A New Adventure in France

We left the UK before the reopening of hairdressers in the UK, a sacrifice that I was prepared to make despite not having had a haircut since mid-March. Since then I have relied on the services of ‘Chez Julian’, aka Joe, and between us, and with the aid of a YouTube video, we’ve managed to keep my hair looking decent. Once we reached the larger town of Cahors I felt I did need to seek professional assistance to take us through the next couple of months, so did some research online and, based on reviews, made an appointment at the chosen salon when we arrived here.

On the day, prepped with vocabulary all things hairdressing and armed with the ever present face mask, I cycled into town for the appointment. The salon was actually on the first floor of a residential type building, so no shop front, but very welcoming and all Covid precautions in place – sanitiser before I could get through the door, stylist wearing face mask and Perspex visor and my face mask secured to my face with tape so the ear loops could be remove. After a consultation to discuss my hair history and chosen style I was taken to the washing area and settled into a massage chair with feet up on a foot rest. I could have stayed there quite happily but the cutting business had to be done. As she examined my hair before starting to cut it, the stylist proclaimed ‘alors ce n’est pas trop catastrophique!’ (well it’s not too terrible) – very encouraging. The stylist was very capable and we had a lovely chat about the area, with lots of recommendations on what to see and do.

The end result was very good – very short but plenty of time for it to grow wild again. But of course it’s the man’s opinion that is all important. Joe’s encouraging response was ‘Well it will calm down in a couple of days!’ The ultimate accolade?!

Pont Valentré

As mentioned in a previous entry, Pont Valentré is the iconic emblem of Cahors and one of our favourite landmarks. There is a charming legend associated with the bridge and the story behind the carved imp that looks down from the top corner of the middle tower. The legend is copied below from Wikipedia.

The construction of the bridge lasted 70 years (1308 to 1378). In local folklore it is said that the foreman, exasperated by the slow pace of the work, signed a pact with the Devil. In the pact the Devil promised to use his skills to expedite the work and, if he carried out all of the foreman’s orders, then his (the foreman’s) soul would be forfeit.

Having seen the bridge built on time, the foreman regrets his decision and issues a final order to the devil to go and collect water for the other workers using a sieve. In revenge for having been tricked, the Devil sends a demon each night to loosen the final stone in the central tower (known as the Devil’s Tower) to ensure that the bridge is never finished and must be repaired each day.

During the restoration of the bridge in 1879, the architect inserted a stone bearing the sculpted image of an imp into the central tower. As a result, according to the updated legend, every time the Devil checks to see that his vandalism has been carried out, he is confused into thinking that the stone image is one of his demons tasked with dismantling the bridge.

We probably have enough photos of the bridge from every conceivable angle to do a whole photobook about it. Still have to get a photo of the bridge by night…..