The endless fight over the 15 discontinued stops on the Paris-Toulouse train line continues but there is some good news in that a few stops, four in all, have been reinstated and among them appears to be the one that allows travellers from Britain to leave St Pancras at a reasonable time in the morning and arrive at Gourdon, direct from Paris, at around 6.40pm. This is real progress - thanks to those who have been battling with SNCF and best of luck with the continued fight.
Staying with trains, the future of Quercy Rail is still in doubt. The Tourist Office says there are no plans to reopen the line at the moment, though an article in La Dépêche seems to suggest that it is, at the very least, under consideration.
The tourist season is here again and, given the exchange rate, France will have to work hard to attract British visitors. Good to know that the State gives 550,000 euros a year, to which the Conseil Géneral adds a further 300,000 euros and there is a regional allowance of 1.4 million euros a year destined for the upkeep of the patrimoine. It doesn't sound like a whole lot, given the wealth of buildings there are to protect - 2250 in all and 450 religious edifices.
Meanwhile, the much admired Bistrots de Pays 'chain' is extending. Bistrots de Pays was the brainwave of Bernard Reynal in 1993 to try to rejuvenate small communities and counteract "la désertification". There are a few rules for those wishing to join. They can only be established in villages of less than 2000 inhabitants and must promote local produce and local tourism; organise events - theatre, art exhibitions, sport etc; substitute for the disappearance of other commerce in the village; and stay open the year round. The Lot has 12 such establishments and you can find them at Salviac*, Anglars-Nozac*, Faycelles*, Latronquières*, Montet-et-Bouxal*, Capdenac-le-Haut*, Livernon, Marcilhac-sur-Célé, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, Labastide-Murat, Espère and Montcuq according to Dire Lot. The BdP website (*) adds, Cazals, Gigouzac and Lamothe-Fénelon and excludes some of the above. They should display a Bistrot de Pays sign. If you like café's that are the real hub of a village keep a look out for them.
A fascinating article in the March edition of Dire Lot (not available on the web) charts the lives of some of the many Jews, particularly children, hidden in the Lot during WW2. Many were hidden by nuns and some by brave families. Of the Jews tormented and humiliated by the Nazis in Gramat on May 11 1944, who were subsequently deported to Auschwitz and other camps (and to whom there is a plaque in the town), only two returned. Their names were no doubt given to the Nazis by the infamous Bonaventure family (see the Resistance chapter in my book).
Margot Cerf went first to the Ecole Jeanne-d'Arc at Figeac, where Sister Margaret hid them, and then was moved to Notre Dame de Massip at Capdenac-Gare in the Aveyron (just below Capdenac-le-Haut in the Lot), where she was under the care of Denise Bergon, a nun who saved over 80 Jews.
Denise Bystryn and her brother Jean-Claude went first to St-Céré, a town well known for sheltering Jews, and then to the Institution Jeanne-d'Arc at Cahors. Her young brother meanwhile was sheltered by Marie-Louise and Alfred Aymard at Escamps. The courage of these people cannot be over-estimated. It would have meant death for all had they been discovered.
Yvonne Féraud, who was instrumental in asking the Aymard's to take Jean-Claude, was warned by a representative of Bishop Saliège of Toulouse (a bishop who did much to help the Jews, unlike many in the Church) that Denise's life was in danger and that she had been denounced to the Gestapo. She was secreted away and hidden at Feraud's parents' farm in the Haute-Garonne.
Charles Gol(d)stein and his cousin Pierre were hiding in Gramat when Das Reich passed through on May 11 1944. Charles and his mother fled and were hidden by Alain and Rosa Castagné. Pierre and his mother escaped also, but the rest of the Goldsteins, along with members of the Fiszbin and Zysman families, were not so lucky and were arrested, humiliated and finally sent on to the death camps. The boys were subsequently hidden in Luzech.
In later life Margot Cerf became a distinguished midwife. Denise and Jean-Claude moved to America, Denise becoming a sociologist at Columbia University in New York and marrying Eric Kandel, a nobel-prize-winning doctor. Jean-Claude is a well-known dermatologist. Charles Goldstein had a business career but is also a painter of some distinction, Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur and works with various Jewish bodies. Pierre Golstein is also a renowned doctor, but in France, researching, curiously, in the same field as Eric Kandel.
It has emerged from newly discovered archives that the Pont Louis-Philippe in Cahors, inaugurated in 1838 and always overshadowed by the mediaeval Pont Valentré, is hiding a treasure. Gold and silver coins were hidden there as a homage to Louis-Philippe, who made available the 900,000 francs for the building of the bridge. The coins, all with an effigy of the king, were worth 20 and 40 francs apiece at the time. How long before they are removed?
A collection of Marcel Marceau's belongings were auctioned recently in Paris, where the renowned mime artist was interred in Père-Lachaise in 2007. But Marceau actually lived and died in Cahors, whither he had moved on his retirement in 2005. His daughter Aurélia is active in Lot theatre.
Marceau, whose real name was Mangel, discovered the south-west when he and his family were given two hours to pack their belongings and move from his birthplace, Strasbourg, to Limoges during the war. He was fifteen. The name change was not a theatrical nicety but rather a means of avoiding detection as the family were Jewish and his father, a kosher butcher, was deported to Auschwitz, where he died.
