Last days at the Cooperage

Yesterday was my last day at the cooperage with Grand Fred and the rest of the coopers. I was invited to Seb’s house in Cognac, which was an honor for me. He lives in a humble old house that looks very stereotypical of French living. It is not what we think of as a house though; it is like 200 year old apartment building. It just off a main street, so I could see many people walking back from the bakery and other little shops with bags full of food for that night's dinner. He introduced me to his wife and his two little girls and his parents and his father-in-law.

Interestingly, in France the whole extended family live very close and they see each other every day. We had quite a funny episode just after meeting Seb's father-in-law. He was giving Seb and his wife his old washing machine. (A side note: the washing machines here are maybe about 1/3 the size they are in America. It looks like you can only wash about 3 shirts and 1 pair of pants, but that is nether here nor there.) So, Seb and I carried it through the very narrow house to where the old one was. We set it down and I went out to meet his little girl, when I came back Seb was fighting with the water hose in the back of the washing machine that was spraying out of control, drenching him and the entire kitchen. It was very funny.

We stayed in Cognac for a few hours and then went back to the cooperage to meet Nico (one of the owners of the cooperage and with whom I am staying). He was showing some friends his prototype called “Oxo Lift” that is like a fork lift that is smaller and is pushed opposed to ridden. We played a few games of Petanque (a very popular game in France) with Seb and another person from the cooperage and some of Nico’s friends.

We went out to eat at a restaurant that is owned by a friend of Nico. It is right on a river and on Sundays is a popular place for elderly couples to go dancing. Some of the coopers invited me to go out to a popular club in the town of Saints, so Seb was going to take me and we would meet up with the coopers later in the night, but before I would go with the coopers the group that went out to dinner went out on the town. Nico and his wife headed home at about 1:30 when we went to the club. It was a very big club and had 5 different clubs inside one club. It had a techno, a house, a disco, a rock and a rap club inside this one mega club. It was very impressive and I had never seen anything like it, however I do not frequent many European “Discotheques.” It was called La Vegas and was a very fun experience to have for one of my last nights in France.

I am very happy that the coopers enjoyed having me around. In the beginning, I most likely made much more work for them due to the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. This is because I am not a master cooper and when they explained what I was to do, it was explained in French and very broken English; but after working with them, joking with them, yelling with them, and many “thumbs up” and other hand gestures we have established a very funny friendship. A few say they are coming to live with me in California for a while, so next summer I may establish a new American branch of Tonnellerie Baron.
--Drew

Back from Bayonne to Baron

The past two days I have been back at the cooperage, however, I had quite a week of excitement. Last week the cooperage was closed for vacation, so I was back in Bordeaux with Lionel and his family. I spent a few days helping him clean up around his new house that he had just moved into a few days before. I was weed-whacking and helping him install speakers in his wall. The floor that I helped install looks very good and the house still has that wonderful smell of “new house,” and because it is so new they have a very strict no shoes policy, however the floor still graced with foot prints. This is most likely from their young daughter Maelle who does not follow the policy as intently as the rest.

Lionel’s wife’s brother Gregory was also at the house. He helped Lionel and me install part of the floor. He is 23 and had talked to me about this big festival in the south of France called Bayonne. He invited me and told me that he was going with his older brother and some of his friends. I told him it sounds good, but I would have to be able to work on Monday. He said it was possibility, so we talked to Lionel about it and he said that is was fine so we were off and planning.

Bayonne is a festival in a southern town called Bayonne, strangely enough. It is the world's 3rd oldest party and it is to celebrate the bullfights. Now, not more then a month ago I finished The Sun Also Rises, by Hemingway, which, in an over simplified recap of the novel, tells the story of him and a group of his friends going to one of these parties and bull fights. So, I was very excited to live the life of Hemingway.

There are a total of 30,000 people at this event every day and it goes 5 days long. Everyone is dressed in all white with a red bandanna tied around their neck and a red scarf as a belt. It is utterly amazing to see the streets of a beautiful old city without cars and thousands of people dressed in the same red and white uniform. I was asked to run in front of the bull, but I had to refuse because it sounded like there was not much to gain and I like living more then being scared of my stake for the rest of my life.

It was a wonderful time and a great experience, yet to fully explain I would have to write a thousand or so words on the topic and, frankly, I am tired from my work at the cooperage; which is the real reason I am here.

So today and yesterday I have been back at the cooperage with big Fred in the toasting room. It is nice now to be able to be an asset to him instead of the contrary. I now understand the system of the toasting room. Today Big Fred brought me a branch of apples clearly ripped off of a tree by his house. So for a break we shared this branch full of apples and half a bottle of wine that he had kept cool in a cooler that he uses to keep the rest of his lunch in. To give you another idea of how "big" Big Fred is, his cooler could be used for car camping to keep a family of 4’s food from spoiling!

