Calvisson - day 1.

We were finally en route to Calvisson which involved taking the auto route - a very expensive process as my Visa card will testify! We had quite a bit of rain on the way but the heavens really opened when we arrived and we parked our car in a car park and remained in the car as there would have been no possibility to find the house and get in without getting drenched.  We were there for ages and finally decided to find a supermarket in order to stock up on some basics and something French for evening meal. It was a better use of time as it continued to rain all the time we were in the supermarket. About 2 hours later I fished the keys from under the overflowing flower pot and Jim eventually managed to get all 4 locks open It’s quite a palaver in this area of France to get into your house! All seem to have an outer door that totally closes off the doorway. An inner glass panelled door is then revealed. The outer door is kept firmly locked at all times when one is away from home or at night. During the day, if you are at home, the outer door and shutters can be opened. It is similar with the bedroom shutters but nobody took into account that the Kings like light so the bedroom shutters (on the second floor) are constantly open while we are here!

We are living on Rue Pradonne, a little narrow street off the Grand’Rue so just minutes from the centre of the village/town. The street is too narrow to park there so we have to leave our car in a car park and walk to the house. The first night we left it in a car park a little bit off the beaten track and we were not entirely sure of its safety but now we have found the municipal car park which is bigger, more open and safer according to Jim.

Inside the door is a nice living room with wood burner. There is a basic kitchen and a dining room. There is also a laundry room and toilet. Up painted cement stairs are three bedroom, a shower room and a bathroom. And at roof level there is a small kitchen/living room and a roof patio from which you can see lots of roofs and the bell tower. The bell chimes the hour (twice) from 6am to 10pm and the half hour. Chiming twice seems unusual but I will have to find out why.

The bell tower with the twice hourly striking bell.

The view from our roof patio

The Mairie just over the road from our house - it has a classical frontage. This is the building with the bell tower.

Les Halles, built in Art Nouveau style. I think Les Halles is usually a covered market place but there is no sign of that here.

The Temple - built in neo-classical style. It seems to open just one Sunday in the month suggesting that there are not too many Protestants in the area.  The Catholic Church in the middle of town has a greater congregation.

We took a walking trip around the centre of town to see what was to be seen - a Casino - not for gambling but a quite well stocked supermarket - a Creperie (closed until the 15th of May), a paper shop, a chemist, a bank, a delicatessen, a Boulanger, estate agents, a café des sports in the awning of which we took refuge for a beer while the rain passed. The Café des Sports is sadly not very salubrious but the beer was ok. On our way up Grand’rue towards our abode we noted another Boulanger, a boucherie/traiteur, a bookshop, a hairdresser's and a health food shop. So it must be an ok town to support all that business!

We had just settled to our evening meal when we heard some rattling at the outer door. Jim dismissed it as being at one of the other houses. However the rattling turned to the sound of keys and then light streaming through the inner door confirmed my belief that there was someone coming in. I rushed to the door and was met by a tall dark and handsome man who was just as amazed to see us as we were to see him. Seemingly he had contacted Sylvia to say he was bringing a potential house buyer over  (Sylvia is trying to sell the house). He apologised at length and, as I was not going to let this lovely man depart without getting some information from him, I reassured at length that it was no inconvenience to us to allow him to show the gentleman round. In they came and we sipped our wine and ate our charcuterie as the house was shown around us. Before departure we managed to extract from him the information that there is another bar just up and round the corner that may be more to our liking. He also suggested that we don’t miss the market at Sommieres on Saturday (just 11km away) and the market on Sunday in Calvisson. The two genlemen departed and we settled to tidy up and unpack. And so ended day 1 in Calvisson.