Summer and Eagles

First Day Of Summer?
The locals seem to be slightly out on the first day of summer but maybe the tradition dates back before anyone did the calculations. So, the 23rd of June is the Feu de la St Jean, a celebration of the first day of summer. The centre of the village is shut off to traffic and a large contingent of villagers congregates in front of the Bar du Pont to eat, drink and listen/dance to a band. When darkness descends, a bonfire is lit beneath the bridge over the Ouvèze river. The first year I was here the bonfire was actually on the bridge and the fire brigade had to stand by to see it didn't get out of hand. Since the, it's been down on a stone bank in the middle of the river, presumably because there's plenty of water around to put it out, if necessary.

Two things contrast with my English experience. Firstly, I've never lived anywhere in England where this kind of thing happened, except some vague memory of a street party in London at the time of the current Queen's coronation. Secondly, all ages come: grandparents, parents, adolescents, kids, dogs, cats, etc, and everyone seems to have a good time. It really is a family occasion.

A couple of years ago the entertainment was a couple playing the guitar and singing Brassens songs. Most of the people were singing along to the well-known songs, which are generally pretty bawdy. You can't really dance to Brassens but a number of 6-7 year-olds weren't to be put off and duly bopped away to the music. I can't think of anywhere else where you would happily have teeny boppers dancing away to songs with words like “when Margot undid her bra” and “I took her into the countryside and lifted up her skirt to introduce her to nature”. Nowhere but in France.

Dog Fight
I was playing boules a couple of days a go when we all stopped and looked up into the sky. A dogfight was going on between an eagle and a number of house martins. The eagle had somehow got amongst a flock of them and was desperately trying to catch one. Every time it got near one, the house martin would swerve or turn up or down at the last minute. We watched fascinated for a while but didn't see the eagle have any success. It must have been like some of the scenes over Britain at the time of the second world war.