Contents of article "June 2005"
Monday 30th May
Thursday 2nd June
Friday 3rd June
Saturday 4th June
Sunday 5th June
Monday 6th June
Tuesday 7th June
Wednesday 8th June
Thursday 9th June
Friday 10th June
Saturday 11th June
Sunday 12th June
Monday 13th June
Tuesday 14th June
Wednesday 15th June
Thursday 16th June
Saturday 18th June
Sunday 19th June
Tuesday 21st June
Wednesday 22nd June
Friday 24th June
Sunday 26th June
Monday 27th June
Wednesday 29th June
Monday 30th May
In the words of Victor Meldrew "I don’t believe it!" Everytime somebody comes over from England to stay with us, it rains. And guess what. It’s raining! When my Dad came over 2 weeks ago, it rained! When Rosy and Alan came over, it rained. When Sue and Paul came over, it rained. When Liz and Rob came over, it rained. In between those visits, the weather was perfect. I think my friends in England are beginning to think I’m a bit of a fibber!
We went to St Cyprien today, in the rain, to take some flyers into the Office de Tourisme and get their June programme of events. It is quite difficult to find out what’s on in the region for several reasons. Firstly, they don’t usually know themselves until the absolute last
The sea hoover
minute. Secondly, their programmes often consist of names of events with no details and thirdly, this region is still a little ’backward’ where ICT is concerned and only a couple of tourist offices are actually capable of sending the info via email. Never mind, if the mountain won’t come to Mohamed...... The beach was deserted and it was quite chilly at times. The sudden temperature rises and drops around here are amazing. I would say there is a 10° difference today compared with this time yesterday. Suprisingly, there were few tourists around and the bars and cafés were empty. The tourist season hasn’t really started here yet and they were preparing the beaches by sweeping the sand and vacuuming the sea - nice clean resort!
Thursday 2nd June
Happy June everybody! I’ve been off-line for 3 days and cold turkey has set in. All this, thanks to Wanadoo - or should I say Wanadon’t? In fact,Wanadoo don’t wanna do anything about the fact that they keep breaking down and leaving us with no broadband connection. They blame France Telecom, but France Telecom blames Wanadoo who say they Do wanna help and will ring back. They don’t. We do. A different person does wanna help and says she’ll ring back. She don’t. We do .......... Am I still holding your interest or did you drop off your chair with boredom several minutes ago? If I were to complete the tale, it would continue for several pages in the same vein until we arrive, 72 hours later, in the present, at which time we STILL have no internet connection, despite a very nice man finally coming round (he didn’t bring any cherries) and telling us there’s nothing he can do right now. All the above is completely factual and names have not been changed to protect the innocent! It’s very awkward being a web mistress when you haven’t got a web - but the weather’s absolutely superb and not being able to work on the computer has reminded me that there are other things in life!
I’m not much of a singer, but I love singing.
I’m not much of an artist but I love painting.
I’m not much of a writer but I love writing.
So what does all this say about me? That I’m not really talented at all but it never stops me having a go. If you’re reading this right now, pause and ask yourself if there’s anything you would really love to try out but have always said “I’m no good at that” or “I don’t have the skills” Make a decision now that you’re going to try it this weekend. Go on, you won’t regret it and even if it turns out like my paintings, at least you’ll know you’ve had a go. What’s all this to do with the PO you might well ask? Well, here am I, surrounded by breathtaking scenery in a region steeped in culture and tradition, living amongst a community which is warm and relaxed, in a climate that is soft and caressing, and it makes me want to DO! I very rarely watch telly now, (I’m managing to overcome a slight nostalgia for Corrie and Eastenders) there is just so much to see and do. Lulu spends more time outside than on his playstation and is tanned and cute
I’ve got loads of photos to show you as soon as we get our connection back!
Friday 3rd June
Yippee! I’m back! They won’t get rid of me that easily! (fiendish cackle) ’Live box’ is now ’Dead box’ but you can’t keep a good webmaster down and I’ve set up with a modem instead. Don’t know what I’m talking about? OK... Wanadoo, in conjunction with France Telecom, offers ’Livebox’ which allows you to connect up as many computers as you wish, in cordless broadband connections. (broadband = ADSL in french) For example, with livebox, I could use my laptop in the garden with no wires, run my main computer and Lulu could still play Space Invaders on his. Apparently, climatic conditions have affected our livebox as it doesnt work well in the heat. Oooops, we’re in the south of France guys dur! Did nobody tell you that it gets hot here?
