Home » Fiona Alderman blogging from The Salignac Foundation France » Fiona Alderman blogging from rural France – New Mayor

Fiona Alderman blogging from rural France – New Mayor

A New One

Yes I promised you the results from last month? It has been and continues to be a slight problem.

Mr Ferber won the fight, but it was not with a great majority. The outgoing mayor, having only lasted for a year, got very few votes, and the opposition ie third party was running close to Monsieur Ferber. He is now the new Mayor. He was already the adjoint to our last Mayor, Mr Blue Eyes, Monsieur Dubois of over 20 years so he knows the score. He was also the local physiotherapist, whom we knew in his professional capacity.

A new team elected and many within it that we know. Our road is needing mending so with neighbours help, who are on the council, maybe something can be done. For years now the cars hurtle up and down, creating a slight tension as you put your foot out the door. Even for the pussycats, who leap out of the way. They want to make the road one way, so talks are underway. The new campaign is called Rassembler et Agir, meaning come together and act, and they certainly seem positive in their approach. With ambitious plans to build new houses for us seniors, all on one level with no treacherous stairs to climb. Another initiative is to develop new enterprises and local businesses and maintain local services like the importance of the Post Office. Now situated by the Mairie but has strange opening times that I can never remember. Lack of staff and Covid regulations have meant staff dismissals and a suspended service at one point too.

Hopefully, we are coming out of this Confinement by mid May, when we may see our Cafe terrace open again. It has been a long and tortuous time for so many. Don’t know if it will ever return to a time before Covid?

International Dance Day

Lambtron, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

On the 29th of April the International dance day is celebrated each year. Formed by UNESCO, within the performing arts section, created in 1982, and is the anniversary of the birth of Jean Georges Noverre, the founder of ballet d’action, ie narrative dance. He lived from 1727 to 1810 and was a dancer/ballet master at the court of  King Louis XIV.

The Message Author, as she or he is called, has included over the years: Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Alicia Alonso, Akram Khan and Maurice Bejart. All formidable people.

They have shown the power and the relevance to society that dance gives us, bringing people together, uniting different cultures with a universal language, that of dance.

This year the host is German dancer Friedman Vogel who is  a principal at Stuttgart Ballet.

However with Covid restrictions, this year will be different and all the celebrations will be online.

www.international-dance-day.org.

On this day put on your favourite music and have a dance! Good for the  soul. Or any other day really?

A little lost cat

About 6 months ago a little cat sneaked into our house, and I thought I recognized her from a neighbour up the road. She seemed frightened but she began to visit every day. I fed her, of course, and she seemed to like it with us. We had lost our last cat the year before, so we were very happy to have this adorable one again.

I did go and ask my neighbour, who confirmed it was theirs, but that their dog was very boisterous and Missy, as I call her, didn’t like it. Bit by bit, she came to us, and even spent the night on the bed.

I became very attached to her, and didn’t want to give her up, but eventually I had to send her back.

I spent 10 days worrying about her, as she was being shut in to get used to returning to her owner but I had a feeling things were not going well. I went to find out and she was hiding up in the rafters of the roof. Eventually we coaxed her down and she has now been adopted by us. Cats do decide where and with who they want to live with? A great joy and she is very amusing to watch, playing with a red plastic top off the wine box. More “Missy tales” to come.

That’s all for this month. Stay safe and well.

April 2021. Fifi’s stories from rural France.

Salignac Foundation. Short courses in dance and film. Perhaps resuming this summer.

This section: Fiona Alderman blogging from The Salignac Foundation France