Visit to Cerbère

A few weeks ago I took the train to Montpellier and saw that it went daily to a place called Cerbère.  Where?  A tiny seaside village on the Spanish border, 3 hours' direct train ride down the coast from Lunel.  So, accompanied by Mary's cousin (on a visit from Costa Rica!) we set out on Tuesday and trundled our way past Sète, Agde, Béziers, Narbonne, Perpignan, Collioure and more besides, between étangs and the sea, to the terminus.  The line goes on to Spain, but we alighted in this last French outpost.  The station shows signs of its former importance as a border crossing with disused customs areas, and from it we made our way  steeply down towards the centre ville.  Not far, and the sea was almost instantly in front of us.

We had about 6 hours until our evening trip back to Lunel, time for a stroll round the village and its 5-stall market, a great fish lunch, some time on the little beach and a slow climb back up to the station in the hot afternoon.  The modern town relies on concrete for its cantilevered roads, elevated pavements and the huge railway viaduct high above the harbour.  It was pleasant, unpretentious and obviously popular with walkers.



This extraordinary and now derelict hotel by the railway is the belvédère du Rayon vert, a listed building designed by the architect Baille. It is a relic of the heyday of Cerbère as a customs town and rail centre.  It has a grand staircase, and was once a casino with theatre, cinema, its "Bar Bleu"and its terrace complete with tennis court. Beneath the roof is an ingenious early system of ventilation based on a 'bees nest' or honeycomb system. The external staircase is Florentine.

It's hard to believe that this sleepy little village was once such an important frontier town with a population of over 1300!

A musical summer

Over the past week we have been away from home in the Ain département, in the east of France. Here a gifted musician Stephane Fauth and his wife have a house, a huge converted barn, which they have turned into a centre for chamber music courses with guest rooms and a lovely music room complete with grand piano. The place is called the Val du Séran after the little river that flows past the bottom of the garden.

Stephane's passion, and much of his life's work, is and has been around chamber music. He himself plays violin, viola, double bass, piano and guitar, but he also composes. He taught for many years in Belgium. Now, each year, he assembles groups of musicians who come together for a week of intensive playing, pieces he carefully selects for each group. He occasionally plays during the week but his principal function is to coach the groups and encourage better ensemble playing.

We have learnt over many years that performing music well together in groups is as much about listening to the others as about playing or singing your own part. When you learn a piece to start with you're often buried in your own line and unless everyone counts perfectly things will quickly come unstuck. Once you start to listen you can play together and the pleasure of musical ensemble begins.

In France we've discovered frequently that this not something people learn as a matter of course – frequently, even quite good musicians will work hard to perfect their own line, alone before a rehearsal, but find difficulty in joining it with the others. So this week it has been interesting to mix 3 of us English musicians with three French people and to learn to make music together, to listen more. The English tradition of sight-reading is also quite different from the French habit of thorough learning in advance. I certainly could give more time to learning!

In any case, music is an exercise in tolerance and give-and-take. Everyone makes a mistake from time to time, and if you lose your place you need to find your way back in. And it is far less forgiving than spoken conversation. Even with my often poor French I can make myself understood, but a line of music played even a fraction of a beat too early or too late makes nonsense of the whole piece – the language of printed music is precise and exacting. So even if we're sometimes exasperated by our friends' failure to come in on time or play the right notes, we feel full of admiration that they are prepared to have a go!

This was Mary's third year at Val du Séran. As a 'cellist she was as busy as ever, with often 6 sessions a day of very varied musical styles. The first summer she went alone; last year I went with her and listened during the day although I sang Schubert with the pianist from the group after supper. As a result of that, Stephane suggested I came to work with the group this year, and proposed some folk song arrangements by Beethoven and by Haydn as well as a song with obbligato violin from an opera by Saint-Saëns.

One great pleasure for me was that he also wrote a piece especially for our group – flute, violin, viola, 'cello and high voice. It is a fantasy on 6 songs by the American composer Stephen Foster, arranged with great style and contrasts of mood.   Stephen Foster was a very interesting man who, like many composers, died young and in poverty.  He wrote all his own music although at first hearing the songs seem to be from popular and folk traditions, and most of his own words.  Some seem controversial, even racist to modern ears, but he was anti-slavery at the time of its abolition and wanted to project positive images of black people.  I'm very much hoping to perform it again with friends in the future.

