World music day

This was started in France in 1982 on June 21st as a day when performers, both amateur and professional, were encouraged to make music in the streets and to give free concerts. It was taken up enthusiastically and has since spread to 110 countries. (Including Great Britain - did we know?)
In our village here it took the form of a concert given by schoolchildren and the local school of dance.  We went into the lower town of Carcassonne to catch a concert by the municipal orchestra and choir who were set up by the river on Friday evening. The standard was not great but the most bizarre thing was when a woman came out of the choir and approached a man in the audience (seemingly her dance partner) and proceeded to perform a very complex and intricate dance as the orchestra performed a piece of modern music. They then hung around like dancers after a country dance, waiting to see what the orchestra would play next and whether it would be suitable to dance to.  Apparently not, as when the next piece started they kissed and went back to their places.

And since I've just accidentally deleted the picture of the dancers, all I can show you is the view as we returned.

Rustiques museum

Another triumph over a French attitude towards times and appointments.  We wanted to see the museum but it is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10 - 12.
Duly there at 10 am (one of us by bike, even!) the museum was firmly shut.  A notice on the door informed us there was a village walk at 10 am starting from the campsite, but omitted to mention that the guide was one and the same person who led the museum visits.

Le guide, a Belgian who speaks 7 languages.

 We waited for 15 minutes then asked.  "Oh, he will be leading the village walk.  You'll find him easily somewhere in the village.  Try the chateau or the church".  OK, we wander around as suggested but no luck so we went to Trebes to find a coffee. At 11.30 we thought we'd just try our luck and return to Rustiques to see if they had ended up at the museum by any chance. Just giving up for the second time as there was no sign of life, they all suddenly appeared accompanied by the old man whose 40 year archeological collection founded the museum in 2001.

Jean Nicoux,the archeologist, and part of a statue

And here was another surprise.  In such a small place we expected a very rustic dusty collection of disorganised exhibits but far from it.  He had been a meticulous collector and recorder of his finds; everything was well documented and fragments of pottery placed on photographic reproductions so you could see what the whole thing would have looked like. 

M Nicoux describes some of his finds.

The old man was easy to understand and eager to tell us all about his collection of mostly gallo-roman pottery, coins etc, but also some prehistoric tools and so on. One item was a small piece of gold jewellery with a phallic symbol which he explained the Roman women would wear to illustrate their husbands' virility. He had nearly missed it down in the ground until a sudden ray of sun caught it and made it glint.

We also heard how it took him 25 years to get permission to excavate two niches outside the church, which turned out to contain the remains of 9 and 4 bodies, on top of which were remnants of statues presumably destroyed during the revolution and buried in there.

All in all a worthwhile visit and now on to the next thing, as today is the National Day of Music.  All over France there are concerts and dances and soirees, so we're off to find some.....

Rustiques - a tiny village with a big heart

Last week this little village of 500 inhabitants celebrated the opening of its signed tourist walk. We went to join in with Marie-Renee and Michel and were surprised to find many of the villagers in costume to introduce us to various of the historical waymarks on the way round. There were lepers, aristocrats and peasants, Roman soldiers and so on.

Two rather jolly lepers

Round we all went, from site to site, learning about the ownership of the chateau, hearing from an 87 year-old about his experience of the resistance in the seciond world war, looking at photos of women washing clothes in the stream, one of whom still lives there, seeing the site of the communal bakery - every 24th loaf had to be given to the seigneur in the chateau.

Mercifully brief introductions (mostly)

We had invited our friends to eat with us after this event and so had prepared a complete four course meal but our plans went awry. The procession ended up at the village hall, led by the brass band and we were swept up and inside for "aperos".  Having taken a quick look and decided to head back, we were spotted and told it was out of the question, so we ate beautiful canapes and had a drink or two and staggered back about 8.30, unable to eat more than the starter and dessert. Next day we shared the main course with our neighbours so it all worked out well!

House valuation

One of the two estate agents has come back to us and it appears we have lost about 30% on the house - so far! We're not too surprised but its hard to find anywhere smaller we like better, and when we look we come back to realising how much we love this one so our hearts are not in it for moving. It's just a pity the village is not more lively.