Marceau and his brother Alain joined the resistance, hiding Jewish (and gentile) children from the Gestapo and French police and changing the date of birth on their identity cards so they could not be deported to German labour or death camps. He also led many children to safety in Switzerland, posing as a scout master.
He was awarded the Wallenberg Medal for his work. Later on, his good English was put to use when he acted as an interpreter with the US Army when they were in France. He was a talented man who, apart from being the world's greatest mime artist, also painted and wrote books.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lot Blog 8
A cheering ceremony in Cahors around Christmas when Madeleine Gaillard-Arnouil received a Yad Vashem medal from the Israeli consul based in Marseille in recognition of her grandmother's courage in hiding a young Jew, Frédéric Fendler, in her Cahors attic for a year during World War II.
Frédéric and his sister Suzanne had fled to Cahors from Paris, where their parents were jewellers, and it was there that Frédéric found refuge in the house of the late Esilda Arnouil, grandmother of Madeleine. His sister Suzanne was also hidden by the family. The 6-year-old Madeleine discovered the surprised Frédéric one day, a discovery which precipitated Frédéric's decision to leave his hiding place and join the maquis, scared that he would eventually be discovered. He did so and survived the war.
The incident was made public by the son of Fendler, Eric, which led to the award. "We are all Cadurciens today" said one of the Fendler family in their speech of thanks to the Arnouils.
French Country Dreams is the site of Carmen Myers and is undergoing reconstruction just now. Check it out when it is back if you want either to buy a house or rent Carmen's.
January 24th saw tempestuous winds gusting to over 100mph sweeping through the Lot, causing damage and flooding and misery. This is the second such occurrence in ten years. The last big storm was in 1999. Normally one would expect at least a 30-year gap between such incidents. The winds caused havoc all over the southwest leaving 4 dead and 1.3 million homes without electricity. Other departments were worse hit than the Lot.
Good to see that a proposed hydroelectricity scheme on the Dordogne has been blocked, though the site would have been upstream in the Auvergne. Both the Lot and the Dordogne rivers have been spoiled by such schemes. However, as we can see above, climate change is with us and maybe we should think twice before opposing energy projects. Surely we can find ways of doing this, however, without despoiling the countryside.
Plans are afoot to rejuvenate Gourdon's cultural life. The summer will see more exhibitions and concerts, many held in the Cordelier church. Gourdon now belongs to the Artothèque de Cajarc, which will see 5 new works hung in the Mairie every month and some people are dreaming of an annual festival of French song. Dream hard and fast - Gourdon needs a lot of help.
The Légion d'Honneur, established by Napoleon in 1802, is divided into five ranks: knight, officer, commander, grand officer and grand cross. The President of the Republic is always appointed Grand Master and has the power to appoint other members. You enter the order as a knight and to progress up the ranks have to contribute new services to your nation, with a suitable lapse of time between the promotions.
Recent notables to receive the order of merit include Ingrid Betancourt, the politician kidnapped by FARC guerrillas in Colombia; JK Rowling; Ellen McArthur; Shimon Peres; and, promoted to commandeur recently, Alain Dominique Perrin, the man responsible for turning Cartier around.
Perrin is now Executive Director of the Companie Financière Richemont, the group specialising in luxury goods that includes Cartier. M Perrin, whose country home is the exquisite Lagrézette château and vineyard near Cahors, is still closely associated with the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. In 2005, Wine Spectator recognised Château Lagrézette as one of the 100 best wines in the world.
And speaking of Cahors wine, it is trying to make a comeback as the "original Malbec". Cahors is facing up to severe competition from Argentian Malbecs, which have a greater range and tend to cost a lot less, and their new blog/website hopes to go some way towards correcting this.
Perrin fell out with the Cahors wine community some time ago, denying them access to his unquestionable marketing skills. However, no hard feelings it seems - he is generously cited on the blog, which ends each section with the words, in English, "Cahors is back".
Rail Europe finally refunded me the cost of having to re-book the seat they cancelled following the Channel Tunnel fire. It wasn't done with a great deal of grace, but it was done.
Here's hoping that notice is finally taken of the long-standing recommendation, which was first made before the tunnel was even finished, that the rolling stock be enclosed, not open, to prevent spread of the fire. The recommendation was repeated - and again ignored - following the 1996 fire.
There are 40,000 vehicle fires per year so it is remarkable there have been no more fires. With increased use of the tunnel likely to continue this needs to be heeded if there is not to be a fatal incident in the future.
Frédéric and his sister Suzanne had fled to Cahors from Paris, where their parents were jewellers, and it was there that Frédéric found refuge in the house of the late Esilda Arnouil, grandmother of Madeleine. His sister Suzanne was also hidden by the family. The 6-year-old Madeleine discovered the surprised Frédéric one day, a discovery which precipitated Frédéric's decision to leave his hiding place and join the maquis, scared that he would eventually be discovered. He did so and survived the war.
The incident was made public by the son of Fendler, Eric, which led to the award. "We are all Cadurciens today" said one of the Fendler family in their speech of thanks to the Arnouils.
French Country Dreams is the site of Carmen Myers and is undergoing reconstruction just now. Check it out when it is back if you want either to buy a house or rent Carmen's.
January 24th saw tempestuous winds gusting to over 100mph sweeping through the Lot, causing damage and flooding and misery. This is the second such occurrence in ten years. The last big storm was in 1999. Normally one would expect at least a 30-year gap between such incidents. The winds caused havoc all over the southwest leaving 4 dead and 1.3 million homes without electricity. Other departments were worse hit than the Lot.
