Brocante et Fête de la Village

As the summer starts to turn a bit cooler, it's time for flea-markets, village fetes and other celebrations. I went to see the brocante, flea-market, at our nearby village and it turned out to be one of the biggest ones I've ever seen. Practically all the streets of the village had been taken over by tables, boxes of stuff, parasols and mingling people in search of that something, chose importante, for the kitchen, garage or living room.

I am a self-confessed flea-market and second-hand enthusiast. Must've started that already at young age when I was searching through the boxes in our attic, never knowing what I could find. I've been known to look into skips too (you never know what people throw away) and many a time I've found things that are still useful and in good condition.

Lots of interesting things on offer but I got exhausted just trying to get through the throng of people and marching up and down every little street in the village. Phew! Maybe these things don't happen often enough; it seemed like every person from the 30km radius was there. And there was so many cars parked along the country roads, that I had to leave mine nearly 1 km away and walk into the village. Seems I'm not the only fan of les brocantes.

After all that traipsing around, I came home with four glasses, a guide book for local walks and some jam jars (which Mon Cheri took away tout de suit for his blueberry jam). Not a big haul but still it was a very pleasant morning.

That very same afternoon we had a fête de village, organized by our mayor (who just happens to live right next to us) who is retiring and wanted to have a last party to say farewell before that. And we were very lucky with the weather as well, since the weather has taken a turn lately and the very next day after the party it was pisshing down like nobody's business.

The main course was a whole, roasted pig which we went to see as soon as we arrived. Better get the photos while I still can, I thought to myself. The French, the supreme carnivores, would make a quick job at eating that, as soon as the meat was in front of them. Even though I am not a big meat eater myself, I was salivating like a famished dog in front of this spectacle and couldn't wait to get it on my plate. Some primeval instinct, I'm sure!

The last few touches before it's ready.

Bread from a local bakery.

And of course something to wash it all down with! We arrived just after the midday, as was stated in the invitations, but the wait for food was rather long. Someone must've miscalculated it all a bit, so all the Tuc-biscuits and chips vanished quickly, as well as people getting rather tipsy before the food itself arrived. No surprised there, it is France, after all.

And here it comes, the main attraction. Well done mayor!

  Just get those iron thingys off boys and we're ready!

A big cauldron of l'aligot (mashed potato woth cheese) coming on to go with the porc.

A table! Fifteen long tables were arranged under a huge gazebo and hungry mouths were finally fed. Juicy melon with ham for starters. And of course copious amount of wine, as you do.

And when in France, everybody brings their knives into every occasion where there might be something to eat. Yes, the knives are very important and this is the typical model. Mon Cheri sharpened ours specially. It must be a pain nowadays when one can't take ones knife with them in the airplane. How will the French eat their cheese abroad?

There was a man in our table who had made a knife for his wife and in all excitement I forgot to take a close-up of it. It was truly a beautiful piece of craftmanship. And Madam kept a close eye to it too.

After the starters we enjoyed the very delicious roasted pork with l'aligot, then the fromage and finally some ice cream. No coffee though since the particular electricity plug didn't work and nobody thought to check in time. Must've had their noses in their glasses of rose. Never mind. Fun was had all round and home was only 1 km away. Close enough to crawl back.

Merci, monsieur le maire, well done!