We had our first trip out today. Not a practical trip to the supermarket. Not a trip confined to within a ten kilometres radius of home. A proper day out. Freedom.
Our destination was a small village 77 km away called Simorre. We were going there simply because Michael had noticed it on the skyline as he drove back from Olivia last week and thought it looked interesting. This is how we always used to arrange our days out before Covid came along: pick a destination to head for and then allow ourselves to be side-tracked by whatever we found en-route that might look interesting. As you will see from the pictures below France never fails to provide beguiling lanes to turn down, tempting green tracks to wander along and something unexpected on every trip.
I popped into the boulangerie in Simorre to pick up a treat or two, a chocolate muffin and a pistachio/almond concoction, and as I crossed the square with my goodies in my hand I said Bonjour to a woman passing the other way. She replied in the same vein and then stopped and asked where I was from. I told her I was English and she nodded knowingly and then informed me that she could tell from the way I said hello. I gave her a smile, through slightly gritted teeth, and made my way back to the van, where Michael had got the kettle boiling for a cuppa. He looked at my glum face and grimaced.
‘What’s up with you?’
‘One word.’ I said.
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘That’s all it takes. One word and they know I’m not French. All these years, all those Bonjours and I still can’t say it right.’
Michael handed me my mug. ‘Don’t worry about it. It probably sounds charming, just like the French do when they speak English.’
I hadn’t thought of it like that before. I’d always tried so hard to get my accent as good as I possibly could, usually at the expense of the grammar! But I suddenly realized I had been beating myself up for nothing.
‘This is nice.’ Michael took a huge bite out of the pistachio muffin.
‘We’re sharing it.’ I grabbed it and handed him the chocolate one. ‘And we’re sharing that too so don’t gobble it all.’
Once tea and muffins were despatched, we set off to see what we could find. It was a pretty town, with charming squares and painted houses. As is so often the case, the church was very grand, almost too imposing for such a small place.
The graveyard was on the outskirts, quite independent from any church building. Opposite was a field of barley and above it the natural shapes of swirling clouds contrasted sharply with the hard lines of the contrails. Our skies had been empty of planes for so many months but they were making their presence felt once more.
Arriving back at the car park we noticed a well worn track leading out into the fields. We followed it and found a co-operative allotment site, complete with a pig, and an unusual calender of lady gardeners with striking head gear, one poster for each month of the year.
Having seen Lac de L’Astarac on the map we drove home by a slightly different route to have a look. You can just see the mountains in the distance. The wildflowers were so profuse that it made me wonder why we bother with our manicured, organised gardens and we learnt the name of a new flower: the pyramid orchid – I am hopeless at remembering plant names but I think I shall be able to remember this one.
I know many of you have been enduring horrible weather and are probably gnashing your teeth at all these blue skies, but in my defense we also have had a spell of rain and unremitting greyness and this was our first good day for ages. And now we are back to grey skies again and as I send you this blog it is raining. Feeling better?
So that is it for this week. Best wishes.
MJ
The Olivia Rose Diaries 
I love your photographs as they really capture the French atmosphere that I remember so well. The words aren’t too bad either!!
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There’s never any shortage of things to photograph once you are out and about. Glad they brought back happy memories!
MJ
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Good to hear you had a day out, and what a beautiful place. Loved all of the pictures, especially the calendar photos, brilliant. I wouldn’t worry too much about them realising you are English – Gareth, sometimes in his urgency to say hello to someone French, gets a little muddled on occasion. Instead of saying Bonjour (hello) he sometimes says au devoir (goodbye) and everyone then is wondering why I am standing there laughing my head off….. but we all try and that is what they like from us. But really, your photographs were absolutely stunning, and the colours of the flowers, especially the Orchid were gorgeous. After getting back from a couple of days in North Wales in our motorhome, where the weather wasn’t too bad, yesterday proved to be extremely wet and very very windy….. we had two trees down this morning from around the pond which are going to take a lot of cutting up and removing.. Hey ho….. Take care both and fingers crossed for more outings for you both. Our very best wishes to you both. Ann and Gareth
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Glad to hear I’m not the only one who gets my words in a muddle. Sounds like heavy work with the trees but think of the firewood.
MJ
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Oh â itâs so funny! We know Simorre! We have been there in 1999! We were looking for an old house/farm/whatever and where searching in that area, we had a real estate agent who lived in Simorre! But finally we did not find anything down there and bought finally in the south east of France.
And now a word to comfort you seriously concerning your accent : everybody in France will instantly hear (even after just one word) if somebody comes from the region of Simorre! It is even possible that a person, coming from Simorre, might not be understood in the rest of France!! They are speaking just a âkind ofâ French. Their pronounciation is a bit like a german accent. Not so very lovely if you ask me.
So be proud of your French and your accent !
We are about to leave next week !! I will not talk about the weather here or in the Netherlandsâ¦
Hopefully you will get our next news from board of Henriette!
Have a good trip-time
Melanie and Matthias
Von: The Olivia Rose Diaries Gesendet: Freitag, 21. Mai 2021 18:13 An: henrichdrome@gmail.com Betreff: [New post] Our first day trip
maryjane678 posted: ” We had our first trip out today. Not a practical trip to the supermarket. Not a trip confined to within a ten kilometres radius of home. A proper day out. Freedom. Our destination was a small village 77 km away called Simorre. We were going there “
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Wow, just goes to prove yet again what a small world it is. Really pleased, and envious, that you will be back aboard soon. Send us pictures!!!
MJ
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A day out is such a treat after the series of lockdowns. And the weather has smiled on us yesterday and today, having been dire for most of May so far. After 24 years here, I still get annoyed that I can’t lose my English accent, so I sympathise. French friends say it’s charming, but maybe they are being kind! Simorre looks an interesting place. The churches in these small towns often look disproportionately large in relation to the place.
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Yes Simorre was a joy, although it was so wonderful to be out that almost anywhere would have done the trick! Neither of us wanted to come home, we wanted to keep traveling, but hey ho. It’s a start.
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We enjoyed reading about your outing.
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Glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully more to come over the following weeks.
MJ
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So glad you were able to get out and enjoy the countryside once again. The church at Simorre is ancient! Not a lot of info is available on it, but I’m guessing 8th century, wow. That’s old!
I would have loved to linger next to Lac de L’Astarac – the day, the wildflowers and view were perfect.
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Yes, we didn’t want to come home. It would make a wonderful wild camping spot.
MJ
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