Good to see that a proposed hydroelectricity scheme on the Dordogne has been blocked, though the site would have been upstream in the Auvergne. Both the Lot and the Dordogne rivers have been spoiled by such schemes. However, as we can see above, climate change is with us and maybe we should think twice before opposing energy projects. Surely we can find ways of doing this, however, without despoiling the countryside.
Plans are afoot to rejuvenate Gourdon's cultural life. The summer will see more exhibitions and concerts, many held in the Cordelier church. Gourdon now belongs to the Artothèque de Cajarc, which will see 5 new works hung in the Mairie every month and some people are dreaming of an annual festival of French song. Dream hard and fast - Gourdon needs a lot of help.
The Légion d'Honneur, established by Napoleon in 1802, is divided into five ranks: knight, officer, commander, grand officer and grand cross. The President of the Republic is always appointed Grand Master and has the power to appoint other members. You enter the order as a knight and to progress up the ranks have to contribute new services to your nation, with a suitable lapse of time between the promotions.
Recent notables to receive the order of merit include Ingrid Betancourt, the politician kidnapped by FARC guerrillas in Colombia; JK Rowling; Ellen McArthur; Shimon Peres; and, promoted to commandeur recently, Alain Dominique Perrin, the man responsible for turning Cartier around.
Perrin is now Executive Director of the Companie Financière Richemont, the group specialising in luxury goods that includes Cartier. M Perrin, whose country home is the exquisite Lagrézette château and vineyard near Cahors, is still closely associated with the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. In 2005, Wine Spectator recognised Château Lagrézette as one of the 100 best wines in the world.
And speaking of Cahors wine, it is trying to make a comeback as the "original Malbec". Cahors is facing up to severe competition from Argentian Malbecs, which have a greater range and tend to cost a lot less, and their new blog/website hopes to go some way towards correcting this.
Perrin fell out with the Cahors wine community some time ago, denying them access to his unquestionable marketing skills. However, no hard feelings it seems - he is generously cited on the blog, which ends each section with the words, in English, "Cahors is back".
Rail Europe finally refunded me the cost of having to re-book the seat they cancelled following the Channel Tunnel fire. It wasn't done with a great deal of grace, but it was done.
Here's hoping that notice is finally taken of the long-standing recommendation, which was first made before the tunnel was even finished, that the rolling stock be enclosed, not open, to prevent spread of the fire. The recommendation was repeated - and again ignored - following the 1996 fire.
There are 40,000 vehicle fires per year so it is remarkable there have been no more fires. With increased use of the tunnel likely to continue this needs to be heeded if there is not to be a fatal incident in the future.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Lot Blog 7
Seems like the long-awaited airport of Brive-Cressensac will not open till 2010 at the earliest. One can't help wondering if in the current economic/ecological climate, it will ultimately go ahead at all. But the news that the TGV line between Poitiers and Limoges has been given the go ahead is good news as this will connect up to London, Lille and Paris. If British visitors could get to Limoges quickly, then there may be more options on trains that stop at Gourdon, Souillac and Caussade.
Last minute Xmas or New Year prezzies for Lotophiles? Don't forget Lot: travels through a limestone landscape in southwest France by Helen Martin, available from Moho Books, and Amanda Lawrence's excellent and highly readable White Stone, Black Wine.
Update on the nuclear waste disposal. Happily, Gramat has refused the invitation to store this, but a timely article in Quercy Passions points out that earthquakes are not unknown events in the Quercy and that it might be a place best avoided in any case. The first recorded was in 1089. In 1490, the citizens of Gourdon had to flee their houses with the intensity of the quake (a whopping magnitude 8), several of which collapsed. In 1660, Gourdon was hit again and more recently in 1929 it suffered again when, along with Cahors, Luzech and Figeac, it was hit by a magnitude 5 tremor. In 1962, a tremor centered in the Pyrenees was felt in the Quercy.
The papers in the UK are full of articles lately on the tumbling value of the pound versus the Euro. Those people living in France and dependent on income from the UK have seen it tumble by up to 20% alongside inflation in France, with the result that many are selling up and moving home. Selling up if they can, that is, for in areas where the market is heavily influenced by British buyers, there is of course no one to sell to, and moreover prices have been inflated by those very same buyers in the first place. Although a glance through the websites shows only a small drop in advertised prices, it is reported that in actual fact sellers are accepting offers up to 25% lower than the asking price. That amount of money won't translate very well back in to English homes, particularly in the south-east, which even though reduced still cost much more than in France.
Other people's misery is someone else's opportunity. Those unaffected by the credit crunch should maybe buy their French home now (in spite of the exchange rate), though they should remain alert to the fact that there is no shortage of property crisis in France and homes can still take months to sell, in good times or bad.
The French meanwhile, always experts in schadenfreude, are enjoying our misery and so far feel immune from recession, according to well-known journalist Janine di Giovanni on Tina Brown's The Daily Beast. However, in a country so dependent on tourism, much of it British, the curtailment low-cost flights, the exchange rate and other factors may all kick in this summer. Small, French family-run hotels, already feeling the pinch, will probably be the ones to suffer.
