Country living, Flowers & gardens, Les Grouets, Life in France, Loire Valley, Renovation

Easter Sunday in Les Grouets

April 6, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 18 Comments

We have just finished breakfast at a very late hour, mainly due to the switchover to daylight saving last Sunday, which is still playing havok with my already terrible sleeping habits, and have decided to go for a walk before lunch. It’s sunny but only 8°C and there is a northern wind which means it feels like it’s about 4°C.

Jennet in front of a half-timber house — Jennet in front of a modern half-timber house

We walk down our very long street towards Blois and turn left at the church, then up the hill and under the overpass, admiring all the flowering shrubs on the way.

You can only guess at the view from the front of this house

We take the first street on the left and keep climbing. We are eventually walking parallel to our street, but about seventy metres above. Many of the houses have a spectacular view of the Loire but the noise of the riverside traffic is louder than it is at river level.

Our house is two houses to the left off the edge of the photo

Eventually we find a track that leads us to the edge of the hillside overlooking the railway line. This is the closest we can get to our house which is two doors down from the last house on the left of the photo.

A very un-environmen-friendly cubby house

We go back to the main path which eventually leads us to a steep track down through the forest. We spy a little cubby house built many moons ago to judge by the materials used – and very un-environment-friendly! The forest floor is covered in little yellow and white flowers.

After lunch and a little siesta interrupted by the doorbell (by the time we emerge it’s too late, the person has already left), I go into the kitchen to start preparing lamb shank for the first time in my life. It’s Easter Sunday after all. With no children or grandchildren around, this is our only concession to Easter which our family has not celebrated since my sister died on Easter Saturday many long years ago. We’ve already eaten our April Fish Day chocolates.

I love lamb shank but you usually have to order it at the butcher’s and it takes a long time to cook. Yesterday at the supermarket, there were four shanks just crying out to be bought. I check out a few recipes on the web, many of which seem time-consuming. Not my scene … I eventually find one that looks easy.

You just have to peel and chop a couple of carrots, thinly slice a couple of shallots (which, amazingly, I happen to have!), peel some garlic cloves, brown the shanks in olive oil in a pan that you can put in the oven, déglaze with vinegar, add the other ingredients along with a bouquet garni (which I go and gather in the garden), a teaspoon of cumin and a tablespoon of honey. Add ½ litre of water (it’s supposed to be beef bouillon but the only cubes I have are chicken), bring to simmering point, cover and put in a 200°C oven for three hours, adding another ½ litre of water halfway through cooking. Easy, huh ?

The wood I stacked with the resting block next to it!

Meanwhile Jean Michel is up in our little wood filling the wheelbarrow with logs from the ailanthus tree he cut down last year. During the night the pile of logs collapsed making evacuation urgent. He then takes them down to our sheltered wood pile. I play my part by unstacking them after he empties the wheelbarrow onto the ground. Some are a bit heavy but I still manage. I have a little rest on the cutting block while waiting for the next load. It’s much less stressful that having to make sure my logs are exactly 50 centimetres long!

It’s time to go and check the lamb. The smell is heavenly – I only hope it tastes as good.

My weeded garden bed outside the gate, with flowering forget-me-nots and a yellow daisy affair, and hollyhocks, roses and irises in the making.

We follow up with some gardening. Jean Michel is cleaning an area in front of our little house to store the freestone blocks we’re acquiring at the moment. He unearths about forty refractory bricks which I stack in a neat pile. If we don’t eventually use them, we can always sell them over leboncoin.com!

My stack of bricks next to the first lot of freestone blocks

The lamb turns out to be delicious. I serve it with creamy mashed potatoes flavoured with truffle shavings from the truffle we bought at the Truffle Fair and froze in January. We have a red bergerac from the Dordogne to go with it.

By the time we’re sitting in front of the fire having our decaf espresso, I think that every muscle in my body must be aching which makes me realise how out of shape I am after my flu this winter. Let’s hope the weather is going to get warmer soon so we can be out and about on our bikes again.

