December

December had us all running around buying gifts for our Secret Santa gifts, and I found the perfect gift for to give away, and after a little waxing, I wanted it. We had a mini Christmas bash at L'Abeille, before inviting everyone back the following night to complete the meal, as we were all at bursting point after the main meal. With only 15 killos as our hold luggage allowance on RyainAir, we did most of our shopping online at Amazon.co.uk. We were able to travel rather light to the UK, but only just managed to make it back, with all cases being overweight.

December has been mild here in Cruzy, so it was a bit of a shock to arrive in Liverpool to -4 degrees.

Christmas

Cruzy has been decorated and a lot of effort has gone into the decorations this year. The entire village has been adorned with small trees with boxes wrapped in colourful paper. The lights are up over Avenue de Narbonne and the villagers have lit up their homes with training lights, light droplets and of course, climbing Santas. They are everywhere and if last year is anything to go by, they will still be up at Easter.

9 Years

Alan and I celebrated 9 years together by spending a weekend in Montpellier, the closest "proper" city to Cruzy. It is a lovely place to visit and we were impressed. It is a little like Paris, but without the coach loads of tourists or the queues. They even had a GAP clothes store. No Starbucks, but we can live without them. We intended to visit art galleries, walk in the parks and enjoy the atmosphere. We walked passed all those attractions in favour of the old town and the lanes and lanes of shops. We felt spoilt for choice with boutiques and chocolatiers.

We tasted and purchased many fine foods (all chocolate based) and thanks to the 4th Annual Wine Fare, we spent our first evening drinking many locally produced wines. We paid 2 Euros for a glass and visited 40 wine producers, all keen to top up our glasses with their finest nectar. We then wandered the small lanes looking for a place to eat. There are so many little restaurants in the old town, which it took a while to settle on one.


On our second day in Montpellier, we had breakfast out in the open at this little snack stall. The coffee was amazing and the croissants were warm and tasty. So much so, that we had another to set us up for the day.

Bingo!

After months and months of wondering what our fellow Cruzy inhabitants did for entertainment we were invited to join in... BINGO!

Now we are not talking Mega Bingo or any of that corporate multi-million pound industry. We are referring to old fashioned fundraising bingo. Over 200 villagers, old and young, attend the regular bingo which aims to raise money for the local fire station, based out of the village and staffed by volunteers.

Most of the people in the village hall had their own bingo counters. These were little translucent coloured rings with a metal edge. The rings were placed over the appropriate number on the card when the number was called. At the end of the game, a large magnet is passed over the card, collecting up the rings. Those without rings used sweet-corn kernels. We fell into that camp until a fellow player shared her rings with 6 strangers.

We went to the bingo with some friends and we all thought we had grasped our numbers in French. Oh, how wrong we ALL were. Turns out the words we knew and use are incorrect. Yes, we are using the numbers as taught by Michelle Thomas and heard on the radio, but they are not correct... for this part of France. It will take days to talk though the differences so lets just end by saying that we laughed heartedly during each and every game - all 18 of them. Well, when I say 18, I mean 18 planned games. Out of our little party, we won 2 of the prizes. Alan won the 18th game - a voucher for the local butcher and 2 free pizzas, but one of our friends won a huge, and I mean HUGE, leg of dried ham. She donated the prize back to the event, and received not only the gratitude of the fire-service, but of the entire room. Shouts of cheers rang through the hall when a 19th game was announced.

We had three friends over from the UK and as two had visited Cruzy before and had seen most of the local sites, we drove to an absolutely lovely little costal town as recommended by one of the visitors. Collioure is apparently a city of painters with 30 art galleries, but it’s for the beauty of the town that people visit. It has a great history (read more at http://www.collioure.com/gb/index-gb.htm), with an impressive castle and church as well as small lanes in which to wonder around. We have heard that the town is very busy in the summer with cars queuing for hours for parking. We drove down into the town and parked along the seafront without any effort.

We were lucky enough to meet a couple with a little boy who own a holiday home here in Cruzy, so along with a group of other friends, we met in the local bar for a drink. It was the first time the staff had experienced such a busy bar before 9pm on a Saturday.

With the arrival of the new Johnny Deep movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, in the post, we invited four friends over to watch the film. To make the experience a little different, we decided it was to be watched dressed as pirates. The house was ransacked in search of treasure and curtains were removed from their poles to make sails. With the aid of a mini hacksaw and some nails we managed to cobble together a couple of swords. Our friends arrived in their gear, all with pencilled moustaches and pirate hats, one even arriving with a wooden leg. The food was all themed and the drinks flowed (does Coke Cola count?)What a shame the film was dreadful. It went on to two and a half hours, without plot and without us caring for the characters. At least we had fun calling out "shiver me timbers" and "Urg. That’s fine grub"

The internet

The internet is a great place to find yourself... other than Googling your own name - (63 for Kieran - but 3 are fake).

