The Pontrieux Report » French life

The latest addition to my kitchen

Gary Pepworth — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:49:53 +0000

I picked up one of these today off eBay. A brand new unused Imperia Italian Double Cutter Pasta Machine SP150. Going on Amazon for £44, I paid £16.

When I had my tea room in France I tended to cook most things from scratch, as opposed to assemble, which is what I suspect the hotel opposite me did. (Can one person prepare a three course meal for 100 covers, plus 30 or so menu ouvrier without resorting to opening packets?).

So all my bread, cakes, sauces, pies, pasties, custards usually started out with the basic ingredients. Certainly a far more time consuming process, but producing food that my loyal customers appreciated.

French people are far more interested in the provenance of their food. Mention to a burly lorry driver that the bread for his bacon sandwich was home made would always meet with an appreciative response. You just wouldn’t bother in the UK.

One area where I took a shortcut was with pasta, choosing to buy a good quality pasta instead.

Were I still in France I would be proudly rewriting menus to include my newest artisan creation, (while wondering exactly where I was going to find time in an already busy day).

Imperia Italian Double Cutter Pasta Machine SP150

Bouncing Back

Gary Pepworth — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:50:13 +0000

Just a quick note to say that after languishing unused and unloved for nearly 6 months, The Pontrieux Report is back.

In what may be a shock news to some my French experience came to an end last June. A combination of fragile finances, exhaustion, illness and it has to be said tedium made continuing impossible. Many things that are amusing to begin with, soon become extremely irritating and when, as last summer, you end up shouting out of your bedroom window at nobody in particular, that you think the town is full of ignorant rude cunts, it is perhaps wise to concede that another season is not a good idea.

After a spell of recuperation I am better able to reflect on my time in France and look forward to sharing my experiences and observations of my time abroad and the mild culture shock of returning to live in the UK.

Flakey with the facts.

Gary Pepworth — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:55:12 +0000

Just a few months ago companies like Cadbury were pariahs, responsible for child obesity by force feeding kids with assorted vegelate. Today Cadbury is elevated to national treasure status, how dare those pesky Americans use money to buy shares in a publicly quoted company?

The most idiotic comments come from those who declare that France would never allow such a takeover of an iconic brand.

As I write I am munching away at a bar of Poulain Noir Extra. Poulain is one of France’s oldest chocolate brands – bought by Cadbury Schweppes in 1988.

Will the lights go out tonight in Brittany?

Gary Pepworth — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:52:18 +0000

Not some philosophical musing about a local hero on their deathbed, but actual power cuts. This may come as a bit of a surprise to the many Daily Mail reading expats who live here – but there are some things that work better in the UK. One of these is the national grid. The Brittany region only produces 8% of the electricity it consumes, therefore it has to ’import’ electricity from the rest of France. Quite simply the electricity distribution network is not up to carrying the amount of required electricity into Brittany.

To avoid the network overloading everybody is being asked to moderate their consumption during peak hours of 5 and 8pm. If these warnings are not heeded then preventative power cuts will be imposed to protect the network. Most at risk is Finistère being at the edge of the network. Yesterday morning every Mairie in Finistère was contacted by phone to warn of outages.

This dampening the Christmas spirit somewhat. Towns and villages that were only last week boasting about their Christmas lights are now switching them off. In St Brieuc their 11km of garlands and 27000 bulbs are staying off, in Paimpol tonight and tomorrow there be no Christmas and town centre street lights. Vannes like other towns are switching off the illumination of public building and monuments.

However, Christmas lights fans visiting Pontrieux need not fear – as I look out of the window our Christmas lights are glowing with gay abandon. I reckon there will be words….

My first Christmas card of the year…..alas not.

