Aude & Ariège Flyer

DON'T FORGET ST GEORGES DAY THE PATRON SAINT OF ENGLAND,YOU KNOW THE ONE FROM TURKEY APRIL 23RD

The Saint Jordi festivity, which takes place the 23rd of April, is one of the most beautiful holidays in Catalonia, above all in Barcelona. During this day, the downtown streets are full of colours thanks to the small book and rose stands that are put up in the centre. Many curious tourists and neighbours walk through the city. The men must give a red rose as a present to their ladies and the ladies must give a book to their man. This day is also the Day of the Books, which is a remembering of Cervantes death.

The rose tradition is not new. In the Middle Age the aristocratic class organized lord competitions, where the men gave a flower to the women. The red colour symbolizes the passion and the ear that is put together with the rose stands for fertility.

The legend

The Saint Jordi was a lord and a martyr born in Capadocia (Turkish nowadays). He is the hero of an exceptional gentleman story which took place in Libya. As a contradiction to this the Catalonian tradition believes that it happened in Tarragona, in a small town called Montblanc. In Montblanc there was a dragon that feared the people of the town. Its stinky breath managed to kill the people who come close to it.

The neighbourhood wanted to sacrifice one person every day in order to avoid the monster to attack everybody. Naturally the problem was that there was nobody who wanted to be eaten by the dragon. Therefore, each day they picked one person from the population of the town. The system was very effective until one day the person who had to be delivered to the monster was the beautiful princess. Many people offered themselves, but the king was uncompromising in despite of his sadness: His daughter had to be sacrificed like the rest of his citizens.

They were very worried when observing the princess getting closer and closer to the lake, where the dragon lived. A few meters away from were she came from, suddenly a handsome gentleman appeared in front of the princess. She begged him to go away so that the monster wouldn't eat him too. He calmed her down and explained to her that he was there to free the village.

At this moment, the dragon came out of the ocean depths with the objective of having a good lunch. However, Sant Jordi threw a spear and got to wound the monster. After that, he tied the dragons neck with a rope and offered it to the princess. She came back to Montblanc with the fearful wild animal. At the central square the people definitively killed the animal.

April 26th potential rescheduled blues night domaine des etoiles

May 23rd Fraser Anderson + guests at domaine des etoiles

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PLANT SWAP Saturday 12th April 2pm until 4pm (email if you will attend with numbers) I changed the time due to forecast of morning rain

Ok so the minute I announced the plantswap the heavens opened but we are promised dare I say "sunshine" without putting a jinx on the proceedings? Yes I can!  The Meteo says damp to start/sunshine later, but if wet we will be in the barn. So please arrive promptly at 2pm. Space inside the gates to unload if your swaps are heavy. Yes house plants are welcome as are seeds, unwanted garden equipment and gardenailia. For those of you who haven't been to an event before the address is 2 Chemin des Moulins 11240 Routier (just in front of the round water tower dark green gates which may well be open).

 If you like gardening why not come along you will find plants are likely to be well-suited to your local growing conditions and may come with first-hand advice on how to grow them. Feel good you will be helping to protect bio diversity. Meet fellow garden enthusiasts and exchange all sorts of useful local knowledge, as well as plants and seeds. Please label plants with botanic and common name, as well as your name adding contact information would be helpful if care questions arise later. There are likely to be some new arrivals to the area with nothing to swap so perhaps bring a couple of pots to give away.

 If you have a plant that is two big or difficult to bring along send me a info and I will pop it into the next Flyer on a "free to good home please collect basis".

Housekeeping note - There are two resident dogs here at the moment so please pe prepared to leave yours in the car if you need to bring it along and be aware that there are deep pools in the garden so small children are probably not a good idea unless you are prepared to keep them with you at all times.

If this swap works I would like to do an autumn version at the end of November / beginning of December please let me have your views may be combine with an Xmas do?

Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth and her new novel Sepulchre, will be giving a talk about her writing career and her love of southwest France in Rennes-les-Bains on 25 July 2008. The talk will take place at 17h00 in the Foyer Municipal at Rennes-les-Bains, followed by the opening of a stunning exhibition of large format colour photographs of locations from her novel Sepulchre, taken in Paris, Rennes-le-Château and Rennes-les-Bains at the Espace d’Art (www.audeculture.com/espacedart). Further details next month.