For an unedited view of life in Cruzy, visit our friends fab website by clicking on this link.

http://gabian-village.blogspot.com/2007/10/china-girl.html

John and Jean-Maurice run the most beautiful B&B here in the South of France. They have decorated their home with taste and without a hint of pretention. We really do recommend you pay them a visit if you are traveling around the South.

Keep in touch with their adventure by visiting Jean-Maurice's very own blog, but for more about their B&B or their design work, click on these links.

Jean-Maurice - http://gabian-village.blogspot.com/

The Village House B&B - http://www.thevillagehouse.info/cdh.html

Interior Design - http://www.thevillagehouse.info/aboutus.html

Outdoor Living

With the sun out and the open fire in need of wood, we joined a couple of friends in the village and went looking for old vines in the fields surounding the village. We picked up a bag of vines each and took them home. The following day, we needed to do the same thing. It turns out an evening of open fire burns though a great deal of wood, and with us enjoying our fire from around 5pm, it takes two bags to last until midnight.



After 5 days picking our way thought the vineyards, we picked up the phone and bought in a ton of wood. It took about 50 trips to get the logs from the back of the delivery van to the side path and then another 100 trips to transfer the logs into our little hut at the rear of the courtyard. The following day we both felt as though we'd been to the gym... who needs Holmes Place?




We were invited to take a little walk though the hills around St Chinian, which is just a 20 minute drive from Cruzy. We began by meeting a number of people at a small wine producer just outside St Chinian (wine available at Sainsbury’s) and we were guided up into the hills by the farmer’s wife.

She knew some lovely stories about the region and we could clearly see the Cathedral in Beziers (about 30 km away) and the sea behind it (about 40km away). One story was linked to the Caroux mountain which is said to have a woman lying on top, awaiting the return of her knight in shining armour who had travelled off of the Crusades (see above - her head is to the left).


The clouds darkened and threatened rain, but it held off. We walked on up to a small little church with was beautifully maintained. On and up, we walked chatting all the time to new people. Some had lived in France for years, others just 5 weeks. We were invited to a meal in exchange for setting up a computer to receive Terry Wogan (some argue we got the better deal).

On our way down, a woman from Belgium began to eat red berries from the trees. I was waiting for her to die… but thankfully it turns out these red berries were quiet harmless and rather tasty. They were Strawberry Tree Fruit. I’d never even heard of them and was most surprised at the fleshy innards (similar to ripe mango) but the seeds (on the outside) made the texture a little grainy (officially called Arbutus unedo).

Above is a photo of the Strawberry Tree blossom, which continues to grow even after the fruit has dropped from the tree.

3 hours later, we sat down for a meal provided by the vineyard. Each course come complete with two choices of wine, most of which were very easy to drink. At the end of the meal, chestnuts were served roasted from an outdoor fire. We returned to cruzy, Alan to work and Kieran for a 3 hour snooze.

October Roundup

October is here and the vines have all been stripped of their grapes and the colours of the fields around Cruzy have changed from the green spectrum to the warmer colours. The photo of the road to Cruzy above gives you a taste of the changing landscape.

We have had a busy month much to our surprise. France has come alive with the Rugby World Cup and the Bar in Cruzy opened just in time. The bar was absolutely packed each night and it was only after the South Africans had returned home did we actually pop in for a drink. And what a drink. We tasted the first wine from this years harvest. We were drawn to it and have managed to drink samples from 3 local vineyards (sample = bottle) and have stocked up our fridge.

We have been driving around in our Renault Megane Scenic for 9 months trouble free, but alas the honeymoon is over. The thing began to play up, normally at roundabouts or when pulling out in front of juggernauts. So, a trip to Renault Minute (a sort of Halfords but just for Renaults) and they said it would cost us 1100 Euros to have the car fixed. We were rather surprised at the amount, but thanks to a friend in the village who has her car fixed locally, we visited a small independent mechanic in the next village. It cost 54 Euros to have the car fixed, a nice saving of 1046 Euros. Of course, Kieran is still shopping for a new car…

We had two little visitors this month. One very welcome and one not so welcome. We loved having our larger picture frames on the floor until we had a young lad visit and we realised that our home was not as child friendly as we had first thought. So, the pictures are now in search of a new home, probably a wall.

Our second visitor was with us for 4 days and he managed to eat many of our treats. Not only did he eat 3 Flakes, specially delivered from Bristol, but he chomped though 5 chocolate biscuits. See the photo above for the evidence.

In January we had the chimney sweep come and clean our chimney in the kitchen. In France, you need to have a certificate to prove that your chimney has been cleaned or insurance companies will not pay up if your house burns to the ground as a result of a chimney fire. So, 9 months later, we installed a wood burner. The fires burn hot and the smell is lovely. Kieran now takes a stroll though the vineyards collecting wood each day. He fills a large Ikea blue bag (yes, they are the same the world over) each day, and Alan burns every single one each night. We have decided to ship in a ton of logs.

