REAL LIFE


“He has been an absolute one-off and the reason that we have been able to own the house for as long as we have”


Debbie enjoys shopping in Bayeux market


us in total. We had enjoyed a good day’s shopping and were just having drinks when he appeared at the door. He was totally undeterred by the fact that it was girls only and didn’t wait to be asked twice if he’d like an apéritif. He installed himself at the table, asked everyone’s age and then moved onto what they did and were they married. He was particularly taken with Wendy, ‘La Coiffeuse’, who he asked about for many years. A photo was taken and I remember it being displayed at one of his birthday parties sometime later. He looked like the cat who’d got la crème.


Bayeux's magnificent medieval cathedral on market day


he had a sister in Granville who he would visit from time to time but he didn’t seem to stray far. He regaled us with tales of wartime and his days of working at the dairy. Some stories were clearly elaborated, as borne out when Madame looked very puzzled to hear that one grandchild was a parachutist (but in fact worked in a bank).


AGE IS NO BARRIER Monsieur H became ‘Leon’ to us when Madame wasn’t around, usually when we had those early evening drinks. I became ‘Day-bee’, which he would say as if he was very risqué, believing that Madame would tell him off for being informal. Conversation was sometimes quite difficult as he had a guttural Normandy accent and often Madame would translate from him into ‘proper French’. He had a real thing about


peoples’ ages and would ask any guest “quel age”, using just a couple of words to replace a whole sentence, and usually


right up to their faces; quite bizarre if you weren’t ready for it. After determining their age he would proudly tell them his. Said guest would invariably look shocked. He thought it was because he looked young for his age, they thinking OMG is he really only xx? In fact, he was only 57 when we bought the house and two years into retirement. At that point he had few teeth in his head, reducing to zero over the years. To me, he didn’t change much in all the time we knew him. Another fixation was with


our friend George, or ‘Monsieur George’ as he was known. It became quite boring to be asked over and over when George would be visiting. This may or may not have had something to do with the liberal dispensing of our Calva when George was entertaining him but nevertheless he thought a lot of him and they had lots of inconsequential chats together. One of my favourite


anecdotes was when I was away on a girls’ trip, four of


Debbie with Monsieur and Madame H The English memorial at Ver-sur-Mer FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2024 79


A LOYAL LINCHPIN First and foremost, Monsieur H was a fantastic friend and neighbour to us throughout the time we’ve known him


and his family. He’s kept us entertained, supplied us with eggs from his hens, rabbits and legs of lamb from his own animals, and bottles of Calva from our own apples, passed off as a gift. He has been an absolute one-off and the reason that we have been able to own the house for as long as we have. We have often wondered how we would have managed the maintenance without him, not to mention being on hand when we have had crises such as floods and bits dropping off the house. Sadly, we lost Monsieur H in


September last year, though this lovely character will always remain in our thoughts and memories, as an absolute one-off who was a linchpin to our belle vie en France for over 30 years. We really miss him. Chapeau, Monsieur H. ■


Isigny-sur-Mer's 'marché nocturne'


Nearby Lac de la Dathée


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