Hello again from me, Rob Hesketh, and the Spectrum Group.  I have had a rather torrid time since my last article, and I see no reason why you should be spared my tale of woe.  Some things you can see coming; some things you suspect might happen, and some things just hit you out of the blue.  Most things cost you money.  Perhaps the least of my worries this week was my sky dish.  It had warned me that it wasn't happy, but I nursed it back to full working order and pushed it to the back of my mind.  Senseless! I hear you cry; and you are right.  Why I wasn't busy recruiting son of sky. ll never know, but now I'm paying the price and having to wait for that nice man at e-bay to deliver the vital substitute.

Having paid the price for my own stupidity once, you would be entitled to think that I might have seen the second event coming.  I do remember thinking to myself It's about time I backed up my files onto the portable hard disk.  But did I do it?  No, of course not.  I have a fantastic team of builders working on our new home in what was our orchard.  They work in all temperatures and all conditions.  They work in the rain, and their cement mixer and angle grinders work on electricity from our current (no pun intended) house.  Or at least they do until the rain gets into the extension lead.  Then everything stops working, including my computer.  In theory, with modern protection from fuse boxes; trip switches and surge protectors, everything should start working again after the offending lead is disconnected.  Everything, that is, apart from my computer.  When did I last back up the files?  Probably about three weeks ago, certainly well before I met two couples who contacted me after the last Flyer.

 More about them in a minute, but the sad thing from my point of view was (is) that the financial reports that I had painstakingly compiled for these two couples might just as well be locked in a vault in Australia.  I hope I don't sound trite when I say that I put a lot of effort into my reports, and the thought of having to recreate these examples of literary genius. OK, you're right, I'll stop.

 There is a light at the end of this dark tunnel.  I meet lots of good people in this line of work, and one of my best finds has been Bruce at Mirax Computer Support.  Genius.  Make a note:  www.mirax.org .  He says he has got it working, and will deliver my lost works tomorrow.  So what that he lives in the Ariege; anyone is entitled to one mistake.

My pain this week has not been limited to expensive electrical failures.  I mentioned earlier the two couple that I visited after the last Flyer.  The first couple, I'll call them Austin and Jayne (they'll know who they are), were very welcoming, and we spoke at length about their various property dealings over the years, and their plans for the future.  I was lulled into a subtle sense of well-being, feeling confident that I could help this hard working couple with their financial affairs.  Then suddenly, out of the blue (see para1), Austin dropped an oblique reference to football.  Something about a friend being a West Brom supporter.  I felt the room go cold, and a dark feeling of foreboding descended over me.  How could he know?  What could this mean?  Did he know that my new house is to be called "˜Les Aubepines"?  My worst fears were soon realised.  He is a Wolves supporter!  And had been in the same room for over an hour, thankfully without injury.  I edged carefully towards the door, and after a few minutes emerged gratefully from the darkness  into the Carcassonne sunshine, a free man again.

 All of these events are completely true, and all have indeed happened since my last Flyer.  But there is also a moral to these stories.  Beware; take precautions in your financial dealings, and make sure you know who you are talking to.  There are many people around at present who will offer you financial advice.  Many won't just give it, they will expect to be paid for it.  Some will not even be registered or regulated by the French financial authorities, or even be based in France, let alone live in your area.  A few simple questions will get you the answers you need to help you decide who should have access to your private financial details.

Please make sure that you ask them.


If you have any questions on this, or any other subject, please don't hesitate to contact me, Rob Hesketh:

 By phone on 0468 247758 or mobile 0631 787647

Or by mail at rob.hesketh@spectrum-ifa.com

You can find out more about Spectrum on www.spectrum-ifa.com

 And the obligatory small print:  Any advice and recommendation contained in this article is based on The Spectrum IFA Group's understanding of current legislation and may be subject to change.  No liability can be accepted for any change of interpretation or practice relating to any tax or legislative measure or the

introduction of any new measures that may affect this advice and recommendations. 