Yesterday, we walked up to the ruins of the Roman fort at La Cluse Haute, just off the road to Le Perthus. The actual fort is nothing special, but the views are splendid and the walk, taking you up an old roman road, now in ruin, is full of flowers and strange critturs. If you decide to try it, park at La Cluse Basse and walk up. You can’t miss the path which is well signposted.
View down to Le Perthus from the Roman road
Flowers on the Roman path
Clavsrae - the roman fort
Over the next few months, in PO Life, I’m goingto be following the trials and tribulations of Julie and Steve from the Wirral as they renovate their newly acquired property in Coustouges. I already feel as if I know Julie well as we regularly correspond by email. I couldn’t resist sharing with you part of her description of their first night in their new ’maison secondaire’
"First night in house was strange but exciting, the upstairs rooms are habitable so we put our new airbeds all in one room and slept there and we all slept very well! As there is no toilet yet we had to improvise with an outhouse with no door, a bucket and a 2 Euro toilet seat - also some porta potti fluid! I won’t give too much information here on this subject! Its surprising how quickly you can adjust to living minimally, but as I said, we have lived in caravans and the tiny cabin of a boat so we know about roughing it. The ground floor is just piles of rubble and hacked up concrete we think, on an earth floor so when you go down (where the tap is) you immediately get covered in a film of brick dust."
Good luck Julie and Steve, sounds like you need it! We’ll look forward to seeing the ’before’ and ’after’
Saturday 4th June
Today is ’la fete de la cerise’ in Céret and there are
giant plastic cherries adorning the streets. To start off this festival day, another neighbour, Pierrot, obviously felt that I was in need of extra vitamins due to my short stature, and very kindly presented me with a large basket of cherries..... and Brigitte next door brought me round some of her home made cherry jam. Cherries apart, if you hear sometimes that the English are not welcome in these parts, it is so untrue. In fact, you get what you give, and the Catalan, once he becomes a friend, is a friend for life!
Lulu is outside playing with the new game that next door
Valentin, Lulu, and Tristanplaying Diablo
neighbour Evelyne bought him yesterday. It’s called Diablo and I don’t think he’s quite mastered it yet as it keeps falling on his head! On the other hand, next door neighbours Valentin and Tristan chuck it up in the air and catch it like pros! I’m sure it must exist in England but I’ve never seen it
Sunday 5th June
I stand corrected! The game is spelt Diabolo and it doesn’t keep dropping on Lulu’s head - it’s the wind you see, not his complete and utter lack of coordination!
The plot thickens....
The Fete de la cerise yesterday was my worst nightmare - cherries everywhere! To add insult to injury, we came home from the festival last night to find a plastic bag and a colander full of cherries on the doorstep, left by an annonymous donor! Rest assured! I have several suspects and will be conducting a full enquiry.
Cherry stone spitting contest
The festival was in fact great fun although we didn’t stay for the evening events of live music, dancing and dinner under the stars. Lulu had invited friends round to camp in the garden, so I had to go into ’brown owl’ mode and set up tents, campfires, and saucisses catalanes (a tip about saucisses catalanes - they vary enormously, depending upon where you get them, from absolutley delicious to downright disgusting. It really is worth trying different boucheries until you find one that suits you. We get ours from the boucherie in Céret centre opposite the Maison de la Presse. They’re more expensive than the
acro-bungy
supermarkets but far superior in quality.) Anyway, back to the cherry festival. There was an area for children where José Cobos had set up acro-bungy, a superb thing in which children, even the very small, are put into a harness and, using trampolines to bounce on, can jump up 6 or 7 metres or more. There were of course stalls everywhere selling cherries, cherry stoning contests, cherry stone spittings contests, cherry beer and all types of cherry patisserie. Cherry jams, cherry pancakes, cherry trees, cherry cakes........ uh oh, here I go again! The festival continues today but I really can’t face another day surrounded by the dastardly red terror. Can you freeze cherries? Does anybody know? (Does anybody care?)
