I've threatened it before, but this time it's true. I've got fond of this TravelBlog site, but it no longer really reflects what I do.... journeys all the way to the veg. patch or Lavelanet market don't really count as Travel with a big T, I don't think. So I've started a blog in Wordpress, called Life in Laroque. Try www.margaret21.wordpress.com if you'd like to have a look. It would be good to hear from you there. [View Full Entry]

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Over the course of just 4 days, our glorious Indian Summer has been replaced by the onset of winter. The afternoon temperature in our courtyard has dropped by an astonishing 30 degrees Celsius. Last week’s strappy tops and shorts have been banished in favour of fleeces, trousers and especially socks. The haricot beans, peppers and tomatoes of late summer are losing place on the market stalls to celeriac, knobbly carrots, cabbages and chestnuts. Summer lettuce is giving way to rocket, black radish and the tiny soft leaves of lamb’s lettuce. The pleasure of the fierce afternoon s [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, the Inspecteur de l’Académie based at Foix agreed to meet a delegation from Laroque today. Francis, one of the two councillors who’s been most involved; 2 parent reps, the dynamic Fatima and Fabiènne; and finally the Mayor, were the ones to go. Could the school have an extra teacher (not to disrupt the class formations again, but to offer supplementary teaching), and what about becoming a ZEP (Zone d’Education Prioritaire)? The troops were called out once again. No, we couldn’t go in to meet the Inspector, but we could be outside to offer solid suppor [View Full Entry]

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…..otherwise known as Bagnères-de-Luchon, Harrogate’s twin town. We went there this weekend for a change of air, to see Big Mountain scenery, and to make an escape into Spain for hooch for Christmas cooking. It’s a fair twinning. Both towns match each other in living up to the cliché - plenty of genteel elderly ladies in straitened or not so straitened circumstances. Both towns also don’t live up to the cliché - there are lots of perfectly regular people-next-door types. Both towns too have housing stock and council tax levels that prevent the young and less we [View Full Entry]

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We went to see our friends the donkeys today to collect some of their well-rotted manure. But it's hard to concentrate in the job in hand when........ [View Full Entry]

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The Cathars are - were - a Christian sect flourishing particularly from the 11th - 13th centuries, particularly in this part of the world. They were dualistic, believing there was a God of Good, and a God of Evil, and they lived simply, abjuring the temporal power that was such a feature of the Catholic church of the time. The Catholics hated this heretical sect and called for a crusade against them. All this happened 800 years ago, and the bloody events of the Albigensian crusade are being commemorated this year in the Pyrénées Cathares. We’ve been on walks, talks, all [View Full Entry]

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Laroque and its Primary School, Elisée Maury, have hit the headlines. And not just here. Just look at today’s Guardian. Not a week into the new term, and a newly appointed teacher has been ordered to quit her post here. Not sacked, but transferred to a school nearly 2 hours drive away. Why? 50 children were expected to return to school at the beginning of term. In the event, 47 turned up. The parents of the others had apparently found jobs elsewhere and moved away during the summer. Without those three extra children, the school’s not entitled to three teachers. Teachers [View Full Entry]

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Blackberrying. One of my favourite late summer activities in England. I relish the cut and thrust of getting to those favourite spots before all the other old biddies (young biddies don’t do it, apparently), the smell of damp earth and decaying vegetation and the gently warming heat that always seems to greet the start of the Autumn term. Up until now, I haven’t done it in France in a sustained way. But today, I went off with two French friends and a new acquaintance, each of us armed with buckets and sticks. We were serious. So was the heat. It was [View Full Entry]

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We’ve just had 2 weeks of Guests. One of the main pleasures of Guests (especially if one of them is an old friend not seen in ages, and the other Daughter Number 2), is the opportunity it gives to see the region we’ve chosen as home anew, through fresh eyes. Though funnily enough, Guests also unleash the possibility of unbridled greed. Because of them, we spend longer at markets, discussing whether to buy our usual favourite piquant olives, or those dressed in lemon and basil, or those big ones over there, rich in garlic. (Answer: buy the lot). We hover round [View Full Entry]

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We’ve just made a big decision. To move. Those of you who’ve followed the saga of the major kitchen renovations, the painting, the new bathroom(s) and all the work in the courtyard, to name but a few, probably think we’re mad. If you’ve visited us here, you may understand better. The place is simply very big for two people, even 2 people who very much enjoy having visitors. And yet….. I love the place. It’s no idyll, being in the middle of a faded small town long past the glory days when textiles brought industry and prosperity to the area. Who [View Full Entry]

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