It would be understandable to assume that the word ‘bonfire’ comes from a mix of French and English……
If you go to Vernet-les-Bains, look out for the ‘Entente Cordiale’ monument next to the mairie, the only one of its kind in France.
A silence, our heads are bowed, a prayer from the Mayor. In turn the boys read out the list of the fallen sons of the Great War, perhaps a dozen names from those awful days. This would have been a village of around a hundred people.
There are still some harvests to gather in the garden – the last few marrows and gourds need to be picked before the frosts, and the rows of parsnips are now demanding to be harvested to provide winter delights such as parsnip chips and curried parsnip soup, which are practically unknown to the French.
The annual ‘trêve hivernale’ (winter truce), starts from the Ist November and ends 31st March.
An update of local news in the Pyrenees-Orientales
Float away your stress! with Julie Boulanger My husband declined my invitation to try out the float pools at Silence – Centre de flottaison. “If I want to float in salt water, I’ll just go…
Du Bellay and his contemporaries, the Pléiade, frequently made use of diminutives (violettes, fleurettes, vermeillettes, oeillettes) to add charm to their poems.
In 2012, Albert Camus, Nobel prize winner and author of some of the greats of French literature, went under scrutiny for a photo in which he was smoking a cigarette.
Actions speak louder than words so good luck with this French idioms quiz, look out for the next one coming soon…and break a leg!