I was really pleased to read in the Independant (pronounced in-day-pang-dang in the catalan accent) that a bear has been spotted in Fontrabiouse up in the mountains, although the villagers are a little worried that it seems to be approaching the village more often according to prints found at only 150 metres from Fontrabiouse itself. Examination of the prints show it to be adult, more than 200kg in weight and it is believed to be possibly either Boutxi or Kouky, bears born at least 10 years ago to Bella and Ziva, two female bears introduced into the region. Hives in the vicinity are regularly pillaged and flocks traumatised so.....as the song goes....if you go down to the woods today ....you might just end up with more than you bargained for! You don’t want a bear behind!
Monday 6th June
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall (with apologies to Alice Cooper)
Olivier’s finally putting his new spade to some use and building a wall. It will be 45 metres long and 2 metres wide. He started it on Friday and still hasn’t finished it after 2 days! You just can’t get the staff these days!
I’m having big problems with my e mail reception now, just to add to the Wanadoo list of moans. If anybody happens to be passing who can work out why I’m receiving some e mails on one computer and none on the other, do let me know. I
can pay you in cherries!
The weather is very warm here now, clear blue sky this morning and very still but in the last couple of hours, the wind has been rising and it’s blown clouds over the mountains which keep scuttling back and forth across the blue canvas. This morning, we walked round Sorède, one of the many pretty villages nestling at the foot of the Albères, on the route between Argelès and Le Boulou,
heading towards Spain. I dont think I will ever tire of the careless beauty of this region. It is not neat and organised like many parts of the Cote d’Azur with carefully planned palm trees and regimentally planted flower beds standing to attention. It is wild and colourful, scattered with vines, fruit trees and flowers in every hue. I can understand why artists from far and wide are drawn to the area.
Tuesday 7th June
A picture paints a thousand words.....today I’m going to let the Pyrénées-Orientales speak for itself.....
Wednesday 8th June
Drove over to Rivesaltes yesterday afternoon, famous for its Muscat and Vins doux naturels. Personally, I find the Vin de Rivesaltes far too sweet and heavy. It is usually drunk as an apéro and is a similar kind of idea to sherry. I have put some of the forthcoming Summer events in the What’s on section, but I just have to tell you about the festival of La Légende du Babau (pronounced ba ba ou) which I attended last year. This year, it will take place on Tuesday the 9th August and if you’re in the region, it really is worth going to, particularly if you have children. Do particularly make sure that you arrive in time for the procession as this is the time when the legendary monster, the babau, who allegedly terrorised Rivesaltes during the 13th century, rides through the streets on a float, roaring and breathing fire. Alongside run townspeople who throw
Rivesaltes
confetti and rice into the crowds and the atmosphere is fabulous. Bisou, my four legged daughter was absolutley terrified however and I very much regretted taking her as she was shaking like a leaf. Even an offer of an ashtray of beer,(her favourite tipple) didn’t calm her down until the festivities were over. I could imagine small children of nervous dispostions being quite frightened too, so best to warn them in advance.
We killed two birds with one stone whilst we were over there and did some shopping in Carrefour which is nearby. I wanted a small, portable air-conditioning unit to put in the office as the combination of the heat from the computer and the increasingly warm weather is turning this room into an oven. Portable units however were still very bulky and so expensive - the cheapest we’ve found so far is 299€ and it’s a big hog of a thing where you need to put a pipe out of the window - letting in the mosquitos at night. No thank you - I’d prefer to fry than be bitten to death!
The phantom cherryman strikes again!
The phantom cherryman has struck again! I’ve narrowed it down to an Intermarché shopper due to the plastic bag and will shortly be carrying out handwriting analysis on the jam label: I will leave no (cherry) stone unturned!
Thursday 9th June
I’m so excited I think I might burst! Our poolman came round yesterday to measure up and trace the outline and they’re starting the digging tomorrow. Today, two more burly gentlemen came round and traced the lines out in red paint. It looks a bit like a murder scene after the death of a very large, rectangular person!
The wall’s not coming along very well at all as there are so many other things to do! We have to take down the fence at the end of the garden which is the only thing separating us from the woods and the sangliers (wild boar) so I’m going to be awake all night listening out for snuffling and snorting!
I’m going to pick Lulu up from school now. School over here is a world apart from the average British school. No uniform for a start, and little contact with the teachers other than the actual lesson itself, which tends to be a lot more formal (I’m generalising of course. I know there are some very exciting and motivating teachers over here too) and less flexible. There is no ’form period’ to allow the children to get to know their teachers other than in the classroom, and breaks and lunch times are supervised by ’pions’, young people employed just for that purpose.