The house is in a beautiful and remote valley near Annecy and not far from the Swiss border and Geneva. Travelling there you pass stretches of the upper Rhône or the Ain, both already splendid rivers winding their way towards their junction near Lyon. The local wines and cheeses are great, and it is a great pleasure to visit this remote rural area of France. The welcome at Val du Séran is also splendid, with lovely meals and comfortable rooms.

It was a pleasure to make music with Mary in some of the groups and also to find my singing voice standign up to more intensive work than I'm used to.  2 years ago I though I might have to stop singing altogether.  Now I'm looking forward to more music in Montpellier and in Uzès over the next few weeks. A real feast all in all!

Music in the Cevennes

Summer in the south of France is always magical for music, whichever kind you enjoy.  Jazz, chamber music, many other styles have their own festivals in different localities.  We are early music fans, and already there has been plenty to tempt us - the Maguelone Festival in the coastal mediaeval cathedral just south of Lunel took place at the beginning of the month and we were lucky to hear two concerts there.  http://www.musiqueancienneamaguelone.com/

Then this week has been the Festival des Cordes Sensibles www.festivalcordessensibles.com in the rural area north of Alès.  We were attracted to the concert in St Jean de Valériscles because our friend Evelyn Tubb, accompanied by the equally well-known lutenist Anthony Rooley, were performing there yesterday.  So we drove into the Cevennes to find this village with a mediaeval centre which can be approached literally only through archways and tunnels!  We arrived early and had a chance to look round and walk along the river bank before it was time to go up to the church, where we met Evelyn and Tony .

They were glad to see us because they needed help in translating part of their introduction into French.  Mary obliged and helped tell the story of this multi-faceted programme - Islamic/ Christian/ Jewish/ secular, which sprang from a visit to Jerusalem in the late 1990s.  It aimed to identify common and positive features of the three religions and of secular life - love and the worship of God - which are uniting rather than dividing factors in a situation of strife.

The small church was quite full.  There is a little gallery at the back, and the acoustics were excellent - Evelyn sang as she walked round the church a few times, and we could hear well. The music was sublime - ranging from the middle ages to the baroque, performed with passion and intensity, and the kaleidoscopic colour and range for which Ev has become so well-known.  The songs were acted out with elegant genstures and movements.  Several pieces we knew well, including Purcell's Blessed Virgin's expostulation, Monteverdi's Nigra sum from the 1610 Vespers (the text 'I am black but comely' is from the Song of Songs) and two Dowland songs which took us right back to the time when we met Evelyn in the 1970s.  In all we felt excited, privileged and moved to be part of this concert which contained so much that we knew and also pieces we were hearing for the first time, performed by such complete artists and at the same time by friends.

Road Safety

This is an update of something I wrote 2 years ago. British people often say it must be hard to drive on the other side of the road, but of course when you move to another country you get used to it after a bit. But there are certainly differences between French driving and British - motorways/Autoroutes less crowded, more hair-raising overtaking, even less reliable signalling on or near roundabouts for example. You need to pay a lot of attention to overtaking - one French person told me it happens because French drivers always want to be in front. And a recent survey shows increasing neglect of the blinking indicators (to coin a phrase).

A couple of years ago in The Connexion, an English-language monthly for ex-pats, someone wrote to suggest the paper did an article about bad French driving. The editor rather weakly replied that it was not their job to offend the French. Well, I don't want to do that either, but I did wonder whether there was any substance in the the idea that things were worse here. So I looked up road accident stats (not straightforward, but official websites yielded the answers in the end) and this graph showing road deaths is the result. 2009 deaths in France are virtually the same as 2008.

