70: The Fair comes to Chabanais, France!!!

Welcome to the 70th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

This is our 42nd week in France 5/17-5/23/26

We have been in our home in the village of Chabanais in the Charente department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region of France since the middle of December 2025. We are loving it.

This week,

Driver’s license update, Lunch out and nice birthday dinner for EB. The Fair is in town too. June 6 soap box derby party update

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• Drivers license
• Wating for US tax return
• EB birthday dinner
• Follow up will
• Check out the fair

Weather forecast:

Weather bug says that we will experience a warming trend with highs in the 80s this week.

Why this Blog?

Long story short, we are “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees. After a little over a year of planning and fretting we sold everything in Venice and made the move on 1 August 2025.

We publish a brief update of our adventures every Sunday to share our experiences, tips and mistakes.

If you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, check out some of our earlier posts. Again, if you have questions about our adventure, drop your questions in the comment section below.

This Week in General

Sunday

Lunch at Cafe Lilian

We decided to check in with Ian and Penny at Cafe Lillian. Super nice hosts and the food is great. They had been away for a couple of weeks. They had traveled to England for their daughter’s wedding.

We were excited to hear all about the wedding. From the telling it was wonderful. Ian wore his kilt with the family tartan.

It sounds like the wedding was fun and memorable.

Laundry day and I’m proud to say that we had no leaks.

Just had to share this photo of roses in the garden. The grape vine just behind the roses is going to be loaded with grapes.

Monday on and off rain

I tightened up the sunshade installation and I’m happy with it now.

We took a run to St Junien for groceries and some household items. Also finally got around to returning the router and Wi-Fi box to Orange. No problems and we were glad to have that task done.

While we were in St Junien at the E.Leclerc store we went to lunch at Signorizza the very handy Italian restaurant there. A big Ceaser chicken salad and a glass of wine hit the spot.

The car needed gas, so we stopped off at the Super U to fill up. Gas is crazy here! 87 euros (roughly 101USD) for 41 liters (about 11 gallons). That turns out to be about USD $9.19 per gallon. An EV is starting to look more interesting. I would want to set up a charger at home to take advantage of our solar power system for charging. We don’t have a garage, and we park across the road from our house so logistics for a charging station might be a bit of a challenge.

As I understand it, in 2025 over 18% of new cars sold in France were electric. Top sellers are Renault, Peugeot and Citroen. Various incentives make starting prices around 19,000 to 28,000 euros depending on the brand and model. Of course you can pay more for luxury models. There are over 100,000 charging stations too. Rates are in the 0.30 euros ($.35) per kWh.

Tuesday: Good weather for working in the yard

EB trimmed the roses around the summer house again and cut some flowers for a vase in the house. I worked on clearing some of the plants along the fence line and trimmed the fig tree.

EB was scheduled to work at the cancer charity shop from 1 to 4. There was a mix up on the schedule, but it got worked out. It was definitely not a big day at the shop. If you don’t know the store is there you wouldn’t see it. I didn’t notice it until EB mentioned that she wanted to volunteer.

I loaded up the car for a decheterie run. The decheterie wasn’t scheduled to open until 2:00 (14h). I got there just after 2:00 and it was not too busy. I dumped all of our yard waste in no time. Easy peasy.

We are going to try relocating the calla lilies that are located along the fence line between our neighbor’s yard and ours. Those plants seem indestructible.

Issues with the solar power Wi-Fi

We noticed that the Mylight150 system app was not recording energy use. We checked the panel and saw that we had a red trouble LED light flashing red. I was able to log onto the app and noticed that the app did not show energy usage or storage since May 13. I called the sales guy and left a message alerting him. He called back and said that our WiFi was not connected to the app. We did some trouble shooting. After about 15 minutes we had the system back up. We didn’t have a disruption of power. It was just the app wasn’t recording usage and storage. We will keep an eye on it for a while.

Wednesday:

Not much happenong today.

French class was good. We got a new American expat in the group. Russel had heard about the class from Diane and decided to check it out. He was in construction before he retired to France and is building a terrace at his house.

I talked about a sign that we saw in the parking lot at E.Leclerc. I interpreted it as something like, “If you take my spot, you can take my handicap”. I thought it was pretty good. I was proud of my ability to translate the French. Small progress is actually huge for me.

Thursday: Sunny and warm

A perfect day for a walk to the farmers’ market. We picked up some goat cheese and veggies.

The village is sponsoring a fair in the parking lot of the Salle de Fete and across the street in the village parking lot out in front of the Cafe des Sport. The rides are getting it set up for it on Thursday and Friday. All of the people associated with the carnival are staying in their trailers that are set up on the fairgrounds.

The carnival is set up along the river.

It will officially open on Saturday so I will get better pictures then.

