Bastille Day

Well, my first blog entry wasn't much of a first effort, but I'm still finding out how to run this blog thingy...

As I was saying, Xaintrie is actually a place.  I was about to say, "look it up on Wikipedia," but I now find there is no entry there - yet.  Something, perhaps, for one of us Xaintrie inhabitants (I think we're known as "xaintriecois") to rectify?  This website might help, if you read French.  There's a map, even if you don't.

Yesterday, Monday 14th July, was of course, a national holiday here.  As well as being Roz's birthday.  The weather was perfect for a firework display so we installed ourselves early on the Quai Lestorgie in front of Roger's Ice-cream bar/art gallery (Les Quatre Rivières).  This is where we expected to get a good view of the pyrotechnics, scheduled to be launched at around 10.30 pm from the Jeanne d'Arc schoolgrounds at the end of the quay.  The picture here shows the view we had while we waited (click on it to see it in greater detail).  The river is the Dordogne.

We didn't need to settle onto Roger's steel-pseudo-rattan chairs quit so early; we were there before 7pm.  He thought (hoped) there would be quite a crowd and would not be able to 'hold' them for us until much after that but like everything else associated with traditional tourism this year, visitor numbers are well down.  The quay didn't fill to capacity until 3 hours later.

The fireworks were great as usual.  The occasion was appreciated by all, perhaps a thousand or more, sitting at the Quatre Rivières, the Gabariers restaurant next door, the Créperie along the quay and the throng just standing around with their families.

Something to note (particularly for any blog readers here familiar with the current UK scene):  Not one incidence of drunkenness, throwing up, shouting or fighting despite copious amounts of wine and beer being consumed.  No police in evidence.  The Security Team comprised three pretty teenage girls wearing bright yellow hi-viz vests with the word "Security" on the back.  Their job was to politely keep the public away from the firework end of the quay, behind some portable (easily negotiated if you wanted to be awkward) barriers.  The public politely obliged.

A final word on this 'public' in evidence there yesterday.  We tried to guess how many might be French, how many non-French.  I think it was around 50/50 with a bias on the French with their families.  Everyone had a good evening and there was no trouble.  It was a national occasion but it had no hint of nationalism or jingoism.  This goes a little way towards explaining why this is reason 23 (or is it 24?) why we live here, in this foreign land.

More next time,

Mapmaker