France 2013 Chapter 23

 

Another week of searing heat. Another week of enervating listlessness. The fan has worked endlessly, but simply moving away from its cooling arc is enough to bring out the perspiration. We have never experienced anything even remotely like this, although we have been to some very hot places in the world. The difference is that in those other usually hot countries, allowance is made for the climate and the buildings have air-conditioning but of course, where it is usually mild, like this part of France, the buildings are designed to trap warmth and only shops are air-conditioned. And the same applies to our car which was designed for a cool climate and is only equipped with a really efficient heater – not quite the thing for this uncommon season.

Which is not to say that we have spent the whole week indoors again, as we have done before. We still have to eat occasionally, gas for cooking needs to be replenished, fuel is required to run the car, and so it goes on. So every now and again we manage to get up early enough to be in the shops more or less as they open at nine, do our essential shopping and get back to the fan again before the heat really starts.

On one of these infrequent forays into town, we finally stopped to look at something which caught our eye quite a long time ago. Looking like part of an ancient Roman temple, I was convinced that we would discover that it was, in fact, some sort of mausoleum and belonged to an outdated cemetery, but we were wrong. It turned out to be the remains of a water tower built in the 1870’s over a natural spring. A pump raised the water to the tower before it was led to various fountains around the town. The supply was even enough to provide the inhabitants of Eauze with drinking water, making it one of the first towns in France to do so.

Another fairly interesting event is the appearance of flowers on the creeper that has been growing prolifically up one of the verandah pillars. When we arrived here in February, we noticed that this plant had been severely pruned and wondered if it would ever re-grow. Well , it did eventually start sprouting and having once started, it began to grow like a triffid. Tendrils would shoot out overnight and by the end of the day would be reaching for the windowsill a meter away. We were constantly cutting it back and wondering what sort of plant it was. Not being keen gardeners at the best of times, we had to wait for it to flower before we could hope to identify it, and this week, it flowered and now I know that it is a bignonia plant. Now we are wondering if this is normal behaviour for these creepers; I can hardly imagine that anyone would want something as enthusiastic as this in their garden. Imagine going away for a weekend and leaving it untended – there is a strong possibility that it would have swallowed the house before your return! However, the flowers are beautiful and are an asset to the house’s appearance.

Over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, working just a bit at a time, we gradually spring-cleaned the house, made up a bed, bought a few extra groceries and generally prepared ourselves for the arrival of Pieter and Jessica who would be staying with us for a few days en route to the UK. Or should that be ‘re-arrival’? In any case it was a joy to see the familiar black Land Rover come bouncing up the driveway this afternoon bringing with it two rather weary travellers who had come, first by ferry from Mallorca to mainland Spain and then by car from Barcelona to Espas. It had been a long, hot journey along extremely busy roads and they were obviously pleased to reach the house at last. They will be here until the 1^st August which should fill that in some of that ‘spare time’ of ours quite nicely!

France 2013 Chapter 22

 

……..And still the enervating heat persists! Driving through Eauze one of the days, we saw an electronic notice-board giving the day, date, time and the temperature and on that day it was recording 36 degrees. I think it may have been a few degrees out, but it was definitely between 30 and 33 dergrees.

On Monday we thought that it may well be slightly cooler and it would be worthwhile to go out somewhere. We were later proved to have no future with the Met. Office but before that we saw a little bit more of the country. At some time during the past few months, and after I had decided to make my collection of photographs of pigeon-lofts, I had noticed what I thought was a loft on a farm not far from Ordan –Larroque, a small village on the way to Auch, so we set off to see if I had been right. Although not as close to the village as I had thought, we eventually found the loft and it was a satisfyingly good example. As we had approached the spot via the main road to Auch (and Toulouse) which is a relatively busy road with plenty of trucks, we thought it would be nicer to find and alternative route home again, which how we found ourselves in Biran. By the time we got there, it was already into the ‘lunch-and-siesta’ time and the village was, to all intents, completely deserted. I think I may have heard a radio or perhaps a television from behind a partly open shutter but otherwise all was silent. By now, too, it was extremely hot but the heat could have been  exaggerated by our very hot little car. We parked in a tiny spot of shade and set off to see what the village had to offer – and were pleasantly surprised.