We started cleaning up the summer house and moved the gas stove and gas tank out and moved the little fridge over to the open spot. We will store the stove in the laundry room until we figure out what to do with it. EB started cleaning the windows. Cleaning 4 walls of windows is a project.

Golf

Ron and I played 2 golf courses. I did pretty well on the first 18. Not so good on the 2nd 18, but Ron shined.

EB came over around 4:30 to discuss the “Derby Party” plans with Michelle. Not sure if I mentioned that on June 6th there will be a Soap Box Derby on Avenue Carnot. It is a steep curving road that ends just down the road (maybe 20 meters) from our house. Anyway, EB came up with the idea to have a Derby Party at our house. We will invite Ron and Michelle of course, Allen and Deb, Perry and Pam and Ian and Penny. Not sure if Ian and Penny will make it but they are invited. 10 people is perfect for our first party.

We will walk over to catch the races and end up at our house for refreshments and snacks. Michelle introduced us to a new refreshing drink made with elderflower liqueur; The Hugo Spritz. It is sooo good. The plan is to have this featured at the Derby Party. In case you ar wondering, here is the recipe:

• 2 parts Elderflower liqueur
• 3 parts prosecco
• 1 part soda
• Garnish of mint and lime

Friday: More yard work

I slept in late, so we didn’t get over to the Brico Depot in St Junien. We need some window cleaning solution. I need a couple of bolts, nuts, and washers to tie down the little vice that we picked up at a yard sale.

Weather is perfect for yard work, so we didn’t want to waste it. EB cut back a big bush and another rose bush. Once we get the bush dug out this is where we will replant the calla lilies. I’ll make a decheterie run on Tuesday. Monday is the holiday in recognition of Whit Monday also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit.

I practiced my Banjo a little.

Today we finally celebrate Elizabeth’s birthday with dinner at La Vieux Moulin. The food was excellent and so was the service. It is a very pretty setting so we ate out on the terrace (terasse). Our reservations were for 7:30 (19h30) and we finished just after 10 (22h).

The terrasse at La Vieux Moulin. This picture was taken just after 10PM. The sky is deep blue and the sun just now about to set.

Saturday: Mosaic Art and My French Driver’s License Arrives

Elizabeth went to an all-day mosaic class. She left around 9:30 in the morning and got home around 5:00, She returned with a very pretty creation. She still needs to put the grout in.

I forgot to mention, EB finished another one of her crochet projects too.

I spent the day on various projects including installing a shelf on the little table in the summer house. Cutting the shelf out of a piece of scrap wood, I got to use my new garage sale find: The saber saw. The saw case included a couple of saw blades, and the saw works really well. A very good garage sale find.

I sealed up some holes in the tile, did some laundry, did my French lesson and caught up on some news and even practiced on the banjo a little. I felt like I had been pretty productive.

French Driver’s License

When EB got home, she checked the mailbox and there was my new French driver’s license. Whoo Hoo! I’m official and the license is good for 15 years.

We had a glass of wine and started dinner. I had set up the Sous Vide machine so that it would be ready when EB got home from her mosaic class. By the time we had finished dinner we both decided that we didn’t need to walk over to the fair.

EB checked in with Michelle. She and Ron are driving to Paris to pick up their son, Sam, who is flying in from Colorado with his girlfriend. They will stay in Paris for a couple of days and drive back home late Sunday. Sam and his girlfriend will stay at chez Francis for a little while and see the local sights.

So that was our week.

Birthday dinner at La Vieux Moulin, and the fair is in town. Planning for “The Derby Party”. A little yard work and we checked off some chores on the list. My driver’s license arrived and EB brought home a work of art from her Mosaic class.

French Lifestyle and Culture

Beer Overtakes Wine in France

Wait Whaaat? According to the English language France news publication, “The Connexion”, wine consumption falls to the lowest level in 70 years. French consumers drank around 10 million liters more of beer than wine in 2025 according to the Organisation International de la Vigne et du vin published on May 12.

The article goes on to say that the change does not reflect a boom in beer drinking. Instead, it is due to the continuing decline in wine consumption, particularly red wine. The younger generations drink less alcohol overall and move away from traditional meal habits. According to the article the world of beer has evolved so much in the last 20 to 25 years particularly in the alcohol-free beer.

Despite the domestic decline, France remains the world’s leading wine exporter with international sales worth around 11 billion euros per year.

EB and I are trying hard to keep red wine in the mix.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• Check out the fair
• French lesson
• Follow up Hoxton Wealth
• Golf with Ron on Thursday
• EB volunteer at the Cancer Services of France store

Weather forecast for next week

Chance of rain Sunday through Tuesday then partly cloudy and sunny the rest of the week with high temps reaching 80.

Signing off for the week

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you all.

Wishing you a good week (Bonne Semaine)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com