Architecture, Closerie Falaiseau, Renovation

Old Bricks, a Cloche and a Priory

March 30, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 17 Comments

While the concrete sill on the practice window (made with our new secondhand concrete mixer) is drying, Jean Michel is planning the logistics for the two large windows in the kitchen. We’ve already bought two stone sills for the rear façade window through leboncoin.com (where else ?) but we need bricks for the side window and the barn.

We can’t use new bricks of course as they would not blend in with the original architecture. Jean Michel sees an advertisement on leboncoin.com for 200 bricks for 50 euro. Considering that another vendor is asking 2.50 euro a brick, it seems a pretty good offer. He phones and organises to pick them up next afternoon. The vendor lives about 40 minutes away.

When we arrive, we see the first stack of bricks waiting for us. We load them in the car along with another stack slaked in mud. Fortunately, it’s stopped raining. Before we go and pick up the rest from his grandmother’s house another 30 minutes away, the vendor shows us a couple of other things he has for sale, including three beautifully preserved glass cloches once used to grow seedlings. He’s selling them for 70 euro a piece but you have to take the three.

His grandmother was still living in the house until she died peacefully in her sleep last December, just 4 days after she turned 100. The house turns out to be a priory built in the 12th and 16 centuries and still has a chapel at the rear. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the key with him but we can make out the vaulting through the grille.

The priory from the back. You can see the archway leading into the chapel.

The renovations on the front façade, with its roller blinds, are a little bit modern for our taste but the vendor seems very proud of them.

We load the rest of the bricks into the car. I’m a bit worried about the weight. It may be a Volvo stationwagon but there are 244 whole bricks, each weighing about 2 kilos, and another 50 or 60 broken ones. That’s over 550 kilos.

The Volvo very close to the ground at the back!

As we drive very carefully over the first speed bump, we hear a terrible grating noise casued by the trailer coupling. Hmm … The next speed bump looks even higher so we stop and reload the bricks so that the weight is more evenly distributed.

The bricks unloaded. You can see the stone sills at the end of the garden. The "practice" window is the last one on the right. — The bricks unloaded. You can see the stone sills at the end of the garden. The “practice” window is the last one on the right. That horrible concrete block wall will eventually be rendered.

Jean Michel drives home at a maximum of 70 kph instead of the usual 90 kph and we’re both relieved when we make it without further mishap. Next time we’ll take the trailer!

The kitchen window will be made after the small window on the left. — The kitchen window will be made after the small window on the far left where the ivy is growing

We then spend an hour or so loading the bricks into the wheelbarrow, taking them around the back of the house and unloading them. Does this sound familiar? Particularly if I say it’s also a fast day?

The side façade. The rounded part is the back of the bread oven. The window will be on the right and will match the window up the top, only it will be bigger. — The side façade. The rounded part is the back of the bread oven. The new window will be on the right, to the left of the small window and will match the window up the top, only it will be bigger.

Uncategorized

Friday’s French – je me débrouille

March 27, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 4 Comments

“Je me débrouille” is one of Jean Michel’s most oft-used expressions. The verb brouiller comes from the Gallo-Roman brodiculare which is turn comes from the verb brodigar in the Italian dialect of Bergamo (a lovely city, what’s more) meaning to sully or soil, a derivative of the German brod, meaning broth. In old French, it was used figuratively to mean to alter and finally to mix up or disrupt.

This is not Bergamo of course, but Milan, which is the next big city. — This is not Bergamo of course, but Milan, which is the closest big city.

Apart from its use in “oeufs brouillés” (scrambled eggs), the initial meaning has been lost. It is now used figuratively to mean “to create confusion by eliminating order” as in “brouiller les pistes” which literally means to cover tracks but metaphorically means to confuse or cloud the issue.

This has led to a series of uses that all revolve around the idea of something not being clear.

Il a des idées brouillées: His ideas are somewhat muddled.

Après avoir fermé le coffre, il faut brouiller la combinaison – After closing the safe, you have to scramble the numbers.

