The Herault Times Issue 6 by Gatsby L'Herault

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAGAZINE FOR THE HERAULT

FREE Issue 6

Nov/DEC 2012 Monthly

www.theheraulttimes.com

MUSIC* WINE* GARDENING* NATURE* HISTORY *EXHIBITIONS* ART* FOOD 1

THT November 2012

Contents THT

Never Miss An Issue: Visit www.theheraulttimes.com and subscribe now

Every Month 04 Editorial 05 Letters

I M IGR TIO 08

06 My Place 07 And Another Thing

This Month Articles 08 Immigration

Immigration

14 L’ Hérault: The Hidden River

09 Apicius Dines Out

20 HT recommends

10 Wine Times

22 Art - Me, Myself, I

11 Business / Legal

23 Art - Ernest Pignon-Ernest

12 Garden / Nature 13 GTBY

24 Market Street Heroes 25 Stained glass - Rod Mckee

The Hidden River

16 Days Out 17 Lifestyle 20 Subscribe

21 Looking Back 26 Recipe Times

Stained Glass - Rod McKee

28 DIY 28 E-Male 31 Sport

Cover Photo

“Lodeve”

Market Street Heroes

dharmacamera@googlemail.com 3

The Herault Times 1 Grand Rue, St Thibery,34630 Publisher: Gatsby B Editor : Emma F Director : Robin Hicks Advertising Director: Chris L Art Editor: Daisy B Art: L.A. EDITORIAL EDITOR@THEHERAULTTIMES.COM SUBSCRIPTIONS www.theheraulttimes.com/subscribe or contact us on info@theheraulttimes.com ADVERTISING For display advertising, print classifieds please call 0624 63 63 77 or mail advertising@theheraulttimes.com For online advertising please visit http://classifieds.theheraulttimes.com www.theheraulttimes.com PYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

The Herault Times The Herault Times is owned and published by L’Herault Art L.A. Publishing (51926616300010). The publisher, authors and contributors reserve their rights in regards to copyright of their work. No part of this work covered by the copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written consent of the publisher. No person, organization or party should rely or on any way act upon any part of the contents of this publication whether that information is sourced from the website, magazine or related product without first obtaining the advice of a fully qualified person. This magazine and its related website and products are sold and distributed on the terms and condition that: The publisher, contributors, editors and related parties are not responsible in any way for the actions or results taken by any person, organisation or any party on basis of reading information, stories or contributions in this publication, website or related product. The publisher, contributors and related parties are not engaged in providing legal, financial or professional advice or services. The publisher, contributors, editors and consultants disclaim any and all liability and responsibility to any person or party, be they a purchaser, reader, advertiser or consumer of this publication or not in regards to the consequences and outcomes of anything done or omitted being in reliance whether partly or solely on the contents of this publication and related website and products. The publisher, editors, contributors and related parties shall have no responsibility for any action or omission by any other contributor, consultant, editor or related party. END

ISSN: 2261-561X

November

Editorial

A time of year when we take a breath. The summer is over and the cold permeates the soul; some of us are waiting eagerly for December and her festive cheer to warm our bones. And others grumble of the end of social events and the ‘need to go to a town, city, country’ to be stimulated. Think again! November is great. The GOOD

On the world stage, the

US presidential election is looming nearer – while we sit back and listen to the verbal fencing between candidates, hoping for a few memorable faux-pas – and we wonder if the winner will still declare France as America’s most powerful ally… Locally, as always there is a plethora of things to do, from art expos (A.NP.Q. in Peret and Galerie Ancien Courier in Montpellier are favourites this month) to concerts offering a wide variety of music (Lodève looks good) genres and Beziérs offers The Nutcracker and Swan Lake as well as Fairs everywhere. There is so much to do and see, all on your doorstep The BAD

Just outside of Lille, recent violent demonstrations by locals against a small group of Roma families are dark reminders of an ever growing shadow of resentment towards immigrants in France. Here in the South, Languedoc-Roussillon has always been a land of immigration, “The sea within the lands” or in Latin ‘mare medi terra’. Are immigration issues as bad as the media presents them? The Hérault was one of the first departments in France to implement non-discrimination policies across all of its public services. Living in a diverse and expanding community, Hugh MacCamley considers our own particular responsibilities in making it successful. Whilst looking in, have you ever looked at the wonderful natural masterpiece that we have right under our noses? More colourful than a Cezanne, more astonishing than a Munch and at times more violent than ..... yes, with a build up like that we look at the river Hérault, Nature’s masterpiece which Nigel Paige explores in all its guises. And the cooling of the

days is never without its ongoing sports stories. Do you have hazy joyous memories of an Olympics, a Tour de France with little controversy? Of Montpellier beating the money of Paris in football and Andy Murray doing something most us thought beyond him? The successes are many and the story of Valerie Roques in this month’s My Place and Elizabeth Bowers in the sports pages bring eternal optimism to human endeavor and effort, but it is the gossip and gore that oft leaves us unsated… THE UGLY

Montpellier and handball,

Lance Armstrong and drug taking (I still want to believe he is innocent), racism in football from the French National team to the UK and players and now officials. When will people learn that this world has no place for racism, bigotry and continuing hate… and so the circle turns...... So how is your November going? Peaceful? Winding down before December? Not if you live here. Wherever you may be, in the words of the movie “This is my kind of town”

The writers and contributors are the stars of this magazine and without them I would have all of my hair and would not be drinking gin at 9 am every day. Having said that, you should know more about them. All their bios can be found at www.theheraulttimes.com. Please read them, they deserve to be recognised for their fantastic contribution and for being patient and generous to me.

