The Good Life in St Secondin

Or - la Vie est Belle, or La Vie à la Campagne....
On Friday I worked at the Lycee and then after school went home with Claudine to her place. She lives with her husband François in an episode from the Living Channel. Oh well, I don't suppose that's quite true, but really, it was just EXACTLY like A Year In Provence or No Going Back - that sort of thing. They live near a little village called St Secondin, which is not all that far away from a small town called Gençay. Claudine bought the farmlet about 15 years ago and has been restoring it from its derelict state ever since. It is quite perfect.
Crumbling stone walls, wild gardens, climbing roses, charming clutter... It's just great. They are very 'green' and use only solar power. François is restoring a wonderful old barn, and has there some joists from the 13th century to install!

Claudine and François incidentally 'went out' together when they were young, and then found each other again and got married about 12 years ago. Isn't that nice? They are about my age - just a bit younger. So we settled in on Friday night and ate, then F went off to his music group in St Secondin. He plays the flute and sings. After a while Claudine and I went along too and Claudine joined in and I sort of did. The director of the group was a vibrant young woman of about 30 who would be perfect as a Sweet Adeline! I don't think there are any in France. But anyway....
On Saturday morning Claudine and I went into Gençay to do some messages. (Do people say that any more? Or was it only ever a Dunedin expression anyway? "I'm just off to do some messages!") We went into the Tourism Centre and got some brochures and we had a look round the shops. Incidentally, one of the reasons Claudine chose this weekend to invite me to stay was because it was the weekend of the annual medieval festival in Gençay. But someone on the committee died and it was cancelled! Dommage! We also bought quite a bit of food at the market. We then drove round to look at a ruined castle - I love castle ruins -
and also popped in to see Claudine's brother and his wife who live at the foot of the castle by a river and have their own little island!
We had a look at an old lavabo - where people used to gather to do their washing in the olden days. (Did I say people? Women.) And then we went back home and had a long and leisurely lunch. We had plans for the afternoon, but didn't get going till about 3.00pm. Which is fairly standard in France.
So on a glorious late spring day we set off. We drove along small country roads and went through several small towns and villages. Our main visit for the day was the Château de Cibioux near Surin.
We got a guided tour from the owner, a former Parisien who bought it years ago and has spent thousands of hours and no doubt euros restoring it. He was so full of information and it was fascinating. But tiring for me trying to focus really hard to understand. Cibioux has been occupied since the 8th century, starting life as a monastery, and despite being ruined by the Religious Wars of the the 1600s has been restored, confiscated, sold, damaged, restored again, added on to.... It was really interesting. We also visited Civray,
Charroux, Joussé and Usson-du-Poitou. I just loved driving round in the countryside. I felt really content, and despite not being within a bull's roar of a mall, I reckon if I had spotted a cute little cottage for sale I would have bought it on the spot! In fact, I would love to do that, and go over each year. Is there a government grant do you think, which makes allowances for old ladies who keep wanting to go back to France?
On Sunday Claudine and I went to the Boulangerie - you can't keep me away - and bought a little cake each for lunch. We then went and called round to see Stéphane, a young man in his late 30s - I meet heaps of young men in their 30s! - who often works for Claudine and François and invited him for after lunch coffee. We then went and looked at the camping site and the big artificial pool, known as the beach, which gets filled up for all of July and August. Apparently heaps of people come to St Secondin to stay there in the summer holidays.
An amazing lunch of duck and other yummy things. And our little cakes! Then Stéphane came round and the afternoon drifted happily on and turned into a singing practice for the three of them. With me trying to join in from time to time. There we were, ouside in the garden singing French songs with a guitar, harmonica and flute, and with a bit of harmonising going on - I really thought I had died and gone to heaven. Nah, I didn't really, but it sure was pleasant. Idyllic even. After that we went for a walk through the fields and saw some land that C and F own where they grow trees.
Stéphane was a lovely young man. I guess what you would call a simple country boy - and by that I don't mean unintelligent at all. But just content in his small village which he likes he told me because it is 'tranquille'. He has his music, mostly has work, has a motor scooter, and he doesn't want anything else. I wish I was as easily pleased. He asked lots of questions about New Zealand and was very patient with my French. He said that I speak better French than most of the English people who have settled in the area - and apparently there are lots of them. Certainly some of them make a real effort to learn the language, but there are also those who don't make any effort at all.
So the day drew to a close and it was time for me to go home. I had such nice time. I think that in many ways my goal has been to spend time with real people and just share their day to day lives in some way. I sure love travelling round, but I think that even more I love feeling as if I am becoming part of what is happening in Vienne, in the Poitou Charentes region. In fact I couldn't imagine wanting to live anywhere else in France. Anyway, Claudine drove me home, and once again we went via small country roads. One of the reasons was that she wanted to show me the sign which showed where border was between Occupied France and Free France during WWII.

So it was all good. And the weekend finished off well too, as Toby rang at night and I got to chat with him and of course Sienna. Miss Gorgeous Chatterbox herself! Today I have been a writer all day! Tomorrow I need to unpack my suitcase which I haven't touched, do some washing, go to the bank, check out some shoes I fancy as a reward for passing my exams :-), go to the station to pick up some tickets for my next trip... Oh, and I have to go to school in the afternoon! It's such a busy life!