We are holding a garage sale at our house near Pamiers on Sunday 13th April from 9.30am - 5.30pm.Contents

Large 2 bedroom tent, Camping tables, Camping equipment, Portable flat grill full working order, Electric wok, Deep fat fryer, Sleeping bag, Kitchen crockery/utensils, Hat stand antique English mahogany, Computer stand/table, Computer (colour) monitor in full working order, Several mirrors, Flower pots, Linen, Towels, Denby Crockery, White service, plates, tea plates, cups & saucers and bowels x 6, Trump cards, Children's books, some French and mostly English, Children's computer learning games, Jigsaw puzzles, Board games, Trouser press, Royal Albert Bone China tea and coffee set, Gaggia coffee machine full working order, Wallpaper “ odd rolls (good for lining drawers), Antique French pine double bed & mattress, Ski suits, Skis, Ski boots, Kitchen cupboard pine doors, Electrical and computer wires, Children's play carpets, Children's videos - English, Orthopaedic double bed, 2 dining room tables, 8 Chairs, prints in frames, picture frames and much much more.............

Contact for directions Sara or Jeffrey Spencer by telephone on 0561 607721 or email: sara @ stvictordufau.com (without spaces - trying to cut down on "spam").

Free to good home

Interested parties to collect S.V.P (from Alaigne):

Approx 18 Living France magazines 2001/2002. Old but still useful.

Approx 100 of a variety of English magazines in good condition, quite old - from 1988 to 2002, but nice to look through on a wet weekend in France!

Homes & Gardens, 25 Beautiful Homes, Homes & Antiques etc

and some French magazines, will split. It is such a shame to recycle them.

Also 7 Euro ˜Frameless frames as we call them! Ideal for budding artists. 18cm X 24cm.

Please email Jenny: banks.christopher@wanadoo.fr

Bellegarde and Esceuillens Art Exhibition

These two villages are holding their first combined art exhibition in Escueillens Salle des Fetes on Saturday/Sunday  April 12/13 from 10.30am each day until 8pm Saturday and 6pm Sunday.
There are 14 different artists whose works are being shown in a wide variety of media.
I know many of you like to go to local art exhibitions and I would encourage you to support this one if you can.

Christine Poux Barbara Tomlinson Iris Wilkinson

Hi, I saw your notice in the Aude Flyer and just thought I'd drop you a note and let you know for the past two years I've been doing a weekly Jazz Radio Show live on the Songster Radio Network- It broadcasts into a night club in a VR called Second Life and on the web over a shoutcast server and you can get all the listening.pls details here www.coffeeandpajamas.com  www.secondlife.com

I've lived here in the High Aude Valley for nearly seven years.  The radio show itself has nothing to do with France or anywhere really... but if you like Jazz and are interested in encoding technologies... feel free to get in touch.

Lisa M. Feay

SPACE IN TRUCK TO AND FROM SCOTLAND

We still have some stuff in Scotland and are planning a trip to get it. thing is, the truck we are using is huge. (7.5 tonnes) So Im looking for anyone who is either moving back to the UK and needs things taken and/or anyone who wants stuff brought back over as we will have enough space for 3 maybe 4 van loads!

It would be loads cheaper that a removal company.

Leaving within the next 4 weeks. (05) 61 01 04 59

Samedi 12 avril LA CASA DE CHORO DE TOULOUSE Salle des fêtes du Vernet d'Ariège

"A la découverte du choréographe de la musique brésilienne"

N© au c“ur de la "bela epoca"  de Rio au XIXe siècle, le choro est le fruit d'un vaste métissage des  traditions ibériques,européennes et africaines. Avec guitares, flûtes, cavaquinho, pandeiro, mandolines ou clarinettes, Olivier LOB

et la CASA DE CHORO, avec, en invitée, Elaine LOPES au chant,  vous proposent un concert à  travers les compositions des grands maîtres du choro: Pixinguinha, Jacob de Bandolim, Ernesto Nazarethà¦

20h repas (7 Euros - repas enfant 4 Euros) Ré©servation avant le jeudi, merci !

Concert à   21h30 10 Euros - 6 Euros (adérents ACME, AFTHA et MJC) Gratuit pour les moins de 13 ans.

05 61 67 85 20 ou 06 70 04 56 16

acme09@wanadoo.fr /Site : http://acme09.free.fr

WORLDWIDE FESTIVAL by Gilles PETERSON

accompagné d'une recherche de talent mondiale sur internet

Après deux éditions à Sête (Juillet 2006 & 2007) et  une à   Shangai (Juin 2007), le "Worldwide Festival" créé par Gilles PETERSON et Freshly Cut,

prendra à   nouveau place sur la presqu'ile de Sête (à  côté de Montpellier) cet été les 3,4 et  5 Juillet 2008