French Deal

Guillhaume needed to come with me to Leroy Merlin to order the kitchen – Monsieur Larressat was taking no chance with my French and was very keen to redeem some ground here. Guillhaume, as I mentioned, is a pelote whiz and a sight for any girl’s eyes. At we drove at break neck speed through the back lanes he told me of his recent visit to Sydney to meet up with his girlfriend who had taken a year out and who was travelling around until she resumed her master’s course. Next stop for her was Thailand and then Laos and Cambodia and back into France mid July. From there she would be going north back to university – ‘At least it’s in the same country’ I said cheerily before he braked for a troupeau de brebis – a large flock of sheep.

Leroy Merlin is the equivalent of B&Q or any one of those massive DIY outlets. As we went through the door along with hundreds of people with entire families in tow, Guillhaume stated softely that he had never visited a place like this. I thought that’s where builders lived when not on a job. So I asked him where most clients got there kitchens from. ‘We make them for them’ said the carpenter of 6 years training before joining the Larrassat enterprise. ‘Well not this one’ I muttered and off we went.

Guillhaume then proved himself to be as stunning a businessman as he is a body and soul. The cost of the kitchen came to just under 6250 euros – but my previous December estimate for the same goods with no price changes came in at 132 euros less. We did not move from our chairs until, quietly and firmly, Guillhaume got the computer calculator to recalculate the new estimate to within 13 euros of the original price; then 9 euros and he finally gave in at 4 euros of the original estimate. I felt very reassured, thinking to myself that if he was that persistent at Leroy Merlin, I felt absolutely sure he was going to be that diligent when it came to all other costs apportioned to my property.

We gossiped all the way back to Sauveterre from Bayonne with Guillhaume telling me about his expertise at restoring ancient carts for no particular purpose, in between competing in the national French pelote competitions and using his carpentry skills at weekends to build bookcases and so on which often didn’t reach completion because of the pressure of his 12 hour day Monday to Friday. He’s another one that thinks too many young people are not prepared to work hard enough, too many unemployed in France and too generous a benefit system that drains enthusiasm from the youths who are lazy enough in the first place, says he. Still that’s the way it is in France at the moment during the heat of the election campaigns – if it’s not those immigrants that are to blame, it’s the lazy youth, the punitive cost to employers to keep their employees in jobs, and a social security system that doles out money willy nilly to just about anyone – or so I keep being told.

posted by French Deal @ 5:47 am