Keep Orf

If you trot about the French countryside you will often encounter signs warning you that " La chasse Is guarded" by the ACCA. In other words - the shooting is private. ACCA stands for various long French words, which mount up to " Keep Orf ". The shooting probably belongs to some local toff, or even, more probably the shoot run by the local Commune. Either way, the English translation will be - " Keep Orf ." The CCA carries some considerable political clout in its area. I have friend, a man who has been very kind to me. He keeps and hunts a small pack of Boar Hounds. I used to follow the boar hounds a bit, but gave it up as they could very seldom find a pig. When I started boar hunting, back in the 1980s, pigs became a bit scarce because they used to dig up the fields of maize and the farmers used to get a bit huffed. It was not that they were against the pigs being shot and then eaten. It was just that they reckoned that if anyone was going to feed and eat the pigs on their land, then it should be them, the agriculturers and their friends. This was very much the line taken by Mme La Comtesse, with whom I hunted. She reckoned that her family owned most of the woodlands where she hunted the pigs and de facto that the pigs belonged to her as well. That was a point of view that you might argue with, if you were a braver man than I was or am very likely to be. And anyway I am a great believer in the rights of private property owners. I put this theory to my friend with the pig free hounds. In fact it was just after a pig free day with my friend that I raised the matter. He looked at me mournfully and said: ah! but it’s not so easy. There had been three pigs in his wood until the day previous, when the ACCA people had walked his wood and had shot 3 pigs. I raised this with another friend and he told me that the ACCA controlled all the shooting rights in and around and if my friend complained they could take his rights away. I found this very hard to believe. But this is France.
Madam and I have just returned from Normandy. The reason for the trip is that we might move there. We both liked it very much. So - watch this space. Normandy is very beautiful and pleasant. We went to stay at a little Hotel - not very far from Omaha Beach. We had stayed there before about 20 odd years ago. Unfortunately it has changed hands and the wonderful food we remembered was not available - the cook was ill and the restaurant closed. So we moved to a very smart Chambres D'Hotes. It was very good except that the bed was a problem for Madame and I. The proprietress was a lovely lady who had been christened France - born in 1942, her father did not know what her country would be so he called her France for the memory. She and her family have a stable of Trotters - a big thing in Normandy. The Normans are very friendly and the country reminds me somewhat of Cornwall and is very mild. The other French will tell you that it rains all the time. This is not so says Edith the local Taxi Owner (this makes her "Edit - Taxi"" - she says that it only rains twice a year in Normandy - once in the Summer and once in the Winter so it is very mild. Its great advantage is regular ferries to England and more hope of seeing our family again - we shall try Eurostar once more and hope for better things. One good point for French railways. It is very good with the ancient and lame. I was wheel chaired onto the train, put into my seat, and then wheeled between every train (4) thereafter. We were stabled very comfortably with the 'Trotters’, except that the bed was too small - this gives Madame an excuse for complaining - not that she needs one. We looked at some houses; one particularly we liked - it is in the village that John Steele made famous and has a bar named after him. He was in the 82nd Airborne and was dropped during the D Day Landing. The Airborne Drop zone tended to wander a bit in the run up to D Day and John found himself on the roof of the church at St Mere L'Eglise. It was perhaps unfortunate that he was discovered by the padre, who went about ringing the bell, by way of welcome. John said that he would rather have been shot at, as the noise was quite literally deafening. Any way he now has a bar named after him, which must provide a measure of consolation. So are we going to buy the house? It depends on whether our house, which has been bought, has been paid for. So watch this space - we are.