IMPORTANT:

his magazine is intended for the use of the individual(s) who picked it up.

This magazine may contain information that is helpful, opinionated and can at times be unsuitable for overly sensitive Persons with no cultural credibility. If you are not sure then may we politely suggest that you pass it onto someone else as to continue reading is not recommended and may constitute an irritating social faux pas. No animals were harmed in the making of this magazine, and believe it or not one single opinion is definitive- period.

Letters Hunting rules? Are you sure? I note from your article on hunting that there is apparently fixed dates for hunting. So can you clarify the situation with policing these rules. It seems to be that rules are in place but are not really that relevant as in my village shooting is apparently when the weather is not too cold and the bar is open straight afterwards. Any comments from anyone? Martin Béziers Why is my beautiful town so villified by the ex-pat community? Everyone loves Montpellier and Sète and the villages around but there is such negativity about Béziers. We have culture, the best flower market in the area, restaurants, boutique shopping, retail outlets and a beautiful river and places to visit. And yet the focus of many is negative, mainly drugs and outsiders. Please visit us without prejudice, we deserve it. Lou Personally Lou, I totally agree. It is why issue 1 had Béziers on the front cover. A fantastic place to live and visit. Elections I was wondering if you knew of anyone covering the American elections. Back home we had ‘Presidential parties’ that gave a little fun to the event. I have noticed that your AGLR people are run by an American, do they do anything? Pat (Lattes) Well said Pat, I diary American elections, a truly democratic

process at its best!! (I have shares in Haliburton and oil companies.)

good as I knex some of the winners personally. Jackie (Beziers)

Education Please please please ask your readers to read the wonderful article on education that you ran over the last two issues. Magnificent and well balanced. If you want to know why I read this magazine over all the others that is all you need to show people. Superb. Jacques (Mauguio)

It was purely space Jackie but as you asked nicely it will be done. News I see that WoW is 1 of your partners. Couldn’t u run a detailed news section 2 go with the headlines they send? Robert, text Weather Would you please take those happy weather maps off your website. It is depressing me and I miss home. Rene (at college in Oxford)

GTBY As a mother with two children (1 of each) may I pass on their thanks for the good to be young page. Also I think that credit should be given to you for advertising and recommending another magazine (L’echo) which is wonderful and we have subscribed to. Very impressed that you showcase other magazines, Well done. Amanda (Montpellier)

Gentlemen If the article on hunting offended you and you are not a vegan then you are naïve hypocrites ! Meat and leather comes from Animals NOT from supermarkets. A wild animal has a better life than a domestic farmed beast. And just because it has big eyes and is “cute” does not make it any more valid than a Mole Rat or a Mosquito. I hunt deer and game birds for the freezer but also carefully carry scorpions out of my house trying not to distress them(...). Clive (Cessanon)

L’Echo is a great publication and well worth a look. We are here to showcase the best in any form, in any place. Spa Day Your prize of a spa day looks great. Any chance a man can win it? Peter (Bedariaux)

Hunting (Issue 5) Re the hunting - the hunters here don’t strut around, and they always return to their hunting lodges with their kills, to divide between them - all kills are taken home and cooked and eaten. Strikes me as being far better than hunting foxes who are killed by dogs, then have their tails cut off and paraded around as a

Peter, sending me a picture of you in speedos does not curry favour and worse, a third party does the prize draw. Competitions Can you put the prize winners back in the magazine please. It was fun (to be disappointed) but

The Other Letters A selection of excerpts fom letters that we will post anonymously.... (...) and hunters deserved to be shot. those poor cruel and barbaric animals....(...) Surely not all animals are cruel and barbaric? (...) so is it realistic to hope that teachers are proud of their occupation, take pride in their work and the service they give to the next generation. Teachers are only human (...) Er, yes it’s realistic but only if they really are human.

(...) the cold weather is not why I came to France. It isn’t just me, other friends of ours who lived in Norway say it’s colder too (...) This is a joke isn’t it? It’s November and colder? And you had to ask someone from Norway if you were right? (...) so I usually have to go to the airport for my copy as there are never enough in Narbonne.(...) It is The Herault Times but thank you for subscribing. 5

trophy after the hunt. Do I agree with hunting animals and killing them - no of course I don’t! But I do feel they are a lot more humane in their methods and use of the carcass afterwards. Shirley Well said Shirley, when in Rome etc.... Opinion Is there any logic to Christmas shopping for family and friends in France? Whatever your nationality may I suggest you get a ferry or train to the United Kingdom after the 25th December and take advantage of all of the sales. It saves a lot of money and gives you a lovely break just after christmas. Jane via email Jane, you are sooo clever. And to all the children reading let’s just cancel Xmas shall we until it’s convenient. Humbug, Jane. Letters (...)and the comments on letters are mean. I think you should be kinder to your readers as you are obviously a cold and unfeeling person. Steve (by letter) Cold? Unfeeling? Me. I want to work with children and bring peace to the world. (Note I didn’t put the rest of your letter in ha!) November As it gets colder outside please remember those that feel it more than you do. There are no borders to keep you warm. Please say hello to your neighbours and make sure everyone sees the temperatures rising. Alan (Salvation Army)

