1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 266 Greatness Needs No Explanation
Cafu said his guys could come over anytime to build a carpentry shop for Ronan.

The construction period for a 100 square meter brick or wood house is 4-6 weeks.

But he reminded Ronan that he needed to apply for a "building permit" before starting construction, and that new or expanded houses larger than 20 square meters would have to pay a "development tax."

The amount of development tax is 1%-3% of the total cost of the construction project, and is calculated by the municipal government based on the declared construction budget or assessed value.

The implementation policies for this tax vary from place to place, and some places will give certain exemption areas based on specific uses.

But Ronan's family situation is somewhat special.

His house is connected to the vineyard, and it is difficult to define whether the backyard is for "agricultural use". If it is, it will be very troublesome and more procedures and approvals will have to be applied for.

The specific situation can only be understood after consulting the regulations of the local municipality.

Cafu asked Ronan to call him anytime after completing the formalities and taxes, and he would always be on standby.

After seeing off Cafu, Ronan hurried to arrange the orders for wreaths and weaving accessories, but after suffering from the "counting confusion" last time, he had to arrange things clearly this time, so he needed a "person in charge".

Josephine had a great talent for knitting, but it was impractical for her to take on this task, which made her uneasy.

The best candidate for this position is Batistuta, who has strong skills and a personality suitable for dealing with women.

Ronan wanted to have a good talk with Batty and convince her to stay in Lourmarin and work with him to expand the weaving business. Now they already have a professional sales team that understands the Provence market, but Batty was not in the restaurant in the afternoon.

Ronan decided to go to the government to consult about the woodworking workshop development tax, so he left the restaurant and went to the government office building to find out the situation.

Although it was just a small question, Blanco still received him personally.

"I just want to ask about the development tax. There's no need for you to come and receive me in person, right?" Ronan said a little embarrassedly. Blanco was too "polite".

Blanco's attitude was even more embarrassed than Ronan's:
"Everyone is out today, so there's no rosé. Can we have coffee?"

The last time Ronan came to the government, Blanco specifically asked an employee to run out and buy some pink wine, and it was chilled.

"Sure, I can drink anything." Ronan asked curiously, "Are Sylvie and the others out?"

Blanco took Ronan to the direction of the tea room:

"Yes, they are not in Lourmarin these days."

"What were you doing?" Ronan became even more curious and leaned against the door of the tea room to watch Blanco make coffee.

Blanco turned around and said with a smile:
"We decided to give the museum on the high street a pink wine theme, and Sylvie and the others went out to 'study'."

Ronan's eyes lit up:
“Is the museum finished?”

The museum is the biggest 'attraction' on the high street and if it were open the customers waiting outside for a table in October would no longer complain of boredom.

Blanco handed Ronan the first cup of coffee:

"Yes, the decoration has been completed. The next step is to arrange the theme. We have no experience in decorating museums, nor do we know much about rosé wine. I arranged for them to go out and have a good look, so that they can understand the current situation and ecology of this industry. We expect to open the museum before the beginning of next spring."

He held the second cup of coffee and pointed to the only table in the tea room, motioning Ronan to sit down and chat:
"The museum must be closely linked to the future characteristic road of Lourmarin, which was determined at the beginning of the commercial street project."

Ronan sat opposite Blanco:

"How is the plan preparation going?"

Ronan was referring to the budget proposal that was to be submitted to the Vaucluse Tourism Bureau.

Blanco raised his head, looked at Ronan with warm eyes and said:
"Thanks to you, I am becoming more and more confident. How is the women's handicraft going?"

The November bushfires put enormous pressure on the government.

The arsonist will not only burn the trees and the forest, he will also burn the entire 'government team'.

With the Forest Bureau, Fire Department, and Police Station deployed 24 hours a day, if a fire breaks out in a village within its jurisdiction, it will be an irreparable disaster.

Blanco thought that month was the peak period for burning grape vines, so he arranged for people to provide farmers with "fire prevention awareness" training. Unexpectedly, no farmer in Lourmarin burned grape vines this year.

They saved the grape vines like treasures.

Blanco became even more anxious when he heard this.

Isn't that even more of a safety hazard?
There are so many more fire points in the village!

Let them get rid of the vines!!

When the staff took a closer look, they found out that these grape vines were made into handicrafts and sent to Apt and sold all over Provence.

Even the grape vines that had not yet been made into wreaths had been soaked in professional potions and were difficult to light.

And this matter is actually related to Ronan!

Women leaving their homes is a major "feature" in the plan, and Ronan makes this "feature" more distinct and dazzling - the women of Lourmarin learned a craft that is not common in Provence and made money.

This was most evident in Lourmarin's 'occupational tax' in November, where the villagers' consumption has been upgraded!
Ronan felt happy whenever he mentioned this matter.

He repeated to Blanco what Cafu had just talked about, and he believed that in the future the women of Lourmarin would receive a steady stream of orders.

Blanco clapped his hands happily, and looked at Ronan with increasing gratitude and excitement.

This young man changed the whole of Lourmarin by himself.
But besides being happy, he also gave Ronan some professional advice:
“What you are doing is very meaningful, but I suggest you organize and scale it up in Provence. Every organization is a ‘guardian’ and also the ‘invisible skeleton’ of the economic ecology.”

