Bize Bytes

Frozen flamingos

2012-02-12T18:06:00.002+01:00

It was only yesterday that I was reading on The Guardian UK’swebsite about the plight of the flamingos in this area – more than 200 havedied down near Gruissan where there are many etangs (lagoons).

Here’s anarticle and the video clip that went with it – showing the firemen to therescue.

And then today, I went with friends Miki and Ivan for adrive to check out various parts of the region that are affected by the ‘bigfreeze’ and we found ourselves involved in a bit of flamingo rescue ourselves.

We’d stopped to take photos at the lovely little fishingvillage of Bages, right on the edge of the Etang, which was surprisingly mostlyfrozen. Surprising because it’s very salty.

And it was in the low scrub at the edge that we saw this poorbird …..

We didn’t get too close to him, but he was definitely alive,just hardly moving.

I mentioned to the others that I’d seen the news itemthe day before, and that it seemed that the pompiers were involved in therescue.

So a phone call was made, and all the details taken, and we were toldthat someone would be there to arrange a pick up.

But five minutes later, down the road a bit, we came acrossa van with the back open, full of flat-pack cardboard boxes, and one made-upbox. I commented that they looked like the boxes they were rescuing flamingoswith - in the video I'd seen, so we stopped. And sure enough they were members of LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseauxde l'Aude) – the local bird protectionsociety.

We showed them where the exhausted flamingo was, andhe was promptly picked up, packed away into a box and taken away to recuperate.Lucky bird!

Here’s the movie Itook – I had to mute the sound in the first half of the clip as the noise ofthe wind on the soundtrack was dreadful.

And here’s some other photos of around Bages……

We spotted a flock of flamingos flying across the etang - so not all of them are in dire straits yet ....

A few more of different parts of the Canal du MidI....

Miki and Ivan - near Le Somail

Ventenac

And lastly some of Lac de Jouarres. The wind whipping across herewas unbelievably cold and strong – evidenced by the build up of frozen ‘icebergs’on the shore nearly a metre high. Felt like we were in the Arctic.

And I know we’re so much better off here than most of therest of Europe (we've still got those bright blue skies every day!) – but I’ll be so gladwhen things warm up a little. Above zero degrees would be nice.

There’s a changecoming at the end of the week and it can’t come soon enough. Though I’m a littleworried at what I might find when the fish pond thaws. I can no longer seeanything through the ice. Fingers crossed ….

The frozen Canal du Midi

2012-02-09T19:16:00.003+01:00

Iwas talking to someone today who said an old man in her village had only everseen the Canal du Midi freeze over three times in his lifetime. It’s certainlyfrozen now.

At Le Somail. Someone's thrown a brick onto the ice (bottom rhs)
- to check the strength of it I guess!

A freezing Arctic wind

2012-02-07T17:20:00.001+01:00

While huge parts of Europe (including most of France) havebeen suffering record-breaking freezing conditions, here in this region we’ve just hadthe bitterly cold wind but no snow. And it’s been howling for days now, withnot much relief in sight. Though we have had wonderful clear blue skies, so there is that to be thankful for.

Here’s the four day forecast – those winds of 75 kph andgusts of 110 kph (and chill factor of -10) are freezing.

And they're a little destructive. Well, they have been in mycourtyard, anyway. Yesterday it blew down the dividing fence, taking my planterboxes with it.

So I’ve rolled up part of the bamboo fencing, as it’s not going tostay upright for long in this wind. Perhaps now’s the time to consider puttingin a more permanent structure - some posts cemented into the ground orsomething …..

This is the longest cold spell I’ve experienced since I’velived here. We’ve had snow before but it’s not lasted more than a couple ofdays. And my fish pond has only ever had a thin layer of ice on it, and that’snot lasted long either.

At the moment, the ice is about 2 – 3 centimetres thickand the fish are looking rather lethargic.

Some of my plants are lookingdecidedly unhappy – parsley’s a goner I think.

But what seems not to be suffering at all – and in fact islooking really good is my wattle (acacia) tree. It’s just about to blossom.

Here’s a photo of it taken two years ago, weighed downheavily with snow.

I don’t know what I was thinking of, planting a wattle in aplanter box – so back he went into the ground. And it’s never looked back.

Abit spindly, and tied to the upstairs balcony with a bit of rope – but doing agood job of creating a bit of summer shade for the courtyard.

In about a week or so's time when it's fully out, it's going to be a picture ....

____________________________________________

And because I’ve been spending rather a lot of time indoorsuntil it warms up a little, I’ve been trying to tidy up my photo folders. I’m alittle lax when it comes to culling and categorizing. So I’m posting a few totallyrandom ones that I stumbled upon which I quite like ……

At a vide-grenier in Argeliers last year -
a pumpkin seller who was more than happy
to pose and have his photo taken.

Newly pruned plane trees - Argeliers

A carving set no home should be without.

The shoe van that comes to Bize about once a month and
parks up for the morning on the Promenade.

The famous Blue Champagne ("La Soupe") being made in my kitchen by the lovely ladies of Bize. I had Christmas drinks at my place before I went to Australia - this brew had a total of 8 bottles of sparkly (there were quite a few of us!) plus all the other goodies. Delicious.....

Just a gorgeous window ......

And this is one of my favourites. I took it on a group walk late last year - from the hills behind Bize. It's looking south to the Pyrenees. I used the maximum zoom of my little camera and stitched a few shots together, so they do appear closer than they are. They're actually at least an hour's drive from here, and can only been seen on clear days.

Bonne année / Happy New Year

2012-01-28T10:28:00.001+01:00

And the clue that it probably wasn’t in France is all those screw-tops on the wine bottles…….

I’ve not long been back in Bize after spending three weeks in Australia. I first went to Mackay, Queensland where Paul’s job has taken him, and then via Perth on my way home. A train trip and four flights later, I arrived in Mackay at midday on boxing day (40 hours door-to-door) - and stepped out into a hot summer’s day with high humidity.

For the second time in recent years, I left France on the 24th and spent christmas day airborne, with a few hours on the ground in Singapore. Much cheaper flights and always the chance to stretch out on a few empty seats down the back on the long haul flights.

As far as types of weather goes, this tropical stuff is my least favourite sort! This part of Australia only has two seasons – known as ‘the dry’ and ‘the wet’. And this was summer - ’the wet’. Hot, sticky, humid,wet.

However, there was lots of air-conditioning to be had and I had a fabulous time staying with Paul and his girlfriend Amanda. Fortunately Paul had time off work so as well as having a gorgeous turkey christmas lunch on the 27^th, we managed to get out and see some of the area and also spend an afternoon out on the boat.

We also had a couple of nice barbies on the balcony – the units where Paul stays are on the edge of the Pioneer River, overlooking Mackay’s public swimming pools.

The difference between the high and low tide levels in these parts is rather large, a rise and fall of about 6 metres. At low tide, all the mud flats are exposed, and at high tide it’s lapping at the banks.

In the boat, we headed south of Mackay ….

Looking back on the coal loading facilities at Point Hay which is where Paul’s current job is.

Another day, we visited the site itself. Those blurs on the horizon are some of the 30+ ships anchored and waiting to load coal.

We tried our hand at fishing. No luck. Though we did see large schools of bait fish flaring, lots of flying fish skimming over the water (that’s a first for me…), one turtle, and then some dolphins that joined us for a while.

So despite not catching a thing, it was a good afternoon. It did get rather choppy on the long way back, and while I don’t get seasick and have grown up with boats and fishing, I didn’t really enjoy the thumping up and down on the swells as the weather picked up….!

A nice surprise during my stay was that a night’s accommodation had been booked in a cabin at the Broken River Mountain Resort in the Eungella National Park rainforest, about an hour due west of Mackay.

The highlight of this excursion was seeing my first ever platypus, and in the wild! The river was quite muddy from recent heavy rains, but he was easy to see as he came up regularly before diving back to the bottom to search for food. Sadly it was about 25 metres away and this fuzzy shot was the best my camera could manage.

But back at the cabins, I managed to get really close to a kookaburra, and also some good shots of a couple of the bush turkeys that come in from the forest. They seem to have no fear. In fact, you’re warned not to leave the cabin doors open as they will come inside looking for food. I wonder what they taste like ….

Female bush turkey

The more elaborate male ....

Strangler fig on forest tree

We had dinner that night in the restaurant which is part of the Broken River complex. Outside, right next to the verandah, a feeding platform has been built where the restaurant staff feed the wild possums each night.

They get a full plate of chopped fruit that looks good enough to be served up in the restaurant! Possum heaven.

While we were there, a mother and a baby came to eat – but not wanting to use a flash and scare them, again the photos aren’t much cop. Cute as buttons, and I could have watched them all night….

A lunch stop at the Eungella Chalet Hotel – views looking down the Pioneer Valley.

The platform behind the pool is used by hang-gliders to launch themselves out over the valley.

This was a break to just catch up and not necessarily get out and play ‘tourist’ every day, and it was a really good relaxing time.

But there was one more little treat in store – a day out on a boat around the Whitsunday Islands. We booked the trip and drove up to Airlie Beach early on my second last day. It was a full day – firstly the morning spent on Daydream Island, including a lunch ….

Yum ... barramundi

. . . with a few unexpected guests wandering into the restaurant …..

Goanna - more than a metre long

And then in the afternoon, a cruise around the islands and an excursion onto Whitehaven Beach. This is the beach that features in a lot of advertising campaigns for the islands – kilometres of pure white sand, so fine that it squeaks when you walk on the dry bits.

