To bourée or not to bourée?

To bourée or not to bourée?
For us there was no question.

Getting involved with traditional music and dancing was a vital part of our lifestyle here and we were lucky to find a nearby dance association running a course over the winter months . ( see blog 30/11/10 We have cracked the mazurka!). Not only were we able to learn some French traditional dances and meet lots of French people we had lots of "bals" to go to over the winter months. Recently the tutor at these classes has introduced us to another class she runs in her own village. This is, as she says, " des kilometres" away, but is brilliant as there are musicians there who welcome TC and he has been able to join in when they are playing as well as dancing. He has met up with a fiddle player in Albi who also has time to play ( ie is retired from the wage game) and on Friday was back on stage playing bourées while I looked for another partner to dance with!


After my retirement I had fancied the idea of calling at celidhs ( maybe a way of not getting left behind every weekend when the band was playing?) . Little did I know that my first try would be calling a " strip the willow" dance in French. Three out of four sets managed which did not seem too bad ( I have seen some disasters at English celidhs!) and everyone seemed to have fun.

So as Spring arrives in all its glory - are we glad we moved here ?

silly question - vive la bourée!

March winds

The south of France is often blown by winds with delightful names. Everyone has heard of the Mistral of Provence. The Languedoc France has the Cers, Tramontane, Maron, Sirocco and the one which reaches as far as us, the Autan. IT BLOWS! Described as a warm wind it doesn't really chill but it does batter the brains. ( I do remember how a windy playtime always spelt trouble on the playground - I think I know why now!).

On Saturday it was carrying rain and we had a rare day sheltering indoors all day. It made us reflect on the wage slave days when a wet weekend meant so much in terms of frustrated plans. For us it meant a day getting lots of little left over jobs done indoors before a nice meal and a bottle of wine ( yes we do drink wine on other days but usually it comes out of the box). I had thought I'd get some reading done but once again no time!


There was a lull yesterday but today it was back , this time dry but very gusty. The meteo gave the wind speed as 35kph with gusts of 65. Not really the day for erecting fences then but when did the weather ever stop us?




before