If a teacher is absent, children go into étude, also supervised by the pions and if the absence is signalled in advance, pupils do not need to be present in school for that lesson if it is at the beginning or the end of the day, giving the pupil lots of extra lie-ins. Lulu loves school over here - the social side more than the academic unfortunately - and for me that is the most important thing - seeing him go off to scool in the morning with a smile on his face.
Friday 10th June
What a flipping mess! There’s dust and dirt, soil and rocks everywhere and a big hole in the garden! Did I really want a pool? Bisou has been cowering under the desk all day as she’s terrified of the big bad digger (you’ll have noticed by now that she’s terrified of everything) and won’t even go out for a wee.
< I didn’t realise there would be so much mess! In fact, to avoid the stress of watching the garden turning into a war scene before my eyes, I have been obliged to turn to the bottle. p>
Saturday 11th June
We went into Perpignan last night to a meeting of the Conseil Général des Pyrénées-Orientales, the councelling body for the PO.
There is clearly still tension in the air after the recent troubles in the quartier Saint Jacques and there were police and CRS (similar tro riot police) all over the town. I wanted to take a photo of a big man with a gun but Olivier hurried me on with an embarassed smile! One of the many things I love in this region is that everything is so accessible. I think that this is mainly down to the general lack of heavy traffic which means that you can actually get anywhere without queueing for hours in stressful, frustrating traffic jams. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying traffic jams don’t exist here. There are certain hotspots to avoid wherever possible: le Boulou in season, Perpignan in the rush hour nd I’m sure that people reading this could give me many more examples. However, ON THE WHOLE, it is very easy to travel around, relaxing and so much less ’hairy’ than in the UK. To take my son to school in England, it used to take me up to 40 minutes to travel 1 mile, here it takes me 5 minutes to drive the 4km to school!
When we first moved to this house, we didn’t have any furniture, plates or cutlery as the removal van was to arrive a few days later. Furniture, plates and cutlery were, in fact no problem, but a cork screw! Now that’s a completely different kettle of fish. Fortunately, my very dear friends Rosy and Alan were staying with us and Alan, photographer and inventor extraordinaire, found the solution. If you’re visiting the PO in the near future, find yourself a piece of sarment (mentioned earlier in the month) and see what you can make with it!
Sunday 12th June
The wall is coming along very slowly ...... next door neighbour Hubert obviously felt sorry for Olivier carting around all those heavy blocks on his own and appeared with his wheel barrow yesterday afternoon to save the day. Of course, for the first time in several weeks, the heavens opened and it absolutely poured down - not very good for freshly laid cement I’m told. We all drowned our sorrows in too many beers and ended up chez Hubert and Evelyne with more beer and wine and more beer....one of those lovely, loud evenings that’s not planned and so you appreciate it all the more. ! When it rains here, it REALLY rains but unlike in England, it’s very welcome and people still sit outside as it is very warm.
Evelyne saves the day with water for the pastis
Today, the weather is undecided. Sunny one minute, cloudy the next, still very warm. I set off on my bike to get a paper and I was nearly in the village (Maureillas) when a car pulled up next to me and a voice said ’Votre chien vous suit’ I looked behind me and there, on the road, holding up a line of patient motorists, trotted a lone four legged familiar figure who had taken it upon herself to follow me all the way from the house. Nobody seemed to mind that she was holding up all the traffic!
Monday 13th June
Winter’s back! After a warm and cloudy morning, the wind started hustling and bringing in the rain from the mountains and now it’s dark and stormy - still warm - with ominous black clouds queueing up across an angry looking Albères mountain range.
lego
The pool men came back this morning and started putting the pool together. It’s a bit like lego, and I’m sure that I could have done it myself if I hadn’t been born to oversee all things technical in a supervisory capacity! My ’wall’ staff have called it a day and gone on strike as you can see from the photo and even the dog has given up for the night. Like I said before, you just can’t get the staff these days!
Mutiny in the wall crew
All in all, not many more bricks in the wall
My friend Rosy just rang and I must admit it made me feel a little nostalgic. You pack up and move but there’s always going to be things you miss. For me, it’s my friends and my Dad. We’ve made loads of new friends and have a social circle to make us dizzy but nobody will ever replace the people who have played such a large part in my life for so long.
Tuesday 14th June
Pat
I’m geting quite accustomed to half naked men digging in my garden - the living proof that builder’s bum syndrone is not just a myth!