V R Athlete and coach, co-founder of Clermont Endurance Club alerie

oques

was born in the Clermont l’Hérault on 23rd January, 1963. I had a very happy childhood surrounded by love and affection from my parents. My happiest memories are of all the Christmases spent as a family with my paternal and maternal grandparents - no longer with us - who spoiled me with lots of presents; and the unforgettable parties with all my cousins. My saddest memory growing up is the death of my friend who was

legs felt they were going to give way, they were heavy like cement; I had a very bad pain in my stomach and my head was going to explode from all the muscular pain. I crossed the finish line, my body completely drained. Then I saw everyone leaping around, the timekeepers were approaching me congratulating me, my coach was hugging me and it was only then that I realized that I had done well and that nothing would be the

electrocuted in a domestic accident when she was only 7, it was a devastating experience. My body grew too quickly so I had to spend a lot of time with a kinesiologist because my back was causing me pain. One day, while taking part in a cross-country competition at college, my kinesiologist suggested I join an athletic club instead of the kiné sessions which I was not at all keen on. It was a Wednesday in January when I turned up for my first training session at the Clermont l’Hérault athletic club; I was 13. I learnt that a short cross-country competition was planned for the following Saturday in Villeneuvette. The club coach wanted me to participate. I started the race, but had to pull-out half-way through because I hadn’t trained enough and was having breathing difficulties. However, a week later I took part in the cross-country departmental championships and came 3rd, my first podium. My parents started to take an interest in my results and accompanied me to the cross-country regional in Saint-Gilles where I won. I’ll never forget my mum’s reaction. She was so happy to see me come first that she ran on to the race course and crossed the finishing line shouting and yelling to me. She nearly had me disqualified. We were given a verbal warning; it was the first and last time we would cross the finishing line together! By 1978, after going on to break my records from race to race in both cross and track, I changed category to become a cadet. I started to run the 1500m. One day at a meet in Montpellier my coach came to tell me that there wouldn’t be a 1500m so I’d have to try the 400m. I was terrified because I didn’t know this course, was it sprint or middle-distance? I’d never used a starting block, so I was allowed on this occasion to start from standing. Once I set off I started to attack the bend, all the while moderating my race. At the 200m point my father and my coach were shouting at me to keep up the pace; it was only at the 300m point coming out of the bend that I found myself alone and finished the straight as fast as I could. My

same again. I had defeated all the competitors who were older than me. My time broke all departmental and regional cadet records. Throughout 1978 I continued to improve my record, qualifying in France for the 400m in the UNSS (Union Nationale du Sport Scolaire). I remember, it was 15h on a Sunday, waiting on the starting block for that race. The compère introduced all the competitors, and then focused attention on a runner in lane 4, which gave me a knot in my stomach. On the signal I started with all the energy I could muster, conserving just enough for the last straight. It was coming out of the 300m bend that I realized I was 3rd place. From out of the thousands of spectators yelling support for the Parisian competitor, I heard the single voice of my mother screaming out my name. It was at that moment I started to accelerate; I overtook second place and broke the finishing line to take first place. I had finally reaped the rewards of the last three years of hard training. In the same year I was selected for the French Nation’s Cup team in Lille. We marched full of emotion like champions with the flag. I finished 4th place in the individual and first in the team. That year I was accepted as a national trainee where I was in close contact with the great French names of middle-distance running, like Alex Gonzalez, Francis Gonzalez and Bernard Faure. My career ended after I contracted an illness and was obliged to stop training for 6 months. Although I qualified for France I

My Place

started to become increasingly discouraged as I couldn’t raise myself to my previous level. May be another athlete would have been satisfied with the level I was at, but I couldn’t accept it. Finally, my coach let me go and I couldn’t find another one. After changing clubs I ran for the MUC in Montpellier for two years. My parents tried to encourage me but I became less and less motivated. After 9 years of athletics I stopped all my sports activity, without regret because I had given my everything. It was not until 20 years later, after a spate of personal challenges including a divorce and the tragic death of my daughter’s father, that I decided to return to my birthplace and take up running again. I joined the Club de Clermont l’Hérault, where for 9 years I have been a children’s coach. I am still passionate about running and have obtained two coaching diplomas. It gives me so much pleasure to coach. This year my objective is to put our new

club Clermont L’Hérault Endurance firmly on the map. We already have 75 members who participate in half-marathons, marathons, trails and raids. I would very much like to take children to compete in the regionals, inter-regionals and French nationals. Outside of athletics I have three children; I love animals, particularly dogs and love to read, especially books on the Kenyans who have taught me so much about endurance. Next year I am getting married to Michel, the president of Clermont l’Hérault Endurance. His son is coming to live with us too, so we will be one family of runners living under the same roof… et voilà, that is my life. CLERMONT SPORT ENDURANCE Tél : 04 67 88 22 70 Mail: cs.endurance@hotmail.fr Web : www.csendurance.wix.com/clermonts-endurance

