Tag: Life in France

Life in France

Small town shopping

Pedestrian shopping street in Carcassonne
Pedestrian shopping street in Carcassonne

Do you remember Western Auto®? Long before big-box stores and their parking lots filled acres of land around the edges of cities, small-town Americans went shopping for kitchen appliances, televisions, washing machines, beds, lawn mowers, and bicycles in a compact, family-owned store like those. It was the kind of place, as Bill tells the true story of when he was growing up, that before you purchased one, would lend you two TVs to try out, even on Super Bowl Sunday. Guess what store we stopped into last week on Carcassonne’s pedestrian shopping street. Continue reading “Small town shopping”

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Life in France

French locks

Yes, a French lock but not for today's post
Yes, a French lock but not for today’s post

I started to write that the first thing we did after getting the keys to our new house was to change the lock, but that’s not actually true. We knew the toilet worked but was a bit wobbly and needed adjusting so Bill took care of that straight away. Our next step was to order a refrigerator. After all, if we were going to be working on the place for the next few months, we might as well be comfortable and the local sparkling wine doesn’t chill itself. With those priorities checked off the list it was indeed time to change the lock and have a French lesson at the same time. Continue reading “French locks”

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Dealing with government, Life in France

En-tiley ours

Blue and white tiles in the kitchen
Blue and white tiles in the kitchen

It may have taken three months, that felt like a year, but we have signed the final sales contract on a house in France. The first time I mentioned anything about house buying on the blog was in a post from May when we had been taking some pictures of courtyards. We both crave light, finding dismal days depressing, so a house built around an outdoor courtyard, with glass doors and windows opening each room to the sun was ideal. There are websites (listed at the end) that give complete details about the entire house buying process here, but the highlights of what we went through are below. Continue reading “En-tiley ours”

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Life in France

Trip to Trèbes

Trebes from the Canal-du-Midi
Trèbes viewed from the Canal-du-Midi

As the crow flies, it’s only about 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) to Trèbes which is the next town east of Carcassonne along the Canal-du-Midi. The driving distance is 10 kilometers that you can cover in around 13 minutes. According to our local tourist authority’s booklet Walks: Nature and Heritage if you follow the towpath along the canal you can get there in 2 and ½ hours on foot. Since we have chosen to live without a car and our avid-hiking friends, Gaynor and Pete were with us, you can guess how we got there. Continue reading “Trip to Trèbes”

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Life in France

The language of dance

Dancing in Carcassonne
Dancing in Carcassonne

Several times you’ve probably read here about our English friends Gaynor and Pete whom we met by chance (I call that “meeting by Bill”—the man who knows no strangers) when we still lived in Atlanta. They are quite an active couple both outdoors whether cycling, kayaking,or hiking and even indoors with the foxtrot, cha cha, and tango for example, or a helium balloon. Continue reading “The language of dance”

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Life in France

Truth or marketing?

Wine fountains
Wine fountains

If I say “boxed wine” to you, what comes to mind? Depending on your own experience it might be a bad memory (or no memory, if a bit of overindulgence were involved) or you might have lucked out and found something you like. Now, what if I say “wine fountain”? Ah, visions of wedding receptions and stacks of champagne glasses with bubbly flowing over the sides to fill the glasses below. Guess what our supermarket calls their display of wine in plastic and cardboard? Continue reading “Truth or marketing?”

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Life in France

What’s all that noise ? (part 2)

Fireworks over the castle
Fireworks over the castle

It’s hard to compete with the sight and sound of a 30-minute non-stop fireworks show that never stops to take a breathe or to let you do so either. Imagine sitting at the base of the castle above which all of these explosions are going on every few seconds and you’ll know what we did last night to celebrate the July 14 Fête Nationale or what we know as Bastille Day. Continue reading “What’s all that noise ? (part 2)”

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