Cette affaire d’argent l’a brouillée avec sa famille. – This money business has created bad feeling with his family.

La buée a brouillé mes lunettes – My glasses have misted up.

Il m’a brouillé avec l’informatique – He really put me off computers.

Now for débrouiller. Well, it’s the opposite of brouiller, used in expressions such as débrouiller les fils (untangle the thread)s, débrouiller les papiers (sort out your papers), débrouiller un élève en informatique (teach a student the basics of computing).

In the reflexive form, i.e. se débrouiller, it takes on the meaning of being able to work something out for yourself despite the difficulties, which is the way Jean Michel uses it.

Tu es sûr que tu as assez de briques? Je me débrouille : Are you sure you have enough bricks? I’ll make do.

As-tu la liste des courses? Je me débrouille : Do you have the shopping list? I’m looking after it.

Il pleut. Comment fais-tu pour le béton? Je me débrouille : It’s raining. What will you do about the concrete? Don’t worry.

In fact, the essential meaning is “don’t worry, I’ll find a way and you don’t have to ask me any more questions about it”. But I’m one of those (annoying) people who likes to know how problems are solved so I’m always asking “Tu vas te débrouiller comment ?” (How are you going to do it?). But I don’t always get an answer. I should learn to use it more myself, but being a woman, I always feel I have to give an explanation for everything!

Renovation

Cement Mixers and Crows

March 25, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 9 Comments

Jean Michel has widened the window in the laundry to put in a new one as practice for the bay window that he is going to make in the 70 cm thick wall in the kitchen to let in more light and give us a view of our little wood which is currently full of daffodilsand primroses.

Daffodils and primroses in our little wood

Now he needs a cement mixer. He’s come to the conclusion that he needs a 150 litre model and has combed leboncoin.com, our favourite secondhand website. He has found a likely candidate in Blois and we’ve hooked up the trailer.

Jean Michel cutting through the lining bricks from the inside of the enlarged window

When we arrive at our destination on Saturday afternoon, he has a look at the cement mixer and, despite what was written in the ad, sees there is a plaque saying that it is 110 litres. Hmm. We sit in the car and look at all the other ads on my iPhone (I have a leboncoin app). We phone several people but to no avail, leaving messages when there is no answer.

Just as we are get home, the phone rings. A man near Montrichard, about 40 minutes away, has a 165 litre model that seems to correspond to what we are looking for. It’s 200 euro as opposed to 500 or 600 euro new. We make an appointment for Monday morning as he’s busy all weekend. It’s the end of the hunting season, he tells Jean Michel, and he’s looking after the final feast.

The road ahead is where the Tom Tom tried to take us!

We arrive on time despite the fact that our Tom Tom tries to take a short cut over a grassy track. Fortunately, there is just enough room to turn around, never simple with a large trailer.

A sliding gate opens in a high hedge and the hunter indicates where we are to park. We can see the cement mixer at the far end of the garden. The grounds are large and flat with a basic-looking house on one side. There are several enclosures and sheds. Dotted about the garden are small statues.

Jean Michel and the hunter in his flat cap

While Jean Michel sizes up the cement mixer, I take a few discreet photos. There is a donkey, lots of hens running around, at least two geese and three dogs of various sizes. There are also three large bird cages which, to my untrained eye, appear to contain crows and magpies.

The hunter points out the cleanness of his cement mixer and the blades inside that he made himself to replace the original inefficient ones. Jean Michel then discovers it’s fifteen years old so tries to bring down the price. No, that is my final price, says the hunter, so Jean Michel says he’ll take it and starts getting the trailer ready.

Between them, that get it into the trailer and attached with two straps. Jean Michel hands over the money and we’re all set to go. But I am curious about the crows.

“What do you do with the birds in the cages?”, I ask, careful not mention crow or magpie just in case I’m completely wrong and they’re some sort of special species.

He explains that he captures them and sets them free further afield where there are fewer crows and magpies. Some of his hunter friends seem to be a part of this operation. He then lets slip that he has far two many crows on his own property and they steal his eggs. There you go!