Christmas has come early to the Lot this year with snow falling on the causse, Ségala and around Figeac, depriving at least 1000 people of electricity. Snow is ceasing to be anything unusual in the département, indeed, with winter temperatures habitually a little colder than in the southern part of the UK. In times gone by it was not unusual for the Lot river to freeze over in winter and sometimes for months at a time causing great problem for the gabares that ferried goods up and down river.
Last minute Xmas or New Year prezzies for Lotophiles? Don't forget Lot: travels through a limestone landscape in southwest France by Helen Martin, available from Moho Books, and Amanda Lawrence's excellent and highly readable White Stone, Black Wine.
Update on the nuclear waste disposal. Happily, Gramat has refused the invitation to store this, but a timely article in Quercy Passions points out that earthquakes are not unknown events in the Quercy and that it might be a place best avoided in any case. The first recorded was in 1089. In 1490, the citizens of Gourdon had to flee their houses with the intensity of the quake (a whopping magnitude 8), several of which collapsed. In 1660, Gourdon was hit again and more recently in 1929 it suffered again when, along with Cahors, Luzech and Figeac, it was hit by a magnitude 5 tremor. In 1962, a tremor centered in the Pyrenees was felt in the Quercy.
The papers in the UK are full of articles lately on the tumbling value of the pound versus the Euro. Those people living in France and dependent on income from the UK have seen it tumble by up to 20% alongside inflation in France, with the result that many are selling up and moving home. Selling up if they can, that is, for in areas where the market is heavily influenced by British buyers, there is of course no one to sell to, and moreover prices have been inflated by those very same buyers in the first place. Although a glance through the websites shows only a small drop in advertised prices, it is reported that in actual fact sellers are accepting offers up to 25% lower than the asking price. That amount of money won't translate very well back in to English homes, particularly in the south-east, which even though reduced still cost much more than in France.
Other people's misery is someone else's opportunity. Those unaffected by the credit crunch should maybe buy their French home now (in spite of the exchange rate), though they should remain alert to the fact that there is no shortage of property crisis in France and homes can still take months to sell, in good times or bad.
The French meanwhile, always experts in schadenfreude, are enjoying our misery and so far feel immune from recession, according to well-known journalist Janine di Giovanni on Tina Brown's The Daily Beast. However, in a country so dependent on tourism, much of it British, the curtailment low-cost flights, the exchange rate and other factors may all kick in this summer. Small, French family-run hotels, already feeling the pinch, will probably be the ones to suffer.
Christmas has come early to the Lot this year with snow falling on the causse, Ségala and around Figeac, depriving at least 1000 people of electricity. Snow is ceasing to be anything unusual in the département, indeed, with winter temperatures habitually a little colder than in the southern part of the UK. In times gone by it was not unusual for the Lot river to freeze over in winter and sometimes for months at a time causing great problem for the gabares that ferried goods up and down river.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Lot Blog 6
It sometimes seems as if the world is out to "get" the Lot. If motorways are built then the Lot sections are toll sections and the road will blast its way across beautiful causse land, ignoring all protestations. If railway stations are to be closed, or trains reduced, then you can be sure Lot stations will be involved, even if elsewhere in the country SNCF extol the green credentials of re-opening small stations.
And now the saga of nuclear waste has reared its ugly head and people have something else to protest about. Where better, after all, to bury nuclear waste than in the middle of a sparsely populated département whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism and agriculture, which is supposedly protected by a Parc Régional (which commissioned a geological survey that found against the proposal) and which is renowned for its tranquility and unspoiled beauty? You've guessed it.
Of the 181 communes identified by ANDRA (see below) as possible sites, only 50 have so far come out against the proposal, the latest being Gramat. You can keep up to date with which ones are accepting or declining on Jean Launay's site. All must reply by October 31st 2008.
Whether this waste will include any British waste now that EDF have bought their way into our own nuclear programme, or whether the UK will be left to bury its own in some equally beautiful environment (almost certainly) I know not.
There are currently three military sites in the département, one of which at Bèdes is known to store radioactive waste following experiments with depleted uranium weapons. Indeed it was thought that the stunningly beautiful river Ouysse might have been contaminated.
ANDRA is the French national radioactive waste management agency (Agence National pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) and they are looking for a site in which to store low-level but long-lived waste.
Communes with geologically favoured land are being asked to volunteer to host the site in a shallow facility. Work would begin in 2015. Communes are being tempted - in an area of low employment - by development of the community, improved transport links and infrastructure and, of course, jobs. Some areas, elsewhere in France, that have accepted the waste are being showered with so much money - millions of euros - they hardly know how to spend it.
According to Greenpeace, ANDRA is a less-than-exacting organisation when it comes to storing nuclear waste. They apparently do not even have a complete inventory of sites and some of the ones they do know about are leaking.
Hopefully the remaining communes will resist the temptation to host these stores and vote to preserve their unique landscape.
The fire in the Channel tunnel has badly affected the running of Eurostar trains - no one as yet seems to find the date of September 11th in any way suspicious.
According to their website my own train to Lille had been cancelled. I phoned Rail Europe to exchange my ticket as television advertisements had suggested I might, only to be told that I had a non-refundable, non-exchangeable ticket. Well, yes, but I didn't know my train, booked before the fire, would be cancelled! We have been told by Eurostar that the timetable will be upgraded after September 30th - you may exchange it then if the train isn't running, they said.