Passing it on - French inheritance laws

Today we went to Toulouse to see an English-speaking lawyer about what happens to our house out here when either or both of us die. French law is very different from English in this respect.  We had read up about it and it seemed that in our particular circumstances we need do nothing special, but we keep reading dire warnings so thought it best to check up.
We are joint owners of the house and the way the law operates here, if one of us dies, their half will be inherited equally by our two boys and the surviving spouse.  So the survivor will retain ownership of 1/2 + inherit 1/3 of the other 1/2 - ie 2/3.  The boys would own 1/6 each. Fortunately we didn't have to go into what happens if there are other children from earlier marriages - things get even more complicated!
This all sounds very odd to us English but apparently the rest of Europe is similar - its we who are the odd ones out.
Anyway, after due deliberation, and finding out that we had correctly understood the situation, we have decided to leave things as they are, but at least it feels tidier somehow to have made a fully-informed decision.

Hens' nests in training

One of our favourite road signs brings out the childish in us as we can't help translating it literally into English - as above.  It actually says "NIDS DE POULE EN FORMATION".  The nids de poules, or hens' nests are potholes.  Formation usually means training but probably here has the meaning we are used to in English.
Our other favourite is PARKING SUBMERSIBLE. We didn't actually see it immediately after the recent rain storm of June 8 which flooded us and many of our neighbours but, judging by the debris the day after, it lived up to its name.

And more expense!

Now we have a new noise coming from the van. Investigations - badly bent suspension arm, due to the knock we took. €353. The only good thing to come out of it was finding excellent and friendly service locally.  Lovely friendly team of guys who didn't seem to mind dealing with people who largely spoke gibberish. Fortunately we have adopted a common French attitude towards their vehicles, which perhaps has come about due to the incredibly narrow streets in many villages, which is simply to shrug their shoulders at scrapes and dents - c'est la vie.  We are now proudly Gallically dented and scraped - and out of pocket too.

Oh la la! The expense!

While Fredi and Seb were here, when returning one evening we ran into a large road grid which had been left sticking up so that we hit it hard with the front wheel, making a huge hole in the tyre. Job for the blokes, when you've got two of them on hand, so Fredi and I carried on our conversation in the back of the car until the spare wheel was fitted.  When they'd gone back we went to replace the tyre - €97 - and were told we must replace the other front tyre too, as there was too much difference in wear otherwise - €194.  At this point I remembered that there had been an offer on when we bought the originals (which were only necessary because French law requires vehicles to adhere to their original specifications and our van had wider tyres when we bought it). Suddenly found ourselves delighted to be able to claim a reimbursement - 25% of the wrecked tyre price. I've filed the paperwork so if it works out that'll be €170 - only! Thanks very much to the jokers who lifted that grid out and were probable watching when we hit it.

I'm back!

I came back to France this time determined to maintain the blog from time to time so here we go.

We started off spending a week with friends visiting us from England. We tried to warn them that the weather wasn't up to the usual South of France standard but I don't think they quite believed us. Fortunately we had clothes to lend them.............

Fredi and Seb suitably attired for the South of France

Of course we still got out and about and had a lovely time in spite of the weather,

Better weather for the cherry festival

 but saperlipopette  was it cold! (that's my latest and favourite French word, from the local newspaper and translates as Zounds or Struth)
Since they went back last Thursday we've been to dinner with Marie-Renee and Michel, our friends from Pennautier, and at the weekend visited two gardens taking part in the national Open Gardens Day. One was in the grounds of an old water-driven forge near Montolieu, the book village (like Hay-on-Wye)

and the other was the restored gardens of the Abbey of Fontfroide. It was actually sunny for the latter, this being Sunday, and not only were the gardens lovely, but there was a quintet playing classical music under the trees.  My customary detailed examination of the local papers (!) meant that we were able to time our visit to include one of their performances.

Quartet Dolmitia +1

Jon was more interested in the design of these chairs with seats and backs made from sprung steel.  When you sit on them they give and are almost bouncy. Amazingly comfortable.

This week we have started to follow up on our constant feeling that the house is over-large and the village not the most lively.  So we have approached two estate agents to request valuations.  We need to know how much we are going to lose by selling, and this is just part of trying to make things easier for the boys if we still own property out here when we die!  Cheerful subject? 

To be continued.................................

Springy seat