And another thing.......says Abse Communication, communication, communication

espite the decline in print media (The Herault Times excepted, obviously), writing appears to be important these days – communicating your ideas, thoughts and opinions via one internet tool or another. There’s Twitter, Facebook, Google+, not to mention a vast array of forums (fori?) on every subject you can imagine. Then of course there are blogs: loads of them, everywhere, on every subject under the sun. All of this offers us all endless hours of procrastination reading irrelevant things on the internet (and then of course sharing them on Facebook with your “Friends”) and also offers the opportunity to raise your blood pressure by several degrees because someone, somewhere, has printed something on the internet that you have to argue with. I myself am a victim and a purveyor. As well as writing this column I have 3 blogs. Yes THREE. Admittedly I really only write for one of them on a regular basis, but still three. And of course I have a Facebook page, and am on Google+ and have a

Twitter account and am now on something new called “Pheed”. And that doesn’t include my website(s) and the dozen or so websites that I regularly upload

having violent arguments with people about things I don’t care about – and I already have my fill of that on a football internet forum I regularly contribute to.

my artwork to. It’s amazing I get time to do anything else but somehow I still get time to admire photographs of kittens inside a goldfish bowl (aaaah) and to find out on Twitter what David Mitchell and Bill Bailey are up to. I have had to cut down on Twitter though – I found myself

Meanwhile I am also avoiding expat chat rooms and forums. Too many people moaning about life in France. What are they doing here if it’s so awful? Other people are complaining about the French electing a socialist – bugger off back to Britain you Tories! Yes I can waste hours on the internet in completely

TRIVIAL

that the questions are of no great intellectual depth. This is the first, literary, meaning in French too but there is a second and commonly used meaning for the word TRIVIAL which is “crude “ or “vulgar”.

One is constantly learning new words and meanings. Here was a surprise for me: the word TRIVIAL. For English speakers it means a thing of no importance. Thus the game, TRIVIAL PURSUITS means

Agence Guy Estate Agency English/French owned 25 years of experience

www.pezenas-immobilier.com agenceguy@wanadoo.fr tel 0467983777 mob 0622343056 “Quality Assured”

uncreative ways, and at the same time raise my blood pressure. And of course the blood pressure of all the people who read my comment about Tories buggering off back to Britain. Not to mention the people reading this who will get upset about me using the word “bugger”. But it’s great, isn’t it? Everyone has something to say, and because of the easy access to computers, smartphones, tablets etc,. everyone can contribute. Never before has our world been so well documented, never before have so many people communicated with different people all over the world from so many different backgrounds. It’s amazing when you think about it. But the key thing we all have to remember is to keep calm. That person admiring Emerson, Lake and Palmer isn’t doing it just to annoy you. That person praising Mitt Romney may well be a complete idiot, but you really don’t need to tell him. Personally I find the best way to calm down is to make a cup of tea (and why can’t you buy bloody PG Tips in an ordinary supermarket here grrrrr) and do a pointless drawing on my iPad.

Bobbie Trickett

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English Bookshop Pézenas Christmas Crackers, cakes, puddings and pies, plus your favourite English foods. Delightful & unusual gifts for family, friends and you! A wide selection of English books. Rue St Jean between the Post Office and Church. 9am - 6pm Tuesday - Saturday

I MIGR TIO

Time for Recollection

Living in a diverse & expanding community such as the Department of Hérault asks each of us to accept our own particular responsibilities in making it successful…

n a BBC video-nation online community presentation, Amber Gilbert, a child of mixed ethnic background smiles engagingly and states in her fluent matter-of-fact manner, “I am from everywhere and I like everywhere.” This simple, direct but sensible view of her socio-existential context reminds me of the perhaps forgotten biblical axiom that out of the mouths of infants and of babies come perfected elements of wisdom. Sharply contrasting is a comment at a coffee bar near the weekly Saturday market, when one non-indigenous inhabitant of Pézenas remarked audibly, and even more so paradoxically to another that there were rather “too many foreigners in the town these days.” Further, reminding us that children may also be blinded by their stereotypical perceptions of others, when the very young Forest Gump climbs reluctantly onto the school bus for the first time he is immediately subjected to peer discrimination not only because he is a new arrival but also due to his calipered braced legs, until, that is, a young pretty girl offers him a welcome seat on the bus next to her. The scene foretells us of familiar social situations to come. What appears to us initially as socially unacceptable may well yet prove to be a much valued and deeper source of running water. When faced with the complex task of writing about immigration my immediate sociological reaction is statistical. However, intermixed with a socio-historical perspective, numbers alone are incapable of dealing with what is at heart a human issue and not merely quantitative.