In 2002 before President Chirac started government initiatives against drink driving and speeding, in countries of almost identical populations, well over twice as many people were killed on French roads each year; even now British road deaths are over 40% lower than here. Injuries seem to follow the relative figures. Official publications say the problems are still mainly too much speed and too much drink, as well, increasinly, as talking on mobile phones while driving. They take very seriously the target of reducing accidents - blood alcohol limits are being reduced still further. There has been an interesting muddle over advertising radar speed traps recently - the govt said it would remove warning panels, but has now done a u-turn (!) in face of political protests. France is not the worst country in Europe - Ireland is about the same and Portugal much worse, for example - but as French residents now we shall certainly take extra care, and try not to resent the increase in speed cameras (2 fines for minor speeding offences so far in 4+ years!)

When we arrived here I decided I should know what the equivalent of our Highway Code said. The Code de la route turns out to be a clear, thorough and I think impressive document, well-illustrated and informative: I don't think the British counterpart has for example a description and explanation of ABS brakes. There are some interesting differences - for example single yellow lines in France mean you can neither unload nor park, dotted that you can unload but not park. In a country addicted to fresh bread there are numerous 'arrêt minute' areas where you can hop out to get your baguette at the boulangerie but otherwise, the Code says, dashing into the bakers is parking (stationnement) and not a simple arrêt. While I'm on about French road rules, a very useful one to remember is that 50 km/h (roughly 30 mph) speed limits start automatically when you see the town or village sign (black on white edged in red). That is one reason for the often useful 'you are now leaving such and such a place' signs (no red and with a diagonal line through the place name) - it also signals the cancellation of the town speed limit. For dozy drivers and map readers it's also a handy revision tool - as in 'where the hell are we now - never mind I'll check on the way out'.

So despite my wish for scrupulous fairness I think there is some reason to be wary of other drivers on French roads, and particularly never to try and guess which way they will head on roundabouts (something my French friends also complain about a lot). And it does really seem as if, however fast you are driving, there's always someone behind you wanting to go faster. Never mind, it could be worse - according to a French govt publication it's far more dangerous on the roads almost anywhere in eastern Europe or even in Portugal!

To Spain and back - part 2, travelling north

We left Granada as we arrived, in the rain, but the weather quickly brightened until we neared our destination in the mountainous Castellón province, in the mountain-top village of Morella.  This photo was taken the following day but, as we approached in rain and fog we saw this mountain disappearing in the clouds and asked weakly 'do we have to go up there?'  Indeed we did, and having found our hotel in the pouring rain and parked some distance away the skies really opened as we carried our bags back through the rivers now filling the steep streets .  So we were glad of a comfortable room, a nice bar with tapas on tap and tennis on the telly!.  We awoke the following morning to glorious sunshine and a stoll round the Sunday market stalls and up the narrow streets to the church below the ruined castle, the gryphon vultures circling overhead.

We bought mountain cheeses and sausage which are typical of the region, and set out across the mountainous landscape towards the coast again and Tarragona.  The province of Arragon is sparsely populated, with small hillside villlages and small towns and dramatic vistas, with huge wind farms - we'd never seen so many wind generators in one area, but they did not seem to detract from the splendour of the landscape and, I guess because of them, the roads have been very well engineered so that driving was not at all difficult and we could admire the scenery.  More on Morella here.

Near the village of Cretas we came across this 15th century hermitage, with its ancient rock causeway, even more pretty in the poppy season, and a tranquil stop on the journey.

So gently we descended through the forests of winmills towards Tarragona.

We really enjoyed our overnight stop in this a city of Roman origin, with plenty of Roman remains including a tower and arena.

We had plenty of time to stroll, and to ride on the tourist bus, to see the mediaeval cathedral and the steep old town centre and Roman ramparts.

We stayed right in the centre and ate tapas in the square right in front of our hotel.  More on Tarragona here.

So we returned to France last week very content with our 10 days' holiday in Spain.  Thanks to Brenda for welcoming us in Granada and to Linda for suggesting some places to visit on the return journey.  Lots more to see in the future...

To Spain and back - part 1, Granada

We have just arrived back in France from Granada.  It was a wonderful week despite occasional torrential rain, and we were lucky to stay with our friend Brenda whose knowledge of the Moorish past of the city is extensive and who offered her services so willingly as a guide.  We found Granada really attractive and will certainly return, if only because we have yet to see all of the Alhambra.

