14th Century Alan

Alan joined many many people this weekend to celebrate the arrival of the bishop… back in the 14th Century.

Off they go to pay their tunes, again, and again.

He enjoyed wearing his outfit and was keen to come home for a rest. He had been wearing the outfit and playing around the village for 8 hours.

Once home, there was no rest. Out came the DIY tools and off came the plaster.

Continuing the theme of taking photos of anything that names Cruzy, here is a snap of an old mile stone on the road between Capestang and Quarante. 

With the summer came the cars and the traffic jams. July and August were very busy for Cruzy with many homes occupied since last August. It was amazing to see homes opened up that we thought were either derelict or were empty. It did mean that parking was a limited and many cars could be found double parked, or even parked on bends or on white lines. No one complained but it did make turning out of small side roads a little difficult.

After all the tourists came the grape harvest. So, rather than traffic jams due to visitors to the region, we go traffic jams built up behind tractors either to too the vineyards or back. Traveling too the vinyards they bomb along at a steady 25km per hour. On the way back, laden with grapes, its more like 15km per hour. The danger is not in overtaking the tractor from behind, its the chap overtaking a tractor from the other direction. Often people maintain their 100km per hour speed and have to pull out into oncoming traffic.

It is also harvest time for olives and  we popped along to Cabezac where we watched baskets full of olives being delivered. They arrived on the back of trailers, in the back of vans, but mainly, in the back of old beaten up Renault 5s or old Peugot 205s.  Olive Pressing

We were both keen to participate in this years grape harvest. We have heard that it is hard work but we are broke and thought the cash was more important. One of our friends in the village gave us the details of a local grower who was looking for help. Alas, by time we contacted him, he had enough workers and we were left to watch them in the fields.

The Summer Condensed.

We spend many days on the beaches this year with visiting friends. Mid August the beaches were rammed, but we still managed to find a spot, often near the lapping waves.  This often meant we  were prime targets for the donut or peanut sellers. We eventually learnt to be lost in a book or listening to our iPods to ensure we did not make eye contact.

St Chinian held is annual wine festival which was well attended and ran thougout the day. People arrived around lunchtime and many were staggering around by 4pm and some, as in the snap above, gave up and fell asleep.

We managed to find nice new wine (to us anyway) and were pleased to discover that it was made in Cruzy. This means we can continue our commitment to buy and drink locally produced wines. Now if only they were diversify and start producing grape juice, coffee, and Coke.

With the Bezier Feria came the bulls, the steak and the dancing. We spent a few nights enjoying the activities and listening to music. This year we managed to buy a poster for the event which were all sold out within the first day of the Feria last year.

  As a substitute for missing the bulls charging at men in pink outfits, we spent a bit of time at the Flamenco. Live music and talented dancers helped make for an enjoyable evening (although 3 Euros for a Coke was rather steep).

This years fete also included a rather nice second hand market. This year, unlike last year, we were treated to a display by the museum in Cruzy. One of the best finds was a folder full of old photographs of the village over the last century. We purchased copies of 5 photos, two of which our house can be clearly seen. Anyone who has a home in or around the village square would find far more photos in the folders. We even purchased a copy of an old advert showing a woman drinking Cruzy Water which used to be bottled and sold. Read our older postings to find out more.

This years Cruzy Fete was very popular. The first night we were re-introduced to Mission. A great little group who sang live with a nice troop of dancing girls, who were made very welcome when sliding up and down their dance poles.

The following night we caught up with Mercury who were more of a rock band with the odd costume change but managed to keep the dance floor beating.

The Sunday night entertainment managed to clear the ground by 11pm. Turns out 2 accordions and a vocalist are no match for dancing girls.

We met a lot of new people this year, many with holiday homes in or close to the village. We look forward to meeting many of them again and thanks to the wonders of email and FaceBook we can keep in touch.