La Vie En France

La Vie En France C’est La rentrée

The kids don’t seem to have been on holiday long and there are already large colourful signs in the shops “La Rentrée” (back to school). The supermarket aisles are rearranged and several aisles are taken over by “ fournitures scolaires” (school equipment). All the three school zones, across France, go back to school on the same date after the long summer holidays. This year, 2021, the back to school date “la date de la rentrée” is September 2nd. Generally all primary school classes go back on this day, but secondary schools may let new first year pupils (6ème or 2nde) start a day earlier than the other classes so that they can get used to their new surroundings and find their way around. The teachers have their pre-school year day on the 1st September.

« L’allocation de rentrée scolaire» (ARS), (the Back to School Allowance) is given to families who have one or more children aged between 6 and 18 who are in full time education, if the family income is not above a certain limit. The allowance is to help the families to buy everything the children need for school and its amount depends on the age of the child, the allowance for primary school children being lower than that for high school pupils. “La Rentrée scolaire” brings with it the inevitable debate about the weight of children’s satchels “le poids du cartable” and the effects that can have on their health. With an average satchel weighing 8.5 kilos, it’s not surprising that many now opt for satchels on wheels. The expression “La Rentrée” is generally associated with everything (whether it be education, business or politics) getting going again after the slower lazy summer time. The verb “rentrer” means to go back, in particular to go back home. It can also be ised to mean to put something back in a shed or other place.“la Rentrée” is the fact of going back, “Rentrée” can also mean to start up activities again after a break. If you visit some of the local zoo parks you may see signs like “rentrée des fauves à 19h” or “rentrée des éléphants à 19h30” indicating the time the lions and big cats or elephants are brought back into their indoor houses for the night. “La Rentrée Littéraire” (back to business for literature) is the name given to publishing boom and the numerous new books that are published and put onto the market between August and November. Several literature prizes are voted between September and November, notably the Goncourt prize. “La Rentrée politique” or “La Rentrée parlementaire” means it’s back to business for the government after the summer break.

And finally you can also speak about “la rentrée des fonds” meaning incoming money / revenus. “J’attends une rentrée d’argent important” I’m expecting a lot of money coming in. (I wish).

BONNE RENTREE A TOUS !

by Sue Burgess

Vocabulary / Vocabulaire

Les Fournitures Scolaires School equipment Un cahier 96 pages Exercise book with 96 pages Des feuillets mobiles Sheets of paper to go in a ring perforés binder Un classeur rigide Un protège-cahier Hard backed ring binder Exercise book cover

Un stylo à bille

Biro Un crayon à papier Pencil Un feutre de couleur Felt tip pen Un bâton de colle Stick of glue Un rouleau de ruban Roll of Sellotape adhésif

Une gomme Un cartable Une serviette La Rentrée L’Allocation de la Rentrée Scolaire (ARS) L’école maternelle L’école primaire Le collège Le lycée Eraser , rubber School bag, satchel Briefcase Back to School Back to School Allowance

Infant school Primary School 11 – 15 secondary school 16 – 18 secondary school

DÉCHETTERIES

Up to date information about opening hours, restrictions, etc for your local déchetterie? Visit the website www.smc79.fr for details For waste disposal outside of the Deux-Sèvres there’s an alternative website www.decheteries.fr

FIND the CHEAPEST FUEL prices in your area.

This government run website provides comparative petrol and diesel prices in all areas of France. Just simply select your department from the map, and voilà!

www.prix-carburants.gouv.fr

View from the Vendée

by Karen Taylor

September 2021

Many moons ago, when we were still living in the UK, I was invited to attend a Speed Awareness Course (OK, OK, so perhaps I was caught on camera for driving a couple of mph over the limit!). Anyway, the point is that as I’d taken my test when I was just 17 years old, I felt that I’d better hone up on the Highway Code before attending the course. On the appointed day, I arrived at the centre in Oxford ready to answer any question that was thrown at me, but to my surprise we were all seated in front of individual screens to watch a series of videos. Fortunately we weren’t subjected to footages of Fast & Furious or Mad Max, but in one particular section we were ‘driven’ along a road for a few minutes then asked to identify the road signs that we’d just seen. It was at that moment that I realised my lack of observation skills, so since then I’ve become somewhat of a road sign anorak!

All road signs are important of course, but since moving to France I’ve noticed quite a few, shall we say, interesting ones!! So here’s a selection from our local area…

Photo 1: Now here’s a confusing one – the No Entry sign means that no-one can drive down the road, but as it’s also a No Through Road, then surely no-one can drive up it either!