And it is very beautiful – but at the risk of bringing our own West Australian beaches into a comparison – I have to say that Cheyne Beach where we grew up is right up there with the white squeaky sand!

OK so I guess I did bring the WA beaches into it, so I’ll continue….. we can swim in our water all year round! Here there are stingers for 7 months of the year and unless you cover up, it’s not a good idea to go in the water…. (I’ll concede however there’s a bit of a temperature difference between Queensland’s waters and those of Albany’s Southern Ocean currents from the Antarctic!).

The trip out to the islands was in a large boat – very smooth travelling on the way out. Coming back there were a few rough patches rounding some islands that we were warned about. Amanda and Paul sat outside for the rough bits and got a little wet and more than a little wind-blown….

I spent the last week or so in Perth before heading back here to France. I spread myself around a bit so as not to outstay my welcome (!) in any one place. Firstly with my friend Sylvia who is currently on long service leave from her job, then with old mates Marshall and Cameron (who will be my next visitors here in Bize later in a couple of months), and then with Di and Pete – who visited last year.

Meant to be bbq-ing....

...and with Deb K.

Given to Marshall for his 50th birthday. I would like to think 'tongue in cheek' - fortunately he's nicely hidden away in the depths of the garden.

On my last night, Di and Pete took me out to dinner to the restaurant Incontro on the South Perth foreshore. Fabulous views of the Perth skyline looking across the Swan River. And the food was great too!

The starter plate to share. The olives were served warm and were delicious. Definitely going to try that.

The return trip to France was uneventful but extra long, especially given the 5 hour wait at Toulouse for a train to Narbonne.

When I’d initially booked my train tickets (3 months before – thinking it’s about time I used the rail system in France), the connecting time with my incoming flight was good. But in the meantime, major work on the tracks was underway, and all the timetables had changed. Hence the 5 hour wait.

I wish I could say the train trip at the beginning of my journey on Christmas Eve was uneventful. It left Narbonne at the right time, but it wasn’t uneventful.

Nic had driven me to the station and waited in the freezing wind with me on the platform to help me on with my luggage. The problem was that my ticket said I was in carriage No. 12 – but the train that arrived only had 7 carriages.

I got into No. 7 carriage, only to be told my seat was probably up in No. 1 carriage. I was all rugged up in winter gear, the carriages were hot and crowded and I had a shoulder bag, large case and hand luggage. I had to make my way through all 7 carriages, slowly! … looking for a seat. I got to the other end, found a conductor, only to be told my seat didn’t exist. There was only one empty seat – which I grabbed – under instructions that if someone got on at Carcassonne that had that particular seat booked, I’d be standing. We were nearly at Carcassonne (half way) by that stage, and I was a sweating flustered wreck.

I’d also had an unfortunate incident with a women a few carriages back. I thought I’d found my seat number that she was sitting in, and I asked her if that was indeed her seat. Yes, she said. At that moment the train lurched a bit and so did I. I knocked her arm and sent her basket of knitting onto the floor – knitting needles and wool under the seat in front of her.

The old saying 'all over the place like a mad woman's knitting' was playing itself out in front of my eyes! Oh god …. if I wasn’t flustered and hot before, I certainly was then …. A few ‘desolees’ and I left that carriage….

So I think next time I’ll definitely be taking my car and leaving it at Toulouse Airport long term parking. Less nerve-wracking, and when I added up train fares, taxi to airport etc etc, probably cheaper! Live and learn …..

Cooking classes in the village

2011-12-23T18:33:00.001+01:00

Samira – a friend in the village – recently began running Moroccan cooking classes. And so a couple of weeks ago Caroline and Bonnie and me were her first clients. She has a website underway that she will be adding to – here.

And a bit about Samira from her own website – the English translation:

Hello, my name is Samira, I live in France near Ginestas, near Narbonne. I was born in Morocco, in Rabat, where I lived for 38 years.

I learned to cook with my mom at the age of six years. The kitchen is a tradition in Morocco and is the preserve of women. Many believe that one of the best cuisines in the world with French cuisine.

Moroccan cuisine is balanced and varied, based on vegetables, it differs from those of the Maghreb, our couscous and tagines we are different, softer and sweeter.

The virtues of mint tea, made from green tea, are well established, it is an excellent drink for health through anti-oxidants it contains and its effects on cell aging. We drink several times a day with homemade pastries, delicious and little known in France.

Three classes – one a week – and the dishes we cooked were a lamb tagine, a pastille and couscous and vegetables. Sadly, I forgot to take photos at the first class - the tagine.

How interesting was it to see these dishes cooked traditionally and by someone who is such a good cook! Taught by her mother, Samira tells us.

The couscous was no 5-minute instant job – it was moistened with water and olive oil, rubbed to a crumbly mixture and steamed above the vegetables for a while - took a good hour from go to whoa.

Then tipped out into a huge bowl, more tepid water added and steamed again. This was repeated quite a few times over perhaps an hour until it was the right consistency. And just so delicious and different from the 5-minute couscous I use at home. Light, fluffy and with the flavours of the olive oil and the steam from the vegetables.

The pastilla is a traditional and well-known Moroccan dish. It’s a pie (normally made from pigeon but often now of chicken).

Wrapped in layers of phyllo pastry (or here in France it’s easier to get feuilles de brick – not as fine as phyllo), the pie consists of a layer of the cooked chicken meat, followed by a sort of sauce thickened with eggs, using the juice and vegetables from the chicken pot, and finally followed by a layer of ground toasted almonds, sugar and cinnamon.

And while it may sound a bit of an odd combination, I must say that it’s amazing.

Thanks Samira – a very enjoyable experience with some delicious food we got to take home!

....and the streets were running with ….

2011-12-02T18:35:00.001+01:00

....wine.

Coming back to home yesterday at midday, this was at myfront door. Either the winemaker up the hill had had ‘une petite catastrophe’or he’d been cleaning out the vats!

Jordan

2011-11-23T19:09:00.001+01:00

A while back, my old friend Sylvia from Perth said she and two other friends were planning a trip to Jordan and Egypt – one week in Jordan and three in Egypt. Well, having never been to the Middle East, this seemed like a great opportunity to experience a bit of this part of the world. So, I’ve not long returned from a really lovely week in Jordan of [mostly] good weather, good company, visits to amazing sites in a country with a fascinating history. Sylvia’s friend in Australia is a travel agent and had arranged the tour – there were only the four of us and the driver. Excellent value – a very strong Australian dollar and cheap Easyjet flights into Amman.

Despite all the troubles in the Middle East that have unfolded in recent times – and are still continuing – Jordan is not affected. It’s a democratic and relatively free country. And although it is bordered by Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel – and only a stone’s throw from Egypt across the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba – it is thus far a peaceful and relatively prosperous country.

Sylvia, Deidre and Joan are in Egypt at the moment and unfortunately things are flaring up there right now, and on a rather large scale. I texted them yesterday and they’re on a River Nile cruise – aware of the situation unfolding but not affected. I imagine their tour operator will avoid any areas of unrest. I hope so – I don’t want them to be making headlines……

I arrived into Amman the night before the others and was picked up at the airport by our driver – it’s a first for me having my name held up on a message board!

The others arrived the following morning and our tour of the country started by heading north, first visiting Um Qais – a site with many Roman ruins and which overlooks Jordan Valley, Golan Heights and Lake Tiberius (the Sea of Galilee).

West Theatre of Umm Qais

We'd arrived just before the Festival of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) which was due to take place in a few days – and at the same as the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca). Camels, sheep and cows are slaughtered - one third of the meat is distributed to the poor, one third to neighbours and relatives and the remaining third is kept for the family.

We saw countless vehicles full of sheep being moved around, many penned at the side of the road – in the countryside and right in the middle of the towns.

And sadly, the plastic bags and bottles seen here is rather more the norm than the exception - it's a huge problem and is often a blight on the landscape.

I don’t think these cows were part of the celebrations as this was the day before the slaughter, but they still didn’t manage to avoid their date with destiny.

And then on to the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa at Jarash – an amazingly well preserved site. It is such a large spread-out area that we hired the services of a local guide – and what a good thing that was. The history of these places like this never ceases to amaze me.

The original roads - with marks from chariot wheels on the stones

The very old in the foreground - the not so old town of Jerash on the hills

Roman oval Forum

Sylvia and me - resting weary feet .....

Another rest stop - a solid stone bath, missing one side, made for a convenient bench seat

The south theatre - still used today for open air concerts

We were treated to an entertaining bit of music - in the form of three musicians playing the drums and bagpipes.

A little bizarrely I thought - there was bit of the Triumphal March from Aida (and a fitting setting it was too....) and then followed straight on by Aulde Lange Syne, and then onto Frere Jacques!

Going back south to Amman, we did a city tour which included a visit to the Blue Mosque.

Before entering the mosque, we were required to don appropriate clothing (supplied/one size fits all)

…. and as we were only four, we could request any diversions that we had time for. And we wanted to go to a city food market. No problems said Thauer.

Now this was the end of the dry season, there hadn’t been rain for a long time, and all the streets were dusty. But the day had been clouding over, earlier a few spots of rain – and it started to bucket down as we neared the undercover markets.

Well, they weren’t so much as under cover, as slung with a few canvases to keep the sun off. The canvases filled up and dumped torrents on anyone below and ran down the alleyways like rivers … we were ankle deep in mud, and did the quickest tour of a fruit and vegetable market as possible. Only time for a few pics and then cameras away to keep dry.

