Fiona Alderman's Blog: Salignac or Condat?

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Fiona Alderman’s Blog: Salignac or Condat?

A very strange thing happened recently . Suddenly all our road signs to the entry of the village changed and our Salignac became Condat. During the night over 800 signs were changed as a result of grievances by the farmers. Not for the first time either. Due to the worst harvest of corn seen in 40 years, a considerable loss in the vineyards and with food stocks for animals now at threat due to extensive flooding throughout France. Our country was laid open and bare through the night , vandalism on the signs and disruption for visitors not arriving at the right place? Tamnies became Marcais, Sarlat became Terrasson and on and on throughout the country.

Since the beginning of the year farmers and their syndicates have struggled to find a way through the promises made by the Government and the dissolution of its General Assembly in June has left agricultural people at a loss. They are also facing animal epidemics and are angry at the time lost and their livelihoods being so vastly damaged. Tractors will once again come out of their farms in protest and block essential roundabouts in major towns if something isn’t done soon ? To emphasise the problem, a protest in the form of a stone tomb, weighing over a ton, was placed in front of the Prefecture in Perigueux, with the epitaph “Famille Paysans ” inscribed upon it with the date 2024. It has lead to many people suffering with depression and mental illness. A flag is now flying on the building, replacing a Ukranian one, yellow in colour and a symbol of the Co ordination Rurale of the Dordogne. Peace hopefully will be restored.

By the way, normality was restored very quickly with our signs being changed back. Some things happen quickly here, why not others ?

A Wild Boar Story

wild boar – https-::www.metmuseum.org:art:collection:search:377370

There is a hunting area in our surrounding countryside and from the 11th of September, the Chasse is open, the sounds of the guns can be heard ringing out in the depths of the forest. They are hunting for wild boar, sanglier in French, and a real delicacy apparently. I have never tried it, and don’t intend to either but it is raved about here. However , the presence of the boars is quite disturbing and they can reak havoc on the land and on other animals. A golf course near here was completely massacred and the damage was great. There are over 2 million wild boar in France, a large rise since the 1980’s apparently. Maybe due to the milder winters, they are now coming down to the towns, looking for food. There are often accidents on the roads with motorists trying to avoid them. They are big beasts too, a male of 140/165cm can weigh up to 110 kilos. A female of 125/145 cm weighing up to 80 kilos. They are most active at dusk and overnight, having rested in their wallows that they have dug and lie in with other members of their tribe.

There are strict regulations on their hunting but all the same, nearly 500, 000 are killed every season .
Completely by chance, I was given a book recently by Carol Drinkwater, the actress who starred in the TV series All Creatures Great and Small many years ago , where she played Helen, the wife of vet James Heriot . She lives in Provence, and she is now an accomplished writer. In her book The Olive Harvest, she tells us of her problems with the sangliers. She is adamant she doesn’t want to kill them, even though they are trespassing on her land. She even goes with the local Chasse and witnesses on another neighbour’s land what happens and she is appalled.

For the French it is a very different matter and one that is treated humanely in the countryside and is their daily way of life.
I have seen one quite close , by the way ! Barry and i were sitting by the open door one early evening , enjoying a glass of wine at the end of the day ,when Barry shot up to get his camera . Strolling up the road , was, now I know, a wild boar. Not interested in us, he continued up the hill. I don’t think even Barry was quick enough for a photo and we later asked, were we drunk ? What did we see?

Clint Eastwood’s son

Kyle Eastwood

We live in rural France, as you now know, but here in the surrounds there is not a lot happening culturally. In Sarlat though , 20 minutes from Salignac, we do have Le Centre Culturelle and recently, to my amazement, Kyle Eastwood was playing . Born in 1968, he is the son of film actor /director Clint Eastwood. Kyle is also a well known double bass player and electric bass guitar..He is a film composer and has written scores for 9 of his father’s films.

As a child he grew up with music and as his parents were fans of the jazz greats he would go backstage to meet some of them, notably Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan.

Kyle’s first solo album, From there to Here, debuted in 1998 and revisited the beautiful jazz standards. It is an astonishing album, sensitive and melodic with great musicians.

Unfortunately I couldn’t go to the concert in Sarlat, but it was booked out. He received rave reviews and I hope he comes back as he plays a lot in France. Bravo !!

(Kyle Eastwood, Jazz in Marciac 2021 You Tube)

That’s it for this month. Fifi’s stories from rural France.
November 2024