Some of the best moments were spent visiting Nasrid (mediaeval muslim) houses from the humblest to the richest.  The decorated arches over doorways and windows, the courtyards with pools, galleries with wooden balustrades and the play of light and shade were wonderful.  Here are a couple of pictures:

Alongside this restrained beauty the baroque excesses of some of the Christian churches was rather hard to bear, but taken in small doses there were some fine scuplptures and ornaments.

We did a lot of walking and found wonderful views of the Mediaeveal Albayzin area, not least this one from the top of the Alhambra fort.

We were lucky enough to be around for the Festival of Crosses on 3 May with displays of red-flowered crosses, plants, copper pots and other items including apples speared with scissors (a symbol intended to ward off evil spirits):



Despite failing to get tickets for 2 of the palaces, we saw a lot of the Alhambra, including the Generalife and gardens and the forts, and came away with memories and photos to treasure:

After a week we've come away with a strong desire to return, and views of the Sierra Nevada above the city fresh in our minds.

Health, wealth & happiness

We have had constant need of the health services since we came to France, but at no time more than over the past two months. Mary's undiagnosed heart problems led to a mini-stroke, the pompiers came and in no time she was in hospital in Montpellier. Later in the heart unit her narrowed artery was corrected by a 'stent' and now she has blood-thinning drugs and several more. All simply paid for by our carte vitale and the complementary insurance we took out as soon as we arrived. We were especially lucky being near one of the leading centres for heart treatment in Europe, but the care was impressive in any case.

Emergency services tend to be pretty good in England too, but the big difference we notice is in the regularity and thoroughness of GP visits. The necessity of a designated GP or médecin traitant here is fairly recent - in the old days, people went straight to specialists. The GP was supposed to act as a gatekeeper saving specialists' time, but in addition for me it makes good sense especially if you don't know quite what is wrong with you - how do I know whether to go to the cardiologue or the gastroentérologue.

Many GPs here (like ours) offer supplementary services - homoeopathy, acupuncture for example. None of these ever seem to have done me much good, but the regular checkups and tests are very reassuring especially after a sudden emergency like Mary's - a partner like me can only really watch and wait and feel anxious - unexplained pains suddenly seem more serious! In England I only really went to the doctor when there was something obviously wrong, prescriptions were renewed automatically and nobody ever suggested regular visits. I have an underactive thyroid for which I've had regular blood tests for years but that was all that was tested for.

Here I go to the doctor every three months, essential to renew my prescriptions, and I have annual blood tests. These are three pages long and handed to me the same day with abnormalities highlighted in bold print. Thus I discovered my excess cholesterol, now well-controlled by the statin Tahor. Our GP was recommended for his diagnostic skills, and he also put his finger on one of the causes of my throat nodules, which stopped me singing for nearly a year - acid reflux from the stomach, now also well-controlled with drugs, as is the pain from my arthritic knee.

You can see why the pharmacist is such an important part of French life! Of course, like other health services the French one is creaking under the strain of paying for our better health and longer life, and part of this is due to the drugs bill. But here we know all the time how much things cost, and while much is reimbursed, often we pay upfront for health services. The regular statements from the CPAM and the mutuelle make fascinating reading.

To get back to my regular and reassuring GP visits, in my heightened state of anxiety over my own health I had a conversation recently with a British friend who is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. We talked about the difficulty of getting tests for PSA (prostate-specific antigen), an advance warning indicator (in the blood) of prostate problems. So I asked my doctor yesterday if he could arrange it for me and he pointed out that it is already part of the annual blood tests I have as a matter of routine. He also took my ECG (normal apparently) which I insert here just for the hell of it:

Finally, I'd thought the title of this post would be a quotation from a famous writer, but though many have used combinations of 'health, wealth and happiness' in their writings, and though it is now a catch-phrase and frequent title of books and websites, I can find no obvious source. Health and happiness are most important, but of course wealth helps, if only enough to pay for the mutuelle!