On October 1st I rechecked the timetable and certainly more trains were running - but not mine. I phoned back. Friends had told me that even the trains that were running were delayed, so it was my intention, given these delays, to rebook my ticket via Paris, where there were plenty of trains to my destination, rather than just one at Lille. However, it seemed the goalposts had been moved. More nonsense about non-exchangeable tickets.
There was an earlier train, they said, finally, that ought to be running. OK, book me on that, I said. Oh no, because your ticket is non-exchangeable. You can take the train and you will not be charged, but you must come early on the day and change your ticket then.
As the normal check-in time for the train was around 0630, I wondered what time they would like me to arrive - 0500 perhaps, meaning a rise of 3.30 in order to reach St Pancras? A novel interpretation of customer care. Was there any guarantee of a seat when other refugees from cancelled trains may be fighting to get on the earlier train? No, but it should be all right. Hah! Where have I heard that before!
The upshot seemed to be that they were happy for me to travel on the earlier train without paying extra and I know I will travel on it (because otherwise I would have to rebook the entire journey at my own expense via Paris) but I cannot reserve a seat on it, even though I had a reserved seat on a train that isn't running.
I rebooked London-Lille at my own expense to ensure my seat and hopefully the train will arrive in time to catch the only onward connection to my destination, though with hordes of people trying to board at the last minute this must lead to extra delay.
At a time when we are all questioning corporate greed, lack of responsibility and accountability it is comforting that Rail Europe and Eurostar (the one is allegedly acting on the advice of the other) remain unmoved by the zeitgeist, effectively demanding that passengers on cancelled trains must pay twice for one journey, if they want to be sure of seat on another train. That should certainly help with fees to use the tunnel.
Whether the train will arrive in time to catch my connection and whether they will refund my costs - only time will tell. Watch this space.
And now the saga of nuclear waste has reared its ugly head and people have something else to protest about. Where better, after all, to bury nuclear waste than in the middle of a sparsely populated département whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism and agriculture, which is supposedly protected by a Parc Régional (which commissioned a geological survey that found against the proposal) and which is renowned for its tranquility and unspoiled beauty? You've guessed it.
Of the 181 communes identified by ANDRA (see below) as possible sites, only 50 have so far come out against the proposal, the latest being Gramat. You can keep up to date with which ones are accepting or declining on Jean Launay's site. All must reply by October 31st 2008.
Whether this waste will include any British waste now that EDF have bought their way into our own nuclear programme, or whether the UK will be left to bury its own in some equally beautiful environment (almost certainly) I know not.
There are currently three military sites in the département, one of which at Bèdes is known to store radioactive waste following experiments with depleted uranium weapons. Indeed it was thought that the stunningly beautiful river Ouysse might have been contaminated.
ANDRA is the French national radioactive waste management agency (Agence National pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) and they are looking for a site in which to store low-level but long-lived waste.
Communes with geologically favoured land are being asked to volunteer to host the site in a shallow facility. Work would begin in 2015. Communes are being tempted - in an area of low employment - by development of the community, improved transport links and infrastructure and, of course, jobs. Some areas, elsewhere in France, that have accepted the waste are being showered with so much money - millions of euros - they hardly know how to spend it.
According to Greenpeace, ANDRA is a less-than-exacting organisation when it comes to storing nuclear waste. They apparently do not even have a complete inventory of sites and some of the ones they do know about are leaking.
Hopefully the remaining communes will resist the temptation to host these stores and vote to preserve their unique landscape.
The fire in the Channel tunnel has badly affected the running of Eurostar trains - no one as yet seems to find the date of September 11th in any way suspicious.
According to their website my own train to Lille had been cancelled. I phoned Rail Europe to exchange my ticket as television advertisements had suggested I might, only to be told that I had a non-refundable, non-exchangeable ticket. Well, yes, but I didn't know my train, booked before the fire, would be cancelled! We have been told by Eurostar that the timetable will be upgraded after September 30th - you may exchange it then if the train isn't running, they said.
On October 1st I rechecked the timetable and certainly more trains were running - but not mine. I phoned back. Friends had told me that even the trains that were running were delayed, so it was my intention, given these delays, to rebook my ticket via Paris, where there were plenty of trains to my destination, rather than just one at Lille. However, it seemed the goalposts had been moved. More nonsense about non-exchangeable tickets.
There was an earlier train, they said, finally, that ought to be running. OK, book me on that, I said. Oh no, because your ticket is non-exchangeable. You can take the train and you will not be charged, but you must come early on the day and change your ticket then.
As the normal check-in time for the train was around 0630, I wondered what time they would like me to arrive - 0500 perhaps, meaning a rise of 3.30 in order to reach St Pancras? A novel interpretation of customer care. Was there any guarantee of a seat when other refugees from cancelled trains may be fighting to get on the earlier train? No, but it should be all right. Hah! Where have I heard that before!
The upshot seemed to be that they were happy for me to travel on the earlier train without paying extra and I know I will travel on it (because otherwise I would have to rebook the entire journey at my own expense via Paris) but I cannot reserve a seat on it, even though I had a reserved seat on a train that isn't running.
I rebooked London-Lille at my own expense to ensure my seat and hopefully the train will arrive in time to catch the only onward connection to my destination, though with hordes of people trying to board at the last minute this must lead to extra delay.
At a time when we are all questioning corporate greed, lack of responsibility and accountability it is comforting that Rail Europe and Eurostar (the one is allegedly acting on the advice of the other) remain unmoved by the zeitgeist, effectively demanding that passengers on cancelled trains must pay twice for one journey, if they want to be sure of seat on another train. That should certainly help with fees to use the tunnel.