And there were rows upon rows of lovely fresh fruit and vegetables .....

and then there was this amazing pink-died cauliflower and turnip concoction. I'm sure it probably tasted fine - but in my mind, far from appealing!

And for the rest of our stay – no more rain, so no complaints about the weather.

Ironically, the week before I left Bize, and the week I was away – was one of the wettest periods all year – it didn’t stop raining. The consequence of this is that our lovely river Cesse is finally running properly again. So much so these last few days we were beginning to wonder if there was going to be a repeat of last year’s flooding. The water has been right over the passerel again, but seems to be going down a little now.

And so, then onto the Dead Sea - 400 metres below sea level -where we spent a night in a very swish hotel. We were delighted with the quality of the hotels we were staying in – probably as nice a resort hotel as I’ve ever stayed in.

And what do you do at the Dead Sea? – what every other tourist does. Float and cover yourself in mud, then loll around in one of the many hotel pools.

I had no intention of doing a photo-shoot, reading a book.

But another tourist passed by, handed me a sodden newspaper and said that if you’re going to swim in the Dead Sea – you HAVE to have a photo of yourself reading the paper…….

And the mud? Smooth as silk with a consistency like axle grease. But I have to say the skin really felt good afterwards.

Pots of mud buried in the .... errr ... mud - at the shoreline.
It's a finer mud (no sand or pebbles!) brought from another part of the 'beach'.

But the nicest part was standing under the fresh-water showers getting rid of all the salt and mud and then having a dip in the infinity pool.

Looking cross the Dead Sea to Israel on the other side


Not easy to see - but that's Jeruselum perched on top of the hills

And this one - Jericho.

On the way to Petra,we passed through the Wadi Mujib, a deep valley with breathtaking views.

And then a full day at the amazing site of Petra. There was so much more to it than I imagined .... so many temples, tombs, Roman roads and buildings ... and very spread out.

Our guide said to see it all we would need at least a couple of days - but suggested if we wanted to see something else besides the Treasury, we should go to the monastery. 1200 steps (800 constructed, 400 in the rocks that could loosely be called steps) didn't sound so bad at the start.

Joan and I commited to do the whole thing ... and my legs certainly felt it at the end. There was a choice of taking a donkey to the top - the guide said it was better to walk, and really not a good idea to come down on the donkey - much more chance of coming to grief. So we did it on foot. And well worth it.

A 4 km walk through rock canyons like this, to reach The Treasury

... and then this is what you come upon

Many coloured rock formations

The aptly named Elephant Rock

Heading up to the monastery - looking back down into the valley

A much-needed drink stop nearing the summit. The enterprising person who set up this little shop here knew what he was doing ..... what a welcome relief it was to come upon.

And here at the top - the Monastery. Amazing.

On the way up, we'd been overtaken by a guy leading his tourist-laden donkey, and his rather energetic dog running alongside.

Coming down, we were again overtaken by the same fellow, this time with the dog on the back of the donkey. Not sure if he was exhausted, or being put there to stop him running around so much! But he looked pretty used to the whole idea and I imagine he does it quite a few times every day.

During our many hours of driving, we got to see many of the bedouin camps in the desert. While some have been resettled and now raise crops in one place, there are still a lot who follow the nomadic lifestyle with their animals and live in tents.

And while there doesn't appear to be much to eat for the animals in the endless desert, there is obviously enough as there are certainly plenty of sheep and goats to be seen. Although Thauer told us that some of those who choose to continue living the traditional nomadic life have made concessions in the way of small trucks to transport animal feed and water in times of need.

We then moved on to Wadi Rum and a 4wd excursion through its fantastic desert landscape.

Our guide Thauer - in the entrance to D H Lawrence's cave

Our last night was spend in the very south of the country in Aqaba. It's situated right at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea, with Israel and Egypt very close just across the water.

Again, we were delighted to be staying in a high end hotel - the last of many surprises! I think the travel company must be in a position to get some good deals - especially now as the tourist industry has been hard hit with all the troubles in recent times.

And then we did treat ourselves out to our one ‘splash outmeal’ of the trip, at the top restaurant of the hotel. I thought it strangethat the steak was Australian (absolutely delicious, mind you….) - especiallyas we’d only just seen the local stuff freshly killed.

The chef was German and he came out and introduced himself. Wewere treated to a little amuse bouche of truffled courgette soup to start with.It was divine, and he was kind enough to give us his recipe. I made it when Igot back to France – sadly not a patch on his.

This was also delicious – an apple / crab stack as a starter.Despite the alarming green colour of the apple jelly, it was equisite.

We found the Jordanian food delicious too – meals such as this one, in a restaurant in a small town in the north. Salads, tabouleh, hummus, baba ghanoush, barbecued meat andflat bread straight out of a wood-fired oven. The green drink was delicious –sweetened lemon juice and fresh mint.

Apples, Wine and Rice

2011-10-24T19:06:00.002+02:00

There are so many fairs and festivals held in France, and over the last few years I’ve managed to go to quite a few in this region. To name a few, there are celebrations for chestnuts, truffles, mushrooms, onions, olives, cherries, bigarade (bitter oranges), pigs, mimosa (wattle), marrows, and not forgetting wine of course.

There's also a foire aux gras (that’s ‘Fat Fair’ – a celebration of meat – ducks, geese, pork etc). And many more ……… and then there are the carnivals. There’s rarely a weekend when there’s not something on within a short drive of here.

Last weekend I went with friends Caroline and Trevor to the annual Rice, Wine and Apple festival at Aigues-Vives.

I knew that rice was widely grown over in the Camargue region, east of here, but didn’t realise we had a small scale production quite so close to home.

The fields of rice, apples and wine are grown in a drained lake near the Canal du Midi (approx 2000 hectares). Apparently it was a process that took hundreds of years and was only finally completed in the 1800s when an Irish woman by the name of Anne Marie Coppinger who lived in France convinced Napoleon to fund and finish the project.

We arrived early to get the first of the three free tourist train trips through the orchards and rice fields. It was an interesting and rather lengthy (2.5 hours) train ride, stopping at various spots and getting an interesting history, in one instance from the only rice grower left in this region. There used to be three – now he tells us he’s the only one left. I think he’s doing ok – this is where he lives – over beyond the vines and the rice fields.

The canal and irrigation system is unique – several hundred kilometres of canals for just this area.

There are a few major ones, controlled by the sluice gates from the holding basin (water from the River Aude), and many more much smaller ones criss-crossing the entire production area.

There were even specially constructed boats used to keep the larger canals clear of weed – now this job is done mechanically.

Not only is the rice totally submerged during its growing cycle, the vine and fruit trees are also periodically flooded as a means of irrigation.

There were two guides – the other was an orchardist and we stopped in his orchards of Chantecler apples (Golden Delicious × Reinette Clochard) and ate some of the windfall while he gave a talk.

They were absolutely delicious – and given that it was nearly midday by this time - a very welcome snack.

It was one of the windiest days I’ve experienced here. The cold wind from the north, the Tramontane (the Languedoc’s version of the dreaded Mistral wind) was blowing full-force.

It probably has blown as strongly as this before – I guess I just haven't ventured outside in it for any length of time.

Anyway it was another lovely day out in a village and a festival that I’d not visited before. And after our tourist train excursion, there was nothing left to do really but load up on apples. And delicious they were too.

Some photos around the village:

Some houses' courtyards were very elaborately decorated - here the Occitan cross.

... and here a minimalistic but effective approach

An ASHS reunion - à la française

2011-10-09T16:10:00.000+02:00

There was an Albany Senior High School reunion last year held in Albany, Western Australia that I wasn’t able to attend. The next best thing was to have two old school friends come and stay – my old friend Susie (the Bulgarian Connection) who was here visiting this time last year – and Di, who I haven’t seen for probably 20 or more years!

Colour co-ordinated clothes and drinks. But only one of us is grey!

Susie had gone down to meet Di in Istanbul, then spent a few days back in Bulgaria, then onto Barcelona, and then up to me for a week. I was exhausted just hearing about it!

But still enough energy left when they got here for us to have a fabulous time and catch up.

Some of the places we visited, Susie had seen before – but not all of them. So between lots of eating and drinking (no surprises there), reminiscing and many laughs – here’s some of what we got up to.

A good way of seeing a bit of the countryside and the coast around the Etang de Thau (oysters, oysters, and more oysters – and then there’s the mussels….) and the Mediterranean beaches, is to do a loop. Heading east to Pezenas (preferably on a Saturday when there is a great market), Mèze, Bouzigues, Sète and back along the coast via Agde.

That’s a very rough itinerary; it would take days to call into all the places worthy of a visit.

While we were wandering along the waterfront of Sète – France’s biggest fishing port on the Mediterranean – we noticed a tourist boat tied up, and about to leave on a one hour cruise of the coast. We got on at the last minute and went out of the harbour and along the coast a way.

Given that the whole week has had fabulous weather (low 30s - hottest for this time of year since 1985) – it was a great day to get out on the water.

Sète is a lovely town – the huge fishing boats tie up alongside the man-made canals (quays?) that go right into the centre of town – and restaurants and commerce is all around. You can be sitting at a café or restaurant and be metres from giant trawlers, laden with nets – the smell of the sea and fishing boats.

Another day we took in Narbonne, Gruissan and Gruissan Plage, where all the chalet houses on stilts are to be found. This was the setting for the 80s cult movie Betty Blue. In fact, in the movie she was shown working at the very restaurant we had lunch at – now called Le Grande Soleil.

