The Beziers Blog

  Sunday 23rd November. A special day for me as it is my daughters birthday.  No I will not say how old she is suffice to say she is old enough to have produced 2 lovely sons. I know I am biased but they are great boys and I do miss them a lot. We miss all of the family but although we do not live near we are still close.

   Anyway a birthday near or far is a good reason to celebrate a little bit.  We celebrated by driving to St. Chinian. It was a bright and blustery day (there is that bear again) and the drive which is not far goes through some interesting little places.  After the village of Maureilhan, a small pretty place ,we arrived at Puisserguier. It did not look very interesting until we got out of the car and had  a walk around . We saw a 12th century castle and a Romanesque church. Maybe if it had not been sunday we would have browsed in the little shops. Continuing on our way we reached Cebazan. We felt impelled to take a photo of a painting on the side of a house. This lead to a debate, subject.  Was it a mural? or was it trompe l’oeil? After some discussion we decided in our opinion the large painting was a mural and the small one was more like trompe l’oeil. It was necessary to make haste so that we would arrive at St Chinian before the market closed.

   St Chinian is not a big town but it can get very busy. It is well known for the Cave des Vignerons which sells the A.O.C.  (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) wines gathered from the surrounding villages. There are many varieties of wine and I am sure that some of you reading this will have a far greater knowledge than I do. Suffice to say I know what I like.  When we did arrive at the market it was still in full flow and after wandering around we made a couple of purchases. Cheese, surprise surprise fancy buying cheese in France. Actually it was a surprise because one cheerful stall holder was selling cheddar cheese. Not the plastic wrapped variety but a whole truckle (why can’t I find that word in a dictionary?) he also had some Blue Stilton or as he said Stilton Bleu . He was fun to be with for a few minutes as he practised his language skills,  German with the lady at the front of the queue, Spanish with the next gentleman and then English with us. To coin a phrase “Didn’t he do well”. We also bought some hot chestnuts off another cheery chap  who was delighted when I asked permission to take his photo.

 By this time we had worked up an appetite for lunch so we looked around for somewhere to eat. We selected a bar restaurant called de la Paix. Not special, not expensive but warm and welcoming. Starters, main course and dessert all for 20 euros. Each plate had something to recommend it but I must admit my dessert of mint-choc chip icecream with creme de menthe could easily have pushed me over the drink drive limit. We naturally had to have wine with our meal and we chose a La Madura not one we had tried before but one we will have again if we see it.

      After the meal and a stroll with Peete it was time to return home,not because it was late but sometimes a “petit sieste” is definitely called for.

      What have we got planned? we don’t know. Whatever we do I will let you all know.  ttfn

As we had promised ourselves we visited Pezenas today. Saturdays are always market day there and the atmosphere is buzzing .It does not matter what time of the year it is there is something going on. Today there was a local band and many people stopped to listen to them. Those that did not actually stop certainly had a lighter spring in their step as they walked passed.

One of the shops that we like to visit while we are in Pezenas is the English Bookshop. The lady there is always welcoming and helpful. Books are not the only thing on sale in the shop she also gets shipped over from the U.K. some of the things that the ex-pats miss. It probably sounds pathetic when I tell you some of the things that I personally miss. Beef suet, mincemeat and Heinz tomato soup are the three things that I bought today, unfortunately the lady did not have any currants (damn). After visiting the bookshop we went to look for a teashop that we had heard about. We found it very easily about 5 minutes walk from the bookshop. What a lovely little place a proper little teashop with china tea services and china mugs filled to the brim with hot chocolate and whipped cream. They also sell some english produce and guess what?.Yes they had currants (I can make the xmas cake now)

Pezenas is not a big town but it is a mixture of old and new architecture. There are lots of snickety (Xandra word) little lanes, in the season these lanes are full of local craft shops and gift places in the winter some of the places close but it is still an interesting place to visit. The local Office de Tourisme offers a route map to be followed on foot and the map gives all the pertinent details of the buildings and their history. If anyone visits Pezenas it is a fun exercise to look for all the different door knockers. I do not think the ladies among you will object if your partners go looking for knockers.

Saturday is now at an end but maybe tomorrow we can explore somewhere else. Hope you enjoy the photos.

