Portes Ouvertes - Day Two

In my last blog I half jested that I hoped the troops weren’t using live bullets. Unfortunately yesterday someone made a terrible mistake with awful consequences

Portes Ouvertes

If you are into young men in uniform, you will enjoy the Open Days at the 3rd RPIMA Barracks this weekend. The event started with the signing of a twinning charter between the 3rd RPIMA and the town of Carcassonne. This was supposed to start at 11:00am, and in true military precision, it did, on the dot. The ceremonial ribbon was cut by the Maire, Gérard Larrat and Colonel Merveilleux du Vignaux,

After that, the soldiers gave demonstrations of battle techniques. The display began with the Haka which made the men look quite menacing.

Next was a “battle” between soldiers who had arrived in an armoured personnel carrier and an “enemy outpost”. Even though they were firing blanks (I hope) the noise of the gun fire was amazing and quite made the hairs on the back of the neck stand on end. They demonstrated how the soldiers dealt with the prisoners and any wounded soldiers.

The final display was how a team of soldiers approached a building which contained a man who was being held captive. The whole presentation was very well performed.

We walked around the barrack courtyard which had a wide range of military vehicles and equipment. It was possible to go up in a helicopter, have a parachute jump or even be driven around the town in an armoured vehicle. There was an opportunity to shoot at a firing range and there were lots of fun things for the children to do.

There were many other displays programmed for the afternoon and Sunday which also looked exciting.


It was a very interesting event.

Summer has started

For all of May and most of June, the weather has been awful. Finally on Wednesday the skies cleared to beautiful blue and summer started. Places and people take on a cheerier aspect and body language. Both the air and the pool have reached over 30 degrees and the forecast looks good for the next 10 days at least.

Richard has tried to continue with the painting but when it is this warm, either the paint or he is in the sun, and it not good for either. (We shouldn’t complain I suppose)

This morning we went to Carcassonne market and had a little more luck parking than last week. It was lovely walking round Place Carnot with all the stalls selling colourful fruit, vegetables and flowers. The smells from the herb and spice stalls were also quite intoxicating.

May the weather continue!

Sally's Visit

On Wednesday afternoon, I popped down to Carcassonne Airport to pick up our daughter, Sally, who was coming to stay with us for a few days. I went on my own as Richard was up to his elbows in paint. (He has begun to paint the outside of the house, a task which will be a bit like the Forth Bridge) Sally was a little disappointed that 4:30 was too early for a G. and T.! She would have to wait.

On Thursday, after the statutory paper and baguette buying, we had a coffee at our café in the village, meeting and greeting the regular customers. The afternoon was spent sitting by the pool, finishing the crossword and reading. At 23 degrees, the pool was still a little cool for Sally to test the water.

We decided that we needed to do a little exercise before dinner, so we drove to Villarzel du Razès, where there is a sanglier and deer reserve. It was amazing to see both the boar and the deer walking up to the fence to meet us. Photos had to be taken and sent to Duncan, Sally’s partner, who is serving in Afghanistan at the moment until October.

Friday’s forecast was good so we headed to Gruissan which is on the Med for a lovely lunch. Our intention was to spend the afternoon on the beach, but after being sand-blasted for a while, we decided to come home.

Saturday was another sunny day and as the pool reached 25 degrees, Sally went in the water the quick way.

On Sunday, there was another vide-grenier in the village, so before we set off to the airport, we walked around to see what was there. We resisted the 2 month old kitten which was being given away. We didn’t think that our 12 year old cat would be very impressed if we brought him home.

I hope that Matt Beake and Sally’s other colleagues, will still follow our adventures after she leaves the BBC on Friday. Good luck with the new job.

A Day of Two Halves

Apart from my birthday on Thursday, (when I had a lovely lunch at La Redorte on the Canal du Midi) we haven’t done a lot for the last few days, so when we noticed that one of our neighboring villages, Alairac, was holding their “fête de la chasse” on Sunday we decided to go. We had been to this fête in 2006, the first year we were here, and the weather then was amazingly hot. This year couldn’t have been more different. The sky was overcast and the temperature was more like a day in March, rather than June. We watched the local hunt, with a pack of hounds, playing a fanfare at the corners of the village. They all looked very smart in their black riding jackets and red waistcoats.

There were also cages around the village with packs of hunting dogs, such as bassets, and dachshunds. Some were lively little things, others were cowering in the corner, which we found rather saddening. I am not sure if it was the weather that had kept people away, but the fête was not as exciting or bustling as 2 years ago. We were quite disappointed.

In contrast, after lunch, we went to Caunes-Minervois, where there was a festival of sculpture and marble. The sun was out. The beautiful village was alive with visitors and there were numerous artists displaying their work. They had really brought the village to life. The artists were either out on the streets or had borrowed/ rented garages in the village. There was an incredible range of artwork. As there is a marble quarry nearby, marble was predominant theme, but there was a wide variety of other mediums. There were sculptors working in marble, iron, bronze, wood, glass, clay and paper.

Especially for Jan, a panda made out of wood

There were also mosaic workshops, plaster moldings, talc sculptures, marbled painting, marbled paper, marbling, forged iron and medieval arms. It was possible to visit the quarries by horse-drawn carriage, but we passed on that. There was a gourmand market, selling the usual local products. We had a lovely afternoon.

After watching England’s victory over New Zealand, it was quite scary to see this mask at Caunes. It reminded me of Ryan Sidebottom! (This will probably mean nothing to my French readers.)