a universal language

Another milestone this week - two years since we moved into Ségala - and what a wonderful two years it has been. In some ways it seems much longer as we feel so much at home here and in other ways the time is just flying by (hence no blog since April!).

We had a really busy summer with visitors arriving constantly as the previous ones left. It's great having visitors, we love seeing people and sharing this fabulous corner of France with them but it does cause a significant problem - my French speaking and listening skills went into dormant mode! After they all left and the rentrée commenced  I felt I had taken more than several steps back when I started to try my French conversation skills again with our French friends at our dance workshops.

Although we do know some other English people in the area most of our socialising is with French speaking people who we have met through our interest in traditional music and dancing. I have TC to thank  as his musicianship ( he is an accomplished concertina, guitar, piano player) has opened doors to some superb soirees and fun occasions throughout the year with people of all ages and backgrounds sharing common interests.  TC has also enjoyed the challenge of learning a new instrument the diatonic accordion ( melodeon to us English) which he is now confident to play in public! Last week we went to lunch at the Auberge Lou Bourdie and how thrilled was he when Monique invited him personally to play at the vin nouveau soiree again!

Luckily our French friends are very patient with me as I massacre their language and hopefully over the coming months I will make some progress again - in the meantime at least we can play music and/or dance - a universal language.

April - end of year bal for los dancaires

First time out for the accordion

Bals sous les Halles was a brilliant series of outdoor traditional dances in various villages with market "halles" over the summer

Les musicians de Salles à Milhars

The musicians were pleased to be asked back Le Troubadour for the annual occitan festival in Laguepie

The boy's toy

"The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie"

Agnes De Mille 

the march of time

Oh well - it had to happen - a "significant" birthday. Can't stop the march of time and the mathematics of another year gone! (Our dancing friends appreciated the croix occitane on my birthday cake)

Whilst I am not keen on many of the results of aging, it is worth remembering that its only because of the luxury of retirement at an age when there is still time to embark on new enterprises that we are here living la vie francaise.

It is almost a year since we left England, at that time without a French home to go to, in some ways it seems so much longer than that as we feel so much at home. We certainly have no regrets about our decision to come.

What do we miss from England?

• sitting in the pub with friends after clogging practice (and the beer)
• my hairdresser
• decent garden centres
• j cloths ( brought back a year's supply on my last visit to England)

Other than these not much else other than our friends. Family, who did not live near us in England, we are seeing as often as we did and travelling back to England for visits is really easy.


The list on the plus side is just too long. We are loving the weather, living in the countryside, the lack of traffic, the food, the lifestyle in general. Our new house and garden is just what we were looking for and we are enjoying our projects to make it "ours". Getting involved with traditional music and dance has been great for us , we have lots of new friends and Trevor is being able to extend his musical repetoire including learning a new instrument.

The one thing which would improve things for me ( apart from the above list) would be being able to speak better French. Day to day stuff like shopping is ok but the general banter of conversation is more of a challenge as the subject keeps changing. The local accent round these parts ( think Geordie) doesn't help either! I really must look into some lessons after the summer.



On other matters the kittens are thriving - unfortunately still all here and causing havoc - we have banished them to outside most of the time as their antics were wrecking the kitchen. Charbonne ( mother cat) is booked in for spaying next week - better late than never!

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!

We have cracked the Mazurka!

"Autre fois" ( or before we moved here) our social life centred almost entirely around our folk music and dance friends. TC is a musician and played with a celidh band as well writing and singing his own songs. We helped to run a folk club and I was a member of a clog dancing side. We always knew that it would be this side of life in England we would miss most and were very keen to get involved in what appeared to be the thriving traditional music scene in Quercy.










Just four days after moving into our house we spotted a banner outside a nearby Salle de Fetes advertising a "Cours des dances traditionelles" with a phone number. We discovered that the course had started but we were not too late to join and it was that very evening. So there we were after just a few days welcomed into the class alongside about 50 French and three other English people. Now Tuesday evenings are a highlight of the week. We dance non stop for two hours and stop at 11pm for cake and apple juice! I can't help contrasting with our weekly clog practice in England - barely an hour dancing then off to the pub. (Mind you we do miss the chance to sit with friends for an hour in the pub).

Many of the dances we are learning use figures that are very familiar from English dances and are easy to pick up besides which, as in an English celidh, no one cares much if you get it wrong although they do take it very seriously. Easy that is until we tried the Mazurka - it looks easy and indeed I could do it when dancing with the teacher but let loose it was hopeless! We did feel encouraged when one of the old club members said it took him two years to learn it!

Anyway - this week we have practised all week and finally we have cracked it. The breakthrough for TC was getting a written breakdown of the steps from the internet - he always needs to analyse what he needs to do before his feet will cooperate.

This week was also my turn on the rota to provide cakes - a bit scary as every week there is a feast of home made goodies and I am still getting to grips with finding familiar ingredients and also coping with a ridiculously small oven. Anyway apple and cinnamon shortbread and bakewell shortbread went down well AND I was asked for the "recette" so a good week all round even if it has been freezing! Now all I've got to do is translate the recipe - should give evryone a laugh anyway.