AUDE FLYER

01/2005

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Bonjour,

 Well I hope you enjoyed your Christmas and New Year festivities.

Winter Sales

 Now it is time to gird up your loins and get out there as the decreed date of winter sales starting is today, for a maximum of 6 weeks

I know I will be heading to a grande surface i.e. Geant Salvaza Carcassonne for there Chinese New Year 10 day promo. a couple of things I will be stocking up on are Soya sauce and a load of Indian sauces. They seem very liberal with their choice of products for this celebration, but heh! what else is there to put in the seasonal aisle in January?

Parsnip day

It was great to meet so many new people at the gathering we had here in December and all in the name of the humble parsnip. It’s a shame for the French that they think its only good for horses

Without becoming boring I have been informed some other parsnip sightings, the Health food store  behind Obi in Carcassonne and the one in Quillan , the veg. shop in Carcassonne on Rue Jean Bringer just off the main square marked Primeur on the front. I may have some more arriving next week if you are deperarte.

Yes I am back on the radio

If you have time I am being dragged screaming back to my old slot on CONTACT FM 88.8 a Carcassonne based radio station this Thursday at 10 am, this I believe will largely be a what’s on format again, and probably was the main catalyst in me starting this letter. I couldn’t find what was on that might be of interest apart from in the paper and it occurred yesterday.

Send this on to friends and keep sending info please

Please keep sending this on to others you know, and let me have anything relevant in the way of future events, that you become aware of., I need you to send me the info if you see an add or a poster,

It’s the only way we will all benefit.

Postal charge change

Ok, you have a good stock of 50c stamps, well be warned as of March 1st the standard France and Europe stamp increases to 53c

Dipped headlights

Have you noticed many people driving around with dipped headlights, well it’s a French government road safety recommendation that you do this apart from in towns, it seems even in full sun, it is not only a short gloomy days recommendation

Ryanair

I thought as there are close to 200 people on this list now many of you may have missed something I included in the first newsletter, which I think only 38 of you received, but so many found useful

Many of us I am sure have spent a lot of time going to & fro on the Ryanair site looking for the best flight prices,

Use the link below, (it looks exactly the same as the “book now” page) put in the start & stop dates of the period you would like to review prices for, hit enter-low & behold you will be presented with the price of flights for the whole period. It seems the maximum length of period it will give you is 20 days

At this point you can select & proceed to book as normal.

Click here http://www.bookryanair.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi?mode=FARE&language=EN or go to Ryanair site and click on farefinder in left hand menu

LETTER FROM A NEW LIMOUXINE

No 4 - January 4^th.

 Bonjour à tous et ….HAPPY NEW YEAR from a semi frozen Limouxine.

 If indeed it is right to say the aforementioned phrase, in the light of so much horror which the world has seen in the festive period.

All small angst’s must seem of little importance, however, when I got into bed after a pleasant new years day the fact that the cat had we’d in it did seem traumatic at the time.

 The Christmas tree is drooping and the needle drifts are gathering. It’s nearly time to pack all the madness away again for another year.

 What about the crazed party atmosphere of the new year in France…?

Last year we missed it, we were in the frozen wastes of the outskirts of Liverpool.

The year before we spent it Limoux. At about 11.45 I decided to make the effort to go into the square and see what was happening…..there was no one in the square, not even a dog. I walked onto the bridge and stared into the night sky. As the clock struck midnight one lonely firework arched into the inky blackness somewhere in the direction of Pauligne. Happy New Year….

This year we were in Montpellier, Mark went out at 11.45 expecting mad street entertainers, whirling fire sticks, and twenty-seven-piece salsa bands. There were quite a few people standing around in the square, and some dogs…. Happy New Year….

I did hear quite a lot of people going ‘OORRRRR’a bit later on, a similar sound that I recall from Broad Street in Birmingham on an average Friday night, but there was no sign of broken bottles and piles of unmentionable stuff the next day. I certainly remember seeing a lot of adverts for mobile phones, booze, etc, showing images of wild ‘fetes’, so where is it all the jollification? Or does everyone just secure the shutters, stoke up the central heating and eat a lot?….

 Ahhh, winter……. time of stews, soul satisfying walks, frosted branches, frozen pipes and realization that last years already old thermals could be useful as pipe lagging.

 I love winter…..for at least a day and a half, then I want the warmth back. I gawp longingly at the box of summer paraphernalia in the garage: sun hats, badminton rackets, beach mats etc,  when desperately trying to find any matching gloves, was it ever that hot?? It is strange after living for 40 something years in a country where the seasons merge in a sort of dampish warmish coldishness to such a contrast. The winter is real, it comes for a few months, then it’s a bit wet, then it’s sunny and hot for months…fantastic, HORRAH, real summer.

Ah yes winter, time of more stew, neatly clipped vines, clear mountain top views and …..the Limoux carnaval!! You either love it or hate it. We love it. “Maybe its because I’m a limouxinier” that I love... etc etc The fact that on any gloomy January weekend morning you can pass into the square and be greeted by the sight of a bunch of mad cane-twiddling people in swishing satin is wonderful. We especially like the late night slot. There is something quite eerie about it, the torches and the masks. I went out one night last year at about 12.30 and it was still on, with the same enthusiasm even though there was only me and about three other people there. A word about the music; “oh that, it’s all the same piece of music” I hear most people say. In fact, Mark reckons there are at least 47 different tunes. Same rhythm, same sound, and all the same notes but in different orders….. We had some ‘insight’ into a typical ‘sortie’ of one of the bands last year. It was truly a fascinating day and evening, the excitement and feeling of celebration, the build up to it with the meal the evening before, like a football team and close supporters preparing for the match of the year. If you haven’t before, go to the nuit de la Blanquette. This, the last and strangest evening, includes the mock trial (all in Occitan) and execution of His Majesty Carnaval, the stuffed guy-like figure who sits in a box above the Café de Commerces throughout the 3 months presiding over the disgraceful goings-on in the square.   Right time to move away from this machine, before I’m frozen into a bad sitting posture for the day…. Salut, Kate

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