Standing on a knoll at the end of the village was an ancient ‘motte-and-bailey’ type of fortified tower. A motte and bailey fort was a fortified building erected on a small hillock, often man-made, and surrounded by a wooden palisade fence. Sadly we could find no information about the fort which has been allowed to fall into disrepair, but I am sure it is really old, possibly Roman.

The village church also has a Roman look to it with four sturdy pillars supporting the portico over the entrance, which has wonderful stone carvings above the door. The inner door had had a window let into it and when we peered through this we could see the most stunning stone carving on the retable – a framed altarpiece raised slightly above the back of the altar. Had we wished to wait until 3pm, we could have contacted someone who bring the key and let us in but by then the heat had killed all desire to sight-see any more and we returned home.

The next day the entertainment came to us, in a manner of speaking. The grass in the field behind this house, between us and the house behind, has been growing longer and longer over the past few months and I have been wondering if, one day, I would meet a snake when I went out to hang the washing on the line. So we were pleased when a farmer arrived in his tractor, to cut the grass. The following day he came again with an elaborate machine which tossed the grass around. This he repeated on the day following that. Two days after his last visit he arrived in a much bigger tractor with a huge contraption attached to it to make round hay bales. It was fascinating to watch, at close range, how the machine gathered up all the wispy bits of grass and rolled them into a 200 kg bale, and then popped it out on to the ground like a hen laying an egg! So for a few hours, we had our very own hay bales (almost) before he came and loaded them up and took them away for storage.

Apart from that, things have been fairly quiet on the home front – it has just been too, too hot.

France 2013 Chapter 21

You could all be completely forgiven for thinking we had turned into hermits overnight! Apart from some activity at the beginning of the week, getting the family organised for their departure just after lunch on Tuesday, we have hardly moved out of the house all week. The temperatures which had been hovering around the 32 degree mark, mercifully dropped on Sunday to a more acceptable 25 degrees but we still didn’t venture out. It seems that after the persistent cold of the first part of our stay, followed by the never-ending rain, we have now moved into relentless heat which, accompanied by high humidity, has pretty much beaten us into submission and momentarily subdued our adventurous, sight-seeing spirit. Today is actually Bastille Day, an important date in the French calendar but although there must have been all sorts of festivities going on in various centres around us last night, probably ending with a fireworks display, we just hadn’t the energy to go and find one

We did, however, learn the true value of shutters on the windows. With the shutters closed against the heat, the windows can still be kept open and will provide a little air movement. Up until now we have always closed them at night instead of drawing the curtains, but then, I don’t remember being here and experiencing this kind of heat before. With the extreme heat, we have a plague of flies in spite of there not being any large stock farms around us. After slapping at them with a fly swatter, somewhat ineffectively, for a while, we gave in and went off to buy some of those dreadful fly papers. These come as small cylinders with a cap on each end and when you remove the caps the paper unrolls into a long sticky strip complete with drawing pin with which to attach it to the ceiling. Neels, having grown up on a farm had used these before and showed me a good trick. Before opening and unrolling the paper, the cylinder should be rolled between one’s palms to warm it slightly. This softens the glue and the paper unrolls smoothly. They are not the most attractive bits of interior decoration but are unbelievably effective. We now have three hanging around in the main living area and have practically given up using the fly swatter.

So, apart from that fascinating gem of useless information, I have simply nothing to write about this week and of course, no photographs either. Hopefully next week will be better.

France 2013 Chapter 20

 This week has been busy, very windy and very hot. Quite a tiring time in fact. On Monday Andre and Leigh left in the early hours of the morning to catch a train from Narbonne to Nice where they were going to watch the Team Time Trials which form part of the Tour de France. The rest of us got up somewhat later and walked into town for a fresh baguette for our lunch. After lunch we went off to visit the ruins of another Cathar Castle, that of Peyrepetuse. Perched on the top of a hill as they always are, we were able to drive about three-quarters of the way up to the parking area after which there was a constant uphill walk, first to the ticket office and then to the actual entrance to the castle. I am really cross because I seem to have ‘lost’ one of my photographs which showed the path that we had to follow but perhaps it serves me right! I was so chuffed with myself for having managed it that it was definitely a case of ‘pride going before a fall’. The path was probably about 500 meters long but uphill all the way and very rough with large rocks in places, smaller stones and gravel in others and enormous steps which for me were almost knee high. It was also an extremely hot day, although part of the path was certainly in the shade. Once in the castle, we were again amazed at how well preserved it was, being almost 1000 years old. Obviously wooden roofs and floors have gone but the stonework is still good and it is wonderful to see how well shaped the stones were that were used to build the structure. The views from up there were spectacular. A bonus was a falconry display which we had not been aware of. I don’t think I have ever been so close to huge birds of prey. In fact one flew so close to us that it’s wing brushed my hair and Courtneys, making her squeak with alarm. After getting back to the house,  the girls pleaded with us to go for a swim so we took them down to the ‘swimming hole’ in the river where they could cool off. Not content with that amount of exercise, we walked up to the church on the hill above us and watched the hundreds of swallows swirling around in the sky.