The weather is still moody - rain one minute, sun the next - but the wall staff have carried on regardless. Today, Olivier had a helping hand from Pat who lives in Pollestres near Perpignan. Pat and his family moved to the region from Scotland in January.
The bottom line
It’s amazing how many British there are in the area and how warmly most of them feel that they have been welcomed and accepted into local communities. Shopping in the Intermarché this morning, the mix of different languages was a revelation. The PO are becoming a cosmopolitan melange of nationalities integrating smoothly into the Catalan life style and culture. This is Europe at its most positive.
Wednesday 15th June
Yet more half naked men in the garden! It gives a gal somewhere to focus. Some of them would benefit from reducing their beer intake I suspect but mustn’t grumble. I am the pot and they are the kettles!
We exchanged our morning walk for a bike ride today as we have so much to do. it’s a different kind of ’busy’ here than it was back in the UK. ’Busy’ over there meant getting up at 6am, sorting out Lulu and Bisou with breakfast and a wee (respectively), going to school, teaching, doing break duty, detention duty, extra lunch time work, picking up Lulu from school, marking (or worrying about the marking I wasn’t doing) preparing next days lessons (or worrying about the preparation I wasn’t doing) writing reports or schemes of work (or worrying about ........)
’figues de Barbarie’ or the prickly pear
growing just down the street - edible, tasty, but prickly!
Sorry if I’m getting boring but it was! School politics, who’s in the right place at the right time, who likes who, who doesn’t like who, who’s doing their job properly and who’s not. Gossip and more gossip... This is a diary about the Pyrénées Orientales but to really understand why people pack up and leave, sometimes on a wing and a prayer, it’s important to compare lifestyles - the reality and the potential reality. Sure, it’s not within everyone’s reach - we have ties that can’t be broken and responsibilities to others which we must accept and respect but if that golden opportunity reaches out to you, grab it with both hands and don’t let go. Squeeze every last drop out of life - it’s so precious.
’Busy’ here involves getting up around 7 - 8 am, dropping Lulu off at school and going for a long walk or bike ride amongst the vines and cherry trees, coming home, building walls, working on the site, leisurely lunch, siesta ...... need I go on or have I made my point?
This morning’s bike ride was a reminder that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. In the UK, we used to go for long bike rides most weekends and Bisou used to run along side the bikes on the left hand side, so that even if traffic did pass us, she was protected. Now, she refuses to change sides, even though we have to ride on the right.
Thursday 16th June
Somebody asked me recently if I missed having carpets. it’s true that I don’t know anybody around here who has carpets, even in the bedrooms (not that I’ve been invited into that many bedrooms) and I think that it would be very unpractical as we spend so much time outside. On the other hand, in Winter, the tiles are cold on the feet, but it’s certainly much more hygenic and very easy to clean. When we sold our house in England I was mortified at leaving the carpets behind, I wanted to roll them all up and bring them with me. I’m glad I didn’t in the end - carpets just wouldn’t be right here.
Saturday 18th June
I do hope the sun is shining on you wherever you are - it is most certainly shining here and the weather forecasters are predicting the possiblity of a ’canicule’ (heat wave) this Summer so if you’re planning a holiday here in August, make sure you’ve got air conditiioning or some water nearby to cool off in!.
Yesterday, with some friends, I abandoned Olivier to his wall and went up to the Pic du Neoulous (1257m high) Wow! I absolutely recommend it to anybody who appreciates panoramic views. It’s part of the GR10, the Med to Atlantic walk (similar kind of idea to the coast to coast in England) and is spectacular. As you approach the top, you have views of the the whole of the department of the Pyrenees-Orientales on your left, and northern Spain following the coastline past Rosas, on your right. A broken down, barbed wire fence separates you from Spain and renowned as I am for my maturity(!), I amused myself for several minutes jumping over the fence and back and shouting ’bonjour’ ’holà’ ’bonjour’ ’holà’ but nobody else found it the slightest little bit funny (apart from me)
It really is quite breathtaking but also a little emotional if you remember that only 50 years ago, hundreds of Jews, and political refugees were some of the small minoriy of escapees from the horror of the Occupation to have passed over these hills to safety. I felt a tiny seed of guilt to be there, with my picnic and my good walking shoes, knowing that I was going home at the end of the day to my security, whilst the people in whose tracks I was walking had left behind everything and were going to nothing.
