It’s hard to believe that we completed on the house just over a year ago. We headed back to the UK shortly afterwards for a couple of months to get things sorted there so this is really our first full summer at the house. We may be out in the sticks here without the glitz and glamour of Wimbledon, Henley or Ascot, but the season is in full flow here with a variety of events to choose from. Some of the most popular are the evening marchés gourmands held by a number of local villages each week in July and August. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it would be possible to eat out at one of these night markets every night of the week if you chose to do so. The format is pretty much the same with trestle tables and chairs set up in the village square – in the interests of the environment you bring your own couverts consisting of a tablecloth, plates, cutlery and glasses. Various local food and wine producers have their stands set up around the square and you make your choice of what you want to eat and buy at that stand. It ranges from truffle omelettes (sold by our near neighbour), paella or mussels, burgers and pizza and local pork and duck producers. Everyone has their favourite stand at the various markets and we were given a hot tip to try the pork at our own village market in Tournon. It certainly was a good choice and we’ll be trying that again.
The highlight of the evenings for many is the musical accompaniment of 90s euro disco music, all with the same incessant beat (shades of Barcelona Grand Prix) and with foam spray and accompanying dances which many join in with. The DJs seem to have a following and people will go to a specific market to see them. Whilst I’ve come across similar night food markets that might be held once a month in the summer, it seems the weekly markets are more a feature of this area.
As well as the food markets, many villages celebrated the 14th July Fete Nationale. Our own village didn’t have any celebrations but the nearby village of Roquecor has an annual event and I was asked by a friend to help with preparing vegetables and melon for the meal that was being served. For about 3 hours a group of us, French and expats, prepared melon for the starter and chopped vegetables for the ratatouille to accompany the main course – all for about 350 people. We returned in the evening to enjoy the fruits of our labour, dancing to live music and getting to eat dessert at 11.30 p.m. just in time for the fireworks.
This same village had hosted a classic car event the previous week so we went along in the Jeep to join the excellent turnout of cars. A French family attended with their children being driven round in a remote control mini Jeep. When they spotted our Jeep it was photo opportunity time to compare the two side by side.
On the sporting front, the Tour de France cycling race passed through the Lot et Garonne region for the first time in over 12 years so there was a lot of local interest. We decided to see if we could get anywhere near to the closest passing point for us near Fumel and were lucky enough to get a parking spot right next to the route by the cinema at Monsempron-Libos and with standing space next to the barrier. We arrived, on a blisteringly hot day, shortly before the ‘caravane’ passed through, the parade of sponsors’ floats where promotional ‘tat’ is thrown to the spectators. We can all imagine the gruelling training regimes that the cycling athletes must go through in preparation for the event, but Joe and I had no idea that many spectators must prepare in a similar way, such is their zeal to catch, gather up and fight fellow spectators for whatever is thrown near them. We didn’t stand a chance against the three young women next to us at the barrier as they scrambled for every item and stashed them in their rucksacks. We’d love to see the fighting for the bride’s bouquet at a wedding! We did at least come away with a cap and bandana as souvenirs. When the peloton arrived it was tightly packed bunch and flashed by in a few seconds. Nevertheless we’re glad we experienced the event and we also got our few seconds of fame on the television coverage when I looked at it later.
The fields of rapeseed around the house were harvested recently by M. Villeneuve Jr. In the same way as fishing trawlers are followed by seagulls, the combine harvesters are followed by birds of prey – we counted about a dozen – circling overhead for the mice, shrews and snakes whose habitat has been disturbed.
