Ariege Summer

The swallows are here, the swifts have gone

The blackcap sings his lonely song

Dazzling beauty of butterfly days

Shimmering through the summer haze

Evenings are warm, days are long

The Ariege summer rolls slowly along.

Sunflowers ripen with faces aglow

Turned to the sun, each field on show

Pyrenean peaks framed with blue

’Til clouds and mist hide them from view

Ariege summer rolls slowly along

Blackcap still singing his lonely song.

Clouds and mist bring thunder and rain

Brown-burnt grass turns green again

Slugs and snails follow the dew

An evening glow worm may shine for you

Ciccadas take over the blackcap’s song

As the Ariege summer rolls slowly along.

© Donald James Dolby, August 2009

July 14th – Feu d'Artifice not dampened by the rain

The French National Holiday last Tuesday, Bastille Day, following a long weekend, was unfortunately dampened by the rain which persisted for the most of the day.

Nevertheless Le Defilé took place at 10 0'clock in the morning proudly marching through Lavelanet in commemoration of those that had gone before.

With the funfair still in full swing and the rain easing off for a while I walked up to town at about 10 in the evening to be part of the celebrations culminating in the fireworks at 11 o'clock. As usual a splendid display was witnessed by many Lavelanet townsfolk of all ages.

The weather in this area seems to have developed into a pattern at the moment. A few days of blue skies, with the temperature gradually climbing, followed by thunder and lightning storms and some cloudy days – and then the pattern repeated. At least we only caught the edge of last Thursday's storm – apparently warnings had been posted by the French Met Office in 55 departments across France.

A very tuneful bird has been singing around the garden but I have yet to catch sight of it. I am better at visual recognition than their song – so I'll let you know if I catch sight of it.

Tour de France, Bastille Day and all the Fun of the Fair

After nearly two weeks tiling the bathroom the last tile has gone on the wall and the final piece of grout has been applied. Just a few finishing touches . . . and I will be able to think about something else. Began in the blistering heat but thankfully this last week has been much fresher but with plenty of cloud. Today, though, is clear blue sky and sunshine.

Plenty to think about in this part of France this weekend. The Tour de France is passing within 20 miles of Lavelanet today – down from Andorra to St Girons. Last year it actually passed through our town. This weekend though Lavelanet is taken over by the fair which fills the centre of the town every year on the weekend leading up to Bastille Day, 14th July – although not generally known as Bastille Day in France – it is the French National Holiday. A notice at the top of our road informs us that our normal route into town will be closed between 4 0'clock in the afternoon and 2pm the next morning, every day from yesterday until next Wednesday. No such nonsense like funfairs having to close by 9 or 10pm here. In fact, next Tuesday, families will come out about 10 0'clock in the evening for the grand feu d'artifice and la bal de danse in the car park in the centre of town.

For those that know about it the Pergola with Chair that Chris has been searching for is now in place in the garden and photographs will follow.

The buddleia is in full bloom which attracts some wonderful butterflies – we had a swallowtail filling itself with pollen today. There are lizards running up the wall and, of course, the occasional weird creepy crawley that finds its way into the bedroom or bathroom.

The buzzard continually mews overhead, circling and looking for its pray – strange, though, that you never actually see it swoop to catch anything.

Probably go to check out the fair tonight, maybe have a beer, visit a vide grenier tomorrow – you never know what you might find – and look forward to the fireworks on Tuesday.

“You can learn more from a three minute record than you ever could in school."

That may not be entirely true . . . but it’s easy to believe when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are rocking Glastonbury. Never in doubt that they would be a success playing this festival for the first time. Anyone who has seen them play over the last thirty plus years will not be surprised at the plaudits now being heaped upon them . . .but wonder where these people have been! After two and half hours at Glasto they will be doing it all again in Hyde Park . . . and Bruce is nearly as old as me!

Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash . . . it’s certainly a young man’s game!

Reported in a French newspaper this week that Ben Harper has a very large following in France – another favourite of mine, I will be looking out for any local gigs.

Last Sunday, 21^st June, was the Fête de la Musique across the whole of France. It has been held since 1982 and has now spread to over 100 other countries. Anything goes and every city, town and village has bands, orchestras, singers, musicians playing in bars, parks, street corners . . . anywhere there is room to set up instruments.

In Lavelanet we walked past three bars with quite different kinds of music . . . stopping at the third for a beer and to listen to some rock music from a very young band.

 

The sun is here and the temperature is rising but we’ll try to dig out some blues to keep cool!

Lavelanet – textile town

Lavelanet is a small textile town in the foothills of the Pyrenees – within sight of Montsegur, one of the Cathar Castles in the Ariege. In 1244 over 200 people were massacred after being persuaded to give up their siege in the castle. They had been sheltering from the French Army and the Catholics from Rome.

You will not be surprised to know that the textile industry is shrinking and moving to eastern Europe and elsewhere. We are on the edge of the town and the first thing I pass as I walk in for bread and croissants is a textile factory at the end of our road. In the time we have had our house here the fences outside the factory have twice been draped with banners protesting about the loss of jobs and the moving of product to other places. The most recent was earlier this year and the factory seems much quieter now. There are still a few cars outside and people in the offices but I suspect that there is very little production now going on.

In the Ariege generally, tourism is being heavily promoted to fill the gap. We will see if the gap left by manufacturing can be adequately filled in such a way.

As I continue my walk into town I can look down on the river and at what appears to be an old mill – there is still some activity but it is hard to determine exactly what goes on. A field on the right currently houses seven donkeys – of various sizes and ages!

A few metres further on the left is the Club Avelana (an old Occitan name for the area, I think) outside which there is well used boules arena.

We then come to the first bar on the right and another view of the river on the left. The river flows fairly fast over a stony bed but it could do with much more water. The liquid in the bar over the road probably flows as fast. There are trout in the river and, of course, the dipper is often seen there. I think I may have been watching a red breasted flycatcher the other day although my book tells me that it may not be widespread in this area.

The town (and many boulangeries) are just around the corner.

La premiere semaine

La fin de notre semaine premiere en Lavelanet, le temps est chaud, le ciel est bleu – quelquefois!.

A somewhat strange feeling to think of being here for three months – we will soon have to quit our holiday mode for a more realistic day to day living mode. We cannot just leave things till we get back home this time!

Our journey from Le Havre to Lavelanet was an experience in at least three seasons – very pleasant, fresh early morning; four hours of increasingly torrential rain followed by sunshine and spreading blue skies as we travelled south. Lulled into a false sense of security, however, the skies darkened to a very dark grey as we neared Toulouse. If we thought the rain in the morning was heavy then the skies really opened this time. Cars slowed to a stop, could see only a few yards in front – and the roof of the car was being bombarded by the machine gun fire of huge hailstones (grands greles!).

Arriving in Lavelanet, however, there had been no recent rain – and we were welcomed by a pleasant evening – including a Cuckoo loudly singing nearby, which he/she has been doing everyday since.

Other birds seen this week include: Dipper (with young), Grey Wagtail (with young), Black Redstart, Starlings (nesting under our eaves), Goldfinches (continually singing), Buzzard (circling overhead), House Martins – and, of course, the ever-present screeching, whirling Swifts.

A trip to Pamiers yesterday coincided with a march through the town in support of Workers and Jobs – a current familiar theme. Listened to some speeches before the march (photos to come) – and felt quite at home. Not a massive march – but quite a small town – and replicated in many towns across France.