"La Culture Francaise"

We sampled a lot of different facets within 24 hours.


During the summer there has been an exhibition of paintings in Gourdon. The pictures were exhibited in the windows of the shops which lead up to the medieval quarter. John had seen one which he particularly liked and the next thing I know he has made an appointment to meet the artist at her studio. Her workshop turned out to be about 30 minutes east of Cahors (he thought it was just outside Gourdon - subtle difference), in the most archetypal quiet french village. She showed us round her studio and of course we bought the painting which John had seen - I like it too.



In the evening we went to a concert for voice and guitar in the next village. It was held in the church which I had been told was very old and spectacular - it was. The concert turned out to be a very professional duo; he played a ten string guitar and she was a mezzo - soprano (complete with long dress). The music was mostly 16th century and extremely well performed but the most amazing thing was that the church was packed. I estimated that there were in excess of 200 people there, of all ages as usual. St. Chamarand is very rural and less than half the size of our village but all these people came to a concert of very limited appeal.


As usual we went to the summer market in St. Germain this morning; we do so enjoy the feeling of belonging and chatting to the stall holders that we know.








Well low and behold there was a group playing (they were all about seventeen). It took me straight back to my youth and also to Guy's teen years. The singer looked exactly like Guy and the drummer reminded me of Paul Herring (Pat and Mel's son). The Mums and Dads were in tow and were busily wrapping the amps up in bin bags when it started to drizzle. Been there , done that!






On returning to our car we noticed that somebody had strewn a load of hedge trimmings down the street. What was going on here? We followed the greenery and discovered that it marked the route for the Bride and Groom to take from their civil ceremony in the Town Hall to the Church .

What a nice custom! And no one gets uptight about who will clean it all up or who gave you permission to do this? It's just `C'est la vie'.