Sports day

Last week saw yet another event in the village – this time an inter-school fun run, with kids from some of the villages of the south Minervois region.There were three routes mapped out – ranging from a lap of a couple of hundred metres for the real littlies, to a much longer one for the oldest kids. The main streets were closed off all day and the village was absolutely packed not only with the kids and their teachers, but parents and grandparents! And much excitement - lots of noise and cheering! Apparently this event is held every year, but in a different village – and this year was Bize’s turn.

“Soda Water” :

The reporter from the La Semaine du Minervois dropped around the other day with a copy of the paper that contained the article about the water supply and a picture of my pump in the courtyard.. The whole of the back page was devoted to a history of the water supply to the village over the last 40 years.

And the (mostly computer-generated) translation of the caption with the photo is:

“A rare glimpse of the past, this pump water was preciously preserved by an English couple in the courtyard of an old residence of Bize, avenue of the Admiral Narbonne: a pump located on the single axis of the source known as of “the soda water” which crosses the village. On its left, the stone réceptable. And on the top, two dates engraved in the rock: 1957 and 1964.”

So it seems that at some stage this house has had English owners, and it was they who got the pump going again. I must find out the story behind this and try to get a bit more of a history of the house.

And here's a picture of a little bit of wild asparagus - picked on Tuesday's walk among the vineyards near the town of Roubia.