Fête des Mamans

A love note from my daughter. Happy Mothers Day all you Yummy Mummies xxxx

Karen, ma maman chérie

Aujourd'hui c'est le grand jour, c'est la fête des mères

Regarde toi dans le mirroir, tu es la plus belle

Et la plus gentille

N'oublie jamais que je t'aime

Culture in France

While Daft Punk heads the top of the ITune charts in nearly every western country with what is probably the coolest tune of the decade, France has " Quand il pète il trou son slip " ( When he farts, he blows a hole in his underpants ) by Sébastian Patrick

See article and listen to the catchy song here :

http://lelitoulalu.blogs.lindependant.com/archive/2013/05/18/chroniques-itunes-fait-peter-les-ventes.html

Go Figure?

Rendons le Coeur De Ville à nos clients - Perpignan

"Give back the heart of Perpignan to our clients." This is a little bug bear of mine for the past few years as I've watched my adopted town being mismanaged to death and strangled by the short shortsightedness of the local government.
When I moved here 11 years ago, Perpignan was a thriving town. It still is a beautiful town with La Basse, the canal running through it, the Castillet proudly guarding it's pedestrianised quarter and a quaint and pretty centre full of character and history.
Little by little, the local power dudes are sucking the life out of this lovely town.

• Parking is impossible and they have more than doubled pay for parking areas
• Rates are exorbitant
• Festivals are being moved away from the town centre
• Planning permission has been given to massive soul-less malls on the outskirts of the town ( free parking etc)
• Planning permission has been given for blocks and blocks of ugly modern apartments in the surrounding towns and villages
• One way systems have been put in place that have killed off small businesses
• Police are never to be seen en ville

And there's more....
So, some of the local businesses have come together and created this association  "Rendons le Coeur de Ville à nos clients" ( Ok, not very catchy , but they're French, remember). I support them wholeheartedly in their efforts to revitalise the centre and to breathe life back in to this ville that I have grown to love so much.
Like their page here on FaceBook
Vive Perpignan!!!!!

Spot the most obese French name you will ever see

Faking it in France

Karen Bates, shares not only my name but also the 11 year itch French syndrome. She moved to France in early 2002 ( same as moi!) and just left recently. I spoke to her about her time in France and the resulting memoir/book she has self published since.

When did you move to France?

We had been looking for holiday homes  in France for a while and  having fallen in love with Normandy, and with my brother living in France decided to take the plunge and move to France in early 2002.

What did you do in France?

We were in France for almost eleven years.  Originally we hoped to make a living renting out our cottage, but when the income didn't materialise my husband and I visited the Chambre de Métiers and he registered as an Artisan, and we set up a carpentry business.

Did you fit in/ Did you feel welcome in France?

You say in your post it was a love affair with France for you and I agree, it was for us too! 

We were on honeymoon for the first few years and loved everything about it!  We entered each new experience with excitement at learning something new.  We took French lessons with Greta at the local college and our French language skills improved.  We made some wonderful friends both English and French, German Finish and Dutch.  Our neighbours welcomed us and we tried very hard to fit in. 

What made you decide to leave?

 We decided to leave as my son after 10 years announced he didn't want to go to university in France, out of the blue one day he informed us he wanted to return to the UK.  My husband who had not wanted to move to Normandy in the first place, being too cold and rural for him, turned round and said he too didn't want to stay.  The problem was my husband who had only ever agreed to a ten year plan wanted to move to Greece!

I simply wanted to be near my family, my daughter Sarah had graduated from University and was living and working in London, my parents were getting older and living in Leicestershire, suddenly I realised it would be me my husband and the dog rattling around in a five bedroomed farmhouse.  I couldn't imagine only seeing my children and parents only a couple of times a year and I wanted to travel too. Not just backwards and forwards over the channel.  

What do you miss about France?

France is a beautiful country and I will be eternally grateful to our neighbours and friends who helped us to embrace it.  The food is the main thing I miss! I have some wonderful memories but I wont miss being hard up, cold, lonely and worried that the RSI would take away our home with one of their extortionate inaccurate demands for social payments. The downsides were simply starting to out way the benefits.  

What is your book about?