We set off for home, but have to stop a couple of times on the way. First, some loose cardboard flies out of the back of the trailer and second, one of the straps snaps. Fortunately, Jean Michel notices it immediately and the other strap is still firmly securing the cement mixer.

We arrive back home with no further mishaps and unload our new acquisition. After lunch, Jean Michel goes off to buy sand, gravel and cement. When he comes back, I help him bag it (well, I prepare and hold the bags while he shovels) and he takes it around the back to the window in the wheelbarrow. By the time we’re finished, we’re well and truly ready for a shower and dinner. It’s a 5:2 fast day and we’ve worked up an appetite!

French customs, Les Grouets

Voting in the provinces

March 23, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 7 Comments

There are no provinces in France but anything that happens outside Paris is called “en province”. In fact, France is divided first into 27 regions, including Normandie, Picardy and Brittany (our region is called Centre and not Pays de la Loire as one might imagine), while some of them are overseas (Guadeloupe and Martinique, for example), which in turn are divided into 101 départements.

France's regions in bold letters and départements — France’s regions in bold letters and départements

The present elections are for the départements (sometimes called departments in English which can lead to confusion) and called élections départementales. They used to be called cantonales. Our département is called Loir et Cher, after two of the rivers it contains. We also have the Loire of course, but we share that with a lot of others as well.

Election billboards outside the polling station

We made sure we registered on-line as residents of Blois before 1st January, which is the cut-off date for the place in which you vote for the coming year. Last time, we voted in Paris. Our polling station is n° 408 which we learnt from our new voting cards which we only received earlier in the week. Voting is always on a Sunday in France. Fortunately it’s just down the road in the school that closed last year.

Sign pointing to voting bureau 408 — Sign pointing to polling station 408

When we arrive around midday we are surprised to see quite a crowd. We follow the usual procedure. First we show our voting card and identity card. We are then invited to pick up a ballot. As we have already prepared our ballots at home (we received theseby mail during the week as well), we say we don’t need one. “Ah”, says the attendant, “since you have taken an envelope, you should pick up at least two ballots.”

The voting bureau is at the end of the building where the people are standing — The polling station is at the end of the building where the people are standing

I proceed to take one of each, while Jean Michel refuses altogether. While he’s arguing, I go into a booth (isoloir) and put my ballot in the little blue envelope. I come out and stand in line for the next step. Jean Michel arrives behind me. “You have to go into the booth”, he says, “you can’t just put your ballot in the envelope”. I explain that I’ve already been in booth while he was arguing!

Step 1 where you should your ID and election card

I throw away my other ballots in the rubbish bag and take a couple of photos, hoping that it won’t be considered out of turn. No one seems to notice. I then give my ID to a man sitting at the voting table. He looks at it and gives it to the next man who calls out my name, loud and clear. The lady on the other side, who has the electoral roll, asks how to spell it.

She then finds my name and I go past the urn to sign the roll. After I have done so, I am invited to put my ballot in the urn. “A voté” says the master of cermonies.

Jean Michel about to but his ballot in the urn

I then take a photo of Jean Michel about to vote. We walk home feeling very Blésois now that we’ve actually voted here !

The school in our street from the outside

As I’m writing, the estimated results are UMP-UDI-Modem-DVD (right-wing/centrist parties), 36%, far ahead of their competitors, Socialist Party and allies, 28.5%, Front National (ultra-right-wing) 24.6%, the largest ever for these elections and the single party with the largest number of votes, and far left 6.3%. However, I don’t know what the turnout is but the figures at 5 pm showed it should not make 50% but is higher than the previous élections départementales by several percentage points. Unlike Australia, voting is not compulsory in France.

Spring flowers on the way back from voting

Most of France will probably have to vote again next Sunday because of the election system. One of the parties must have an absolute majority (mor than 50% of the votes) to get through on the first round. So looks like we’ll be doing the same thing next Sunday.

