Changing Hemispheres (12)
Part Five of Moving Over and In A Segue to Spain, autumn, hunters and closure I’ve just realised a couple of things that have somehow gone unmentioned in all this long tale. One is that I joined a choir shortly after arriving. Many of the villages have choirs, as they have walking groups, dance classes, exercise groups for the elderly… They tend to be subsidised locally, so those taking part pay not very much for their regular community involvement. The second is that summer sees a number of choral events featuring choirs from England or around Europe, brought out I’m not sure how by those who run the Maison Verte, which is a centre in Roujan run by English people. Astonishing concerts, held in the local and other churches, are held through summer, for which you may pay a small donation on your way out. In late September, there is much busyness over a couple of days as all the buildings and gardens that were closed to the public most of the year are suddenly open for a brief viewing. Time to beg for information (in this case, there was a woman from the Mairie of E at my local café/restaurant) and hurtle off around the countryside. At last I got to see our local Romanesque Church, which has a great curved entranceway and massive stone walls, but needs so much work it is unsafe and is therefore unused most of the time. We then rocketed off to see the Romanesque (with Tuscan influences) tower in Puissalicon. There was a local historian giving the background to this – we gathered from him and photographs that this was what was left of an ancient church, and incorporated stone portraiture of some souls who had been involved in its building some time ago. Also, it so impressed an American in the 80s that, when he couldn’t actually buy the Puissalicon tower and take it away, he had a bigger and better one built back home. You’d guessed that, of course. Around about then, my friend Jo travelled to Europe from Australia. We’d decided that it would probably be easier and possibly cheaper in general for her to fly to Barcelona, where we could spend a couple of days together in exploration and then catch the train for the two hours to Béziers. And that kind of thing is a large part of my reason for moving to France. Anyway, the adventure in Barcelona was organised and added to with a visit beforehand to the holiday house my cousins have in Spain, in the extremely hilly