Starting a chambres d`hôte

24/08/08 Shooting Stars and Asses

We do lead a very varied life here as this month’s title might suggest! We have had a very busy month both at home with all the summer visitors and in the community with all the excitement of the annual fete and other happenings.

The month started with a quite acrimonious general meeting to sort out the finer details of the annual Fete d`Anes which was held at the Marie. Geoff was there in his official role as “active member” of the Amicale Laique (fete committee) and I along with half the commune attended to see what was happening. The problem was that the hunting club were going to run a Bal-trap(clay pigeon shoot) on the same weekend as the fete and instead of the two things running for mutual gain, each side seemed to view the other activity as a threat! It was a lively meeting and tempers got a bit frayed at times. However, in the end both events went ahead very successfully.  The weather was fantastic for the big fete day and there were lots of people there. Geoff took his judging role very seriously – although he still knows very little about asses, other than they have a head, long floppy ears and look cute! He was kept very busy helping with the cross country “marathon” in the morning (asses and carts on a timed tour of the country roads) and then judging the obstacle course (asses and carts driven around a course and awarded points for time, appearance and agility) in the afternoon. By the time we watched the firework display in the evening neither of us had any energy left to stay long at the dance which concluded the fete – which was no great loss as we still can’t get enthusiastic about accordion dance bands! There have been some changes in the committee since the fete with the appointment of a new president but Geoff has wisely stayed on the sidelines and refused to take on any more responsibility. It is very difficult for us to become any more involved as the fete occurs right in the middle of our busy period for the gite and chambres d`hotes and it was a struggle this year to fit everything in.

One of the other events which took place in the commune was the annual ceremony to commemorate the wartime resistance battle which took place here. We made a big effort to attend this year and we were amazed at how many people were there marching behind a band to lay wreaths at the war memorial and then on to the cemetery where there was a very moving ceremony. After speeches from all the local dignitaries (including the French equivalent of the local MP) the children from the school in St Etienne sur Usson laid a single red rose on each of the resistance member’s graves. We were very impressed by the sheer numbers of people present and they way that the whole community was involved from the small children up to the big wigs from the armed forces and politics. It was really emotional.

The Fete d`Anes did bring us our first “returners” in the B&B as we hosted the same pair of *** owners as last year. We have since had another guest staying for the second time too which is really nice. We have been very, very busy throughout the latter half of July and August with the gite and B&B practically full most weeks. We have had some super visitors and they have left us with some very good memories. We have had visitors from Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, England and of course lots of French people too. There is now a message in our Livre D`Or (visitors book)in Korean following the stay of a nice couple from Paris. I have no idea what it says but Oona (the Korean lady) has drawn a smiley face at the end of the message so I think she enjoyed her stay! We had one week when we had English visitors in the gite and an English family in the B&B. That was the week of the “shooting stars”. One week of the year we go through an asteroid belt and this creates the opportunity to see lots of shooting stars in the night sky. Because we have no light pollution here at Chabanol the stars are very clear and we were treated to a fabulous show this year. We had 9 English people with strange neck postures staring up at the sky each night – no wonder the French think we are slightly bonkers! Some of these English visitors also now hold the accolade for being the only people ever to get lost in Chabanol – remember it is a tiny hamlet of 8 houses! Our neighbour was very amused by them asking for directions at the end of their walk! We also had a sweet French couple who stayed for 3 nights who always referred to each other as Madame or Monsieur. She also came down for breakfast each day in her nightie! We have on two occasions also had to rustle up meals for guests when they have arrived later than expected or on a Monday night when all the local restaurants are closed. It never ceases to amaze me that all the restaurants (bar one) here close on the same night! I am not keen to do meals, as it is a lot of work, but it has proved that we can do it if necessary. We also coped with the unhappy morning when the workmen who are putting the electricity cables underground in the commune managed to cut the water main and all the water went off  - just as the guests were waking up and wanting showers! Great! That we could have done without I can tell you! But all in all it’s been a really good summer for the business.

We did have another amusing incident one night – well it is amusing now in hindsight! We were settling down for the night and were just about to put out the light in our bedroom when in through the open window flew a bat. It has happened before and usually the bat flies round and goes out immediately. Not this night though, as seconds later in flew another bat and then a third! Now, I do like the bats in the garden and they do help to keep the insect numbers under control, but three bats circling round my bedroom was a bit unnerving to say the least! Geoff uttered the wonderful phrase “if you put the light out they will go away” – fat chance of that happening! My final words to him as I fled into the bathroom are unprintable – and got worse as one of the critters followed me into that sanctuary too! To his credit he did get rid of them, and to mine, I didn’t scream once (remember we had guests staying). But the window was firmly closed after that despite it being a very hot night!

We (or rather Geoff, as he has declared that “he will take charge of everything”) are in the midst of preparing a celebration of our 30^th wedding anniversary which is in September. We have decided to invite some of our friends from round here for a lunchtime meal and as the gite is vacant that weekend, it seemed a good idea to host the event ourselves. However I am a little worried at the size of the guest list now! Also, the idea was to ask people to bring a dessert or something for the meal but all the conversations I have overheard so far do not seem to include this request! I feel a long stint in the kitchen approaching fast! Watch this space!