Whether the train will arrive in time to catch my connection and whether they will refund my costs - only time will tell. Watch this space.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Lot Blog 5
Apparently France, ever mostly sensible where transport is concerned, is re-opening new branch lines in the Champagne region and SNCF congratulates itself on an ecological trend spreading over the country from Provence to Paris, according to Lizzy Davis in The Guardian.
Curious then that the Lot seems to be bucking this trend with the diminution of trains halting at Gourdon and Souillac, and, out of the département, at Caussade. The worry is that this may be a precursor to shutting the stations altogether. It beggars belief that SNCF should promote such an inconsistent policy and in one of the few areas of France where no TGV line exists.
Apart from the inconvenience to locals, this decision will impact on the local economy too, in an area heavily dependent on tourism. Once again the Lot loses out to the big guns.
Travel from the UK is made infinitely more difficult by this decision (see Blog1 where I describe that to reach Gourdon on a through train in time for dinner now necessitates getting up at 4am if one lives in London, or staying overnight in a hotel if one doesn't). To protest against this bureaucratic short-sightedness please sign the petition on the Batail du Rail site.
Meanwhile, another Guardian article reports on the increasing popularity in France of the dreaded binge-drinking among the young. For months now us Brits have been advised by British newspapers to look to France for information on how to drink properly. I was always a tad puzzled by this advice as for years France topped the alcoholism statistics and, although consumption has much declined in recent years, it still ranks second after Luxembourg in Forbes figures of heaviest drinking European nations, consuming 14.2 lites of pure alcohol per capita.
The OECD Health at Glance paper published in 2007, covering world alcohol consumption in litres per capita put France on 13 litres per capita (based on 2004 figures and ranking 4th in the world after Hungary, Ireland and Luxembourg) as against the UK's 11.3, ranking 9th in the world. Luxembourg outdrinks everyone at 15.5 litres and Turkey brings up the rear on 1.3 litres.
At parties I attend in the south-west I frequently witness the seriously drunk, something I see less often in the UK in my own age group. And whilst the newish drink-driving laws have had an undoubted effect, I notice that many people rarely seem to take wine into the equation, cutting down, rather, on the digestifs, though less often on the aperitifs. Lifts home seem to follow circuitous routes to avoid the police! In France's horrific road accident rate, alcohol was the most important consideration in 30% of cases. In twenty years that has not changed. In the UK over the same period it has halved. Indeed the French drink and drive more than any other nation in Europe.
1998 stats show 144 accidents per million inhabitants in France, as against 58 British. No doubt they are down since then but, binge drinking apart, we clearly need not look to France as a means of solving our problems. In 2007, 4,615 people died on French roads and alcohol was the main reason why - 1,241 died as a result. In the UK, with the same population but less space and busier roads, 2946 died in the UK, 460 from drink driving.
So let's turn to a pleasanter part of the demon drink. Mike Reynolds, who co-runs Taste of the Grape, a marvellous and relatively new company that specialises in wine tastings, courses and tours, writes to me as follows:-
'A Cahors winemaker I can very much recommend is Château du Cèdre - they make a range:
'If you don't want a Cahors big gun, then the Heritage du Cèdre is the one - the heart is black, but the flesh is youthful. Malbec softened by Merlot with some lip-smacking acidity. Magret de canard beckons.
'Then move up to the Cuvée Prestige - black fruit, smoked fig and liquorice, low yields and old vines, Malbec with smidgeons of Merlot and Tannat.
'Progress to "Le Cèdre" from the oldest vines on the estate - perfumed, plum-pruney, 100% Malbec, almost impenetrably dark, and aromas of cassis and wild raspberry. You could almost eat it with a spoon.
'And to top it all, "Le Grand Cèdre" - a limited edition thoroughbred, a black beauty among Cahors, strikingly soft, lush and richly fruited. You know what to eat with them.... Cabécou, Rocamadour, grilled meats, cassoulet...'
Curious then that the Lot seems to be bucking this trend with the diminution of trains halting at Gourdon and Souillac, and, out of the département, at Caussade. The worry is that this may be a precursor to shutting the stations altogether. It beggars belief that SNCF should promote such an inconsistent policy and in one of the few areas of France where no TGV line exists.
Apart from the inconvenience to locals, this decision will impact on the local economy too, in an area heavily dependent on tourism. Once again the Lot loses out to the big guns.
Travel from the UK is made infinitely more difficult by this decision (see Blog1 where I describe that to reach Gourdon on a through train in time for dinner now necessitates getting up at 4am if one lives in London, or staying overnight in a hotel if one doesn't). To protest against this bureaucratic short-sightedness please sign the petition on the Batail du Rail site.
Meanwhile, another Guardian article reports on the increasing popularity in France of the dreaded binge-drinking among the young. For months now us Brits have been advised by British newspapers to look to France for information on how to drink properly. I was always a tad puzzled by this advice as for years France topped the alcoholism statistics and, although consumption has much declined in recent years, it still ranks second after Luxembourg in Forbes figures of heaviest drinking European nations, consuming 14.2 lites of pure alcohol per capita.