Sitting on the verandah, looking out over Gruissan Plage

What a setting and what a STEAK!

We were hungry, but not that hungry. Di made a wise choice of seafood. Susie and I decided on meat. It looks big on the plate. It was HUGE. We took rather a lot of it with us when we left - there was enough for rare beef to be used in another meal at home, and then still some left for Nic’s dog!

We called into the old town of Gruissan and climbed the tower in the centre. A fairly windy day, but the climb was certainly worth it - amazing views out over the rooftops and far beyond.

And on the outskirts of Gruissan are the salt pans and the Gruissan Salt Museum – well worth a visit.

I hadn't known that there was a little restaurant next to the museum, overlooking the drying salt beds – selling fresh oysters but also with an interesting looking simple menu of the day. Good to keep in mind for another visit another day.

Casual dining at the edge of the salt pans - table tops supported by piles of roof tiles.

We also had a day in Carcassonne and La Cite:

Le Chateau Comptal within the walls of La Cite

Looking over the ramparts, towards 'new' Carcassonne

Close-up of some of the gargoyles on the Basilica of St-Nazaire

Susie and Di - dwarfed by the outer walls of la Cite

And on the last day a trip up into the hills to Minerve. Susie stayed back for a much-needed rest (having visited last year) and Di and I did the walk around the gorges, and through the cave.

When you emerge from the other end of the cave, you find hundreds of cairns that people have constructed - it's obviously the thing to do, and they make quite a sight.

Ours was a rather insignificant offering, but hey, we've left our mark!

errr .... that's ours in the foreground .....

'C' for effort

Hallelujah !

2011-09-21T13:23:00.000+02:00

The wall is finally finished.

18 months after I started, it’s done. No point in hurrying these things. Actually, as there was no pressing urgency, it’s been very much a stop-start affair. It all depended on the weather forecast, visitors, my levels of energy and enthusiasm, etc.

I’d mix a bucket full of the sand and lime mixture, prepare a section of the wall, plug in my earphones to listen to an audio book and do about a square metre at a time.

I have to say that seeing the wall being slowly transformed was very rewarding. And though I won’t be hanging my shingle out any time soon, I feel I’ve got a bit of a handle on something else now. The very least 'fun' bit was getting off the concrete rendering - made a little easier when I borrowed a compressor and percussion drill thing. Now that WAS slow work. I wasn’t able to complete the whole project myself – I guess I did about two thirds. It was just too high and I had to get someone in with scaffolding to do the very high bits.

A little recap:

The east wall: BEFORE

The east wall: DURING - and to the height I was able to do

The east wall: AFTER

The west wall: BEFORE

The west wall: AFTER

It did involve draining and moving the fish pond while I did the section of the wall behind.

And while the fish seem happy swimming around in a large rubbish bin - their temporary home for more than a week now - I reckon they’ll be pretty pleased to be back in the pond.

And here’s an aside - and nothing to do with walls.

Lunch in the nearby village of Ginestas last week with a group of friends. Nic drove, and we had trouble finding a park nearby. We finally found a place, didn’t notice a ‘no parking’ sign (really…) and parked the car.

After lunch, walking back to the car, we noticed fire engines AND police – we heard later that they were trying to get someone from a building, perhaps a stretcher case from an upper floor? There wasn't any smoke or any real sense of urgency thank goodness. Anyway, we stood by, wondering what was going on – this was before noticing the ‘no parking’ sign – and realised we were getting tickets. Well actually, one of our group was.

And here he is (to remain nameless) – hot-footing it down the road. To no avail – a €35 ticket was given out on the spot. Ouch.

Nic and I and Barbara ran to the car just as one policeman was preparing to write a ticket, but we managed to drive away before that happened. Well, we didn't exactly do a runner, we proffered our apologies and said we were just moving (?).

But not before he pulled out his digital camera and took a photograph of the number plate.

I think a ticket will be heading to Bize in the post some time very soon….

Domaine Borie de Maurel

2011-09-05T10:15:00.000+02:00

I recently went with three friends to the Domaine Borie de Maurel in Felines-Minervois, and enjoyed a great lunch and tasted some delicious wine.

Felines-Minervois – about 25 minutes form Bize-Minervois – is one of the six villages that come under the La Livinière appellation – recognised as the best of the Minervois wines.

And who was our host? - a local Bizoise – the lovely Marie Binisti previously of Les Raisins des Soleil here in Bize.

She has now moved on to the Domaine Borie de Maurel, sharing her passion and extensive knowledge of the Minervois wines.

It was just one of those days – temperature mid 20s (not quite spring yet, but it certainly had that feel about it), not a cloud in the sky, a gorgeous drive through the vineyards, excellent wines, food and company.

It’s not set up as a typical restaurant and there is no set menu. What you get is a plate of delicious tapas-style food – Tapas Occitan – and you get to sit under the shade of an enormous pine tree and gaze over the vineyards towards the Black Mountains.

All of the food is locally sourced, with the fruit and vegetables coming from the Domaine’s own gardens and the unpasteurised Lucque olives from Bize.

Our Tapas Occitan lunch consisted of a plate of olives to start with, toasted bread with tapenade and confit of onions with anchovies, slices of dry cured ham, a bowl of tomatoes, sliced dried sausage, thinly sliced raw yellow courgettes, braised courgettes - all in olive oil. And after, a small plate of three different cheeses with sliced figs, and finally a bowl of watermelon and rock melon/cantaloupe – or as it’s known here in France, simply melon.

Food is served only during the summer, and as they are now gearing up for the vendange, we managed to get one of the last lunches of the season.

The vendange started around here about two weeks ago – very early this year. “The word” is that it’s going to be a very good year ….

We’d done our wine tasting before lunch, so when we were ready to leave we collected our purchases. My favourite was definitely one of the reds - the Belle de Nuit. Divine.

And while I’m looking forward to drinking this, I’m not sure I’ll be cooking tiny wild birds, on a stick (brochette) or otherwise – as suggested on the website write-up:

Accompanying dishes: young, Belle de Nuit goes well with spicy dishes, a beef stew or paella. When it matures it’s time to imagine higher flying dishes such as a song thrush with streaky bacon or a brochette of skylarks.

Marie suggested that it’s best served slightly chilled – definitely not warm. Sounds good to me, and I can’t imagine a thing that it’s not going to go well with!

The courtyard - with its own outdoor chandalier

Kids in a lolly shop....

Look at these hands - what an amazing image .....

Water jousting on the Canal

2011-08-09T09:50:00.002+02:00

Each year, there is joustingheld on the Canal du Midi at Sallèles-d'Aude,15 minutes from here.

I tried to go 3 years ago, but got the times wrong andmissed it all. The last two years, it’s been on the same Sunday as Bize’s ownOlive Festival. This year it was a week after, and I made it at last.

The boats are brought up from Sète, where water jousting has been a traditionsince 1666. They have their big festivals in July and August, but take time outto come up to the Canal for a day of jousting.

Given the quality of the waterin the Canal (!), I know where I’d prefer taking a dive….

The place was crowded – canal-side markets, food stalls, ahuge vide-grenier winding through the streets, and thousands of people. But Imanaged to get a good position on the otherside of the safety rail.

At least Iwasn’t the only one with legs hanging over into the canal – and it certainlydid afford a great front-row view.

Crackers

2011-08-07T17:36:00.010+02:00

Fire-crackers are a common thing here at festivals – well, any celebration really. Unlike Australia – where they’ve been illegal for more than 40 years. They can be bought just about anywhere. Here in Bize, you can get them at the local lolly shop – where else....

And there were a fair few of them around at the recent Bastille Day celebrations. Most of them were being let off by the young kids of the village. But not all of them.

There were a couple of women of a certain age (well, perhaps only one was of a certain age) who sat on a balcony, enjoying a wine in the late afternoon, and who sent the kids off to the lolly shop to buy a packet of Tom Thumbs.

I haven’t had so much fun in a long time!

We were quite restrained - resisting the temptation to drop them onto unsuspecting people below - instead we dropped them into the olive tree.

Some of those little guys had surprisingly short fuses - here's Nic getting a couple away in good time though.

The Olive Festival:

Another one been and gone - I was a little late getting down to the aioli-making competition, and arrived just after it had finished .......

Bize Old Boys' Club a.k.a. Aioli judging panel

Many of the usual food and handicraft stalls ...

... and a few new ones, including this man selling knives, axes, scythes and many sharpening stones.

Pony rides - outside the Maire's office

At the end of the day, fireworks on the river.

And all this under a beautiful full moon.

Porto

2011-07-15T11:30:00.002+02:00

Summer – Nic’s kids on the school summer break – cheap Ryanair flights out of Carcassonne. Portugal: 3 day break. Sounded good to us, so that’s where we’ve just been.

The trip didn’t start without drama though. Just before we were heading to the check-in desk at the airport, I got a blood nose that wouldn’t stop. I’ve only had about three in my life, that last one about 25 years ago! Talk about bad timing …. Another traveller suggested I might need to see some first aid people if I was going to get on the plane – and she offered to go and find someone. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered, but given what was at stake, I agreed. Sod’s law – it had nearly stopped when the pompiers (!) arrived with a full emergency kit. That was all a little embarrassing…

Anyway, we went to check-in, and lined up - me with bloody tissues to my face. But while waiting in line, it all started again... deargod …. and then because we were now running so late, we were called to the front of the queue.