Cruzy was awakened from hits slumber when a Peugeot 307 turned up with four very loud visitors from Bristol. They had arrived from Toulouse with bags and bags of gifts, so were welcomed with open arms.

It was great for us to be able to sit down and drink coffee while waiting for our visitors to arrive rather than collecting them from an airport. Well, that’s Kieran’s story. Alan would say it gave us more time to run around clearing up and preparing the first meal.

With a mini agenda, it was a welcome aperitif and meal prepared by Alan followed by an introduction to the wines of the region. The fist day was a misguided at times trip into the hills around Cruzy, ending with a trip to the supermarket for more wine and cheese.

The need for more wine was a direct result of the crew watching a couple walking along the edge of a cliff with their young child. None were tethered and at times, it looked like the adventure would end in disaster. At one point, the Father had to crouch down to scuttle under an overhanging rock, leaving his child and wife to do the same, unaided. We were all a little traumatised afterwards.



With Millau hot on the hit list, we left early one morning and heading inland and out or the Languedoc. We drove for just short of 2 hours to see the Millau Bridge. This bridge is now a major tourist attraction and it is easy to see why. We had some lovely views on the way up, but the Bridge was just spectacular. There are 100s of good spots to take photos, so we chose many of them. We took photos from the bridge itself, from a distance and from underneath.

Millau itself was a nice place to visit too. We arrived just as the weekly market was packing up, but we got a sense of the place and the atmosphere. A tricky moment came when Kieran had to pee in front of 4 women who were queuing behind the outdoor urinal for the cubicle. Worst of all, he knew two of them by name. But, when a boys go to go, he’s got to go, all helped when a French woman promised not to look and turned to face the wall… if only they could have put their fingers in their ears too.

New visitor, old places, new sites.

With Alan working most of the time in the home office it was up to Kieran to play guide for our visitor who arrived from the UK via EuroStar and TGV.

We visited many of the same places as listed before, but this time instead of driving through villages, we stopped. At one point, instead of just driving over a bridged ravine, we parked up and clambered down the cliff to the water. It must be one of the most beautiful places in the area. Just the sound of the odd car passing over the bridge and the sounds of nature, until a cicada landed on Kieran, he screamed and jumped frantically.

A trip to Pezenas found our visitor falling in love with the old town. We wondered the lanes, taking routes unseen before and stopping for tea and cake in a lovely t-shop. The tip continued with a visit to Sete, and we did not find any of the “great shopping” we’d been lead to believe existed, but we ate a croissant with both pistachio and chocolate centre. We both fell for the charms of an old Renault 4 parked along side the harbour.

With the weather so nice, we spend a day at the beach, and Alan joined too. After a few hours sunning our bodies, we wondered around the town with our extra large ice-cream cones.


As our visitor was an early rise and often completed a morning run before we’d even opened an eye, Alan often joined her for a bike ride too, allowing Kieran to wake at his gentle pace.

Harvest

Cruzy is very quiet at night. You hardly hear a sound. At 6am, it all changes. The harvest has begun in earnest and the tractors in the village all start up and thunder through the village at 6am, shortly followed by mini-vans, pickups and mopeds taking the fruit pickers to the fields.

Alan's relatives arrived from the UK and we collected them bright and early from Carcassonne. Instead of taking them directly to Cruzy, we stopped in the walled city for breakfast, followed by a drive in the countryside and a visit to Minerve. They arrived in Cruzy, 6 hours after arriving in Carcassonne.

The week was spent visiting some of our favourite locations, but each time we did something slightly different. We ate in restaurants we have never visited before, and took scenic routes new to us.

The last 6 weeks have been busy for the region, with thousands of tourists on the roads and beaches. Most went home at the weekend, leaving the beaches and roads to us. We stopped at a few beaches and could not get over how quiet they were with the sun beating down on golden sands. At one beach, we were just yards away from neighbours in Cruzy, but we did not see them... we were in our own little world of sun sea and sand.

A trip to Sete followed and the views from Mount St. Clare were fantastic, once we moved away from the viewing platform. Since the platform was built the trees have grown considerably and the view has been lost. A short walk down into the forest reveals the true views of the ocean, mountains and lakes.

We went to the local wine maker in the village, the home of Chateau Cruzy. We all arrived at the busiest time for the producer in the entire year, when all the local vine growers were backing up into the courtyard with about 2.5 tones of grapes each for squishing. The owner was not fazed and showed us around the production plant, allowing us to taste the freshly squeezed grape juice, which we all would have bought litters of were it on sale. In the end, we bought 5 liters of the 2005 red, pumped directly from a large wine vat into our plastic bottle, and walked away with 4 bottles that were ladled up for distribution to the local hotels.

After getting the bug, we drove up into the hills to St Jean de Minervois for a similar experience but instead of wine, we were after the aperitif, Muscat. We could easily become experts at wine tasting… we just need an allocated driver.