to go on what is today an extremely sensitive issue. Because our affluent western economic model is looking somewhat fragile and vulnerable today, once again, this heightens the statistical nature of immigration and the imagined mediatised threat to our daily lives. Politicians also exploit this situation to personal advantage depending on which aspect is likely to win more votes. Similarly, closer to home, we find in our vibrant, colourful and ethnically diverse community a microcosm of the same issue afflicting national politics and the popular mind throughout the developed world. “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” Franklin D Roosevelt Amidst the brouhaha of mostly irrational sentiments about cultural differences and stereotypes inherent in the immigration debate, where can we find positive and trustworthy solutions? At this juncture, and rightly so, I have to look across toward Franklin D Roosevelt who stated to the American people, “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” Any telephone or business directory demonstrates the objective reality of his viewpoint. The wide variety of surnames illustrates vividly the social reality. In like mind, Alexander de Tocqueville, claimed that people who are essentially contented do not go into exile but only those who experience economic (or political) misfortune. Moreover, awareness of the history of humankind is to be aware at the same time of this incessant movement of humanity in search of knowledge, economic fortune or survival in cultural nomadism. We should not be ignorant of the fact that many of us work overseas to create a better quality of life for ourselves and our families. In addition, many of us travel afar out of a time-honoured sense of curiosity about other places beyond our own limited horizons. Further, natural and man-made disasters have been an all too regular feature of human migration. Reassuringly, it is in this latter context of human suffering the strongest sense of mutual empathy and material response is aroused. Max Frisch, the Swiss journalist and writer once said in relation to this vexed problem of immigration, “We asked for workers. We got people instead.” Such a need, exacerbated by tragic war losses; economic growth models dictated by multi-national corporations and rapidly declining fertility rates in our wealthy societies, have all contributed to the dehumanisation of immigration as a subject for discussion. The historical perspective has also been conveniently lost. Therefore, in view of these factors it is important to emphasise that in our own local community we are all people too: diverse in our backgrounds; interesting in our individuality; constantly on the move and intricately interdependent. Both culturally and historically, may it always be so.

“We asked for workers. We got people instead.” Max frisch In this regard,German sociologist Max Weber indirectly provided us with some useful tools for rationalising immigration in its contemporary environment. Among his social interactionist theories about society, economics and politics, he preferred to emphasise the meaning that we as individuals attach to our own actions. Of course, this does have ethical and spiritual dimensions. Therefore, when conducting research about any trend in society he suggested we apply what he called a “verstehen” approach. Put simply, we need to be able to place ourselves in someone else’s shoes in order to be able to understand the object of our research. Personally, it appears impossible to interpret immigration any other way. Bearing in mind Weber was particularly interested in the eventual predominance of bureaucracy in human historical development, he was able to make what I consider to be a very poignant observation of current relevance here in his work, “Politics as a Vocation” where, in the growth and evolution of government the state would develop to the extent of claiming “a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence”. Debate over gun ownership in the USA as a constitutional right or not is a graphic example of this statist trend today. This brings me naturally to the point about immigration. It is a matter which has been politicised (bureaucratised) to the extent that we are almost no longer able to understand its intrinsic human nature. In our voting democracies almost everywhere we have allowed successive governments to hijack the debate which swings from apparent laisser-faire to what appears absolute regulation. The official mass media seems to run alongside this political rhythm with indifference apart from infrequent reports on people-smuggling and the most sensational of the dangerous journeys some economic migrants make to access wealthier economies. Watching TV programmes on “Border Security” which gives a stilted Australian perspective on immigration processes, is as far as many are prepared

Restaurant Review

Apicius Eats at..... Restaurant CÔTE MAS

Casual but Classy Dining

here seems to be a tendency for some of the bigger wine producers in the Languedoc to open restaurants on their properties to increase turnover. They range from very basic affairs to in the case of Gerard Bertrand, near Narbonne, quite sophisticated places complete with jazz evenings. Happily the Côte Mas is firmly planted in the latter category. Chateau Paul Mas is the headquarters of a rather large and spread out holding of wines under different labels that stretch from the Limoux in Aude to various locations in Hérault. Above the attractive looking tasting hall on the ground floor, a very spiffy dining room has been set up. It’s a stylish and modern space with plenty of room between tables, a high ceiling and fashioned in tones of light grey, red and browns. The overall effect is one of a modern brasserie but with added attitude. It’s not a formal atmosphere but you definitely have the sense of eating out. The menu is a la carte and has some old favorite standbys, but with some interesting adaptations to them. For example, an absolutely astounding foie gras comes in four separate preparations and each one is topped differently: honey and almonds to sesame and nori (dried seaweed) to figs and black pepper to spiced bread and spiced covering. Another winning starter is the tataki of thon. This takes some wonderfully herb- marinated tuna and completes the plate with spaghetti of turnip, wasabi, soya jelly and yuzu, which is an oriental citrus fruit with a unique flavor of its own.

A delectable main dish is the saddle of lamb: melt in your mouth lamb beautifully cooked and seasoned accompanied by stuffed aubergine, roasted artichoke and the juice of lemon confit. This was the most delicious lamb I’ve had in some time and was a telling reminder that when done well lamb is the most exciting and complex tasting of meats. Other offerings are chicken done in two different ways with cabbage and thyme juice or angler fish with cauliflower puree. Some of the starters and mains also come in half portions, which is a nice touch. The desserts are very much in a traditional mold with apple pastry marinated with calvados and with a side of honey ice cream taking pride of place. There is also an interesting poached pear with muscat wine and two sauces adding to the color. The wine list has a variety in that there are single grape bottles, mixed blends but all come from the Paul Mas stable. In the future they may find it might be more interesting to let other wine makers sell their wares, but for the time being it’s a rather exclusive affair of their own. Having said that, where else can you buy a decent glass of wine in a restaurant for 2€ or the most expensive bottle in the house for 20€? The up front brigade is young but enthusiastic and friendly. When confronted by a question he did not know the answer to, our waiter excused himself for a minute, found the answer and returned with an intelligent

reply. That’s the kind of professional response that always wins over customers. Following a growing trend of better restaurants, the Côte Mas also lists the provenance of its suppliers. Everything is fresh and all vegetables are delivered daily from regional producers. Happy to say, this was also evident in the tasting. While there is no set menu, the low price of wine will even things out at the end, so a meal for two with a bottle of wine should allow change back from 100€. If there seems to be a certain Japanese influence in some of the dishes, it’s because Chef Taichi Megurikami is Japanese. Having worked in some top restaurants in his 8 years in France he aims to create a fusion of using interesting Japanese ingredients with traditional French recipes. Asked what is goal was he responded by saying that he wanted to achieve Michelin success. For a restaurant that has been open only since mid-August, he is well on his way.