What is really interesting is that I wasn’t questioned at all about what was happening, we were checked in and sent straight through. But on the plane, it wouldn’t stop. Again, no questions – just being looked after really well by the flight attendant – ice, tissues, bags. Because we were the last passengers on, there weren’t any seats together and I needed Nic next to me to help with tissues and moral support! I’m sure all the other seated passengers were praying I didn’t sit next to them. So a rearrangement of seating was done.

I have to say that Ryanair have certainly gone up in my estimation. They said they’d need to make a call to see if there was a doctor or nurse on board if it didn’t stop during the flight (it did eventually), or make sure I saw a doctor on landing. Again, I was just so surprised that I was allowed on board the flight at all. I’d already taken Nic’s car keys at the airport, fully expecting to be turned back at check-in, and having to drive back to Bize and forfeit the holiday. Amazing!

But we made it to Porto with no other dramas. We stayed in a hotel quite close to the centre, but not on the river-side. So a fair bit of walking was involved each day – those streets are certainly steep.

Except for day 1 – when we had a different mode of transport – definitely the highlight of the trip. We’d planned to do a guided bicycle tour of the city, but the weather was looking a bit dodgy for the last two days. We found the office of the Bluedragon Tours and they said they weren’t running bike tours on that day. But would we be interested in a Segway tour? Well, yes – we’d been talking about it, but noted that the minimum age was 14, and Indigo is only 12, so we’d discounted that idea. The guide said it was more a height than age thing, and she would be just fine.

After a half hour ‘training session’ on a flat section at the edge of the river (with spectators), we were off.

They’re the only Segway operator in Porto and Bruno the guide told us that they have an arrangement with the tram operators – we were allowed to use the middle of the tram tracks, and that when the tram drivers saw us, we would be given plenty of time to get off.

It was a little disconcerting, but it worked. It was preferable to using sometimes very crowded pavements on steep streets! We started off along the river – the flattest part – to get used to it. I have to say it was easier than I’d thought it would be.

Having said that, I would like to say that it was without incident. But it wasn’t. Only one of us came off and it was me …..

Heading into the markets, I was probably becoming a little complacent and chatting to Bruno – didn’t line the two wheels up straight when mounting the rise to the entrance of the markets and shot off – but managed to keep one foot on, and hang on to the handles. But it had a bit of momentum and I was left doing a ‘Segway dance’ until I got it under control!

No harm done except a slightly grazed leg from the wheel – and I’d provided a huge amount of entertainment for Nic and the kids and a few onlookers. I loved the whole experience – so did the kids - and I’d do it again at the drop of a hat.

Porto is a lovely city. The city skyline on the north side of the River Douro is spectacular – the other side has all the port houses. And there are many of them.

Lots of buildings in Portugal are completely tiled
- gorgeous and definitely low maintenance.

The famous Majestic Cafe where we treated ourselves to a breakfast

Morning Glory gone bad

A view over the roofs of some of the port houses
on the south bank of the Douro River

We spent the rest of our time walking around the city, seeing the sights, a little shopping, and a river boat tour on the River, taking in the six bridges.

We did get a recommendation of a restaurant for lunch the "Restaurante Pescador" – in the small fishing village of Arafura, a few kilometres out of the city near the mouth of the river.

Arafura tiled houses

This is very much a working fishing village, and quite a few of the restaurants had their charcoal barbecues on the pavements, ready for the lunch crowd. And obviously the local residents also do their fish cooking out on the street – this lady was happy for me to take her photo.

As we've become so used to drinking rose wine with meals (in summer, anyway), that's what we ordered. But what we got was a real blast from the past - a bottle of Mateus Rose!

I can't remember the last time I saw a bottle of this - let alone drank it. It was fairly sweet compared to what we have here, and I have to say I prefer our local drop.

The kids ordered whiting fillets – bigger than the whiting I remember – but they were delicious. Nic and I ordered barbecued squid – hoping it would be as good as the squid we used to cook at Cheyne Beach on the barbecue.

While it was good, I think our way was better! That's the squid in the middle of everything else, cooked whole - the kids tried it and didn't even baulk at the fact that it was uncleaned in the middle and needed a bit of work before eating. The servings were huge - though this was for two people. And it was so nice to eat in a restaurant frequented by lots of locals, away from the tourist spots.

What we should have ordered was the grilled fish that were being grilled outside on the pavement:

Even though these ones had been cleaned, they reminded us so much of what we grew up with at Cheyne Beach. We called them Herring Guts Feathers ‘n’ All – which were basically whole herring, fresh out of the net, grilled on the open barbecue. They weren’t scaled or cleaned – hence the name that Dad coined, and it stuck.

The guts just shrivelled into a little ball and the skin could be easily lifted off. Then the fillets were lifted onto a plate, smothered in butter, salt and pepper – and that was it! The table was laid with newspaper which was later rolled up with all the scraps. I’m in the process (it’s taking a long time….) of scanning all the old family photographs, and a few weeks ago I came across these photos below:

Dad and Paul - chefs extraordinaires

Sage, Paul, Dad and Joyce - given that Sage is now 14, I guess this was more than 10 years ago!

Vide greniers

2011-07-05T19:59:00.001+02:00

One of the (many) great things about living in France is the vide-grenier - literally ‘empty attic’.

They're held every weekend all over the country and there’s always one at a village within a short drive of Bize – with Bize itself having two or three of its own each year, held at the boules ground.

This weekend there was one at Cuxac, in the grounds of the Château de la Bourgade which is now a retirement home.

Given that it was a warm day, it was great that most of the stalls were in the shade of the trees in the grounds.

And it was a particularly successful day for all of us!

I went along with la famille Bowditch – and the ‘shopping list’ was:

bedside table
bedside lamp
jumper leads
large cooking pot with lid
door hooks

What we actually came away with, between us, was:

double sheet
a rather ‘suspect’ orange hanging ornament (sorry Miki – perhaps it’ll look better in situ….)
pillow
electric fan
a very big picture for the bedroom wall of David and Camilla's grand daughter, so big that one back seat of my car had to go down
butter dish
sweater
picture frame
door hooks ! (on the list ............)

With the spoils .....

And below – a few photos I’ve taken of various vide-greniers at different times of the year. There are always many weird and wonderful items and I rarely walk away empty handed.

The beautiful monogrammed linen and/or cotton bedsheets

Yep - a gun belt. I would hope empty cartridges .... I don't think you can buy ammunition at vide greniers, even in France.

Update on the River Cesse

2011-07-05T18:14:00.001+02:00

Sadly, the river is no longer as beautiful as it was a few months ago. The motocross is indeed going ahead next week on the riverbed and here is what it looks like at the moment.

Lots of the stones have been taken away, and I’ve yet to find out whether they’ll be put back in place once the gravel mound has been removed after the event …. I certainly hope so. In previous years the flattened gravel has been left, a good bed for the weeds.

The upside of the river story is that the swimming pool has been re-created – as it is every year at this time.

The work was only done yesterday. Deepened, re-shaped, a new pebbled 'beach' created to replace the one that was washed away in the flood, a new dam wall.

Et, voila!

New pool for the summer, already being used today by holiday makers, and of course the locals……

The north of France

2011-06-19T18:29:00.001+02:00

Last week was the annual trip away with the Bize club – a coach trip to the North of France. All new ground to me – as is most of France, so I was really pleased to see this very different region.

The recent French comedy film “Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis” (“Welcome to the Sticks” or “Welcome to the Land of Shtis”) is set in this region. It’s a very funny movie, and was a huge hit here in France. The main character in the story was dreading his relocation from Provence in the south to a small village in this northern region. He learned to love it and in fact was loathe to finally leave.

And I can see why – it’s a lovely part of the country. It’s a real contrast to the south – and not only the weather. The inevitable very pretty villages, flat or gently rolling countryside with many different crops – different grains, linseed, canola and sugar beets, to name a few. It made for an interesting patch worked landscape.

And cows! Not something we see down south. Maroilles is a cheese of the region – rather smelly but delicious.

But back to our early departure – we left from the boules ground in Bize at 4.30 on a Sunday morning – travelled all day and arrived in the seaside town of Berck-su-Mer at 8.30 in the evening.

We certainly covered some ground – a day trip to London via the Tunnel (that was interesting with all the French people – most who have never been to the UK), and another day trip to Bruges in Belgium.

Our not-so-trusty bus, on the train, going through The Tunnel

First stop in England at 11.00am - obligatory for the driver to take a break.
Coffee or tea? No. red wine, baguettes and pâté…

We did have a breakdown with the bus, fortunately it was back on French soil. Though it meant we missed out on seeing the beautiful town of Arras.

There’s always an upside - we managed to pull into a huge supermarket parking lot, and I found a cheap source of sunflower and sesame seeds that I use to make muesli with – I can get them in Narbonne but for reasons I don’t understand, they’re really expensive here. So I could hardly stagger when I left the store but have enough to last me for quite some time.

So as not to turn this post into a tiresome blow-by-blow, day-by-day travel diary, I’m going to turn it into a tiresome photo gallery instead! Well, actually - I’m going to put up a selection of the things we saw and places we visited.

I’ll just say that it was a lovely week away with the same group of good people. There was discussion of where to go next year – the majority seem to be leaning towards Greece. Sounds good to me.

The famous boardwalk on the beach at Cayeux-sur-Mer –
one of the the longest in Europe, with about 400 cabins.

The road-side view

Cayeux-sur-Mer - looking out over the Channel

The beach at Berck-su-Mer

We came across this man heading back across the sands -
he'd been digging for worms to use as fish bait. They're huge!

