally arrived, including something for me – a black necklace with sparkling stones. This was a nice surprise, and I felt pleased that I was the one who had wrapped all of their parcels, inside and out.
Thursday 29 December 2005
According to radio and TV weather most of France is still under snow and freezing temperatures. There had been no more snow here until late this afternoon when we came out of IKEA; I said it wasn't real snow, as it was melting into rain, N said had it been laid on specially by IKEA then? I managed very easily to change my box of 3 table legs for one containing 4; I had never taken anything back to IKEA before, but it was very quickly done with no trouble. I also bought a long list of other things, including 17 metres of white lacy curtain material at 0.69 euros a metre; even the material shops at Montmartre couldn't beat that! This is for the four windows in the big ground floor room – we keep referring to it as La Grande Pièce, but it will be a mixture of TV room and dining room, and also where the books will go. I bought ready-made white curtains for the main bedroom too, more bedding for the bed, spice shelves and storage jars for the kitchen, bath mats, and two little key cupboards to try and rationalise the vast array of keys. All this is now in the back of the car together with the stuff from Castorama and the new phone, until we set off hopefully next Wednesday. Still no news from Abels; they must be worried about the weather conditions too.
Friday 30 December 2005
I have a phone number! A nice lady from France Telecom phoned twice during my breakfast (which was late as I had just been doing the longer part of my new exercise programme) and first of all said she could not find the previous line under Mme V's name. She asked whether it could have been registered in the name of a monsieur, and when she spelled the name I recognised it as one of those I had removed from the mail box. (Oh what secrets are hidden in such data!) She then phoned back about five minutes later with the number. The next important thing was to let Abels know, having heard nothing from them since before Christmas, so I phoned my contact, and she confirmed that the drivers had been told we probably wouldn't arrive before 10.45 am, but that they would arrive earlier. I explained about the weather, and hope it will have improved by next week. We will try to set off shortly after 7, as last time. Hopefully this will be the last time we have to leave early for a set time, and can do the journey in daylight in future.
Sunday January 1 2006
I think we must have done something to offend the god of bathroom lights. After the failure with the fluorescent tube at La Neuve-Lyre, two of the three little bulbs at the top of the bathroom unit here at Saint-Denis unaccountably went dead earlier in the week, and it took N a good deal of time and two visits to BHV (where it was originally bought) plus another to Castorama to manage to fit new bulbs and get them working again.
I went with him the first of these visits on Friday afternoon, by train in very cold snowy weather. The snow was blowing horizontally into our faces as we waited on the platform, and we imagined that in central Paris it would be drier but no, even the pavements of the Rue de Rivoli were covered in wet slush, and N nearly slipped several times – I was glad I was wearing my snow boots with non-slip soles. Apart from the bathroom department we also looked at curtain poles and fittings, all very expensive, and at a bedding sale, as I wanted to find plain white pillowcases to go with the sets I'd got from IKEA. Also very expensive; I thought not for the first time that BHV is a very expensive shop. By the time we got back the snow had become very small pieces of hail which stung our faces, and we were very glad to dry out and sit on the sofa with tea and cake and watch another of N's Christmas present DVDs – Lord Peter Wimsey in Strong Poison. We have also watched a DVD of Holst's The Planets, complete with various pieces of film and graphics, and parts of BBC's Coast.
Between now and Christmas we have re-watched Porterhouse Blue in several sessions too; N's college is in the process of electing a new master and at one time he was receiving post to do with the election nearly every day, so when I caught sight of the video (which I gave him several years ago) on a shelf, thought we should watch it again in tribute, as it were. This has resulted in some new catchphrases; N often replies to questions with: "I wouldn't know about that, sir" and I would like to adopt "Exemplum habemus!" if only I could remember it when relevant.
Since Friday the weather has improved considerably – from 2 degrees to 8 – and we are continuing to enjoy relaxing here until next Wednesday when we set off for Normandy as early as we can, and start working hard there again. We did very little in the way of New Year celebrations; staying in as restaurant prices rise sharply for 31 December, and there were forecasts of riots like those in November. In the event we went to bed early and celebrated today by watching the New Year's Day concert from Vienna on television with a glass of sparkling white wine in hand, followed by a festive lunch. In the afternoon we watched a video of Cabaret, which I hadn't seen since it first came out in 1972, at the Arts in Cambridge.
Monday 2 January 2006
This morning we went down to the cellar again to dust and clean all the pieces of furniture to go in the van next Monday – two wardrobes, two bedside tables and a double bed. It doesn't sound very much but there are an awful lot of pieces! It also involved dropping down a flex from the first floor so that we could attach a lamp to see what we were doing.
N received a phone call from a string-playing colleague with an invitation for next Saturday – including me – as it will involve a sort of party and food as well as the music; at the moment we don't know exactly where apart from northern Paris. (N is practising the Schubert quintet in readiness as we write) A nice prospect though, especially as we will have come back from La Neuve-Lyre ready to load the van; it will be a good break and change of scene. When I asked whether this quintet was the Trout, N said cryptically that this was the Schubert Quintet and that the other was the Trout Quintet. It reminded me of a programme I once heard on Radio 3, taking this nomenclature to extremes asking whether a piano trio should be played with three pianos, the Trout Quintet by five trout and the Archduke Trio by three Archdukes. But I digress……
I have taken down all the Christmas cards and what few decorations there were; my little tree from Madeleine and its accessories and the few free decorations from Yves Rocher have all gone in a large shoe box ready for Christmas decorations on a much grander scale next year, I hope.
Tuesday 3 January 2006
Yesterday evening after the news we found ourselves watching the film Lawrence of Arabia which suddenly came on after the news. Neither of us had seen it before and it was so gripping that we had to keep on watching it till well after midnight. Today I am packing ready for an early start to La Neuve-Lyre tomorrow, and am glad that the weather is much better than this time last week; in some parts of Normandy no lorries were allowed on the roads!
# posted by Chez Katherine @ 5:18 AM 