My book is about the dark side of living in a foreign country when the penny drops and you realise you will never fit in, no matter how hard you try. The pain of making good friends and having to say goodbye as they return to the UK, the loneliness of rural life, not being able to find work, being broke, and trying to keep sane whilst dealing with French bureaucracy. It is however a memoir of my life and so my family and England feature a great deal, it is not a book all about France. A lot of the time I am trying to escape my desolation by reminiscing about my life and what I have left behind. The book became my therapy and got me through a very tough period.

  

Faking it in France is the first book I have written but my second book, due out later this year, Making out in France is all about embracing France and learning to make the best of a bad situation. It is entirely based in Normandy and deals with the realities of being a foreigner and trying to fit in.  Like the first book this leads to some hilarious and comic situations and also some poignant moments too, with a surprising twist at the end.

You can buy Karen's book ( which I have yet to read) here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Faking-It-In-France-ebook/dp/B008EENUJM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1365455788&sr=8-1

The 11 Year itch

It's not me, it's you

Latest statistics show that most couples who divorce do so after 11 years of being together. It's no longer tagged the 7 year itch but now it's the 11 year itch; time to get out of that relationship that has run it's course and just does not light that fire any longer.
So France and I are getting divorced.
11 years ago , I arrived in France with a smidgeen of French, a backpack full of dreams and a notion that I might stay for a couple of years. I fell headlong in love with the most beautiful region in France, that is the Pyrenees Orientales, and everyday I am still blown away by the beauty of the place.
We've had 11 happy years of long lazy summers, mild winters, 2 healthy and happy children, years of meeting wonderful and interesting people, entertaining visitors chez nous, enjoying everything France has to offer and literally having the Life of O'Reilly.
So why oh why I hear you say are you leaving all that behind you and heading to the sodden ole island that is Ireland. I hear the incredulity in your voices, I see the raised eyebrows and I know that you think I've lost it.  The house is sold, the packing must begin and we are on our way back to live in a country where we haven't lived in for over 16 years.
Are we MAD?
While my marriage with France is over, I think we will get on better as sometime lovers and I look forward to visiting France and getting my fill of all the things I love about this great country - this stunning region, the wines and the food, the weather , the med and the mountains and all of France's little quirky idiosyncrasies that make her the most seductive country in the world.
C´est rien qu´un au revoir, tu sais
Bientôt je reviendrai
Je reviendrai pour te revoir
Et pour te retrouver
4 months now to the big move....

Calm after the storm

The Pyrenees Orientales was on alert rouge here for a couple of days this week. When it rains, it pours here in the Deep South!

We're on the med here, practically a lake for all intents and purposes and we rarely see waves. The surfers drop everything once they see a ripple in the water and dash headfirst into the big pond.

So when we get waves like this in Collioure .. it's making hay time!

Collioure - surfin dude

Things we rarely see in Perpignan!

Our road is blocked. One poor soul got washed away in the deluge during the week

In Canet, all kinds of sealife were hurtled onto the sand by the crashing waves. This seagull got lucky with a sea snake

Le lendemain. Blue skies are restored. Snow is forecast for Tuesday though! The world has gone mad!

Canet Classic Cars

The first Sunday of every month, vintage car lovers and owners gather in the car park of Casino Hypermarket in Canet Plage to strut their stuff with their fabulous vintage cars..
We toodled along on Sunday morning bright and early to feast our eyes on the cars, campervans, motorbikes and scooters with the cool dudes of Perpignan.
There were at least 200 cars there and a selection of ancient motobikes also. Well worth the visit if you are into your classic cars...

How much is that doggie in the window?

Trop cool!

I want I want I want

Zoé has picked out hers

For more details click here 

Chin Chin!

It's snowing at Stade Aimé Giral!

We had the unexpected pleasure of being invited along to the *drum roll* red carpetted VIP lounge for USAP's match last weekend.
(USAP for the uninitiated, is Perpignan's local rugby team and rugby is the Number One Sport here in the Deep South of France)
We rubbed shoulders with Perpignan's hob nobs and beautiful people, enjoyed a four course delicious meal and cheered USAP to victory from the best seats in the house. Apart from the fact that it was actually SNOWING while the match was taking place and that I had to forgo fashion pride and wear my full ski gear, including two pairs of ski gloves, it was a five star way to enjoy a rugby match.

