Local characters – an ongoing feature.

Who ate all the pies?
She calls us more or less on a daily basis at the moment. Not that we mind of course because she's a real 'sweetheart' and we love her dearly.

I am talking about Dani, our neighbour - patissière extraordinaire (retired) and wife of Henri Boulanger extraordinaire (also retired). Henri is also a former deputy mayor of the village and, together, they are just the most wonderful couple and the best of neighbours.

It is true to say that Henri is not the man he was a couple of years ago before he fell off his ladder and landed on his head on the concrete below. This is not best practise when you are young and fit let alone when one is in one's 70's and carrying enough excess weight (dare I suggest) to make the 32ft per second per second seem a little underestimated as a rate of acceleration. He spent quite a while in hospital and has had to slow down a bit since then but he is, nonetheless a great character for all that. Many years ago, my mother in law - a collector of all things 'tacky' - gave Val and me a biscuit barrel whic I swear must have been modelled on Henri.I can't look at either without smiling about the other.

Having spent the best part of 50 years getting up at before the birds to bake their bread and their cakes in Béziers, the habit has remained with them into retirement. During whatever growing season is current (and there is invariably something edible coming out of the vegetable garden) we awake often to find a black bag of vegetables, fruit, or whatever hanging on the front door handle all freshly culled, pulled, dug or picked that very morning. It could be anything from aubergines to marrows, tomatoes to artichokes and the one thing that can be guaranteed, apart from their 'morning' freshness of course, is the quantity is as generous and ample as both the girth and the spirit of the donors. This ritual has been going on since we first arrived her in the village

Occasionally, we even get a black bag full of ……….well……..black bags. The local Mairie provides them free of charge to bag up our rubbish for the bin men – who collect three times a week by the way. Dani collects them for all her friends and neighbours and distributes them on her way home.

Le temps des cerises..........

The reason she is calling us at the moment is because the cherry tree, planted by Dani's parents and of similarly ample proportions as its current owners, is heavily laden with the most beautiful black cherries. Judging by the yield of our own, recently planted and much smaller tree, there must be upwards of 60kgs of cherries to be picked. Since his fall, Henri, not surprisingly, does not do ladders any more. The first call of invitation was almost a couple of weeks ago, at which time the fruit had barely ripened. It was a bit of a chore picking the ripe one from a hundred others, not yet ready for eating. We (Nick & I) did our duty, nevertheless and went home grateful for the few we had harvested. It took us an hour or so - ten minutes to pick the cherries and the rest of the time 'chewing the fat' with Henri on the merits of one variety of tomato against another or whether to pick the courgettes young and firm, whilst still in flower or to let them fatten up a little. The flower of course is both vital to the pollination of the other plants but it can also be eaten as part of a 'green' salad.

In fact, there seems little in a traditional French country garden (or outside for that matter), which cannot be eaten - including the snails, which will eat almost any crop of freshly grown seedlings. It is partly for this reason that the call to harvest is as early as it is each year. The thought of the birds and the insects sharing the fruits of her parents' labours is anathema to any self-respecting French woman. Therefore it is essential to harvest before the birds have their share. Of course it is a hopeless task as they can access those parts of the tree we mere humans can only dream of reaching with our pathetic climbing skills and ladders. And, frankly, having seen the consequences of falling just two metres from a ladder the birds are welcome to the upper branches.

Knit one, purl one

Dani’s other great passion is knitting. She will knit anything and everything and is oft seen modelling her latest needlework. However, she is best known locally for her prolific output of ‘patchwork’ blankets or plaids as they are known in these parts. Had she been around in Napoleon's times and ‘knitting for victory’ (to steal an image from the Land Girls of wartime Britain), the Little Emperor’s troops may have faired rather better in Moscow and the world since 1812 would have been a somewhat different place.

In France, each year, there is an event known as ‘le Telethon’. It is, essentially, a national fundraising exercise, carried out throughout the land, over the course of the first weekend in December. It is supported by the French TV (Channel 2) and the national radio network. Its main support comes from the millions of small groups and individuals in cities, towns and villages, the length and breadth of France, who ‘do something’ to help the cause. The cause in this case is the research and treatment of muscular dystrophy. I am told, there are about 200 different types of this debilitating disease. 

Margon, of course, does its bit and Dani and her friends have long been leading lights in the struggle to raise charitable funds in an increasingly difficult economic climate. This year, some bright spark in the neighbouring village of Alignan du Vent, had the even brighter idea of ‘linking’ the two villages with a woollen scarf - the idea being for people to knit it in lengths of one metre and then sell it for the charity. Alignan du Vent is almost three kilometres from Margon - centre to centre - although from village name panel to village name panel it is, mercifully, only 2.4kms. 

The ladies of both villages set about knitting and YES! We made it and the incredible Dani managed 400m all on her own. It was an amazing achievement by the teams and an even more remarkable effort by the wonderful Danielle – God bless her!