Loiseau

My dearest local friend died last year, so I was pitched into this for the first time... In the Vendée it seems to be the norm for everyone to go and view the deceased - either in their home or in the funeral parlour - and to take the "gerbe" (flowers).  Honestly, I really did not want to see my erstwhile bubbly, bon-vivante, blonde friend under those conditions. So I stayed in and whipped up two desserts for the wake the next day.  (She was an ace cook, and I felt this was somehow more appropriate...).  I went to a local florist and arranged for flowers to be sent to the funeral directors in time for the funeral. I also offered accommodation for mourners from afar - and had a couple billetted on me - which was therapeutic for them and for me. On the day, I turned up in good time (good point about the parking, for the funeral of a popular person).   Once the swish modern hearse arrived, everybody was called on to help with the wreaths, and we made relays from hearse to altar staggering under the weight of some of the heavy floral arrangements. Once the service was under way (along with a couple of other locals, I had been asked to do a reading), it was a question of keeping your eyes peeled and doing what everybody else did.  At one point, everyone lined up and filed past the coffin either touching it or simply inclining the head.  (I think there might have been an opportunity to drop some coins into something here - can't remember). And there was communion.  Normally as a non-Catholic I wouldn't have gone up, but this was such a dear friend that I risked heavenly wrath and took it with the others. At the end, as the coffin started going out, we all  had to step in and pick up the floral tributes again and carry them out to the hearse; but this time we stood in front of it with the flowers, waiting for the signal to walk down the hill to the cemetery.  Wow - were they heavy...   We walked slowly ahead of the hearse, and once in the cemetery laid down the flowers and were invited to come forward one by one and sprinkle the coffin wth holy water before it was lowered into the grave.  And then everyone offered their condolences to the bereaved before they left.  It was comforting to feel that one had participated - though there was no compulsion to do so. The little party afterwards was mostly for invited folk from far away.  As a close friend, who had dropped in two puds in earlier in the day, I was also included - though other equally close local friends were not.  Goodness, was I glad I had made those puddings! The son and daughter-in-law were no cooks, and everything else apart from those was bought in....  That was the best thing I could have done for Josette - better by far than seeing her looking unrecognisable in a coffin.  I have never regretted that. Angela  

Thanks for these thoughts, folks. Miki, yes I have tried the Gites de France site and also another excellent one called pour-les-vacances.com (which catches a few that are not Gites de France as well; i.e. Clévacances-registered ones).  Got a few possibles there.  I thought I'd also pick the collective brains of the group too, though! Coco, thanks for reminding me about that one in Boulogne.  I know you have mentioned it before, and I have now unearthed its contact details, so this will be a handy one.  And Eskenazi, thanks for the one you sent me a mail about.  Sounds lovely.  Angela    

Have just posted a message on this subject in B&B forum http://www.livingfrance.com/instantforum/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=17&MessageID=40097 Angela   (SORRY! SEEM TO HAVE SENT THIS TWICE...) 

Have just posted a message on this subject http://www.livingfrance.com/instantforum/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=17&MessageID=40097   Angela

Does anyone here offer (or know of) reasonably-priced B&B with evening meal in the Nord/Pas de Calais/Somme area?   At present I go over on occasional working trips of four days or so at a time, on my own, and need somewhere inexpensive to stay.  I am fairly flexible regarding location: Hesdin area, French Flanders, area north of Amiens - or would consider elsewhere as long as it's north of the A16 motorway and west of the A1. Replies to my mailbox please (so as not to contravene regulations!). Many thanks in advance Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk  

Hi Deby, Would really like the fig chutney recipe for some French friends who have a glut... Many thanks Angela

Hi Richard, Have sent you a message via "PM", whatever that may be.  Hope you receive it OK.   Angela

