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.

Bastille Day and Capestang - Tour De France

In France, it is called Fête Nationale ("National Celebration") or more often, “Quatorze Juillet” - 14 July; we called it Bastille Day and we chose to celebrate the day by driving all over the country trying to find someone celebrating the day… We were 4 hours too early in Capestang, so drove on, only to be too early at every village until we reached the sea. So, we sat down to enjoy the seaside and eat. We began with ice-cream before sitting down at a curb side restaurant. There were very few people sitting down so wandered for a couple of minutes before deciding to sit down. When we returned, the place was packed and we were lucky to be seated. People who followed were turned away. It took 3 hours to enjoy our meal before making our way back to Capestang for a planned firework spectacular. We got as far a Narbonne, and watched their display from the outskirts of the shopping centre. We then mad it to Capestang for midnight and spent a few hours watching a troop of singers attempting to sing every song ever written in the last 50 years. Sometimes we would get 30 seconds of the tune before they changed outfits and began the next snipet. 2 hours later our beds called out and off we went. It was relief as in the background local children were treating the old folk of the village to a barrage of firecrackers and fireworks.

The Tour De France came past again this year, so off to Narbonne to mingle with the cyclists on Thursday before getting up, making a picnic and settling in for the long wait along the route. This year we stood along the canal in Capestang. It was good spot to see the cyclists, but a dreadful spot for freebies. Far too many tourists with faster feet to and no manners all pouncing for plastic key-rings, cotton hats, newspapers and of course, washing powder samples. We walked away with a cardboard megaphone (roled up piece of card) and a daily paper.

Shortly after the freebie parade the cyclists arrived and this year, as we were on a bend at the top of a hill, the bikes were easy to see. Last year we blinked and they were gone.

Here they come

Swoosh

Shwoosh Shwoosh

Swoosh - Smile for the camera

The Summer Arrives

For one day in June all of France comes together to celebrate music. It does not matter what the music is or where it’s played. This year Alan participated in the Fete de la Musique by playing his violin to a packed room in Capestang. The temperature was in the 40s so after Alan’s performance many of the Cruzyites went into Beziers to experience the atmosphere. There was a heavy punk band on the main stage, flamenco dancers wandering around, a lovely stage with gospel music and a very busy square converted into a nightclub complete with laser light show and thumping music.

With the sun and weather, came the gardening. We have worked very hard this year not to let our plants die. The sunflowers died the day the sun came out, but the twig that was a rose from last year came to life and produced the most dainty of flowers.

Last year’s strawberries are still producing fruit and for the first time, we have tomatoes. They are sweet and taste delicious. Our friends on the far side of Cruzy have a great selection of fruit trees in their garden and this year offered us a few kilos of apricots. We set to work making some jam. 4 kg of sugar, 4 kg of apricots, 1 vanilla pod and 1 pint of water later, we were the proud producers of 6 jars of apricot jam. Yes. It’s the best jam we have ever tasted and we are down to 1 jar.

Last week the local choir here in the village performed in the village hall. Everyone was dressed in white and we settled down for a night of entertainment. Two minutes into the first song, the power went on the electric piano. It was not a power outage which is all too common here, but the work of a saboteur: a 2 year old had found the extension lead to the piano, followed it to the wall, and flipped the switch.

With the sun came the opportunity to head to the beach. Out came the new beach towels, new parasol, new ice box, last year’s mats and rugs and a host of books, magazines, iPods and fresh sandwiches and drinks. The first day we lasted 1 hour, the 2nd we forgot the food (left by the front door) and the 3rd the sea was so rough we dare not swim. So, off to the river with friends celebrating birthdays. Now that’s the place to swim. White water rapids, whirl-pools and water snakes. We had a blast, and came home red raw and covered in bruises. We can’t wait to go again.

An now, to introduce the newest member of the L'Abeille household. Our washing machine. Yes, its been 19 months in launderettes and now we have our own little washer. It's the hardest working member of the team and has managed 15 washes in 5 days. It get's thursdays off.

Cruzy hits the headlines again

On Monday 16th June at 4am, someone decided to throw two Molotov Cocktails into our little village bar.

http://www.midilibre.com/articles/2008/06/18/20080618-BEZIERS-FAITS-DIVERS-Cruzy-Le-bar-des-2-mondes-incendie-a-l-39-aide-de-deux-cocktail.php5

Thankfully the fire alarm sounded and the lad running the place woke up and managed to put the fires out before they spread. Apparently had the flames reached the plastic ceiling the entire place, would have gone up in smoke in minutes.The guy running the bar said in the local paper that he could not think of any reason for such an attack. Well, we who gossip have come up with lots of reasons... not justified, but it helps pass the time. Disgruntled customer? Jealous competitor? The little old lady who is fed up of losing her husband to the bar each night? The list goes on, send your suggestions on a postcard!Customers are not really a problem for bars in Summer as the villages are all full, but in Winter finding customers is a little more difficult. Why anyone finds it difficult I can not imagine. I'd rather be in a nice warm bar than sitting in an old house without central heating any day!

