Sunday - With Vol and Greg - What a great day.

Sunday, July 18th, What a day in Salleles d’Aude

This was a magical day. Vol Ranger is a woman I’ve worked with some in California in Emergency Medical Services. She was the EMS Director for Santa Cruz County for a time and then has been working as a consultant in Disaster Planning over the last few years. I’ve known her but only on a limited professional basis. Another colleague, Diane Akers, told me that Vol had a home in France and why didn’t I see if she was anywhere near me and if she would be around while I was here. The good news was yes, and yes.

Vol, and her partner Greg, invited MaryAnn and me to come to their place for the day. Their house is in Sallelles d’Aude about one hour west and south of here. This particular day was the day of the town’s annual flea market, boat jousting event and concert. We arrived at just after 11 am. Vol and Greg greeted us warmly and we immediately felt we’d known them forever. Their house is old, big, and right on the canal. The canal has locks and boats, some pretty big, travel on it. The flea market was right in front of their house. The walkway in front of their home is shaded with the big trees that line the canal. Their house also has a really huge garage because it once was a winery. The caverns that stored the wine inside the garage walls are still there. Vol comes over several times a year for extended periods while Greg is only able to come for a month annually. They are very at home here and speak very good French (at least it sure sounded good to me). They served us a delightful lunch of melon, jambon, cheese, and (of course) local rose.

We checked out the flea market (MaryAnn eventually bought a purse for 4 euros (she just can’t help herself). We strolled along the canal and watched the boats pass through the locks – very interesting. We also visited a museum of textile crafts which was very interesting. Beautiful things and there was a visiting exhibit from Australia.

Then came the highlight of the day – boat jousting. This is a sport that has been popular for hundreds of years in this area. Two row boats (big ones) compete with each other. The boats have a long beam extending from their rear. On it sit several team members and then the jouster is at the end of the beam. The two boats approach each other while a piper and drummer on each boat play the same tune. As the two jousts confront each other they push their opponent on his shield with a long pole with the objective, of course, of dumping one’s opponent into the river. The loser swims to shore and then they do this over and over again while the crowd cheers them on. The event ends with novices from on shore trying their hands at the jousting. A lot of people got very wet.

After the event, we went back to Vol and Greg’s. We listened to the village church chime 7 pm and play a fancy tune as we watched from the deck on the top floor of their house. The swifts (birds), same kind we have here, were very busy flying about and catching insects.

Vol served a delicious roast chicken dinner with a really good veggie dish of zucchini with tomato confit and goat cheese, and the freshest lettuce salad you could imagine.

We left before the final event, a concert, due to the long drive home. It was a magical day and we loved spending time with Vol and Greg. It is so wonderful to find out that someone you’ve known very superficially in the professional sense is someone you’d really like on a more personal level. Thanks so much Vol & Greg.