The winds reach high speeds at times and trees adjust accordingly;
To get there, you head towards Spain from le Boulou, and turn left directly after the car park at the entrance to Le Perthus. After this, you wind up through chestnut and cork trees following directions for the village of Saint-Martin (don’t actually go into the village) and le col de l’Ouillat. When you arrive at the chalet du col de l’Ouillat, it’s a good place to park up and start the walk. The chalet does food and drinks but I haven’t tried it yet. If anybody has, maybe you could let us know what it’s like in the forum. The GR10 (GR standing for Grande Randonnée) can be picked up from the chalet and is indicated by white and red paint strokes. It’s a very steep ascent at first and if you’re not too fit it would be better to go up in the car, but it really is worth the effort for the view. Unfortunately, at the very top, there are television arials but the beauty is really looking down, not up and the walk itself is fascinating, passing, amongst other things,
a snow well (puits de neige) from which ice used to be hacked out and sold down in the villages before the introduction of freezers.
Sunday 19th June
I was press-ganged into the wall crew today and the gang of one became the gang of one and a half! My arms are so tired that I can’t raise them to the key board so I’ll be very brief and just say "ouch!"
By the way, to all the Dads out there - Happy Father’s day and particularly to my own; love you Dad. Funnily enough, Mother’s Day is on a different date in France and England, but Father’s day is the same in both countries
Tuesday 21st June
I’m melting away like ice in the sun - it’s so heavy and warm. The sun has given way to cloud cover and the atmosphere is damp and sticky, moi aussi! We called somebody round to give us a quote for the installation of air conditioning today. Maybe I’m oversensitive, but I find a lot of the salespeople round here to be condescending bullies with loud voices particularly with women. It puts my back up immediately. Maybe it’s the heat!
We have loads of lizards living in our wall and it’s fun to watch them. It’s fascinating to see them lash out with their tongues and catch flies. Funny but I don’t mind
lizards and yet I can’t stand snakes!
There are some of the most beautiful butterflies around - this one was perched on the end of our gate this morning. They are so fragile and delicate. It looks as if it’s got eyes in the middle of each wing but these are only markings. Is there any relevance or meaning to a butterfly’s markings? I’d love to know.
Wednesday 22nd June
It seems that, in the same way that my frog turned into a toad last month, my butterfly has turned into a moth over night! What would I do without the Oracle, who has supplied me with a little additional information on the above critturs. "The lizard is a (female) wall lizard - podarcis muralis - common all over middle/southern France and other countries.
The moth (male) is commonly known as the "Garden Tiger" and is found also (though much more rarely these days!) in the UK. If you reverse the picture 180° and enlarge to 200% (which is the approximate real size) then imagine you are a small bird which eats moths, but suddenly finds this thing "staring at you", then you see the purpose of the "eyes" ... could be mistaken (by the bird) for a barn owl - in which case ... do not try to eat.... flee...." (thank you Oracle for not pointing out that I’d spelt ’lizard’ wrong twice - you’re a very nice man!
Last night I went to the Fete de la Musique in Ceret. This is an international festival, held on the same night all around France every year and is a great excuse for a good old boogie. There’s some excellent music around of course, the streets are packed and the cafés overflowing, but bear in mind that anybody can get out their instruments and play so there were some very ’interesting’ bands and singers on the streets last night. Good for them to have the guts to get up in front of crowds and have a go! There’s nothing better than to see people having fun and enjoying what they’re doing.
Our wood in Winter
Friday 24th June
Yesterday morning was D day for the ’mosquito net blinds’ installation. The mozzies have begun their assault on our green and pleasant land but we will repel this unwelcome invasion. We shall fight them in the kitchen, we shall fight them in the garden, we shall fight them on the patio; we shall never surrender. At the bottom of our garden, we have a wood with the Maureillas river running through it. When we bought the land, we congratulated ourselves on being the proud owners of our own forest and river. Wrong! The river attracts all manner of ’nasties’ and the forest has to be ’débroussaillé’ (cleared of all brushwood) yearly by order of the ’mairie’ subject to a large fine for non-compliance. There is a good reason for this of course. Forest fires in this region are killers as they spread so quickly, so anybody with wooded areas on their land must ensure the ’débroussaillement’ within 50m of any houses. It’s a good and safe law but not always respected unfortunately and some ’mairies’ are less strict than others in enforcing it.