P.S Snickety a self explanatory family word.

Well the good intention’s continue. Although I am not sure where I am going with this particular post.

Like everywhere else in Europe the 11^th November is remembered with due reverence and respect. To be honest I think a little more respect than is shown in some other countries. It did seem strange to us though not to see any poppies on display. We know that this is a symbol adopted by the U.K. But some habits die hard. Maybe being brought up by an ex R.S.M. has something to do with it.

On a more cheerful subject Christmas is approaching fast. I know this because of the date not because of what I see when we go out. For instance we went shopping this morning into one of the big complexes “Auchan”. I had taken the camera with me to prove a point. Not a sign of the forthcoming season to be seen. I did hear a Christmas carol in one of the shops but that was it. I can imagine what it is like in the U.K. Where Christmas seems to be all around before the end of October. Next month I will enjoy showing you all how Beziers looks when the lights are turned on and the Christmas market stalls are opened. It really does seem right then that everybody is starting to celebrate.

In the meantime what do we do with ourselves? Geoff continues doing jobs around the house. Joy of joys at the moment he is replacing the guttering at the back of the house. I think he is praying that it does not rain before the job is done. He spent a pleasant hour (she says tongue in cheek )yesterday at Bricoman buying all the necessary pipes, brackets etc. I must admit to not having the patience to queue at the check out after selections are made. I think maybe that is one area in which the British stores are a little better, though I would not be surprised for some people to disagree with me. Me? Well I have made the Christmas puddings and attempted to make a cake. Not up to the required standard so we ate it. Why was it not good you may ask. Well I am having some difficulty finding currants and sultanas down here. I know they are there somewhere but they are being very evasive. If anybody reads this and lives in the Languedoc all help and advice gratefully received.

Our other time consuming passion is Peete. She is a mongrel that we adopted from the S.P.A. The french equivalent of the R.S.P.C.A.. She is lovely but very energetic and needs lots of long walks. What better excuse to skive off the housework by having to walk along the canal du Midi or around the chemin rural (country lanes.) On that pleasant note I will leave you for a while. On Saturday we are going to Pezenas, hopefully more to tell you all after that.

October gone, November half way through. They say time passes quickly when you get older but that is not really an excuse. So what have we been doing since mother left ? Well before she actually departed some friends from England called in for a cup of tea !!! That was on a Thursday they left on the Sunday. Well it took a long time for the kettle to boil. Whilst they were here we visited one of our favourite restaurants in Beziers called the Cep d’Or No, not the golden mushroom as we thought, but the golden grape. Presumably from the word cepage which is the grape harvest. Anyway back to the restaurant, it is small but the food is always (in our opinion )very good. It is in the centre of Beziers so involves a quite steep walk to get to it.

After the meal and ample glasses of wine the walk back down the hill is not only easy but good for the digestion. Of course during their stay a quantity of wine consumed at home slightly reduced supplies so a visit to St. Genies de Fontedit to replenish the stock was necessary. Reynardiere is the name of the cave that we visit normally so we took Nigel and Sue there. Good job they had a car because they would not have got their purchases back to the U.K on the plane. Can you blame them when they bought 10 litres of white and 10 litres of rose’ for about 35 euros. That works out at approximately GBP 1.40 a litre. Before they left they both said what a relaxing few days they had had and will hopefully return for a longer stay.

So the end of the visitor season (or is it ?) What did we do with our time? At the end of October there are many reasons for festivals of all sorts. One that we enjoy is the Fete de Noix or in english the nut festival.

 There are several but the one we went to this year was at St. Pons de Thomieres. It certainly attracts the crowds and the smell of roasting chestnuts fills the air. Many artisans take the opportunity to display and sell their wares. Homemade goodies, jams, cakes, sweets etc, as well as local cheeses and wines. Shame I was driving but I was assured the wines were nice ( thank you ) There was also an exhibition of patchwork, some of the designs were truly incredible. There was also the odd bear on display so my day was complete. After leaving St Pons we drove home via a place called Roquebrun. The evening sunshine enabled us to take some interesting photos. There is a mediterranean garden there but as yet we have not visited it but we have all the time in the world so that is on the to do list.

Well dear reader that brings us into November and I will endeavour to keep you informed in a more up to date manner.