Changing stations

So the summer appears to be well and truly over and I'm back in Bristol, for the moment anyhow.

Time then to get an old blog out of the cupboard, give it a dust down and a lick of paint and set to work on it once again: loveintwolanguages

Those of you already familiar with 'Love in two languages' will notice that some of the earlier content is missing. In my absence, it would appear that some google goblins have been fiddling around with things. As some of my posts were misbehaving, they have been removed for a while. But have no fear, they will reappear once again!

All that is left to say is happy reading...and I'm looking forward to blogging on here once again, as that will mean I am in the Pyrénées once again...

@ bientôt!!

Minou fait le ménage

Spent the morning and the afternoon cleaning apartments at a local tourist residence. 

By 4pm, we had cleaned about ten appartments from top to bottom and it was time to go home. Then the receptionist came and broke some bad news. She had forgotten there was also a duplex to clean (a larger flat spread over two floors). No chance of getting off before 5 then, we told ourselves. After four and a half hours scrubbing toilets and mopping floors, morale and energy levels were at an all time low and I was just about ready to throw the (cleaning) towel in. 

Then the little kitten currently squatting in the hotel reception came sauntering by the appartment we had just finished cleaning. He scurried into the flat, hopped up onto the bed (I had just made) and hid under the (freshly laid out) sheets. Before we could grab him, he had dashed into the lounge area and picked a fight with the hoover cable stretched across the floor like a gigantic python. 

The kitten pulled at the cushions we had just straightened, got hair into everything we had just cleaned and generally made a (kitten sized) mess all over the place. But he also brought a big smile to my tired face...and cheered me up no end with his purrs as I carried him back to the reception in my arms...

Reblogged: Walk up to Viscos

It’s late afternoon in early August and finally the sun which has been beating down relentlessly all day has lost some of its power. Come with me, lets make the most of the cooler breeze and go for a walk from Esquièze up to Visos. Is you backpack ready? Are your boots on your feet? Lets go !


We’re walking along the little track which leads from Esquièze up to Visos, past the ancient church and up into the fields above the village.


To our left, the lush and green valley stretches out beneath us. To our right, water gushes from natural springs higher up. Come stand close to me, do you see that rainbow hanging in the waterfall?


The rustle of leaves amongst the wild thyme is a lizard scurrying back to his hiding place. If we stand very still and look very closely, we can see his head peeping out from the crack in the rock as he tastes the air with his tongue. Although on second thoughts, perhaps let’s not stand here too long. If lizards are basking in the early evening sun, it is also quite possible that we may spot one of their less friendly serpentine friends also lurking in the leaves.


Walking further on, the path becomes a little steeper and I can feel my cheeks glowing with the effort. Still, there is plenty to distract us. Apart from the gorgeous view, the hedgerows are overflowing with summer flowers of every shade and colour. The dainty blooms perfume the evening air with a delicate scent…no wonder the lane is teeming with butterflies.

Phew, we are finally at our destination, the pretty village of Visos. With its ancient church, unusual fountain and pretty stone houses, it is the perfect place to stop for a swig of water and a breather.

 


















To get back to Esquièze, we now leave the road and head off the beaten track. The path descends through a pleasantly cool forest of beech trees, whose leafy foliage protect us from the sun. Shhh! Look there! Did you see that flash of russet red ? There, in the trees just in front of us. It’s a red squirrel, jumping from branch to branch in a flash of acrobatics, far too nimble for a crystal clear photograph.

The path descends further through the natural tunnel of trees, before opening out into a hidden valley, where people have farmed in a modest way for centuries. As we tramp across the fields, the knee high grass gives a satisfying rustle as we walk. Across the way, a dog barks, excitedly warning his master that there are visitors on the farm. But the farmer is far too preoccupied with the task of getting his field mown before the storms which are forecast for tomorrow evening arrive.

Following the road back to our starting place in Esquièze, our attention is caught by a far off shriek, which lifts our gaze from the earth to the heavens. High above our heads, birds of prey glide lazily on the evening thermals, above and beyond us. Impossible to discern, the birds are mere inky silhouettes against the cloudless blue sky, guarding their anonymity as the sun begins to set beyond the Pic de Viscos.

Mushrooming above Gèdre

Walking along the plateau de Coumely, we come across some immense, globular mushrooms nestled in the dry grass besides a sea of midnight blue irises. Nico's eyes light up with pleasure.

"Oh excellent," he exclaims with joy before kneeling down for a closer look. "Des coulemelles! C'est trop bon ça!". And thus, in a field high above Gèdre, armed with a pocket knife and a paper bag begins another of my initiations into French/Pyreneans life: location, identification, retrieval and later dégustation of wild mushrooms. 

However once off the mountain and back down in the village, my initial joy of foraging in the wild gives way to a few nerves. What if we have just gathered at best some hallucinogenic specimens and at worst some toxic and potentially lethal fungi? 


I trust Nico, but just to be safe we consult both field guide and the Internet. Nothing to worry about, the specimens waiting patiently on the worktop are indeed edible. I am delighted to find however that this variety of wild mushroom, like many others for that matter, is endowed with a number of pleasingly evocative vernacular names: 

- chevalier bagué (a 'ringed-knight')
- nez-de-chat ('cat's nose')
- parasol ('sunshade')

In Limousin and the north of the Périgord, they are known as filleul ('god son or daughter').  And in Poitou-Charente, they call immature coulemelles 'bonhomme' (a word often used by/to children for 'man'), when the hat is still unopened. Nico assures me that this is when the mushrooms are the most flavoursome. 

Fresh, the mushrooms have a wonderfully earthy smell. Cooked in the oven with copious amounts of Cretan olive oil and fresh parsley, they have a nutty flavour and a meaty texture rather like aubergines. I never expected cat's noses to be quite so delicious...

Podcast : Focus on Festivals

Clinton Fearon and the Boogie Brown Band @ Festijam 2011

So here is the most recent of the podcasts of "Fréquence Luz in English", a round-up of the fantastic music and theatre festivals that took place in the surrounding area during July.

Just click on the title of the post above and you should be taken straight to the podcast on the Fréquence Luz website.

Happy listening and stay tuned for more podcasts by the pays tòy's very own 'Luz Woman'...

Quasimodo, Festival de Gavarnie 2011

ps: You'll notice that there should have been an interview with the saxophonist from the Boogie Brown Band as part of this podcast. Unbeknown to me, it unfortunately got erased whilst the show was put together...

Fréquence Luz

Fréquence Luz is the local radio station with the super marmotte logo, based up here in Luz St Sauveur.

It provides local sporting, tourist, cultural, enviromental and musical information to the inhabitants of the pays tòy and the other local valleys which make up the vallée des gaves. 

Over the summer months I've been offered a fantastic oppurtunity: to create weekly radio programmes in English for the local English speaking population. And who knows, if they go down well enough, they might even let me loose in French...

I'll be regulary posting links to the programmes as they come out here on the blog. Just click on the title of the page and you should be redirected to the podcast on the Fréquence Luz website. 

Happy listening!

The ones we love...

Pic de Viscos, June 2009

These words are written on a bench on a beach near Charmouth, in my native Dorset: 

"The ones we love never go away, they walk right beside us."