French language

Friday’s French – Important, importance, substantial, substantiel

March 20, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

Unlike English, important in French can indicate quantity where in English, it only means “of great import or significance”.

e.g. Il y avait un nombre important de demandes : there were a large number of applications.

Il y a un nombre important d'églises en France — Il y a un nombre important d’églises en France – There are a large number of churches in France

In English, we have to choose among a whole range of words such as large, considerable, substantial, big and extensive!

You sometimes see substantiel in French but it is often a loan translation or calque. Substantiel is used more restrictively in French.

Nourriture substantielle = nourishing food

Exposé très substantiel = An essay with a lot of substance

Only in sentences such as il a obtenu des advantages substantiels = he obtained a substantial number of advantages is it used in the typical English meaning of the word.

My Chambers dictionary gives SIXTEEN different meanings for substantial :

Of or having substance
Being a substance
Essential
Actually existing
Real
Corporeal, material
Solid
Stable
Solidly based
Durable
Enduring
Firm, stout, strong
Considerable in amount
Bulk
Well-to-do, wealth, influential
Of firm, solid or sound value.

WOW! What a useful word. Unfortunately it doesn’t give examples but I’ll try and find some. You can see that the solution in French is different every time.

He sustained a substantial loss = Il a subi une perte considérable.

My father was a very substantial man in his heyday = Mon père était un homme imposant dans la force de l’âge.

That is a very substantial argument = C’est un argument de poids.

The house has a substantial structure = La maison a une structure solide.

He offered substantial proof of his innocence = Il avait des preuves convaincantes de son innocence.

They run a substantial business = Ils ont une grosse affaire.

They are in substantial agreement = Ils sont d’accord sur l’essentiel.

His objections were substantial = Ses objections étaient bien fondées.

She comes from a substantial Scottish family = Elle vient d’une famille prospère écossaise

Une modification substantielle d’un contrat concerns the substance of an agreement i.e. an essential component such as remuneration or qualification. This is called a substantial amendment in English but un élément substantiel d’un contrat is an essential part of a contract and not a substantial part.

Substantial completion is a term widely used in construction and applies when the contractor has substantially but not completely performed the contract requirements. In French this is known simply as achèvement but we’re getting into legal subtleties here!

Do you know any other examples in which important/important and substantial/substantiel have different meanings in English and French?

Blois, Closerie Falaiseau, Flowers & gardens, Food, French customs, Renovation

Invited for Dessert

March 16, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 13 Comments

We haven’t seen Mr and Mrs Previous Owner for quite some time, what with moving, retirement blues, Christmas, New Year, the flu, Granada, getting over the flu and finishing the glass doors and shutters. However, we are now sufficiently en forme for a visit.

I took this photo from the stop of a step ladder on the other side of the wall enclosing the house when I was cleaning of the moss

Mrs Previous Owner emails me and suggests either dessert and coffee or an apéritif. We decide on dessert and coffee because we know that the apéritif means a lot of vouvray and we’ll be driving to their home a half an hour away. We’ve also scheduled a visit to the nearly Brico Depot DIY to buy a window for the laundry.

I always feel badly when we see their house. Having to trade Closerie Falaiseau, which they spent twenty years lovingly doing up, for a modern house, must have been very hard. Fortunately, our enthusiasm for the Closerie helped them to get over the hurdle of having to sell for financial and health reasons after they both retired.

The daffodils planted by Mr and Mrs Previous Owner

When we get there at 1.30 pm, Mr Previous Owner, who is very punctual, welcomes us in and I am a little surprised to see that neither the living room table nor the kitchen table are set. Mrs Previous Owner appears and I give her the enormous bouquet of daffodils that Jean Michel gathered in our little wood earlier on. We have Mr and Mrs Previous Owner to thank for our wonderful carpet of daffodils.

Mrs Previous Owner takes us through to the veranda that fronts onto the kitchen. Despite the fact that we’ve been to their new home several times, I have no recollection of a glassed-in veranda! The table is set with plates, serviettes, wine glasses and coffee cups.

