16 November 2006

Village news and activities

As you might have heard, we have bread delivery to our front door five days a week. Roselyne drives up in her little white van full of breads and pastries, and we buy what we want. That makes life easy because on many days about the only reason we would have to start the car up and go anywhere would be to get a fresh baguette or a couple of croissants.

Now it looks like a local store is starting up free grocery deliveries as well. Can Internet shopping be far behind?


The fact is that a lot of older people live around the village and don't have cars. So the bread deliveries, and now grocery deliveries, fill a real need and make it possible for people who don't drive to continue living in their houses away from the village center. Roselyne has described some of her customers to me. They are often older women whose husbands have passed on and who don't want to leave the houses they've lived in for decades.

The flyer we got in the mail says that Michel and Elisabeth Dufour, owners of the ProxiMarché superette, will now deliver their products to addresses within 10 km/6 mi. of the store, with a minimum purchase of €20.00.

ProxiMarché carries a good selection of the local wines, along with cheeses and other dairy products, produce, canned goods, and everything a grocery store would have. It also has very nice butcher and deli counters for fresh meats, pâtés, salads, and sausages.

In other news, there will be a belote tournament on Saturday in the little château near the village church. Belote is a French card game that I don't know how to play and can find no translation for. But I did a translation of the flyer announcing the tournament. First, the French original, pour celles et ceux parmi vous qui parlez français.


And here's my translation. What I like best about it is the prizes. First prize is two legs (or hams) from a wild boar. Second prize is the shoulders. Third is a tray of chops, ribs, etc.


Evidently, somebody from the village went hunting, bagged (or blasted) a boar, and donated the carcass to the fishing club that is sponsoring the tournament.

6 comments:

  1. Hmmm... a separate prize for women, eh? Charming flyer and the prizes are certainly not run of the mill.

    Is this something you could go and watch? I guess watching card games wouldn't be easy or much fun, but maybe you could learn about the game. Do any of your friends play?

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  2. I doubt that we'll go to watch. I bet most of our French friends play belote. I know my friends back in Paris in the '70s did. But I never learned.

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  3. Francis vous apprendra à jouer à la belote quand vous reviendrez, même moi, je suis capable d'y jouer, alors, vous devriez apprendre rapidement :-)

    Dis, tu vas dire que j'ai l'esprit mal placé ce soir, mais vu le nom de la Société de Pêche qui organise ce concours, tu es sûr que c'est bien un concours de belote, lol ? On pourrait penser à de la pelote... Et pas basque du tout !!! Bon, il est tard, alors j'arrête mes élucubrations ;-) Marie

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  4. LOL, la Marie. Finalement, on ira peut-être voir comment ça se passe, ce genre de concours à Mareuil. Si ça se trouve, ça vaudra le coup d'œil !

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  5. Et bah oui, ça, c'est une idée ! Même qu'une p'tite vidéo sur ton site nous en apprendrait de belles sur la vie mondaine à Mareuil ;-) !!! Bises et bon samedi soir ! Marie

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  6. Au fait, est-ce qu'ils taquinent le goujon selon l'expression consacrée ? Car s'ils ne font que chatouiller ledit goujon, ils ne doivent pas lui faire grand mal, et tant mieux pour les gentils goujons, na :-)

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