BELGIUM:
Beautiful Bruges, known as the 'Venice of the North'.
We took a boat trip on the canals - it certainly lives up
to its reputation, it's a lovely city.

Lunch at the Half Moon Brewery ("De Halve Maan") in Bruges.
We had a choice of red wine or beer with lunch......

Above-table lighting at the Half Moon Brewery


LONDON: We were lucky enough to pull up right outside Buckingham Palace just as the lights turned red and the traffic was stopped - for the changing of the guards. So got a high view from within the bus. Pure luck with the timing.

And of course, a stop and wander near
the statue of Charles de Gaulle

BACK IN FRANCE:
The Bunker of Eperlecques -
built by Nazi Germany during WWII
to be a V-2 rocket launching site.

Battery Todt at Wissant near Cap-Gris-Nez which housed four 38 cm guns

Cap Blanc Nez

White cliffs at Le Treport

The easy way to the top - funicular railway

The view from the top

The beachfront - and more beach cabins

Frog be gone . . . . .

2011-05-31T11:13:00.001+02:00

The nights of this little guy keeping me awake are over!

It’s one of the two that the kids caught in the river over two years ago and released into the pond. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but one of them survived – hibernating each winter – and has reappeared the last two summers in fine voice.

The noise that comes out of him is something else. In the warm weather I have the upstairs doors open, but recently have had to sleep with earplugs because of his incessant loud croaking.

So last night as I came home from a late evening out, I nearly stepped on him. I saw him at the last minute on the pathway in the light from the veranda – grabbed the net that I had handy next to the pond and put it over him as he made a dash for it into the dichondra.

I’ve had the net by the pond over the last couple of days and have had some fairly spectacular failures when trying to catch him – only managing to stir things up, disturb the fish and mangle the plants.

Anyway, his days of wine and roses in my little garden are up – and he’s now been released into the river to compete with all the rest of the wildlife there. Perhaps he’ll end up as a fine meal for one of those little river snakes?

But I’m sure he’s delighted to be there, especially after spending an uncomfortable night in a glass jar in my kitchen ……

.... and here's his big moment - back into the river ……

Further afield in France

2011-05-26T16:47:00.001+02:00

About 3 weeks ago, I had friends Alan and Nicky (from Perth) staying with me for a week.

Nicky and Alan, at Meze on the Etang de Thau

They’re regular visitors to France and over the last five or so years have rented the same place in the little village of Francescas in the Lot-et-Garonne (very roughly about half way between Bordeaux and Toulouse).

So on their arrival in France, they headed straight to Bize for the first week of their break to have a look around my little patch. It was – and no surprises here – a very social and convivial time, with a bit of sight-seeing thrown in.

And why have I included a photo of the BBQ? Well because it's probably the best one I've had going since I got here.

Before France, I'd only ever done wood-fired barbies and have had a few hits and misses with different types of fuel here - not getting it started, not enough charcoal, etc.

Probably the worst one was the when I fired up with compressed coal (damned difficult to get going, I might add) that I'd found in a bag in the barn - left here by previous owners. It was only when a guest turned up and asked what the strange smell was that I realised something was amiss.

Chef Extraordinaire - looking a little stunned, or is that overwhelmed to find himself unexpectedly cooking for 9?

Vide-grenier on the edge of the Etang de Thau at Bouzigues

Whenever I find out that visitors enjoy oysters,

it's always a Wednesday or Friday night trip to

the bar at Cabezac - oysters direct from the grower

Picnic lunch after a walk in the foothills of the Black Mountai

Last weekend, I headed up the motorway to spend a few days in a different part of the country - with Nicky and Alan at their gite. And it’s quite different than this region and very pretty - the home of Armagnac. Rolling hills, more trees, many different types of crops and a few vineyards - and not surprisingly, some gorgeous villages.

Alan again surrounded by smoke and a BBQ - this time on his own turf

Francescas is a pretty bastide village – and located in the heart of the village is the Musée de la Boite Ancienne en Fer Blanc or Museum of Old Tins.

France certainly has some quirky little museums (we have our own Museum of the Hat near Bize), and they’re usually great fun to visit. Nicky said they’d never been lucky with the opening times, so have yet to visit it.

And given it was early evening when we passed by, we only got to look through the windows. It is housed in a rather beautiful half-timbered building.

In fact, many villages in the region feature timbered buildings.

The Village of Fources

Drink break at Fources

Larressingle, the smallest fortified medieval village in France

The moat around Larressingle

The church in Mezin

Sunday was market day in Nerac:

Hmmm ....

More half-timbered houses in Nerac

The River Baïse, Nerac

And for lunch, we visited friends of Nicky and Alan (Australians, also from Perth) who bought this amazing building - dated back to the early 1600s - on the edge of the River Baise.

In this photo - it's not the whole building - just the smaller tower to the left

Brian said when they bought it 13 years ago, it was just a pile of stones and pigeon droppings. In fact the tower at the top is an old pigeonniere (dovecote) and it’s still intact.

When I got the grand tour of the building, I didn’t take my camera …… it was a bit of a hair-raising experience going up the restored but rail-less staircases and looking down into a void, 4 storeys deep.

There was a rope pulley hanging from the top storey which you held onto for safety, but you had to hang on to both ropes, otherwise a swift descent was a sure thing. So sadly, no photos of any of the amazing work in progress of the top three floors, nor the pigeonniere in its original state with all the nesting holes on all sides.

They’re going to leave it as it is – but of course cleaned out of all the evidence of many years of pigeons and of being open to the elements.

I did however take a photo of the grand fireplace on the ground floor which – like all the interior stonework – has been taken back to the original.

A grand project – 3 months of work every year for the last 10 years or so (the family still live in Perth) – and still a way to go. It’s on the edge of the river, overlooking old Nerac. What a magical place.

We’d called into a supermarket before our visit and bought a few bits and pieces for lunch. And very nice it was too, to sit outside and have a lunch of prawns and salad, with cherries and cheese provided by Brian.

It was here I discover my now absolute favourite cheese – Cambozola.

Babies in the garden

2011-05-25T19:03:00.001+02:00

I have two nests in the garden – well actually, one is in a hole in the stone wall, the other is in a crevice above one of the beams in the garage. I know very little about birds but have it on good authority that they’re Black Redstarts.

And they’re cute – although they have made rather a mess in the garage, and now that they’re flying, both the floor and my car are copping it.

I’m amazed at the amount of food the babies are consuming. There were three, there now only appears to be two. The parents are constantly back and forth with insects all day long. One day, a butterfly about half the size of the bird itself was on the menu – I have no idea how they would have dealt with the wings.

The nest in the wall is not showing much activity at the moment – so either it's been abandoned or the eggs aren't yet hatched.

It was yesterday morning that the two in the garage took their maiden flight. And the timing couldn’t have been worse.

I was packing the car up at about 8.30am getting ready for the weekly group walk/picnic when I nearly trod on this little guy on the ground at the garage door. He’d obviously only just made it thus far, and I think he was a little stunned.

I raced back and got my camera and as can be seen in the short video clip below, his second flight was from there to the top of my car, where he stayed.

A frantic phone call to Nic – who came to quickly close the garage doors as I departed to make sure it didn’t fly out into the street, where I think it would have been doomed.

On the car roof ....

.... trying to cling to the wall ...

... and made it to the fence.

Anyway, as I type (a day later) they’re flying around from place to place in the courtyard and looking extremely content and well-fed. I do hope they stay around for a while longer.

And the walk that followed this encounter was lovely. It’s one Caroline introduced me to over a year ago - what we now call "The Visigoth Walk". I’d finally convinced Claude that this would be a great walk for the group – three amazing things to see en route – Chateau Villarlong, the 11th century church, and the graves of the Visigoths.

I think it's fair to say that there was a little initial reluctance – it was outwith the usual areas we normally travel to, and it was ‘unknown’ to all the local and regular walkers. So when he agreed, I was told I was ‘the chef’. No pressure then.

Given we felt a bit under the hammer, Caroline and I decided to do a test walk the weekend before – to see if the road was passable to access the shady churchyard for the picnic lunch. The year before, I'd managed to get my car through, but it was a bit difficult. And I’d rashly promised this ‘amazing setting under the trees next to an ancient church’ for the group picnic.

Well, things didn’t go quite to plan. I’d forgotten I was away that weekend and so Caroline and Trevor did the recce walk. Unfortunately it turned out the stretch of road was in worse condition and the cars wouldn’t have been able to get through to the church. And the rest of the walk was a little short on places where there was enough room for 10 to 15 cars, AND shade for the picnic.

So after the hectic start to the morning dealing with fledglings and trying to get away on time, we had the worry of leading a convoy of cars to parts unknown, on a walk where I’d promised an amazing picnic venue – knowing that when we arrived (very windy and 33 degrees forecast) - I would need to tell them we were reverting to Venue (b) – parking off the side of the road with limited shade.

Anyway, it was all taken with good humour – no problems – and the best thing is that everyone thought the walk and things we saw were amazing – we got compliments all along the way, AND all during lunch. So, after all, it was a resounding success.

I didn’t take more photos of the church or the Visigoth graves as I’ve posted quite a few of them here before. But here’s an interesting thing about the French. Last year, Caroline and I stood meekly outside the Chateau and took a few photos of the blue sheep and the Giraffe over the fence. Not so this lot – straight in and all around the grounds, having a good look. Love it. Hence the photos below, views of the chateau not seen last year! - including the infinity pool at the back with the most amazing views out over the valley.