The next day I was so stiff that I could barely walk and getting around the split level house was a real mission. We drove to Tuchan, the nearest town which is a little bigger than Paziols to arrange a birthday lunch for the younger of the two grandchildren who was to turn twelve on Thursday. There wasn’t much choice but we found a little place which she approved of, made our booking and then drove on to Campagne-sur-Aude about sixty kilometres away. A spectacular road of mountain passes. Our destination was a specific winery which makes champagne, although not being in the Champagne area, they may not use that name, but call their product Blanquette or Cremade. We ended up buying six bottles of delicious Cremade for approximately R60 each. Not bad for French champagne – even if they don’t call it by that name!

By Wednesday the grandparents were completely pooped so we suggested a fairly quiet day which seemed to meet with approval. I had found a cake mix in a bag which required no extra ingredients, to bake for Cassy’s birthday and, although it was quite small it turned out well and was tasty. Obviously not worn out enough, we walked down to the village and then took a different route back up again which brought us out above the house and the church. There we saw a sign pointing to a ‘Table d’Orientation’ or toposcope. So on we went and found a beautiful picture of the surrounding area all done in ceramic tiles. As ever, well worth the effort of getting there. Andre and Leigh arrived back as we were having a late-ish supper, full of their adventures in Nice and all they had seen.

No one slept terribly well that night as the wind howled violently and whistled around the corners rattling all the doors and windows. Then of course, the birthday girl had us all wake at seven in the morning so that she could open her presents. Sadly, Andre and Leigh had had some bad news on Wednesday which they did not tell us until Thursday morning. Their house in CapeTown had been broken into and some items stolen, so most of the morning was taken up with calls to friends, police, insurance and so on. I am sure they were extremely concerned, but they didn’t let it spoil the celebrations of the day and we all enjoyed a fairly leisurely lunch at the restaurant of Cassy’s choice. We had considered going to the third Cathar castle that day but it was just so hot that we decided to go to Tautavel instead which is where the remains of the oldest man (Homo Erectus) were found and estimated to be about 450,000 years old. It was good choice as the museum was full of inter-active electronic exhibits and the girls had fun there. When we got back, Andre took the girls off for a swim while Leigh and I decorated the cake and set the table with all sorts of goodies ready for their return.

Then it was time to leave Paziols so we were up early to give ourselves time to get as much of the bedding through the washing machine as possible Another very hot day promised and was later proved to be correct. We chose a slightly southerly route home to cover new territory but parted company after a while as the family went off to Carcassonne and we came on home. It was a most unpleasant trip as our little car has a very adequate heater but no cooling apart from the air coming in. However, when the air coming in is at 30 degrees it doesn’t cool off at all. The road seemed very long and we finally got home at about 4pm followed by the family who came in at 7.30 pm. Everyone was exhausted.

On Saturday after the family had been into Eauze to do a bit of last minute shopping, we took a picnic lunch to Aignan lake where it was marginally cooler. A canopy trail has been set up in the trees around the lake and the girls and Leigh had a whale of a time going around this high level obstacle course. Participants are shackled on to the various high cables etc and wear a harness which will prevent them from falling but there was still much squeaking and squealing from all parts of the forest. At one stage the instructor came around to see how they were getting on and was amazed to see them on a particular course. ‘But zis is zee ‘ardest one’ he said with great admiration. The afternoon finished with a zip-line ride across the lake which was a highlight for everyone.

To end the week, we returned to the lake for another picnic, this time with cousin Nicky. It wasn’t too crowded with people and with the temperature hovering around 32 degrees, the setting by the water was the perfect place to be. The girls were really tired after their activities of the previous day and were content to just loll about and rest. On the way home they were trying very hard to persuade their parents to move to France! What a vey good idea!

France 2013 Chapter 20 Pictures only