Wine glasses and coffee cups on the veranda

We sit down and Mrs Previous Owner brings out not one, but two stunning cakes from a local pâtisserie.

I don’t know what the situation in Australia is today, but back in my youth, no one would have dreamed of inviting someone over and not baking their own cakes or biscuits. In France, however, that is not the case and cakes bought at a good pâtisserie are more than welcome.

Chocolate and raspberry cakes from Eric Saguez’s pâtisserie

We accept the offer for a glass of vouvray to accompany the very delicious chocolate and raspberry concoctions made by Eric Saguez at his pâtisserie in Rue du Commerce in Blois, and even take seconds ! Good thing yesterday was a 5:2 fast day …

Thanks to my iPhone, I am able to show them the new glassed-in doors and shutters. They are suitably impressed.

I tell them about the broken weathervane and Mr Previous Owner immediately says that if it happens again, he’ll be more than happy to repair it.

A little later, after coffee, when Jean Michel and Mr Previous Owner are in deep discussion about our alarmingly high property tax, I learn that Mrs Previous Owner hasn’t downloaded the photos on her iPhone for 3 years. We go upstairs to the computer so that I can show her how to do it.

It’s getting late and we still have to buy the window so we take our leave and promise to see them again soon at the Closerie, when the wisteria is in bloom.

Our standard white PVC tilt and turn window

At Brico Depot, we learn that they only sell white PVC turn and tilt windows which are not what we want since all our other windows are stained a dark oak colour. At least we haven’t gone out of our way. Two days later, however, having checked the prices for coloured PVC and wooden windows which turn out to be five times higher, we go back and get a white one. It is, after all, at the back of the house, down near the woodpile in an area which I intend to close off with bushes so I can put up a discreet clothes line. But that’s another project!

Closerie Falaiseau, Renovation

More Light at Last

March 9, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 18 Comments

Jean Michel’s first retirement project is finished. All five doors on the front façade of Closerie Falaiseau now have glass panels instead of three glass and two solid wood doors. The difference in light is amazing!

Closerie Falaiseau, with the two full doors from the outside — Closerie Falaiseau, with the two solid wood doors seen from the outside

The first step in November is to order the new glass. The next step, in December, is to block up the ground floor doorway with glass wool insulation while the first door is being converted. It’s winter after all!

The door in the office with its wooden panels

To replace the solid panels with glass, the surrounds have to be removed. Jean Michel is hoping to be able to use them again but he soon realises that it won’t be possible. He’ll have to make new ones.

After the surrounds and solid panels have been removed, the glass panels are fitted and work on the new surrounds begins. This door is quite tricky because the top is curved to go under the arch. The glass has a straight edge of course but there isn’t a lot of leeway because it’s regulation double glazing and very thick.

Alain arrives just in time to help Jean Michel hang the door

The first door is now finished and ready to be hung. I’m just about to help Jean Michel carry it across the courtyard when our helpful neighbour Alain walks past and lends a welcome hand.

Door in place with the glass fibre behind — Door in place with the glass fibre insulation behind

The door’s up and looking good. All that has to be done now is to remove the glass fibre insulation outside for the light to come streaming through into the office.

Light flooding into the office in the morning

The final step is to make the wooden shutter that will protect us from burglary and keep out the cold at night in winter. It obviously has to be identical to all the others in the house.

Downstairs shutter drying in the kitchen after the first coat of varnish

Once he has finished making it and put on the first coat of varnish, Jean Michel brings it into the kitchen to dry as the temperatures are going down fast.

Now the glass wool is on the upstairs door into the living room

Various events get in the way – my flu, Granada, etc. – before he is able to start the second door. Initially it goes much faster because he has already gained experience. He knows he won’t be able to re-use the surrounds so doesn’t have to take such care removing them.

Staining the door in the kitchen out of the cold

However, it’s February and it’s much colder outside so the even the varnish on the door has to be done in the kitchen or it won’t dry. It’s also very cold in the garage where Jean Michel is working.