Back to the mozzies. There are not actually many around yet, but they sneak up on you from behind like a dentist with his drill and you dont’t actually know you’ve been ’mozzied’ until the next day when you wake up with a flipping great boil on your arm or your leg. I expect to receive a missive from the oracle shortly informing me of the usefulness of these bloodsuckers. All I can say is "talk to the boil Rog!"
The festival season has arrived in the Pyrénées-Orientales. Yesterday, following hot on the heels of la Fete de la musique came les Feux de la Saint Jean, a feast of fire and music. We went to the Maureillas festival as it’s within walking distance. It was great fun, with fireworks and candyfloss but we were surprised to see a local tradition in which the children, some as young as 7 or 8, jump over the bonfire!!
Lulu had a go too, wearing his nylon T shirt and nylon trainers, and we narrowly missed having roasted sweatbreads for dinner! They all seemed to enjoy it and, apart from me, nobody was the slightest bit anxious, as the fireman were there to put the children out if need be! Maybe my years as a teacher have made me over cautious but this particular tradition did seem a ’leetle beet dangereux’ to me.
Sunday 26th June
The weather here continues to be absolutely beautiful and days pass by in a hazy, lazy whirl of gentle activity. After a morning on the wall crew yesterday in temperatures of 35°, we took the afternoon off and went to Tautavel (by invitation of the mayor no less) to celebrate the twinning of Tautavel with the Spanish town of Orce in the province of Granada in Spain.
Orce is noted for the discovery in 1976 of a rich archeological site and the finding in 1982 of the ’Homme de Orce’, the skull of a child believed to be one and a half million years old!.
The afternoon consisted of a procession through the streets, music and demonstrations of thatching and mud hut building, along with speeches, speeches and more speeches where the Spanish delegation thanked the French delegation and the French delegation thanked the Spanish delegation and the Mayor of Tautavel thanked the Mayor of Orce and the Mayor of Orce thanked the people of Tautavel and the people of Tautavel........well, I think you get the picture.
The evening however was lovely. A buffet of saucisson and paté, ham and chicken with fresh fruit, cakes, biscuits and crisps, washed down with Rivesaltes (red aperitif wine)and Muscat (white aperitif wine) and excessive amounts of regional wine, in a parkland area under the stars, surrounded by the stunning views of Tautavel.
It’s a very pretty little village, well worth a visit and of course the site of the 450,000 year old Tautavel man, probably the most famous historical discovery in the region, who was dug up recently in a cave (la Caune d’Arago) near the village of Tautavel in pretty good condition considering his age and the fact that he was dead!
Monday 27th June
Did I say I loved everything about my life in the Pyrénées-Orientales? I lied. I don’t like snakes and I don’t like creepy, crawly, unidentifiable, nasty, potentially bitey, stingy, horrid things that threaten to crawl up your leg when you’ve had a few drinks and aren’t on ’crittur alert’! The snake flung itself across my path this morning whilst out on an innocent, fun, bike ride. Well, flung might be a slight exaggeration as it was already dead but it still managed to give me a kind of slimey, slithery ’look’ which caused me to swerve into the vines where I happened upon this other delicious beastie. I am awaiting further information from the Oracle on their origins and ancestry but don’t intend to leave the house again in the near future. Other than that, another lovely day in the PO!
Wednesday 29th June
The days flash by so quickly here - there is never a dull moment and everything is so exciting - there is always something to look forward to which I think is a major secret of life. As soon as you’ve got nothing to look forward to, there’s no good reason to get up in the morning!
Yesterday, we walked round the lake at villeneuve de la Raho and ate crepes by the lakeside. The water was like warm bathwater and I couldnt resist a paddle. There are actually two walks around the little and big lakes and loads of activities for the kids on site including a mini ’aqua land’ (very mini but lovely for the tiny chaps) and trampolines as well as supervised swimming and paddling.
Today, I’ve been on wheelbarrow duty on the wall gang as we have to start filling in the hole between the wall (still unfinished) and the land (still a building site) with earth. About 100 wheelbarrows of earth later and the mountain of earth in the garden is simply not going down. The poolmen can’t continue with the pool until we move it as they need to build the ’local technique’ - the pump house - on that very spot and it’s all becoming a little bit complicated. I am therefore going to follow my usual philosophy in times of stress and decision making, which is to open and bottle, ignore it and hope it goes away! Cheers!