It was very nice to be back at the cooperage and see all the coopers. Although we do not speak the same language and have not known each other very long we all have a great time together. There is a cooper named Seb who is a good friend. He and I shared a room in Scotland and worked together on OXO Line. He is a little over 30, but looks and acts as if her were in his 20’s. He has a wife and a daughter that I don’t know, but heard a lot of in Scotland. He is clearly a leader among the workers at the cooperage, so it was an easy in with the other more shy coopers. I think they are planning something for me the Friday that I finish at the cooperage, but not sure what it is. I think this because different people keep asking me what I am doing on Friday and then another person will tell me to keep Friday night clear, but all in very broken and hand language English/French. So to my knowledge it may not even be a surprise, I just may not understand.

Today and yesterday I also toasted the tops and bottoms of barrels, which is much harder in some ways then toasting the barrel themselves. It is much hotter which is hard to imagine, but you are kneeling next to the fire spinning the top or bottom around a very hot fire. I probably drank 2 liters of water today just toasting the tops. It also burnt all the hair off of my knee through my thick Carhartt work pants. Oh well, aside from sweating profusely, burning your hands thought thick gloves and your knees, it is still fun. I also helped fabricate the metal rings on the barrels today. I mashed the nuts that hold the ring together. It is not as hard as working in the toasting room, but it is still not easy.

Anyways I have to go to bed, but you will here from me soon enough. --Drew

Back from Bayonne to Baron

The past two days I have been back at the cooperage, however, I had quite a week of excitement. Last week the cooperage was closed for vacation, so I was back in Bordeaux with Lionel and his family. I spent a few days helping him clean up around his new house that he had just moved into a few days before. I was weed-whacking and helping him install speakers in his wall. The floor that I helped install looks very good and the house still has that wonderful smell of “new house,” and because it is so new they have a very strict no shoes policy, however the floor still graced with foot prints. This is most likely from their young daughter Maelle who does not follow the policy as intently as the rest.

Lionel’s wife’s brother Gregory was also at the house. He helped Lionel and me install part of the floor. He is 23 and had talked to me about this big festival in the south of France called Bayonne. He invited me and told me that he was going with his older brother and some of his friends. I told him it sounds good, but I would have to be able to work on Monday. He said it was possibility, so we talked to Lionel about it and he said that is was fine so we were off and planning.

Bayonne is a festival in a southern town called Bayonne, strangely enough. It is the world's 3rd oldest party and it is to celebrate the bullfights. Now, not more then a month ago I finished The Sun Also Rises, by Hemingway, which, in an over simplified recap of the novel, tells the story of him and a group of his friends going to one of these parties and bull fights. So, I was very excited to live the life of Hemingway.

There are a total of 30,000 people at this event every day and it goes 5 days long. Everyone is dressed in all white with a red bandanna tied around their neck and a red scarf as a belt. It is utterly amazing to see the streets of a beautiful old city without cars and thousands of people dressed in the same red and white uniform. I was asked to run in front of the bull, but I had to refuse because it sounded like there was not much to gain and I like living more then being scared of my stake for the rest of my life.

It was a wonderful time and a great experience, yet to fully explain I would have to write a thousand or so words on the topic and, frankly, I am tired from my work at the cooperage; which is the real reason I am here.

So today and yesterday I have been back at the cooperage with big Fred in the toasting room. It is nice now to be able to be an asset to him instead of the contrary. I now understand the system of the toasting room. Today Big Fred brought me a branch of apples clearly ripped off of a tree by his house. So for a break we shared this branch full of apples and half a bottle of wine that he had kept cool in a cooler that he uses to keep the rest of his lunch in. To give you another idea of how "big" Big Fred is, his cooler could be used for car camping to keep a family of 4’s food from spoiling!

It was very nice to be back at the cooperage and see all the coopers. Although we do not speak the same language and have not known each other very long we all have a great time together. There is a cooper named Seb who is a good friend. He and I shared a room in Scotland and worked together on OXO Line. He is a little over 30, but looks and acts as if her were in his 20’s. He has a wife and a daughter that I don’t know, but heard a lot of in Scotland. He is clearly a leader among the workers at the cooperage, so it was an easy in with the other more shy coopers. I think they are planning something for me the Friday that I finish at the cooperage, but not sure what it is. I think this because different people keep asking me what I am doing on Friday and then another person will tell me to keep Friday night clear, but all in very broken and hand language English/French. So to my knowledge it may not even be a surprise, I just may not understand.

Today and yesterday I also toasted the tops and bottoms of barrels, which is much harder in some ways then toasting the barrel themselves. It is much hotter which is hard to imagine, but you are kneeling next to the fire spinning the top or bottom around a very hot fire. I probably drank 2 liters of water today just toasting the tops. It also burnt all the hair off of my knee through my thick Carhartt work pants. Oh well, aside from sweating profusely, burning your hands thought thick gloves and your knees, it is still fun. I also helped fabricate the metal rings on the barrels today. I mashed the nuts that hold the ring together. It is not as hard as working in the toasting room, but it is still not easy.

Anyways I have to go to bed, but you will here from me soon enough. --Drew