Brrrrrrrrr

At our table of 12, there were three bottles of excellent wine. With the dessert, we were served a toasty Rivesaltes Ambré. We left the table 2 hours later leaving most of this (free) wine behind us....
At the FREE bar at half time and full time, most people weren't even interested in going to the bar... a few people had a glass of champagne, others an orangina!!!  and there was certainly no rush on the barmen.
Now, close your eyes and imagine the scene in Ireland. Free wine with the meal and a free bar for the whole match. We're talking scrums and tackles and strategic planning, just to get to the bar! We're talking singing and dancing and uproarious behaviour, back slapping, pint gulping, high fiving, bear hugging, the fields of Athenry, then more pints, more chasers, pee-ing everywhere in the stadium and general tom foolery. We're talking girls in micro mini skirts, tank tops and killer stillettos. We're talking mayhem, folks.
The Mediterranean drinking culture sure is different .. even though Monsieur le Mediterranean actually drinks more than your typical Irishman, there is no binge drinking culture and one rarely sees a drunk French person. 
Slow and steady wins the race, it appears "Regular and moderate alcohol intake throughout the week, the typical pattern in middle aged men in France is associated with a low risk of  heart disease, whereas the binge drinking pattern more prevalent in Ireland and the the UK confers a higher risk," Jean-Bernard Ruidavets, MD, of Toulouse University in France says.
Be careful out there! Chin chin agus Sláinte!!
ALLEZ USAP!

A writers retreat in the South of France

Join author Rosemary Bailey for a writing retreat this Autumn in the small mountain village of Planès in the Cerdagne, the most cloudless region of France... From the 16th to the 21st September , escape above the clouds to the The l’Orri eco-lodge , offering time and space to write, think and dream. 

Optional yoga classes with Avery Sumner and meditative walks can further help focus the mind.
All are welcome, whatever you write, from personal memoir to fiction, travellers’ tales to biography. Whatever form you choose, articles, blogs, print or e-books, can benefit from a focused retreat with other writers.

Avery Sumner grew up on a self-sufficient homestead in the southern United States where she cultivated a love for barefoot living. As a child she spent many solitary hours in the stillness of nature and credits these early experiences for directing her to the life she currently leads as a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher and writer. Avery presently lives in the hills of the southernmost region of France where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean.The course runs from Monday evening to Saturday morning. There will be optional yoga sessions in the mornings and evenings, and a morning writing workshop with Rosemary Bailey.

Price

Single room 600 euros

Dormitory accommodation 450 euros

To contact Rosemary Bailey please use the following email address:

francewritingretreat@gmail.com

Or you may contact L’Orri de Planès by phone or email.

email: contact@orrideplanes.com

telephone:  33 (0)4 68 04 29 47
More details here : http://francewritingretreat.com

La Carnaval and The Burning Man

La Carnaval here in the Deep South is celebrated in every town and village throughout the months of February and March. We have toodled along to the parades every year, watching the spectacle and the kids going wild having confetti battles. The sun was shining and the tramontane had died down this weekend , just in time for the parade through the streets of our village, Cabestany.

Sunny Carnival Parade in Cabestany

This is the first time they have had the parade in Cabestany and it seemed like the whole village was there. As we traipsed after the géants, we wondered, what the hell is La Carnaval about anyway? I asked some French friends and they didn't really know either "c'est la carnaval, quoi!"
So, what is the history of La Carnaval?
The word carnivale comes from two latin words : carne meaning flesh and vale meaning farewell ( merci wikipedia!). In the Catholic religion, it used to the the big blow out before lent began, your last chance to eat meat ( carnivore) and indulge in all kinds of naughty behaviour before you knuckled down and gave up joy for 40 long days and 40 long nights. Mardi Gras was what we call Pancake Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday when all the fatty stuff in the house was eaten up..
Now, here in France, there seems to be no specific date here for La Carnaval, and every town and village has their own parade on a different weekend during February and March. The kids get dressed up, there is much singing and dancing and parading about.

Monsieur La Carnaval... like a lamb to the slaughter

They also have their very own burning man ... in a solemn ceremony , at the end of the parade, the effigy called Monsieur Carnaval is burnt to a cinder - this represents burning all the excesses and sins of the carnival itself, or burning the evil spirits...

The boys watch Mr La Carnaval go up in smoke

If you really want to experience a Rio Type Mardi Gras, your best bet is to head South to Spain where adults and children get really into the spirit of it, dressing up and partying hard.
Sitges, just 35kms south of Barcelona, hosts one of the biggest and wildest carnivals in the world, partying like crazy for at least a week. See here for more details...
Et voilà, c'est ça La Carnaval!