The OECD Health at Glance paper published in 2007, covering world alcohol consumption in litres per capita put France on 13 litres per capita (based on 2004 figures and ranking 4th in the world after Hungary, Ireland and Luxembourg) as against the UK's 11.3, ranking 9th in the world. Luxembourg outdrinks everyone at 15.5 litres and Turkey brings up the rear on 1.3 litres.
At parties I attend in the south-west I frequently witness the seriously drunk, something I see less often in the UK in my own age group. And whilst the newish drink-driving laws have had an undoubted effect, I notice that many people rarely seem to take wine into the equation, cutting down, rather, on the digestifs, though less often on the aperitifs. Lifts home seem to follow circuitous routes to avoid the police! In France's horrific road accident rate, alcohol was the most important consideration in 30% of cases. In twenty years that has not changed. In the UK over the same period it has halved. Indeed the French drink and drive more than any other nation in Europe.
1998 stats show 144 accidents per million inhabitants in France, as against 58 British. No doubt they are down since then but, binge drinking apart, we clearly need not look to France as a means of solving our problems. In 2007, 4,615 people died on French roads and alcohol was the main reason why - 1,241 died as a result. In the UK, with the same population but less space and busier roads, 2946 died in the UK, 460 from drink driving.
So let's turn to a pleasanter part of the demon drink. Mike Reynolds, who co-runs Taste of the Grape, a marvellous and relatively new company that specialises in wine tastings, courses and tours, writes to me as follows:-
'A Cahors winemaker I can very much recommend is Château du Cèdre - they make a range:
'If you don't want a Cahors big gun, then the Heritage du Cèdre is the one - the heart is black, but the flesh is youthful. Malbec softened by Merlot with some lip-smacking acidity. Magret de canard beckons.
'Then move up to the Cuvée Prestige - black fruit, smoked fig and liquorice, low yields and old vines, Malbec with smidgeons of Merlot and Tannat.
'Progress to "Le Cèdre" from the oldest vines on the estate - perfumed, plum-pruney, 100% Malbec, almost impenetrably dark, and aromas of cassis and wild raspberry. You could almost eat it with a spoon.
'And to top it all, "Le Grand Cèdre" - a limited edition thoroughbred, a black beauty among Cahors, strikingly soft, lush and richly fruited. You know what to eat with them.... Cabécou, Rocamadour, grilled meats, cassoulet...'
Friday, August 22, 2008
Lot Blog 4
Devastatingly sad news in June of the final demise of Quercy Recherche, that truly excellent revue on all things Quercynois which has struggled on through many travails since 1974, thanks to the extraordinary energy, dedication and enthusiasm of one man, Jean-Luc Obereiner, who deserves some kind of medal for his contribution to the preservation and explanation of a culture and patrimoine that one knows will be the poorer for the passing of QR.
Nothing was out of bounds for this erudite magazine which covered anything and everything, from the Resistance to caves, to botany, to caselles, to building techniques, to roof shapes and down to even smaller and more intricate details like lintel decoration, drawing on expertise around the region and beyond.
I could not have written my own book without it. I would not know half of what I do know about the area without it. There will now be much left I'll never know without it. I feel quite bereft.
The spirit of the magazine lives on - so far- in the open air museum at Cuzals, which was the brainchild of Quercy Recherche and a practical and educational demonstration of some of the things they wrote about.
Recently it looked as if funding had finally been found to keep the magazine alive, but sadly this seems to have dried up. The Association continues in offices at Labastide-Murat and there is vague talk of a web-site which would be wonderful.
Meanwhile all we can do is mourn the magazine's demise and pay a grateful and well deserved tribute to M Obereiner.
A new exhibition of paintings opened recently in Cahors and is worth a visit for anyone who happens to be there from any time from now until October. In the museum named after him, there is a retrospective of around one hundred Henri Martin paintings collected from nearly 50 museums and towns in France.
Unlike many painters, Martin knew success in his own lifetime, possibly because his art is so accessible. He was also much in demand for public works of art and one can see his work in such illustrious buildings as the Capitole at Toulouse, the Elysée Palace in Paris and many more. His fame spread far and wide and he is particularly appreciated in Japan. Moreover, so frequently did he paint the Lot that, as the article in La Depeche says, Lotois are sometimes able to recognise their own relations in the paintings.
Nothing was out of bounds for this erudite magazine which covered anything and everything, from the Resistance to caves, to botany, to caselles, to building techniques, to roof shapes and down to even smaller and more intricate details like lintel decoration, drawing on expertise around the region and beyond.
I could not have written my own book without it. I would not know half of what I do know about the area without it. There will now be much left I'll never know without it. I feel quite bereft.
The spirit of the magazine lives on - so far- in the open air museum at Cuzals, which was the brainchild of Quercy Recherche and a practical and educational demonstration of some of the things they wrote about.
Recently it looked as if funding had finally been found to keep the magazine alive, but sadly this seems to have dried up. The Association continues in offices at Labastide-Murat and there is vague talk of a web-site which would be wonderful.
Meanwhile all we can do is mourn the magazine's demise and pay a grateful and well deserved tribute to M Obereiner.
A new exhibition of paintings opened recently in Cahors and is worth a visit for anyone who happens to be there from any time from now until October. In the museum named after him, there is a retrospective of around one hundred Henri Martin paintings collected from nearly 50 museums and towns in France.
