Fetes Vendéen

A couple of Sundays ago I went with Christian, Gisele, Nicole and Christian’s sister the lovely Sylviane, to the Fete des Chasseurs (hunters). In the morning there had been a fishing competition at the lake in Cezais, which my English neighbour David had entered. David is an addicted and very accomplished competition fisherman, but he was no match for the French trout fishermen, he came 27th. Now a Fete here is a different thing to a Fete in England, here it is lunch with family and friends normally in a large marquee and normally for about 150 people. This was my second Fete the first had been on my birthday and I had been with the same people with the addition of Huguette and Bernard. That time it had been a treat for my birthday and I hadn’t been allowed to pay for anything, except my draw tickets, this time I was just another member of the family Richard and was right pleased to be so.

Now an event like this would never happen in England, everyone sits at long trestle tables and brings their own knives, forks, spoons, dishes and glasses. The Fete on my birthday had been a celebration of the pig and was started with an aperitif, then soup, then cote de porc (a pork steak) with beans this was supposed to be a slice from a whole pig roasted on a spit with Mojettes (a large white bean in a sauce which is a Vendeen speciality) it turned out that allegedly because of complaints by some people the previous year that their pork had been too fatty, the committee had decided to buy in slices of pork, and as the Mojettes had proved to be expensive they were making do with a cheaper alternative in a tomato sauce. The main course was followed by cheese and then an éclair and coffee. We brought our own wine and after the meal I was introduced to Eric and his bottle. He is a youngish guy mid 30’s to 40 and he makes the local Eau de Vie, which is the pure alcohol drink that all of the fortified drinks are made of. You drink from his bottle at your peril. In truth the batch he had brought with him wasn’t too strong and so a glass of it wasn’t too bad, another glass would have been a test and after that, well that way lay madness, or something very much like it so I declined. The meal was great fun and incredibly social, I was introduced to Phyllis an English lady of whom I’d heard much and who is without doubt extremely attractive, she is however married and her husband Geoff seems a very nice guy. My friend Tony Severs who is a sprightly 84 year old yachtsman told me on an evening that I had spent with him that he had met an English woman in Rustington that had a house in Cezais. He told me that he was walking along with a SuperU (a French supermarket) bag a woman wound down the window of her car and asked him which SuperU he used, they were both staggered when they found out they both used the same SuperU and had properties relatively close to one another (within 10 miles). Even though I hadn’t met her at the time I said “oh you must mean Phyllis” and Tony was stunned he asked me if I could arrange for an aperitif evening so that he could meet her again, I agreed to do what I could, I love his spirit.

After the meal people did a variety of things from playing cards or petanque (a bit like bowls only played with flat metal disks) to chatting or watching the specially erected big screen TV which was showing the Formula 1 grand Prix. I mingled and spent some time watching Eric play cards, and then I went and watched Christain play petanque. Every now and then the four players would stop for a break and a beer, I of course joined them, it would have been rude not to. It was a delightful way to spend my birthday. In the evening beans on toast were served on paper plates and I didn’t return home until it was getting dark, it was all in all a splendid day.