Ronan had never thought about what Blanco said.

Can I still apply for an organization?

Seeing Ronan's surprised expression, Blanco said more frankly:
"In Provence, there has been a habit of 'tracing roots' and 'origin' for thousands of years. For example, wines labeled with AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) can command a 30%-40% premium over other wines of the same quality. Have you ever thought about applying for a professional artisanal organization?"

Blanc's suggestion opened a door to a new world for Ronan. Yes, why not apply for one?

This business will definitely be done in the future. If the organization becomes popular in the future, won’t the products become more and more valuable?

"Is it difficult to apply for an organization?" Ronan asked.

In Provence, applications for institutions and organizations must be processed at the government trade union, and Blanco is actually in charge of this matter.

Blanco said kindly:
"This is an organization founded by you, and all its members are villagers from Lourmarin. No matter how big the difficulties are, we will help you get it done."

Are you kidding me Ronan.

Is there anything you wanted to do in Lourmarin that you couldn't?
No matter how difficult it is, I, Blanco, will clear away all the thorns in your way!
Ronan and Blanco hit it off and will apply for a professional handicraft organization in Lourmarin tomorrow.

Why do we have to do it tomorrow? Because Blanco doesn't know how to do it.
It is really too difficult for a village chief to handle such a thing personally.

Blanco said he would call back a staff member tomorrow to help Ronan apply for the organization.

"The villagers are making money little by little, so why shouldn't the government hire a few more people?" Ronan asked, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The Lourmarin government has too few employees.

Half of the more than 20 employees are temporary workers.

The scale is not as big as his restaurant, which now has 25 full-time employees.

Blanco drank the coffee in his hand in one gulp, and his heart felt even more bitter than his mouth.

The government has no money.

After chatting with Blanco for a while, Ronan got up and left.

This visit to the government was very fruitful.

After careful recollection, it seems that I can get a lot of "good things" every time I come to the government. I must come to this place often in the future.

Ronan was having such a great time chatting with Blanco that he only remembered the purpose of his visit when he reached the door:
"By the way, I want to build a woodworking shop in the backyard, about 100 square meters, how much development tax do I have to pay?"

Blanco personally escorted Ronan to the gate:
"Well, that's a good question. I've recently been thinking about what the development tax exemption range should be for Lourmarin next year. This year, all properties below 100 square meters are exempted regardless of use. Now that the villagers are getting richer, there will definitely be more people starting construction in the future. I think it would be more appropriate to set it at 150 square meters next year."

He suddenly lowered his voice and asked Ronan:

“Is 150 square meters enough?”

"This--" Ronan was stunned.

If the exempted area is less than 150 square meters, there is no need to worry about whether his backyard is agricultural land.

Blanco squeezed Ronan's arm a few times and said apologetically:
"You have brought great changes to Lourmarin, but I'm sorry, I can't give you anything else except gratitude now."

Ronan, please give me a moment.

These are the only small favors I can offer you now.

When I get the budget from the Tourism Bureau next year, I will definitely give it back double!
Ronan thought it would take a lot of effort to convince Batty to stay in Lourmarin.

Of course, that was exactly the case when he first started talking.

When Ronan said that they had a whole sales team and would definitely make money in the future, Batistuta said nonchalantly that he wanted to use his limited time to see more scenery and meet more people, and that he would go to Nice next spring to experience the scenery of a big city.

But when Ronan told him that he wanted to set up a "craft organization" and wanted him to be the chairman, Batty's attitude began to change.

He inquired carefully about the organization's membership and mission objectives.

After Ronan expressed that the goal of this organization was to help women in Lourmarin and more Luberon step out of their families and find their own social status, Batty quickly agreed.

He said he couldn't guarantee he would stay in Lourmarin forever, but one or two years was possible.

The next day, Batty went to the Lourmarin government early in the morning to submit an application to the union.

Although the organization's official registration would take one month to complete, Batty brought back a receipt.

The smallest industrial association unit in Provence is the "cooperative". The "organization name" column on the receipt reads - Lourmarin Handicraft Cooperative.

In the chairman's column below the receipt, Ronan's name was clearly written.

"Didn't I ask you to be the chairman?" Ronan returned to the restaurant in the evening and his eyes widened immediately when he saw the receipt.

He will not have much energy to take care of the weaving business in the future, so he tried hard to keep Batty.

Batti is the one who teaches and Batti is the one who manages, so he must be the chairman!

Batti's alcohol tolerance is not very good, at least much worse than Ronan.

But today he ordered two bottles of rosé and had almost finished them.

His sickly white skin turned rosy, making him look much healthier, and Batty's tone had never been so happy:

"I didn't stay for this organization, just like you always offered me money and I refused every time. I stayed because I really wanted to make knitting known to more people in Provence and I really wanted to help these lovely women. Ronan, you did two things I really wanted to do but didn't have the ability to do. I decided to stay and complete it with you."

Batty raised his glass high:
“You are truly great!”

Ronan hasn't had a drink in a long time, but he really wants to have a drink with Batty now:
“My teacher is greater.”

Ronan was willing to call him teacher.

(End of this chapter)