I love the local papers too!  I subscribe to two weeklies. One has a whole page each week of photos of new babies at the local hospital; the journalist manages to use a different phrase in each caption: "Kevin fait la joie de sa maman..."  "Natasha a poussé ses premiers cris..."  "Emilie est attendue impatiemment par son grand frere Jerome...".  And of course the car accidents "...pour une raison indéterminée le conducteur s'est déporté sur la gauche..." (for some unknown reason the driver veered off to the left), and sad tales of people drowning on the causeway to Noirmoutier because they didn't pay attention to the tide-tables (a couple of these incidents per month, at least). All these "Faits divers" (miscellaneous stories) are classified by my posher French friends as "les chiens écrasés" ("squashed/run-over dogs")! Otherwise there are endless golden weddings, triumphs and disasters of village football teams, opening of new factories etc. Dreary photography though. Always people sitting at a meeting, or standing self-consciously,with their arms folded. Oh, I have to share this one...   My daughter and some other musicians put on a concert of baroque music a couple of years ago in a Vendée church that included a Purcell song "Dido's Lament". In French the title is "La mort de Didon" (bizarrely, with an "n" on the end).  Yes, you've guessed.  In the local paper's enthusiastic appraisal of the event, the song was cited as "La mort du dindon" ("Death of the turkey")!  Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

Max, I should point out that I have not actually *received* the promised £40 compensation for my own cancelled Boulogne-Dover crossing on 9 September - but then I thought it would probably take a month or so to be credited to my card, so I wasn't about to hassle them yet. Angela

Like Hoddy, I turned up for a booked Speedferries crossing last week (Thurs afternoon, actually, so we obviously didn't cross paths!), to find the vessel out of service. The staff offered to refund £40 on my credit card as compensation for having to drive to Calais, plus a free return crossing to be used in the next 12 months.   I thought that was pretty fair, coming from such a low-cost operator.  Fortunately, I anticipate needing to make quite a few crossings in the next 6 months, so I shall have an opportunity to use the free crossing. They gave me a list of phone numbers for the Calais operators, so I shopped around on the phone before leaving Boulogne: Tunnel was the most expensive by far, at about 270 euros single; P&O and SeaFrance were level, at about 175 euros single; but these both reduced after 9pm, so in the end I opted to cross with SeaFrance at 9pm: single for car+1, about 108 euros. I was relieved it wasn't more, given that it was a last-minute booking.   Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

The Puy du Fou is in Vendée (85), not far from the town of Les Herbiers (and, of course, not far from Cholet, as Woody says). It can be a bit confusing, as there are two distinct things: 1. the daytime "Grand Parc", described as a "historical theme park" - which makes it sound ghastly, but it is in fact really brilliant! Set-piece performances include Roman chariot-racing, invasion of the Vikings, battle agains the English (100 Years War style); you can wander around medieval village, 18C village and - new this year, so I haven't seen it - the 1900 village. And there is the most fantastic falconry show I have ever seen (and I can usually take or leave them!).  All in lovely manicured grounds, with shady woodland too. It is open from May till mid-September I think (maybe weekends and bank holidays only, during May).  You absolutely need a whole day there - if not, two. 2. The night-time "Cinéscénie" is a massive son-et-lumiere show - obviously not starting till 10 or 10.30pm, and so ending around midnight.  Around 800 locals take part, re-enacting the history of their region.  Dazzling jousting scenes, ballet dancers pirouetting on the surface of the lake, amazing sound and lighting technology of course.  Is played on Fri and Sat nights from June to Aug.  Gets booked up months in advance - but you can call from the UK and book with a credit card.  (NO refunds for bad weather though.)   In fact, I have found that you can usually get in on the night if you just turn up; either you might be lucky to get some unsold tickets, or else you will find representatives of groups who are anxious to sell spare tickets if any of their party has dropped out.  (This is quite legit; they do it alongside the ticket office.)  If you go for the last-minute option, then you go to the ticket office *at the starting time of the show* rather than an hour ahead - the time ticket-holders are told to turn up. Info on both from www.puydufou.com No, I don't work for them!  But I have been a few times to both.  I also did an article for Brittany Ferries' now-defunct on-board magazine a few years back about the background to the night-time show, and was hugely impressed with the dedication that the locals - of all generations - bring to the event, and how it binds them all together as a "family" (known as "puyfolais"). There is a smaller-scale annual night-time show at Olonne-sur-Mer (85) each summer, for four or five nights, called "Cette nuit, Pierre-Levée...", which is very good even with far more limited resources. At Machecoul (44), just north of Challans (85), there is usually another smaller son-et-lumière about Gilles de Rais - inspiration for the fictional "Blue-beard", played out against the sinister ruins of Gilles de Rais' castle. Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

I have given a lot of Vendee ones on my website http://www.the-vendee.co.uk   Angela  

Is it possible to do accents? I see in one of my earlier posts that all the accented letters that I so lovingly and pedantically included have vanished, leaving Gant instead of Géant, Vende instead of Vendée and Chteau instead of Château (you'll have to imagine the missing accents if they've gone AWOL again!).   (Oh, I see that they have all turned up in this post - Great!)   I can't see how to add my signature, however - although I have created one.  