Only part of the group could be rounded up for the group picture - the rest were off exploring the grounds!

The life-size metal sculpture of the giraffe is impressive - even more so, when you see the detail.

Side view of the chapel in the grounds of the chateau

The infinity pool at the back - overlooking the valley towards the east

And the good news was that when we arrived back at the cars, the sun had moved so that there was enough shade under the trees for all of our tables and chairs.

More than enough in fact, after Jacques trimmed off a few pesky low-hanging branches with a pair of huge pruning sheers he just happened to have in the back of his car.

Thereafter, all was well - the all-important aperitifs came out and the eating commenced……

Flowers and walks

2011-05-10T21:10:00.002+02:00

I waver between saying spring is my favourite season / autumn is my favourite season. Right now when my garden’s looking good and the countryside is glorious, I’m saying spring. But come autumn …..

A short bike ride – a 6 km loop from Bize, out to the Mailhac Road, down to Cabezac and back to Bize – there’s all this:

The chateau at Cabezac

Not only has the warm weather brought out all the flowers, it’s also bringing out the paragliders who launch themselves off the south-side of the Pech, using the thermals that come up from the flat plain towards Narbonne. And you often see them just hanging up there above the Pech for hours. The most I’ve seen at one time is 11, and in this photo there are 9.

Just happened to be having a beer on Nic’s terrace at the time (fancy that), so managed to get a few shots….

And flowers from my courtyard, taken over the last couple of weeks:

I think my preference for purple and white flowers is coming through somewhat...

Now, if only I could get my soup-green fish pond back to its usual clear state, ‘all would be well in the garden’.

Two walks over the last few weeks at new locations – one at Mailhac, only a few kms from Bize, and the other down on the coast near Fleury and St Pierre sur Mer.

At Mailhac, it was a walk starting at the village itself and up a hill where there are remains of a late bronze-age settlement - the Lou Cayla – not yet fully excavated and currently off-limits. But further on, there is the Boun Marcou dolmen.

And then there was the long walk (3 hours/new-ish walking shoes/blisters!) between Fleury and St Pierre sur Mer where the Gouffre de l'oeil doux can be found.

L'oeil doux is a deep water-filled hole in the ground – the result of a limestone collapse.

The walk started off through lovely pines, and then later over scrubland where the wildflowers – including wild lavender – were just lovely.

Well, why didn’t I take more photos? I think I was too busy whinging about my sore feet. But I did take some of the L'oeil doux itself.

And here are a couple of Google Earth shots – showing it close to St Pierre sur Mer (rapidly growing with new-builds) and less than one kilometre from the Mediterranean.

L'oeil doux - top left hand corner

At least it wasn’t too hot and we were close enough to the sea to get a cool breeze – and of course the walk followed by the usual very convivial picnic lunch under trees. We really felt we’d earned this one.

There was a slight downside though – at the car park, three cars had had their windows broken and things had been stolen. Luckily, mine wasn't one of them. Unfortunately, one of the cars did belong to one of our group – so a bit of a dampener after a lovely morning.

Though the ever-cheerful Pierre took it in his stride. Before heading home to deal with what needed to be done to sort the damage to the car, stolen wallet, mobile phone etc., there was the all-important lunch to be had first.

Priorities......

Snakes alive ....

2011-04-14T22:44:00.002+02:00

Since the flood on the 16th March, most of the pools left at the edges of the river and in the vineyards have dried up. Nic and I and the kids have managed to rescue quite a few fish in the last couple of weeks and have returned them to the river.

Under the bridge, there's one large pool that’s been slowly shrinking – the smaller it gets, the easier it is to scoop the fish and at the moment it’s less than a metre across.

And the other day, we saw a little snake there, not doing a lot. And then today, Nic rang frantically to come down as it was still there and was trying to catch fish! So I raced down and actually managed to get it on video – the very moment when he actually caught a fish! Talk about luck with the timing ……….

Now the unfortunate thing is that when I moved on the rocks as he was crawling away with it in his mouth, I must have frightened him and he dropped the fish on a rock and headed back to the water. I put the fish back in the water, and despite him probably wondering what the hell had hit him, he swam away. Though probably only to be eaten at some time in the very near future.

The good news is that the snake wasn’t too rattled by it all, as five minutes later he’d caught another one – really!

We couldn’t believe our luck at seeing all this close up, right in front of our eyes. He’s in snake heaven – captive prey with nowhere to go and obviously fairly easy to catch. No wonder he’s in no hurry to go back to the river where I imagine their meals aren’t this easily come by.

With just the tail sticking out of his mouth, and a swollen neck - he's all but managed to get it down

Now, while the snake wasn’t all that rattled by our presence and talking, there was a moment when I got a little jittery.

As I straddled a rock, taking the video, with my feet very close to where the snake was under the ledge, Nic calmly informs me that there are now TWO snakes - one near my left foot. I’m not really nervous of these snakes as they’re [supposedly] not poisonous, at least not like those we have in Australia, but it did give me a bit of a start. Warning – a little blasphemy - though those who know me know that it could have been a whole lot worse…

And below are a few photos of the new clean river bed – all the weeds and gravel of previous years’ motocross well and truly washed away, and hundreds (thousands?) of tonnes of smooth river stones deposited here.

It’s looking pristine and gorgeous – and we’re hoping that there will be no motocross this year. I think it would be a crying shame to cover the washed river stones with brown gravel that will change the river from this:

back to this:

Given that the river rarely flows enough to clean it out like this - and even more rarely has floods like we’ve just experienced - we could be stuck with the “gravel-look” for many years to come. I’m trying to find out if any moves/suggestions have been made to have the motocross at another venue this year.

Back to the flood:
I notice on the Maire’s website there is an article on the 16th March floods:

Floods
"Out of the blue... A flood level higher than that of 1999. At Bize-Minervois, the night of Tuesday 15th to Wednesday 16th March was terrible. No one lost their life but 47 homes and 4 business premises were swamped with mud. Not even the dental surgery escaped the rising waters. Below the village, on the Promenade, on the bank of the Cesse, muck and faces marked by shared suffering.

In the morning, at around 4.00am, yesterday, the river was roused from its slumbers and burst its banks.

For the owner of the cafe, Michel Gleizes, it was a catastrophe. His doors, poorly protected, gave way under the force of the water. In the other houses, with well sealed doors, the mud came in through the drains. "On average we had a meter of water in people's homes" noted Mayor Alain Fabre.

This time, unlike 1999, the residents of Bize were prepared for the worst. The Commune's protection plan was rolled out in time. "We have been watching events since Saturday. We are members of the "protect" network, so we knew what our village was exposed to. As a precautionary measure, we went ahead with evacuations and asked residents to protect their houses as much as possible."

At Bize, the Mayor and his constituents are aware that a disaster has been avoided. "There is muck in several streets and mud in the houses but no lives were lost. It will take us three or four weeks to clean it all up but at least we can breathe a sigh of relief" emphasises Alain Fabre. "Although the Cesse reached a level of 4.03 meters, a level higher than in 1999, this time there was no tidal wave effect. Luckily, otherwise..."

In recent years in this area significant works have been carried out by the communal water management group. Experience also played its part. As did solidarity. Here neighbours, friends, family members came to each other's aid and comfort. The communes of Argeliers and Sallelès, as well as Greater Narbonne have given Bize logistical support.

"And let's not forget the extremely effective action of our firemen" concluded Alain Fabre.

Source : L'Indépendant

17 mars 2011

an article by Nicolas Boussu

Springs and Caves / La Douze and Les Grottes

2011-04-08T20:02:00.001+02:00

About two kilometres from Bize-Minervois, on the road to Agel, is a warm spring at the base of rocky hills, called La Douze, or sometimes just La Source (the spring).

It’s only metres off the edge of the road, next to rows of vines. It doesn’t run all year – roughly from October/November through to about August, when it appears to exhaust all the underground water until the rains come again and fill up whatever underground storage system there is.

Not only is it stunningly beautiful, it’s fascinating because the water is warm. Well, tepid to warm – quite a few degrees warmer than the Cesse, which because of ITS mysterious underground meanderings, is very cold all year around.

La Douze runs several hundred metres along the base of the rocky hill, in channels that over the years have been reinforced. It then runs under the road and finally joins up to the River Cesse. Because the hills are obviously still saturated from all the rain, it’s putting out lots of at the moment.

Nic and I went for a walk there the other day, and chose the difficult - i.e. overgrown and very prickly side - to trace its length back to where it gushes out of the rocks. The going got quite tough and we were all but on our knees. Nic jokingly said we might need to de-tick ourselves when we came through at the other end. It wasn’t a joke – while I missed out on any, she managed to pick up five that were on the leg of her pants – luckily they hadn’t yet managed to latch on to any flesh! Yuck …. ghastly things. I would have taken a photo of the little buggers if she hadn’t been a little [read ‘quite’] frantic trying to get them off. She had the job of then going back home and de-ticking the dog.

The waterweed and the algae that grow on the bottom make for such amazingly bright colours.

These photos are exactly as I took them – it really looks like an artificial environment, but it’s all real. There are frogs here, but no fish because it’s bone dry for part of the year.

Between the course of La Douze and the base of the limestone rocks are ancient caves – les Grottes de Bize or sometimes called La Grande Grotte de Tournal a Bize, named after Paul Tournal of Narbonne who found the first human bones in the caves.

They were at one time occupied by Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon – items that have been found in the cave have been dated at more than 30,000 years.

An informative article (already translated into English) can be found on the Bize-Minervois Maire’s own website - here.