Route de Villeveyrac 34530 Montagnac Tel: 0467.243610 (closed Sun. & Mon.) DID you KNOW

The reason why the British house person traditionally likes the skin left on cuts of pork & lamb is to tell, via the thickness of the top layer of fat, the age of the beast. The thicker the layer of fat the older it is. Hence the expression “Mutton dressed at lamb”

Thanksgivng Celebration

or Americans and those that can’t wait for Christmas don’t despair. Thanksgiving falls on the 22nd November this year so make ready your turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberries and corn on the cob. But did you know...... - Sarah Josepha Hale, an American magazine editor, persuaded Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. She is also the author of the popular nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” - Congress passed a law on December 26, 1941, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year. - In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations. 9

Apicius

Wine

Rosemary George THE 2012 VINTAGE Rosemary George

once had to write an exam question: do vintages really matter? The immediate answer is a resounding yes. One of the things that makes wine so interesting is the annual variation caused by the climatic vagaries of that particular year. These days as wine making techniques have become more sophisticated, the effects of bad weather can often be mitigated, but the variations do still exist. The Languedoc is more fortunate than many regions; wine growers around Montpellier can be pretty sure of getting enough sunshine to ripen their grapes. Instead they may have problems with water, essentially the lack of it, as vines that are suffering from water stress will shut down and stop ripening their grapes.

So what will 2012 have to offer? I asked a few friends for their reactions to 2012. Deborah Core at Mas Gabriel put it nicely. ‘Everything (in the cellar) smells lovely,

and as usual we are waiting for the malo’. One of the key problems seems to have been the dry spring, with virtually no rain in February and March; and that was followed by ‘the wrong sort of wind’ during the flowering, which has resulted in some very uneven ripening. Simon Coulshaw at Domaine des Trinités observed how you could have green and almost ripe berries in the same bunch, and Yves Orliac from Domaine de l’Hortus in the Pic St. Loup began picking Chardonnay on 22nd August and finished with Mourvèdre on 10th October. Patience was the key; you needed to know how to wait. A downpour at the end of the summer relieved some of the water stress after a hot August, and some cool nights in July were also beneficial. And the grapes were generally very healthy, with few problems with disease. However, yields are down. Pierre Roque, a consultant for various estates in the area, suggested that this was due to the natural balance, following a larger than average crop last year, and also the effects of the uneven flowering. But the Languedoc is not alone in having a smaller than usual harvest – in fact 2012 is the smallest wine harvest in France since 1991, totalling 42.9 million hectolitre, which is 15.7% less than last year. And as for flavour, Simon Coulshaw suggested, ‘...very bright, fresh refined wines, with a fruit forward style’. I interpret that as some gouleyant, easy drinking wines, with ripe fruit, so plenty to look forward to over the next few years. Meanwhile I shall continue drinking more mature vintages, wines from 2009 and 2010 that are developing nicely in the bottle. Rosemary George / October 2012 www.tastelanguedoc.blogspot.com

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Marketing Strategy: The Target Market

art of the business plan viewed last month is to identify your target market: in other words, who are your customers and who will buy your product or service? It is also the foundation of any marketing strategy. The marketing strategy allows a company or organization to focus limited resources on the best opportunities to increase sales and thereby achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. In other words, it paves the way towards getting maximum impact from your limited time and budget! It is often surprising that otherwise savvy small business people either have no idea who will buy from them, or they assume that everyone might just do so! Assumptions like this can lead to wrong decisions, wrong pricing, wrong marketing strategy, including irrelevant advertising expenses – and ultimately, business failure. The most successful small businesses understand that only a limited number of people will buy their product or service. The next step then involves establishing, as closely as possible, exactly who those people are, targeting the business marketing efforts and stretching every marketing euro towards them. One of the first things needed is to refine the product or service so that your business does not try to be all things to all people. Next, you need to understand that people purchase products or services for three basic reasons: • To satisfy basic needs, To solve problems, To make themselves feel good. You’ll need to determine which of those categories your product or service is the solution to, and be prepared to market it accordingly. Your product or service may fit more than one category, too. The next step in creating an effective marketing strategy is to zero in on your target market by using market segmentation. First of all, is your product international or national in scope? Or is it more likely that you will sell it primarily in your own region or community? Let’s say that your primary market is local or regional; the first thing you’ll need to do is research the demographics of the targeted area and divide it into market segments such as: • Age: children, teenagers, adults, middle-