Photo 2: We live down the road from the Aire de la Vendée on the A83 motorway, but I must admit, I hadn’t realised that customers had to take their own picnic table & chairs… Photo 3: Hmm, now here’s a dilemma – so which road does lead to Noailles??

Photo 4: And finally, a sign that’s always intrigued me since moving to France – a yellow diamond with a black stripe across it. Apparently it signals the end of priority to the through road and gives priorité à droite to all traffic joining from the righthand side. So all I can say is, beware as you drive through the town of Moutiers les Mauxfaits – who knows when a vehicle might suddenly appear out of nowhere!!

And the moral of the story? Keep an eye on those signs, but don’t take them all too seriously…

Karen runs a gîte business on the Vendée coast. You can contact her on: stmichelgite@orange.fr

Velo4Violet : September

by Lisa Jones

At the beginning of August I flew in a light aeroplane from La Rochelle. Not particularly interesting nor exceptional you Following on from our article in the August edition of the DSM, the response to the Velo4Violet challenge has been might think, except that it was a former RAF Chipmunk trainer, awesome. For anyone that might have missed it, during in the type’s 75th Anniversary year, and I coast towards the November this year we are asking for anyone to get on bridge, and joined the landing circuit to finish with a perfect your bike and ride for Association Violet! Association Violet touchdown. Much more fun than in a Ryanair 737, and seemed provides help and support to families and children in France like I had been flying a Chipmunk forever. and the UK who suffer from Cerebral Palsy, Dystonia or Epilepsy. These families need help in order to make the daily Back at the hangar I had a broad grin on my face which days struggle just that little bit easier. later is only slowly fading. One of our sons reckons it will need surgical removal. Patrick and Steve were most agreeable hosts, Velo4Violet is open to anyone who might want to set their and I hope to persuade them to join the Sud Ouest Branch of the own personal challenge and ride for the Association. The RAF Association. Oh, and I have a generous invitation to repeat distance is up to you. The fundraising target is also up to the experience. you. Where you go, who you go with, and how you get there is up to you too.

Our own personal challenge is to cover a distance of 1540 kilometres over the month of November. This will be achieved with daily distance challenges of 70km each day and all the routes will start and finish from our home in North Deux Sevres. We are not avid cyclists and, to be honest, are a bit out of condition so this really is a challenge for us to start from nothing to covering such a huge distance. We are pleased to be able to report that our training regime has started with regular daily rides which are designed to help build strength and stamina so that when we start the event in November, we are mentally and physical fit. Since our last update, we have received huge support from friends and family but, in addition to this, we have also received some very kind donations of bicycles in a variety of conditions. Some of these just needed a bit of work to get them back to being road ready, others will be upcycled into decorative items. All of these donations will be sold and the profits will go to the Association.

There are so many ways in which you can get involved too. Here are a few suggestions:

Sign up and take part

Get in touch with us via our website www.associationviolet. com and register your interest to take part. We welcome everyone and anyone and no matter what your personal cycle challenge is, we will support you all the way.

Donate your unwanted cycle equipment

If you have any unwanted or unused cycle equipment, help the Association by having a clear out and donate it to us! We will endeavour to maximise the value of each donation so no matter what condition it is in, we would be very grateful to receive it.

Corporate Sponsorship

If you are a business owner and would like to support the Association, we would love to talk to you about how we can work with you.

Donate

Association Violet is run solely on private donations and does not receive any government funding. It has never been easier to donate, just visit our website www. associationviolet.com and click on the link.

Further updates will be posted on the Association Violet Facebook and Instagram pages and more information on our progress will be in next months DSM edition!

Two Doors Down

A Tale of Two Ladies

by Wendy York

What do you bring home as a holiday souvenir? Of course this may be an obsolete question given that the everchanging travel restrictions continue. Yet, within France, I seem to visit somewhere new and return with a bottle of wine or three and some local cheese that stinks the car out, not to mention copious amounts of sea glass and shells.