Gary Pepworth — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:39:39 +0000

Oh the joy, some post that didn’t resemble a bill, with a printed Father Christmas on the front. Addressed to M and Mme Pepworth, never mind, an actual Christmas card, from someone in France, how exciting. Who could it be from? Perhaps from Pontrieux’s Mayor recognising the thousands of pounds my guests bring to the local economy, the Billet’s where I have bought most of my fuel and drinks over the past four years, the cash and carry, the pharmacist where I take all my guests who have forgotten to pack their prescription drugs? Perhaps Aurora who I gave several hours of my time helping her with her English exams, or M Piriou thanking me for displaying publicity for his gallery – the list is not exactly endless but enough to fill a few more paragraphs- you get the point.

” To Nick, Karen and family…..”

Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

Marchés de Noël

Gary Pepworth — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:05:23 +0000

Today is the first of two weekends of Pontrieux’s Marchés de Noël. As usual for the time of day and the weather stallholders outnumber punters. Having been here a few years now, I know the French will do all their weekly chores and then pop out about 4 ish. I didn’t realise this in my first year and closed up at 4, desolate at the lack of customers.
My Christmas window display of English tea is causing people to stop and nose so fingers crossed!

Father Christmas is due to take time out from his busy schedule to visit us today, tomorrow and next weekend. Given his busy schedule it was a real coup for t’committee to secure his services. I just hope he’s not a fraud, to check I will speak to him in English, that should flush out any imposter!

Having a day off creates more work

Gary Pepworth — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:54:10 +0000

In the early hours of the morning searching the internet to try and find former colleagues who are poorer and less successful than me (an unlikely outcome), I ended up creating a Facebook profile. This has caused lots of work not least due to this blog.

It has been a while since my last posting. One of the handful of readers has asked why I haven’t been updating. Here’s why

As I don’t suckle at the teat of the public sector, nor no longer work for a multinational, I am no longer able to spend large parts of the day sat in front of a screen blogging, booking holidays, looking at stuff on eBay checking football scores and filling out quizzes about old children’s TV programmes
I am not deluded enough to believe that perspectives from Pontrieux is of enormous interest.
It’s very easy to be negative and cynical about everything. A friend’s father is a relatively famous academic and children’s author. He has been the subject of and presented numerous Radio 4 programmes. When you hear him on the radio or meet him is extremely charming and good humoured. You know that you are in the company of someone who has enhanced your day. If however, you should read his blog or his column in the local paper, he comes across as a bitter angry man.
It’s quite difficult to talk about your daily life without mentioning people. The interesting things that happen involve my neighbours and customers, particularly when they demonstrate ‘interesting’ behaviour. My logs show that a number of people have come to my blog from the Google France translate service, particularly the post about names – the locals are watching.

The solution

From now on I going to try and post at least twice a week. This will help give the impression to my thousands of new readers that I am leading a successful charmed and fulfilled existence out of the rat race.
I am going to post more about what actually happens when people enter my premises and this may involve naming names.
To make 1. easier I am going to post more about what actually happens in France. Much of what is reported in the UK media is very Paris centric and bears no relevance us here in the sticks. I have the regional paper “Le Telegramme” delivered daily so will pass some of the daily news about stabbings, serious car accidents, teen alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse and strikes that fills the paper.

What’s in a name?

Gary Pepworth — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:37:39 +0000

In the idle moments of a Saturday afternoon in France I notice that a Mr Daniel Homo is putting himself forward as a candidate for March elections in the town of Trélivan. Meanwhile in Guingamp you can vote for Mona Bras. On Monday’s literally seconds of fun can be had at Pontrieux’s market if you visit the fruit and veg stall run by Mme. Bastard.

Indeed you may be so overawed with the hilarity of funny foreign names you may want to pop into my tearoom for a lemonade. I should warn you that I only serve Pschitt! lemonade. “Would you like your Pschitt! in a glass or with a straw?”
Before tutting commences I would like to point out that the French manufacturer is fully aware of the word play – why else would their website have sections labelled “Pschitt! Attitude” and “Pschitt! Yourself”?