age, elderly etc. • Gender • Level of education • Income brackets • Marital status This information should be available to you through your local mairie, library, or Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie for example – and the more detail you can get, the better. Next, you need to segment the market as much as possible using ‘psychographics’ as your guide: • Lifestyle: conservative, exciting, trendy, economical • Social class: lower, middle, upper • Opinion: easily led or experimental • Activities and interests: sports, physical fitness, shopping, books, travelling • Attitudes and beliefs: environmentalist, security conscious. These are just examples; there are numerous options and they simply need to be made relevant to your product or service. In addition, you might want to find out how your target customers purchase: seasonally, locally, only in volume, who makes the decisions? Once all this research has been undertaken, you should have a picture emerging of who you think your ideal customer is … or who you want it to be! Depending on the nature of your business, you might even be able to write a description of your customer. “My target customer is a middle-class woman in her 30s or 40s who is married and has children, and is environmentally conscious and physically fit.” Based on the numbers you uncovered in your research, above, you may even know, for example, that there are approximately, say 9000 of those potential customers in your area. It may well be that 3000 of them are already loyal to a competitor, but that still leaves 6000 who are not, or who have not yet purchased the product from anyone. Lots of times prospective customers don’t know about your company, or can’t tell the difference between your company and others. It is your job, once you know who your« best customers » - your target market are, to make yourself known to them. Watch this space for more information on how to do just that as part of the next stages of developing and implementing a marketing strategy which we’ll take a look at next month!

TAX EFFICIENT INVESTING IN FRANCE In most countries, tax-efficient savings and investment schemes exist, with the aim of encouraging people to save for their medium and long-term goals. However, the problem for expatriates is that when we become resident in France, the tax-efficiency that we enjoyed from our ‘home’ schemes is usually lost. This is because as a French resident, you are liable to French taxes on all your worldwide income and gains, except for anything that might be exempted by the terms of a Double Taxation Treaty between the home country and France. Even if certain income is exempt from French taxes, it is usually the case that the income must anyway be declared in France and will be included with other income, when calculating your French income tax liability. A credit will then be given to take into account the fact that this source of income is taxable in your home country. Notwithstanding this, the fundamental point to note is that including such ‘exempt’ income has the effect of increasing the rate at which other sources of income are taxed in France, including investment income. France has its own tax-efficient savings schemes and investments – whether for the short, medium or long-term. To find out more about the possibilities open to you please see the full article on the website at http:// www.theheraulttimes.com/#/financial-andbusiness/4568179643 If you would like more information about investing on a tax-efficient basis for France (whether for saving on a regular basis or for investing an amount of capital), or any other aspect of retirement and inheritance planning, please contact Daphne Foulkes telephone on + 33 (0)4 68 20 30 17 or by e-mail at daphne.foulkes@spectrum-ifa.com.

Business / Legal / News

Gill Pound

Colin Trickett

In The Garden O

Ajania pacifica

ctober has brought quite a lot of rainfall but the weather is still warm so November is the perfect time to plant most trees, shrubs and perennials. Your French neighbours will tell you that “A la Sainte Catherine (the 25th November), tout bois prend racine” Note that slightly tender plants such as bougainvillea or plumbago are best planted in the spring so that they can develop a strong root system before the winter. When planting remember to dig a square hole about twice the depth and twice the width of the pot the plant came in (or root ball if you are planting a bare root plant), mix the excavated soil with some organic material (such as compost or terreau de plantation) and some sand or gravel to improve the soil and use

this mix to backfill the planting hole. First, unless the weather has been wet, fill the planting hole with water and let it drain away; meanwhile standing the plant in a bucket of water so that the root ball is moist. Then half fill the planting hole with your soil/terreau/sand mix and place the plant, fill around the sides with the soil/terreau mix and firm into place. Keep an eye on the water requirements of your newly planted items. For taller shrubs and trees you may well want to stake the plant so that it isn’t rocked by the Languedoc winds.

Salvia regla This is a good month to prune many trees and shrubs, it is best to consult a gardening encyclopaedia for the correct pruning regime for any particular plant. Time too, to

Nature Notes

divide or move hardy perennials and herbaceous plants and remember to label herbaceous plants (i.e. those which disappear completely in winter) so that you know where they are in the spring. There will be plenty of dead leaves around this month – if you have a compost heap the dead leaves can usefully be added to it, or you can use shredded dead leaves as mulch. As the weather gets colder, think about protecting against frost around the base of tender plants and/or plants in containers. Don’t use plastic which traps humidity around the plant but winter fleece or voile d’hivernage, readily available in garden centres. There are many summer and autumn flowering perennials & shrubs still giving colour in the garden, although these will go as soon as we have the first frosts. Lovely Salvia regla is just one example of these. We are used to seeing Chrysanthemums in all the shops for Toussaint but a gem of a plant for November is the perennial chrysanthemum relative Ajania pacifica, also known as the Chrysanthemum mimosa – this plant makes a low mound of attractive silvery edged leaves and has tiny mimosa like pompom flowers in November. Autumn interest comes also from