Over the years, I’ve collected random objects; a very small clay horse’s head from Sicily (never kept in close proximity to my bed), two little lapis lazuli pyramids from guess where, a small fragment of the Berlin wall, and the list goes on…

In the 17th & 18th centuries, no upper class Englishman’s education was complete without embarking on ‘The Grand Tour’. From several months to several years, these rich tourists roamed Europe, often accompanied by a tutor, staying in palazzos in Venice & Rome, spending their days admiring select art works, sometimes attempting their own masterpieces and enjoying musical soirées. They were the art dealers dream, impressionable young men with often limitless funds who wished, through their collecting, to impress friends and relatives on their return home. Whilst most objets d’art were portable, the more ambitious collectors bought or removed classical statues such as the much contested Elgin Marbles. On these tourists return, rooms were set aside in their homes to display and impress their friends and family, statues were placed strategically in their grounds and sometimes little temples and follies were built to really show off.

Two doors down in Château de Dampierre, they have their own cabinet of curiousities. It is well worth the climb to the top of the South Tower to see the collection of, what can only be described as, random objects representing the four corners of the world and the three elements: earth, sea and sky.

Whilst somewhat more modest collectables and focusing on natural absurdities (especially favoured by alchemists, the château has many alchemic links), they are basically bizarre holiday souvenirs of days gone by. The circular room is dominated by a huge globe and all the in-between spaces amongst the intricate wooden ceiling are home to conversation pieces such as ostrich eggs, fossils, a sword fish minus the fish and a Samurai puppet, all closely watched over by a suspended baby crocodile and baby shark.

I find it comforting to think that, throughout the centuries, the impulse to collect threads through, although I draw the line at stuffed badgers and baby tortoise shells.

Perhaps now is the time to curate my treasures, dedicate a room for all the things I don’t know what to do with. Oh wait! That pretty much describes all the rooms in my house!

Château de Dampierre sur Boutonne is open in September from 10.30 – 6.30 (except Mondays = 2 – 6.30) and October times are afternoons only 2 – 6.30.

Life in 79 The Alchemist

Iinherited the gardening bug from my father. I don’t know any of the plants’ latin names, have never tested the pH levels of my soil and must be the only person in Christendom incapable of producing fruit from their orchard, but the garden is the place I go if I want to relax. Anna, my wife, has no interest in this past time. I have tried to pass on my enjoyment of horticulture by encouraging her to join me in the vegetable patch, but she has resolutely stated, on many occasions, gardening is not for her. She loves being in the great outdoors, riding up and down on the sit-on lawn mower, but if asked to fetch the secateurs from the potting shed she would struggle. Her interests lie elsewhere.

When we lived in Lincolnshire we had a potted grape vine given to us. It did nothing, but when planted in the ground it took off, like a beanstalk, across the back of the house and within a few years was covered in grapes. Anna announced she was going to make wine. I scoffed in a supportive sort of way, a large amount of expensive equipment was purchased (including an enormous thermometer) and large areas of the house dedicated to her new hobby.

The first year’s brew, which she named Shaw-raz-mattaz, was not award winning. It tasted more like sherry and had to be poured through a tea strainer to get the ‘bits’ out. But she had done it. After nearly breaking my arm trying to cork the bottles with a woefully inadequate device, ten green bottles, labelled, stood proudly on the table.

Last year, the vintner in Anna was reborn with a vine laden with juicy, bunches of white grapes.

by Stephen Shaw Having filled a large plastic tub with the harvest, Anna insisted doing it the traditional way, so sterilised her feet, donned her swim suit and clambered into the tub to do some marching on the spot. My weeding in the vegetable patch was interrupted by shrieking from the patio. Anna’s Grand Old Duke of York had been too aggressive and had split the plastic tub. A sizeable puddle of precious grape juice was spreading over the paving slabs.

Being ‘lockdown’, equipment was hard to find, and try as she might Anna could not get her hands on demijohns or airlocks, so the remaining juice was put into large plastic bottles and a complicated arrangement of plastic tubing and bottles of water (acting as makeshift airlocks) was situated behind the television. It looked like she was cooking crystal meth and television watching would be accompanied with a disconcerting bubbling sound. A bottle corker, we later discovered was for capping beer bottles, was purchased and I nearly gave myself a hernia trying get the corks in. After much effing and jeffing and a severely torn bicep we resorted to smashing the corks in with a bit of dowling and a hammer.

I am no wine connoisseur, but despite the setbacks, Shaw’s Shite White as it was labelled, was delicious; a very alcoholic apple juice. The recommendation on the label was to again pour through a tea strainer and not be consumed near a naked flame.

At the end of a long day of being in the garden, in the months of solitude, we would lift our spirits with a bottle of SSW. We look forward, with anticipation, to this years brew...we just need a more robust plastic tub.