France 2013 Chapter 24

 

What a very strange week! Our neighbour tells us that this weather is ‘bizarre’ which, I think, sums it up nicely. The week started off in a mild manner and with the advantage of an efficient air conditioner in the Land Rover, we were encouraged to be adventurous. As Jessica had not seen much of this area previously, we did the ‘circular tour which starts at Eauze and takes in Montreal, with it’s pretty colonnaded square; Fources, a circular bastide town, and Larressingle, supposedly the smallest walled town in France, if not in Europe. Everywhere is looking especially beautiful right now with flowers on every side. The smallest village is decorated profusely with window –boxes, flower-boxes and hanging baskets filled with geraniums or petunias. It just looks amazing! Also, it is ‘that’ time of year again and the fields are ablaze with sunflowers. To add to the Spring-like feel, while in Fources, there was  a constant chattering and chirping of birds which we soon tracked down to the many nests built up against the exposed beams of the colonnades. One nest, in particular, had two fat chicks peeping out of it, chirping loudly to encourage the little mother bird to bring them more and more food. She was certainly kept busy!.

That evening, we went to Marciac where the annual Jazz Festival was on the go. This is a quite incredible occasion. This small market town, quiet and fairly unassuming for most of the year, dresses itself to the nines for two weeks every summer and pulls out all the stops to host an internationally acclaimed Festival. World renowned performers come to take part and many of them have been more than once. I’m not a jazz expert but even I have heard of people like Diana Krall, George Benson and Al Jarreau, to name but a few. Tickets to the individual concerts are, of course, fairly pricey, but one can take a seat under the huge tent which covers the town square and just sit and listen and watch, free of charge. Smaller tents around the periphery of the square dispense wine, beer, cold drinks and ice-creams, while some of them have been taken over as market stalls but selling goods of a far more luxurious quality than one would find at the normal weekly market.  Making an even wider and larger square are hundreds of tables and chairs which stretch right back to the building facades and provide enough space for several thousand people to sit and eat. At intervals, scattered among these tables are small groups of performers – a trio, quartet or soloist – each providing free music for the public and as one group comes to the end of their repertoire, another would take its place. Strangely enough, although there are so many performers all playing at once, one doesn’t get the feeling that they are vying with each other and the area is so large that the sounds of one group don’t seem to interfere with the next. After having a meal, we walked up to the enormous concert tent which is erected every year on the sports fields. We didn’t go inside, but I believe it can seat several hundred people. Next to it was another tent almost as large which housed a restaurant and a large bar area. Behind the bar were large TV screens which were relaying what was taking place inside the huge tent! One could stand at the bar and watch the concert without having to pay exorbitant prices for the tickets! But, like any televised event, watching it is never as good as actually being there. However, the whole evening was exciting and exhilarating and I found it quite difficult to get to sleep that night.

The following day was hot again but we had organised a barbecue for a late lunch, so we went ahead with our plans. The heat, though, forced us indoors to the fan again at about 4 pm.

The family made an early start on Thursday morning as they a long drive to Le Havre ferry port on their way to the UK. They will have been glad to have their air conditioning as the day became steadily hotter. Meanwhile, we had made appointments to go and see a friend who always cuts our hair, but who lives about an hour away, and of course we are not blessed with air con. Luckily we had arranged to go earlier than usual and were able to be back home again by about midday. But by four o’clock the temperature had reached 40 degrees and totally windless, and we were sweltering again.

The rest of the week has passed with us making a start on our packing to go home. However much we say that we won’t, we always manage to collect a few extra items which somehow have to fit into suitcases which were already full when we came over here and I always panic about things getting broken due to inadequate packing. It hasn’t happened yet, but I can’t convince myself that it never will!