The aftermath

2011-03-20T18:23:00.001+01:00

Except for a few open doors and windows of the village houses that were flooded, and a few piles of furniture outside in the sun, you wouldn’t know the village had been inundated. The clean up was certainly fast and efficient.

There’s a lot more evidence along the riverside. The vignerons have not long finished pruning the vines – they now have another lot of work ahead of them.

We did a small good deed for the day – we came across a small puddle at the edge of the vineyards that had all but seeped away. It was quite some way from the receding river, and had about a dozen little river fish trapped in it, flapping around. We had nothing with us that would hold water, except for my old umbrella.

And so that became the vessel to scoop them up and given them a fighting chance back in the river. If they manage to stay in the relatively quite spot where I put them, away from the torrent, then they should be ok…..

The river is getting back to normal - while the water's not entirely clear yet, it's certainly getting back its lovely blue-green colour.

And the ducks look ok too. They'd started nesting so it's a sure thing their eggs have gone downstream - they'll have to start all over again.

Bize was inundated .....

2011-03-16T21:57:00.001+01:00

The rain kept falling and La Cesse continued to rise, passing the level of 1999 (3.3m), and nearly reaching the 1994 level (4.2m). I was watching the live updated graphs all during the night and was so on edge that I didn’t get to sleep.

It was updated every 15 mins - in real time - and at 5.00 a.m. it started to level out and I thought it might be peaking. It was indeed.

It was at that stage I gave up any thoughts of getting to sleep, got dressed and went down to the bridge.

The pompiers were there, the mayor and a few villagers out having a look. I've never seen anything like it - the power of the river, right up to the promenade, and lapping over - and the roar of the water - was amazing.

Quite a few houses near the river were flooded, including the ground floor of Nic and Duff’s place – the dentist occupies the ground floor so that’s where all the mud is. Fortunately I’m a little higher up the street so am not affected.

Late yesterday afternoon, things were looking a bit grim as the water rose. Access to the river was earlier barricaded off with plastic tape – later, the wooden barricades were installed.

Some of the flood-prone houses in the village put their flood barriers in place in their doorways. Some that didn't have any had them hastily constructed by the pompiers…

I felt so sorry for this old man standing in his doorway behind the flood barriers, watching the water creep up. Given the height and well-constructed barrier he's leaning on, I suspect this is not the first time he’s been through this.

Late yesterday afternoon, the authorities lowered this water flow meter into the river:

It was too dark to video at 5.00 a.m. – the footage below is taken at 7.00 a.m. when the water level had dropped by more than 1 metre:

And these photos show the aftermath and the cleanup process underway.

I must say it was a smoothly run operation – the Maire was up and about and organising the cleanup, visiting each of the houses affected and advising that the pompiers would be around soon to hose down the mud (they were) and that there would be help provided if necessary to clean the houses. And a free lunch was provided in the village hall.

Mid-afternoon, I went for a drive to look at the state of the river from Minerve down to Bize – I figure it’s something I may not see again, or not for a long time, I hope.

I realise in the ‘big picture’ of everything that’s happened in 2011 around the world (what’s going on?!), this is small in comparison and fortunately with no loss of life or injury. However, for a small village, it’s quite an event that’s affected a lot of people.

The weather forecast thankfully is a lot better for the next few days and the river is now going back down to a reasonable level.

The river nearly runneth over ....

2011-03-13T21:52:00.002+01:00

The normally gentle, crystal clear and beautiful River Cesse is in full flow. It’s the highest I’ve seen it.

13 March 2011

The river exactly a week ago today - one of the many photos I took of this year's Carnaval

While I’ve seen the water going over the passerelle before, I’ve never seen the entire width of the riverbed covered in water. Mind you, in years past the village has flooded - most recently in 1999 when the water was nearly 2 metres deep on the Promenade. Waaaay higher than it is now - and I hope I don't get to see that.

The wall that dams the river to create the pool has completely gone. The last four years it’s only needed a bit of a touch up – this summer it will have to be rebuilt from scratch.

I’ll be interesting to see what the natural river looks like when the water goes down, without the pool there.

This afternoon the sun has come out and it’s mild and humid, but we have four more days of rain forecast so I’m wondering just how high the river is going to come up.

Carnaval de Bize

This year I didn’t frock-up for the Carnival - not only because the theme was Moulin Rouge/Cancan (yikes ....) but because I was away the week running up to the carnival, and also because I'd decided I wanted to be a spectator this year.

Being in the parade, and seeing all the photos after the event, I realised how much you miss out on seeing on the day itself. So this year I got a good view and quite a few photos. Here’s a few of my favourites:

The Carnaval King - why he's on a cow I have no idea. There are no cows anywhere in this region - only grape vines and the odd goat or two!

On the riverbed, getting ready for the ritual burning...

Moulin Rouge Cancan

Bonnie and Terry (in the frills and bloomers) - real crowd-stoppers!

A float of young 'Scots' - or at least, young guys who really enjoyed a wee dram or two, wearing home-made kilts and their 'See you Jimmy' hats...!

.... and some kilts definitely being made better than others .. !

The local hunters' float

... complete with a roasting hare... eaten during the parade

Hardly a mouthful

and while Indigo wasn't part of a float, her and her friends dressed for the occasion - wigs and pyjamas.....

A weekend over the border

2011-03-05T18:43:00.005+01:00

When I was in Scotland in December, I stayed with friends Issy and George for a couple of days. Now, Issy had a long-planned ‘big birthday’ celebration planned for late February – in Bologna, Italy.

Good ol’ Ryanair – direct flights from Edinburgh and as I discovered, also cheap flights from Girona in Spain. A group of friends had been invited and it all had the makings for a beaut weekend away.

Had I driven, it would have meant at least a 9 hour drive on my own, over the Alps in winter (!) and arriving exhausted. The much better alternative was to drive south for two hours to Girona, leave the car at the airport and fly direct to Bologna. And that’s what I did.

However, the birthday celebrations changed somewhat a couple of months before the event, although the invitees were only informed of the change of plans fairly close to the date.

It became a marriage celebration! George and Issy decided to get married the day before flying out to Girona.

Here they are - George and Issy, looking a million bucks and very pleased with themselves - before all heading out for the Saturday night wedding feast

It was to be a little secret and a huge surprise for the group when everyone arrived in Bologna .... but somehow (someone?) let the cat out of the bag! So we had something even more exciting to look forward to - and it was a fabulous weekend with a great bunch of people.

Some people I already knew (Austen and Fiona – great to catch up again), and I met some other friends and family. We were a group of just 14, just a good number for the wedding feast at an amazing restaurant in downtown Bologna - the Trattoria Battibecco.

How nice is that!

A few of the lovely dishes we were served - many of them, but just the right size, and absolutely delicious. Ditto the wine selection that was served with each course - George was so impressed that I've taken photos of some of the labels and he's going to try to buy some of the same when they get back to Scotland.

... and after all that food - out comes the 'SURPRISE' birthday cake ... because it was of course Issy's birthday as well!

Bologna itself is a stunningly beautiful city, full of squares, churches, and nearly 40 kms or covered walkways (porticos).

The first day was cold but brilliant sunshine … perfect for sitting out in the main square, soaking up the sun and nursing our collective sore heads, and regrouping for the main event of the weekend.

When I ordered a hot chocolate at a cafe, I'd forgotten about the European can-stand-a-spoon-in-it style. Yum ... but soooo rich. Four of us couldn't finish it!

Piazza Maggiore

Some of the sights in the piazza

The Sala Borsa Library, with its transparent floor tiles through which you can see old Roman ruins.

The city is also known for its fine food, and I came away with a few bits and pieces. Including an aged bottle of balsamic vinegar and a rather large wedge of Parmesan cheese.

All of which of course you can buy here in France and just about anywhere else, but everything looked so good in the shops and so they became my little ‘souvenirs’ and taste of Italy.

The fruit and vegetables - and particularly fresh garden peas - looked gorgeous. and had I not been worried about a strict 15kg luggage allowance, I would have grabbed a couple of kilos of those to bring back too! I was a little annoyed to get to the airport to find my bag only weighed 13kg – I could have brought back a veritable vegetable bonanza ….

The whole weekend was not entirely taken up with celebrating, eating, drinking, and generally being merry. We covered a fair bit of ground on foot, took in the Mediaeval Museum, did a jump-on jump-off bus tour of the city, and – perhaps a little optimistically after a big night out – decided to climb the tallest tower in Bologna.

The city is famous for all its towers – at one stage about 180, though not nearly so many still standing today. Apparently, although the towers were initially as defensive lookouts by families who lived in compounds, but eventually they sometimes also became status symbols and people tried to out-do each other.

The famous twin towers (the taller, the Asinelli Tower at 97 metres, is the one we climbed) were apparently the result of two families’ competition.

Unfortunately, the shorter of the towers – the Garisenda - wasn’t built on a solid foundation, began to tilt and was never built to full height. Seems there was a clear winner in that particular race! It now leans more than the Tower of Pisa.

There are more than 500 steps to the top, fortunately with resting platforms on the way up. Getting up was hard enough – coming down on jelly legs nearly as bad….. The pay-off was the amazing views over the city – despite the drizzly rain.

Looking down on the smaller 'leaning tower' from the top of the Asinelli

Looking down into the void - the interior wooden stair

About a third of the way up - looking out at the neighbouring leaning tower

A good view of those badly laid and sinking foundation stones!

A full-on and thoroughly enjoyable weekend, spent in the company of some great people.