This time, since the door has to be carried upstairs, he makes an apointment with Alain to come by rather than trust to luck.

We’re delighted with the result of course, but we’re surprised to see that the door looks narrower than it did before.

Inside, you can see the locks and bolts better.

The two upstairs shutters being held together while the glue is drying

Because of the position of the lock, two shutters are needed this time. But as I explained in an earlier post, a little problem arises when Jean Michel is using the plunge router to make the profile on the edge of the surrounds. A screw comes loose and causes a bigger hollow than he intends. Fortunately, though, after a short rest, he’s able to rectify matters.

The delinquent plunge router that lost its screw

I volunteer to help with the varnishing this time but it’s a technique I’ve never used before (very different from painting) and I’m afraid I’ll make a mess of it so I leave it to Jean Michel who has a lot more practice.

Breakfast in the upstairs living room so we can look through the new door

Initially we’re not used to having the glass panels and the corresponding light and we keep thinking we’ve left the door open! Now in the morning when we have breakfast in the upstairs living room, we don’t turn our chairs in the direction of the fireplace as we do at night, but towards the door and the countryside beyond. More light at last!

French language

Friday’s French – gens, personnes, monde, peuple, people

March 6, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 19 Comments

People learning French seem to find it difficult to know how to translate the word people! It’s because there are several different words that can be used depending on the context and meaning: gens, personnes, monde, peuple, people. Aïe!

Il y avait beaucoup de monde au marché. Il y avait plusieurs personnes habillées en noir. Les gens avaient l'air content parce qu'il faisait soleil. — *Il y avait beaucoup de monde au marché. Il y avait plusieurs personnes habillées en noir. Les gens avaient l’air content parce qu’il faisait soleil.* – There were lots of people at the market. Several people were dressed in black. People looked happy because it was sunny.

Let’s start with a few examples and see how they are used.

Les gens intelligents = clever people

Les personnes âgées = old people

Les jeunes (gens) = young people

Beaucoup de gens/monde = a lot of people

Il y avait beaucoup de monde = the place was full of people

Plusieurs personnes m’ont parlé de l’accident. = Several people told me about the accident.

Combien de personnes ? = How many people?

Ce sont de drôles de gens = They’re strange people.

Que vont penser les gens ? = What will people think

Le peuple australien = the Australian people

Les gens de la campagne = country people

Can you see a pattern emerging? Well I can’t !

Why don’t we say les personnes intelligentes and les gens âgés ? And why not les jeunes personnes ?

I checked my Larousse dictionary to see if I could find a difference

GENS :

Personnes en nombre indéterminé – People when there is an indeterminate number [Les gens flânaient dans la rue – People were wandering in the streets]
Les hommes en général – Men in general [Les gens sont influencés par la publicité – People are influenced by advertising]
Telle ou telle personne, ou la personne qui parle – Such and such a person, or the person speaking [Vous avez une façon de recevoir des gens ! – You have a way of welcoming people!]
Personnes appartenant à un état, à une profession – People belonging to a state or profession. [Les gens du spectacle – People in show business]

OK, it’s clear for n° 4 and maybe fore n°2 but it doesn’t really explain why we talk about personnes intelligentes but gens âgés.

So I asked the question on my French translators’ list and got some very different answers, some of which are contradictory which just goes to show that even the French don’t agree on usage!

1. It’s always better to use personnes when you can.

2. Les gens intelligents et les personnes intelligentes sont différents. Maybe, but if it is, it’s very subtle. I googled the two expressions and in most of the examples they seem pretty interchangeable to me, with 30,900 hits for personnes intelligentes and 165,000 for gens intelligents!

4. Personnes is used when it could be perceived negatively such as personnes âgées, personnes handicapées (yes, handicapped is politically correct in French!) and gens when it’s positive : jeunes gens, braves gens. Ok, but what about les gens tristes?

5. Semantically, when using personnes the human dimension is stronger while gens is a neutral term. Personnes âgées shows respect for the elderly.