In the Vende: Apremont Bazoges-en-Pareds Commequiers La Garnache La Grve (nr Les Essarts) La Guignardire (Avrill) ** Noirmoutier town St-Mesmin-la-Ville Talmont-St-Hilaire * Terre-Neuve (Fontenay-le-Comte) ** Tiffauges * Most are a bit dilapidated; - those most intact, and furnished, are marked with ** - those with period entertainment in summer are marked * I can recommend a good guidebook Angela

Have just posted a request in NW France forum, on http://www.livingfrance.com/dcforum/DCForumID4/800.html Angela

Am off to northern France next week, and wondering if anyone can recommend any good B&Bs, about 3-pis standard in Gites de France classification, or equivalent? Ideally around Bergues/Cassel/St-Omer for one, and Hesdin/Montreuil/7 Valles area for the other. Many thanks... Angela

Sorry to be pedantic, but my sub-editor's teeth can't help grinding when I see the intro: "North Eastern France Forum to discuss topics relating to north eastern France and it's region - Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine, Alsace, Bourgogne and Franche-Comte" I am sure it crept in alone and unbidden, but next time a moderator is tweaking that page, could he/she wave a magic wand and efface it, please? Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

Tonight, every time I try to reach the British Airways website to check prices of flights, I am taken to something called "Comet Web Search" which says the address (much-used by me until today) is invalid. It offers loads of links to British Airways sites, but whichever one I click on, it produces another message saying that: "This page was not found: http://affiliate.espotting.com/search/redirector_V2.asp?url=... Sorry, there are no search results for com/newukandeuropeanfares " which is not what I asked for at all! Anyone else having this problem? Has "Comet Web Search" hijacked all would-be visitors to the BA site? Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

Thanks to everyone for all the GPS-buying advice a month or so back ( http://www.livingfrance.com/dcforum/DCForumID33/1134.html ) I finally tracked down what I wanted in PC World (Ipaq 1940 +TomTom3 +car kit). Messed about with it for about 3 days without much success (lousy instructions!), so went back and collared the guy who initially explained it to me, and got him to take me through it again. Now, if the wind is in the right direction, I can get it working fine - UK-only so far, but am taking it to France soon. Of course, now I have used it a bit, everybody's comments in the previous postings make *far* more sense! A few more questions, though: - Occasionally, although I get the map working the route OK, there is no audible voice, although the sound is switched on. After trying all sorts of things, I eventually get it to work - but am never sure *what* I did that cured it. Any advice? - I sometimes think TomTom doesn't give instructions early enough at those places where motorways diverge and you have to position yourself in the right lane before they really split. (It's not that I'm going fast, before you jump to conclusions.) Is there a way of asking it to give instructions a bit earlier? - I need to get one or two more of those little memory cards. Are the prices specially good anywhere particular in the UK? or France? I bought a 128Mb one for 39.99 at PC World. Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

HI, Have just posted a question on this subject at http://www.livingfrance.com/dcforum/DCForumID32/566.html Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

Just putting out some feelers here, as another 60+ friend and I are thinking of renting somewhere in the Pas-de-Calais, with 2 or 3 bedrooms, for frequent visits in early 2005. Say from Jan-March, or Feb-April. It would need to have central heating, and *not* to be in an isolated country situation. A friendly small town would be ideal. Can anyone suggest the perfect place, and/or give me any idea of how much we might have to pay? Angela http://www.the-vendee.co.uk

LAST EDITED ON 23-Apr-04 AT 12:37 PM (BST) What a nerve... If I have understood it right, those of us obliged to travel alone (and therefore to pay for *every* berth in a 2- or 4-berth cabin on overnight crossings, which is a hard enough pill to swallow) are now to be charged 8 *extra* for "cabin underoccupancy" (even on day crossings). I am probably the last forum member to twig this, as I have already been driven (excuse pun) to abandon ferry travel, since it's so much cheaper for one person to fly to France nowadays. But this time I just *have* to take the car. To whom should one aim angry complaints about this, in order to have the most effect? Angela (85 - not my age!) PS Sorry - in spite of doing a search before posting this, I now see that this subject was touched upon in the posting about loading priority. Still, I would welcome Will-the-Conq's input on the matter...