Farewell to the Granadilla Vine

Sorry I know it’s been a while. Dealing with French officialdom and administration is a full time job and has been taking much of my time.
When we first moved to France, my husband always said it will be ‘just for a year’ well that time has flown by and our year is nearly over.  I am however happy to report that is not just for a year especially as I am about to launch my new business Le Petit Chou Café.

But let’s rewind a little, after the kids were settled at school I began looking for some formal employment and even though the French grannies and gardens were keeping us busy it was not putting food on the table.  Obviously my biggest hurdle was my lack of fluency in French and nothing really suitable was being offered so as we say in Africa ‘ a boer maak a plan’ – (one makes a plan).

Our lovely friend and French teacher of all things official Mr C said ‘what you need is the little cafe under the arch’ what cafe under the arch?  (Mr C we cannot thank you enough for all the help and support you have given us).So this is how it all began.  We met with the owner who was amenable to our plan and so the paper trail began....

Firstly, I had to attend two courses in French one of 2 days and the other of 3 days, this was for the Hygiène alimentaire and Permis d'exploitation basically Health and Safety and the Operational licence.  Fortunately I was able to study some of the course material online beforehand and then translate the relevant slides so I could try and keep up with the class.  On the first day I arrived with big butterflies in my tummy worse than any exam.  (This was after very complicated child-care arrangements as of course, the courses were in the same week hubby needed to be in London.)  I greeted my fellow attendees with the usual bonjours and tried to smile confidentially when I was feeling anything but.  Just take the iniative Ruth, I thought, so I went up to the lecturer and explained my situation and he was very sympathetic as were the rest of my class mates.  I would love to say it was plain sailing from here on in but it certainly wasn’t in fact it was really hard work with lots of homework to do in the evening just to keep up, however I did manage to do it and obtain the necessary certificates required.

Next on the list was the notaire to set up the lease, ‘this is a very usual situation’, he said after I explained what I needed. Why was I not surprised, I thought the end of this venture would stop right there in the notaire’s office but then he said ‘ah, yes we could do it like this but it will mean this’ and then proceeded to list all the restrictions and conditions. Great, when can we sign? ‘Leave it with me’, six weeks later we were able to sign the lease, still not sure what took all that time but that’s how it goes around here.

Next port of call was the mairie; we had a good relationship with the outgoing mayor and didn’t really know the new one.  However we meet him socially and he was very charming and eager to assist in any way possible.  I made a rendez-vous for the next week and all the necessary permissions went smoothly including the agreement on me renting the outside space adjacent and opposite the cafe.

After signing the lease we needed to go to the Masion l’enterprise to register the business but surprise, surprise the local one is closed for the holidays and I now need to go to Perpignan,  I still need to register with the Department of Minstere de L’Agriculture, De L’Agroaliment et de la Foret, for the health and safety bit, meeting the bank manager or equivalent, sorting out the insurance all to be done by Friday. That’s all!

In the meantime we have been enjoying the company of some lovely visitors including my family from South Africa. Meeting them off the TGV from Paris, as my belle-soeur stepped off the train she didn’t see me, but my 7 month old nephew did and gave me this HUGE grin, what a way to meet him for the first time! It was precious moment. We had a wonderful time with them and I was very sad to see them go, however we have lovely visitors for the rest of August and currently some of our closest friends are with us.

So the cafe opens on the 1^st August we need to leave our rented house by the 31^st August so this is farewell to the granadilla vine that is in its full glory at the moment.  This house has cradled us for our first year and helped us settle into the community, we will miss the glorious views but the one thing about St Paul there is always a glimpse of a view.  So my next blog will be on peitichoucafe@blogspot.com which will be written in a quiet moment outside the cafe still looking at our wonderful mountains.

Thank you for reading this blog and the support you have given me and I hope to see you on the petitchou site. A bientôt.