6. Jeunes gens is the plural of jeune homme and excludes jeunes filles.

7. Jeunes gens can also mean jeunes filles.

8. Personnes is used to distinguish a particular group such as grandes personnes (adults), personnes sourdes (the hearing impaired).

9. Correct French always “sounds” right. Yes, but only if you are brought up hearing correct French in my opinion!

10. Maybe gens is more difficult to use with an adjective because it can be either masculine or feminine or both.

My personal feeling is that it is mostly a question of what people usually use. In French, personnes âgées is by far the more prevalent expression (17,300,00 hits on google as opposed to gens âgés).

If you’re talking about a nebulous group – sad people, happy people, clever people, people in the street, people who live alone – you would use gens: les gens tristes, les gens heureux, les gens intelligents, les gens dans la rue, les gens qui habitent seuls.

If the group is more specific (with the exception of personnes âgées which is the more usual term as state above), such as the people on my left, the people who arrived late, the people concerned, you would use personnes: les personnes à ma gauche, les personnes qui sont arrivées en retard, les personnes concernées.

But despite all this, personnes and gens are not always interchangeable. I started writing this post after hearing an English speaker use the wrong one but now I can’t for the life of me remember what it was!

However, in the initial set of phrases, it is not possible to say plusieurs gens, combien de gens, que vont penser les personnes or les personnes de la campagne. It would just sound odd!

And one last word before I finish off. People is used in French to mean celebrities.

Any questions???

Eastern Europe, Romania, Slovenia, Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: All about Romanians – Mediaeval Slovenia – Travel Safety in Albania

March 4, 2015 Rosemary Kneipp 10 Comments

This week’s blogger round-up is focussed on Eastern Europe, a destination I find quite fascinating. To start off, Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond tells us what you should know about Romanians before you travel to the country where she was born. Next, Australian-born Jo Karnaghan from Frugal First Class Travel takes us to mediaeval Slovenia as part of an Adriatic sea cruise. To finish off, Andrea from Rear View Mirror, an Australian married to an Albanian, answers a question she is often asked: “Is it safe to travel to Albania?” Enjoy!

What you should know about Romanians before you travel to Romania

by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel

As a tourist in Romania, you may easily feel at home and forget that you are in a foreign country. But the welcoming and friendly spirit of the Romanian people will not help you bridge the cultural differences and understand their values. So in order to avoid a culture shock, there are some things you should know about Romanians before you travel to their country. Of course, Romanians are not all the same, but there are some cultural characteristics that most of them share. Read more

Explore Medieval Slovenia on an Adriatic Sea Cruise

by Jo Karnaghan from Frugal First Class Travel, an Australian who loves to travel – especially in Europe – and who has gradually learned how to have a First Class trip on an economy budget, without missing out on anything!

Slovenia is a country famed for its Gothic architecture and medieval towns, the most fascinating of which is arguably the coastal city of Koper in the south-west. If you’re looking to go medieval in a big way then this city provides many old town historic sights as well as easy access to the country’s popular capital city.

Ports of call on an Adriatic Sea cruise will almost always include Croatia’s famous walled-city of Dubrovnik but if you’re looking to step back in time then ensure that Slovenia’s Koper is listed on your itinerary. Read more

Is it safe to travel in Albania?

by Andrea from Rear View Mirror (formerly Destination Europe), a fellow Australian who, after 6 years of living in France, has given up her Paris apartment to live a nomadic life slowing travelling around Europe, experiencing each destination like a local.

Since returning from an extended stay in Albania and publishing my guide to visiting the country, I’ve been receiving regular emails from readers wanting to know more.

Surprisingly, for me, one of the most common questions I’m asked is whether it’s safe to travel to Albania. I admit to finding this question a little perplexing. Aside from a brief period of unrest in 1997, Albania hasn’t been in a conflict since WWII.

Even during the Communist period when the country was mostly closed to outside visitors, it was still possible to safely travel around the country.

Random acts of violence are practically unheard of and even pickpocketing is uncommon. Read more

Aussie in France