Unlike many painters, Martin knew success in his own lifetime, possibly because his art is so accessible. He was also much in demand for public works of art and one can see his work in such illustrious buildings as the Capitole at Toulouse, the Elysée Palace in Paris and many more. His fame spread far and wide and he is particularly appreciated in Japan. Moreover, so frequently did he paint the Lot that, as the article in La Depeche says, Lotois are sometimes able to recognise their own relations in the paintings.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Lot Blog 3
I mentioned in blog no 1 that Amanda Lawrence was publishing a book on the Quercy: White Stone Black Wine. This is now released and available.
It is a delightful account of the Lawrence family's decision to move to the Lot for good, and the initial problem of purchasing a bigger house (swiftly accomplished in fact) and then settling into the community they would come to call home. Post-Mayle this has become a popular genre of writing with some very average writers getting in on the act.
Where Lawrence scores head and shoulders above the others - including Mayle, in my opinion - is that she can write, and, if it just occasionally a touch self-conscious, never is she on firmer ground that when writing about food and related topics, where her evident passion for the subject spills out in endlessly evocative descriptions of markets and the time-consuming obsession with food, in all its guises, that is still a feature of Quercy/Lot life and culture.
When Lawrence visits a market she transports you with her. You can feel the strength of the sun on your shoulders, be newly excited by the enticing displays of fruit and the strange varieties of vegetables and taste your reward of a post-shopping pastis in the café.
Another way in which Lawrence scores over Mayle is that the apparent condescension towards the locals that was, I felt, so evident in his books - where it seemed his neighbours were being unwittingly exploited for literary/financial purposes- is nowhere to be seen. Lawrence, by contrast, writes with respect and affection of her neighbours while still managing to convey how bizarre some of their customs, and how incomprehensible their accent, seemed to her British eyes and ears at first.
Her ability to slot so apparently effortlessly into Quercy life may not be so surprising. Lawrence quickly took up the challenge of entertaining her new friends in the manner to which they were already accustomed, tackling the making of pâté's, the eviscerating of birds, the salting of hams, the preparation of pickles (not such a success with the French, she reports), the pots of jams and jellies, with a lack of squeamishness and also with an evident accomplishment that indicates she was clearly a Lot peasant in another life, even if she does draw the line at preserving haricots verts and bottling tomatoes.
The book is about more than food, though. It is a pot pourri of Quercy anecdotes, a Quercy tapas of different tastes; delving into subjects as diverse as Eleanor of Aquitaine, or Aliénor as she would have been in the Quercy (and as some I know, still are), the annual wine bacchanal in Albas, the winter truffle market of Limogne, or simply walking into the nearest village on an orchid trail.
Some of these anecdotes are slight, perhaps, but it doesn't seem to matter because she does them so well. You are bathed in the lazy art de vivre of rural France. They are quotidian snapshots of her life, amuse-gueules that add up to a six course meal of sights, sounds and impressions of the Quercy in all its loveliness, a feel-good book that leaves you smiling and a tad wistful and wanting more.
How could I fail to enjoy it, therefore? Buy it! You will too.
It is a delightful account of the Lawrence family's decision to move to the Lot for good, and the initial problem of purchasing a bigger house (swiftly accomplished in fact) and then settling into the community they would come to call home. Post-Mayle this has become a popular genre of writing with some very average writers getting in on the act.
Where Lawrence scores head and shoulders above the others - including Mayle, in my opinion - is that she can write, and, if it just occasionally a touch self-conscious, never is she on firmer ground that when writing about food and related topics, where her evident passion for the subject spills out in endlessly evocative descriptions of markets and the time-consuming obsession with food, in all its guises, that is still a feature of Quercy/Lot life and culture.
When Lawrence visits a market she transports you with her. You can feel the strength of the sun on your shoulders, be newly excited by the enticing displays of fruit and the strange varieties of vegetables and taste your reward of a post-shopping pastis in the café.
Another way in which Lawrence scores over Mayle is that the apparent condescension towards the locals that was, I felt, so evident in his books - where it seemed his neighbours were being unwittingly exploited for literary/financial purposes- is nowhere to be seen. Lawrence, by contrast, writes with respect and affection of her neighbours while still managing to convey how bizarre some of their customs, and how incomprehensible their accent, seemed to her British eyes and ears at first.
Her ability to slot so apparently effortlessly into Quercy life may not be so surprising. Lawrence quickly took up the challenge of entertaining her new friends in the manner to which they were already accustomed, tackling the making of pâté's, the eviscerating of birds, the salting of hams, the preparation of pickles (not such a success with the French, she reports), the pots of jams and jellies, with a lack of squeamishness and also with an evident accomplishment that indicates she was clearly a Lot peasant in another life, even if she does draw the line at preserving haricots verts and bottling tomatoes.
The book is about more than food, though. It is a pot pourri of Quercy anecdotes, a Quercy tapas of different tastes; delving into subjects as diverse as Eleanor of Aquitaine, or Aliénor as she would have been in the Quercy (and as some I know, still are), the annual wine bacchanal in Albas, the winter truffle market of Limogne, or simply walking into the nearest village on an orchid trail.
Some of these anecdotes are slight, perhaps, but it doesn't seem to matter because she does them so well. You are bathed in the lazy art de vivre of rural France. They are quotidian snapshots of her life, amuse-gueules that add up to a six course meal of sights, sounds and impressions of the Quercy in all its loveliness, a feel-good book that leaves you smiling and a tad wistful and wanting more.
How could I fail to enjoy it, therefore? Buy it! You will too.
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