Moving on to brighter news, Alan is playing in a concert in Capestang this weekend as part of the Fete de Music, which is a national event. Many towns and villages open their doors to musicians and we believe all the events are free. He asks that we all keep our fingers crossed for him as this is his first solo performance since he was 17 years old… and that was quite some time ago.

http://www.ville-capestang.fr/siteville-capestang.fr/fetemusique.htm

May visits

great deal happended in May.
L'Abeille was full of life as we had friends visiting almost every day during the month. We did get out and about a great deal and even managed a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, Avignon, Montpellier, Carcassonne, Perpignan and Auch.

Mid way though the month, the 61st Cannes Film Festival began. We love this annual event and this year was Alan's first as a delegate. We managed to see 3 screenings of films due out later in the year. Each screening was at 08:30 am, so we did not sleep in during the festival. We watched a lot of short films in the Short Film Corner and got to chat to some very intresting and committed film makers. Our only celebrity spot came when having a champaign cocktail in the Carlton Hotel on the seafront - It was Mr Spike Lee. Turns out he was in town to condem many of the film producers he deamed unworthy for some reason or another. We did get into an evening Premier Screening of a film and saw Tommy Hilfiger a few rows behind. We had no idea who the other "celebs" were.

Cannes was a little wet with the rain falling all through the festival. After days inside, often after watching an 8:30am screening of a film, we skipped town and visited Grasse. Its miles and miles up into the hills but well worth the trip. It’s the home to the French perfume industry and a place we’d love to visit again. The station is some distance from the centre of town, and all of it uphill. A sign warns those choosing to walk that there are 280 steps to the town. They forget to mention the steep pavements and hazarders roads you need to navigate. Coming down is a delight.
http://www.grasse.fr/

We enjoyed the Popes Palace in Avignon with its private guided audio tour headsets, then on to the Pont d'Avignon where we danced and sang the old song - Sur le pont d’Avignon… well, we sang the bit we knew.
http://www.palais-des-papes.com/

A trip to the Pont D’Gare followed. What a lovely site to just sit and have a picnic. We enjoyed watching the bathers in the freezing water swimming by the sign that expressly forbid any swimming and we stared in wonder at the people who keep standing under an olive tree. We later found out the tree was centuries old.
http://www.pontdugard.fr/

Closer to home we visited the Abbie de Fontfoid. In small numbers, and in French, a man guided a small party of 7 tourists (we made up 4) around the Abbie. More and more of the Abbie is being closed to the public in favour of conference space or “private” functions, but the church itself is lovely. The white wine turned out to be lovely too.
http://www.fontfroide.com/

A lovely trip to meet friends just north of Toulouse ment we could visit Auch. Another large cathederal, and another roundabout where those cars wanting to join, have priority over those already on the roundabout. ITS MAD!!!
http://www.auch-tourisme.com/uk/index.asp

Cruzy makes the papers

This week the papers and radio stations have been talking about our dear little village (it may be on TV too, but we do not have one).

On Sunday, a cycilist riding through the hills around Cruzy found a body at the side of the road. It was the body of a woman who was reported missing back in April. Two men, one from Toulouse and another from Beziers have been arrested for her murder. Her husband was found on Tuesday.We believe the men told the Police the location of his body. We believed the Police were searching between Cruzy and Villespassans
close to where the woman was found, but the papers showed photos of the site which is close to The Terminus restaurant on route to Quarante.

According to the local paper, the villagers are not talking about the murders. How very wrong they are. It’s the only news being discussed.

The couple recently moved to Argeliers, not too far from Cruzy. The two men were builders who had worked on their home. The papers have begun to call the men labourers to try and distance the local builders from these two men. Apparently the men were attracted to items in the home. They had been using the couple's bank card to withdraw cash. All the latest news can be found at the Midi Libre site - http://www.midilibre.com/articles/2008/05/05/20080505-FAIT-DU-JOUR-Le-corps-du-mari-retrouve-a-Cruzy.php5

In a largely crime-free rural area, this news has hit hard; all we were aware of before this was a story of missing flowerpots...

Beziers Airport

At the beginning of May, a new route for Ryanair began between Bristol and Beziers.

The airport has a new terminal (a step up from a shed) and an array of new staff. Upon arrival, you are welcomed to Beziers by staff who smile. I am sure it will fade over time, but it is currently a nice alternative to the sombre faces of those at Carcassonne or Montpellier.

