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Fiona Alderman: The Jo’s Are Coming

France is still reeling from a very possible win in the French elections, of the Far Right candidate, Marine Le Pen but was narrowly beaten by a coalition team of the Left wing party. This was a great relief for many but had prompted widespread concern. Now, on the eve of the massive Olympic Games in Paris, disaster has struck again. The French call the games, Jeux Olympiques or JO, for short. There has been an attack on the SNCF, the French railway system, with disruption to the services and vandalism on the lines, but it is hoped not to be a terrorist wave of fear.

Complicated structures were put in place for security in and around Paris for the Opening Ceremony which I watched on tv. Long boats and barges gliding down the Seine, despite the pollution, with all the athletes beaming and waving to the crowds aligning the banks. The beautiful backdrop of The City of Light, as Paris is called, passing by the Louvre, Pantheon, Musee d’Orsay , Les Invalides and the Eiffel tower glowing brightly with its Olympic rings and showing off its unique style. Lady Gaga performed on the steps of the river in very high heels, in French, a tribute to French cabaret with a slick performance by her and her dancers. Throughout, there were cut aways to a video of a masked torchbearer running through the roof tops and doing “parcours ” which is a street based art form which involves running, jumping off walls and rolling around. Intense to watch too.

A male principal dancer at the Paris Opera did a beautiful solo on the roof of the Opera and 500 dancers from dance companies all over France performed with grace and precision, despite the threatening rain. Which it did unfortunately, but it couldn’t spoil the climax of the evening which was the emergence of a stately and magnificent Celine Dion high up in middle stage of the Eiffel Tower. This French Canadian singer hadn’t appeared in concert for nearly 4 years, battling a rare disease. She sang Hymne A l’Amour, written by the late Edith Piaf, and she brought much cheering and even tears of emotion.Her shimmering dress was by Dior and had taken over 1000 hours to create !

Anyway, back to the Games that we will be watching, or not, for the next few weeks. The backdrop is Paris itself, with stadiums either rebuilt and others built specially around the city. Particularly impressive locations are the Skatepark riding high on the Place de la Concorde, the fencing under the splendour of the huge dome of the Grand Palais , and a majestic décor fit for Kings for the equestrian events under the eye of the Chateau de Versailles.

A lot of money is invested in them, but what happens when the finish ? Like others before, they become disused venues and “white elephants “. I heard that much is being done to continue afterwards in schools projects about the Games, sports complexes built and jobs created. Until then, we watch these amazing athletes from all over the world show us their very best. Without religion or war or politics. It is above all that and is admirable.

The Chateau of Salignac

The new season has started at the Chateau, and it looks like it will be a successful one. The Starkmann family have opened up several new events this month, and with their young Manager Myriam, who was my neighbour in Salignac, I went to the Crepusculaires one evening (Taken from Crepuscule, meaning twilight,)  I descended to be met by Myriam and she started the historic tour , explaining some of the history from the 11th Century to the 13th Century, the massive restorations that are ongoing and the financement which is also colossal and will take many years , even into future generations.

However, this wasn’t the object of this evening. The “Soiree et Repas Theatralise “ was led by Gaspard Le Basard and his troupe of minstrels. They had taken over the castle and invited us to share with them an evening of stories, song and excellent food.We started in one of the many rooms , sitting on bales of hay and surrounded by candles. I was slightly worried about the fire risk !Even though it was a warm evening , the huge fireplaces had also been lit , lending to the ambiance and we listened to tales of mediavel battles and songs of that time. All dressed in medieval costumes, there were even a few people in the audience who were not part of the spectacle, as I originally thought, but just fanatics of this period ! We wound down the spiral staircase to the Grande Salle to have dinner, which was on long trestle tables and benches. There were about 50 of us , and I spoke to a lot of tourists , who really enjoyed it. As I did, but didn’t manage some of Gaspard’s text, which as I learnt later, was sometimes in old French , with words even the French didn’t catch. I also went to a Petit Concert with musicians playing violin and guitar, one morning. Dutch people who were on holiday, and visited the chateau, and proposed a little concert. Charming. They played Faure, Debussy, English “ Greensleeves “ Carmen and some songs by Jean Ferrat, a notable French singer .I went to talk to them afterwards , to compliment them and the guitarist played some of the other things that they professionally do in Holland . Django Reinhart, Jobim and Brazilian rythyms to Johan Bach. It was just great and my feet were itching to dance !!

The False Lord

(Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Duke_of_Rothesay.svg: Sodacan derivative work: Sodacan, CC BY-SA 3.0,  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Reading my Essor one Friday, I saw a very funny story which I wanted to relate to you. A man named Alain Jollois, who is now aged 60, and goes under a false name of Alan McGregor, was claiming to be a Scottish Lord. Living here, near Perigueux, he worked as a scout for a production company on a proposed film by Hollywood’s Steven Spielberg.He was to convince locals to become “figurants ” and paid technicians on his future film about The Templars, and starring Julia Roberts.However, the production company didn’t exist, but not before 30,000 euros of charitable local donations had been advanced to Jollois for hotels, cars and house with swimming pool for the actors.He went to trial and subsequently to prison, but it didn’t stop him. It continued for years, he would multiply his identities, from the Clan Mc Gregor, to a Lieutenant Colonel of the 42 nd Regiment of the Black Watch Infantry, to an Agent of MI6. He even managed to “con ” a magistrate, a policeman and a high flying executive to leave their jobs to be hired by the MI6.He was attractive to women too, with an engaging and humorous character, but he was caught up with eventually on a dating site when one woman claimed he didn’t have a British accent ! Or certainly not Scottish, with a name like McGregor!!

Does he need psychiatric help ? It seemed that he would lie but it was like second nature to him. Now he is back in France and on Social Security. We wait and watch out.

That’s all from Fifi’s stories from rural France.

July / August 2024

This section: Fiona Alderman blogging from The Salignac Foundation France