The transport links are still in their infancy. A bus is there waiting for new arrivals as are a host of small taxis, but with only one member of staff, the queue to collect cars was rather long. Outside of Ryanair flight times, there are not busses or taxis, and no sign of the Hertz staff.

Coffee is rather tasty at the café, again only open for flights, and only staffed by one person, but for 2.50 Euros, you get a nice big cup of Café Crème.


Leaving Beziers is rather a pleasure than a chore as with Carcassonne or Perpignan. The staff smile when offering up passports and the staff even step out to watch you depart. Well, they did for the 3rd flight. As with the other airports, there is no duty free, or even café, but just a machine for water and sweets. Ryanair continue to bellow adverts and marketing at you throughout the flight, but for only 9 Euros for a flight to Bristol including Taxes, it can’t be beaten.

The views of the area are breathtaking from the air. Below are a couple of snaps. One of Beziers, with the bull ring clearly visible and another

of the bridge over the river at Roquebrun.


Apparently flights between Beziers and Standstead are due to start in July.
http://www.ryanair.com/

Spring and official mug shots

The sun is out and spring is clearly springing out all over Cruzy. The bland cement pots on the bridge are full of the colours of the season. The new cement paving over the bridge is big improvement over the loose stones which have been negotiating each day on route to the boulangerie. Along with the new flowers this spring, comes the new candidates for the local mayoral elections all over France.

To ensure true equality during the elections each party is allocated exactly the same amount of billboard space, alas, those in power have an A3 printer, and those seeking the keys to the office... do not. Those in power used their passport photos for their publicity and manage to look like mug shots rather than people viying for power, with the other side opting for a "family shot".

The old gard are predominantly vineyard owners and those knocking at the door have mixed backgrounds. Word on the street is that the old guard may win the day as many of the manifesto pledges of the other side have already been implemented, if not yet delivered, by the current administrators. The networking and campaigning has been rather gentle with most activity taking place at the village bingo or at the local bar.

On Sunday the 9th and all will be revealed.

Spring

Spring is in the air and the flowers are beginning to show off.

We uprooted a number of plants over the summer and dumped them into our composter, thinking they would breakdown and disappear. How wrong we were. Our compost pile is the best part of the garden with hyacinths and daffodils shooting out all over the place. You can hardly spot the rotting cabbage or old tea leaves.

The fields of vineyards are full of colour too, but none of it from the vines. The fields are full of white flowers, we have no idea if they are weeds or planted to help the vines. The fields look like they are covered in snow from a distance as the flowers are everywhere. Its all rather pretty.

With some friends, we walked along the Canal Du Midi to a point where the canal floats over a river - its very cleaver engineering. We took our camera and managed to capture 20 images, mainly of ducks on the canal, all looking to be fed.

The courtyard got is spring clean, with Alan shooting up the trees like Tarzan to crop of branches to allow the light to bounce around the yard. We were a little more server that we intended to be, but we get to see a great deal more sky as a result.

With two friends over from London, we had an excuse to visit Montpellier again and for the first time, visited the little village of Lagrasse.
http://www.le-guide.com/lagrasse/index.html
The road from Carcassonne to Lagrasse was very picturesque and it is a rather nice little village, which is popular in the summer. Our friends kept asking us where all the people were. It was half term here in France, but not a sign of a tourist... just us.

With all the restaurants and shops closed in February, we had to make our own entertainment. This month we met a lot of new people living it the area, and we intend to take them all up on their invitations to drop in as we pass through their villages.

For Sale

Well, with a few properties now on the market, I thought I'd share them.

This property has been on the market for over 6 months now, and the price of 150,000 Euros has been reduced. The house has a traditional layout with 2 rooms and a kitchen on the ground floor, and the 3 bedrooms. Up in the attic is a room, big enough for a bean bag.
This house has a good size garage with a large room above (yet open to the elements) and a courtyard. Both are separate from the house, but every close, being just the other side of the neighbouring property.

http://www.seloger.com/292167/29982951/detail.htm

We saw the following property when we were house hunting and the current owners have done wonders with the house. It is a large property on the main road out of Cruzy our route to Beziers. They have created a very contempary living space, creating a large open plan kitchen / living space by removing 2 of the former bedrooms, refurb the remaining 2 rooms to a high standard. The courtyard is a great space to host lunches and the views have to be the best in the village, with clear views of the mountains, and with vine-yards in every direction beginning at the boundary walls.

http://www.seloger.com/detail.htm?ci=340092&euro=1&idtt=2&referid=1&IMMOBW_ANN_QRYpg=20