The other green and black harvest

– Olives -

ur landscape continues to change; the reduction of vineyards replaced with corn and of course olives. The olives of Provence and Languedoc Roussillon have undergone a bit of a roller coaster ride over the last centuries. The height was reached in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when some 26 million trees were cultivated, covering an area of 170,000 hectares. The resulting oil was used primarily for the manufacturing of soap and the textile industry. The history of olive cultivation goes back to about 3,700 B.C. in the near East around the Dead Sea. Over the following 4,000 years it spread throughout the Mediterranean and in the last 100 years to the USA, Chile and Australia. There are some 2,000 olive varieties in the world, with 400 in France. However, the vast majority are localised synonyms of other varieties. Globally today there are 850 million trees grown on a total area of 8.7 million hectares, 85% of which are accounted for by just 139 varieties. 90% of the harvest is used for oil and 10% for eating. In France, between the second half of the 19th century and the mid 1980s, there has been a dramatic decline in the number of olive trees cultivated. The key factors for this are: • French colonial politics – planting in North African colonies was cheaper and produced higher yields • Phylloxera – there was a need to replant affected vineyards on uncontaminated land, namely olive groves • The horrendous frosts of 1929 and 1956. The latter reduced the number of trees from 8 million to 3 million! Today there are around 4 million trees covering 4,700 hectares. Of these, 70% are growers with less than 1 hectare (yours truly being one). The olives for eating and for olive oil production are the same olives; harvested green in September and October for eating and black in November through January. Here in Languedoc, the major varieties for eating are the ‘Picholine’ and ‘Lucques ‘ (usually referred to as ‘Green Diamonds’). In addition to Picholine and Lucques other important varieties include, Verdale, Menduel, Olivière, Clermontaise and Rougette. As with vines, certain varieties perform best on specific terrain, Lucques and Verdale being the key varieties in the Hérault. At harvest green olives are inedible as they are full of glycosides. They are first cured in sodium hydroxide, then rinsed in water and finally preserved in brine. The black olives for oil have very different yields by variety. It takes 9.5 kilos of Lucques to make a litre of oil, but only 7 kilos of Clermontaise.

fruits and berries. Heteromeles arbutifolia is an evergreen shrub from California which grows to about 4m high. During November it is covered in red berries – until the blackbirds find them. It also has lovely white flowers in late May and early June. Further information: Gill Pound at La Petite Pépinière de Caunes 21, Avenue de la Montagne Noire, 11160, Caunes-Minervois. Tel: 04 68 78 43 81, email Gill@ lapetitepepiniere.com Opening times for winter are available on our website www.lapetitepepiniere.com 12

Good Be To Young

The 5th International Christmas Market

Bessan, Sunday 9th December, 2012 from 9h to 18h Stands representing different countries and regions of France: Madagascar, UK, Vietnam, Italy, Russia, Spain, Roumania, Alsace, Aveyron…. you will discover Christmas products and traditions from all over the world. There are activities for everyone: dance, music, games and story-telling for children, as well as Father Christmas and food. Entry and parking are FREE. Enquiries 06 89 93 74 31

Scouts and Guides in France

HT young journalist, student and guide Mrytille Barillot tells The HT about The Scouts and Guides of France

A Date, A Meeting...

On 6th and 7th of October there was a huge gathering in Notre-Dame de Primecombe, Fontanès (Gard), the first of the year, of the ‘Scouts et Guides de France’, involving mostly young people between 17 and 21 years old who are known in the movement as the ‘Compagnons’.

Listening to right now: Blow me (One last kiss) - Pink Lights - Ellie Goulding I Was Made for Loving You Baby - Kiss cover Gangnan Style - Psy Skyfall - Adele

Claim to Fame -

Film editor Vincent Tabaillon who was born in Sète has worked on blockbusters including Taken 2, The Incredible Hulk, Transporter 2 and Clash of The Titans

happen can you know if it’s possible or not. Wow… With thousands of stars in our eyes, the group discussions were indispensable: it was the beginning of our project. Personally, for my team, it was easy because we have known each other for 7 years and had already begun to think about it during that time. But, we needed to make a choice between two projects which we were enthusiastic about. Fortunately, we were able to come to

(help in the orphanages, organising events for children, exchanges of culture in schools, to name but a few things.) Maybe, you will see exhibitions of their photographs in public places, councils or universities, and share some of their experiences! So, it was a good week-end, with lot of meetings, project exchanges and discoveries. So, if you want to realize your dream, lots of

a decision on one of them based on shared opinions. (I won’t tell you what it is for the moment; we have to wait until the project we have chosen is more concrete). The projects Towards the late afternoon and in to the night, we looked at the different projects ongoing or finished. We had the chance to ask lots of question about them. The project destinations were really varied: India and Peru, Senegal and Burkina Faso… The compagnons who had taken part in the projects were so happy, although they admitted that coming back to France was so difficult: the contrast between populations, countries, traditions etc… and the fact that the project was now finished, and now… after two years of preparation it was the end… We heard about all of the things they had done

things are possible, we believe in them! Good luck :)

Who are the Compagnons?

May be you know Baden Powell, the founder of scouting? Thanks to him, a lot of young people come together to create projects, to learn to live as a team, to live without comforts and to share. If you meet any scouts and guides here they will certainly tell you: “When you begin in the scouts and guides, you don’t ever want to leave.” The compagnons are put in to teams of between 3 and 7 people. Over a two to three year period these teams try to create projects that promote international solidarity. It’s a very important project for us, the outcome of all our scouting years. But, it’s not so easy... After we have agreed on our project (the destination, action and the people we will meet) we must raise money, find an association that we will help in that country, and, of course, ensure that our team works well together: after all we will pass a month or more together, during which time we may face difficulties and challenges. Finally however, it will be a very good experience! So, after this little explication, I can explain the big event of our scout and guide week-end where the goal was for the compagnons to learn how to create a project.

“What is your dream?”

This was the question we had to answer. I agree it’s such a huge question! We talked about forgetting the difficulties and the reality, and about how you must realize YOUR dream. Only after trying to make it

Ellis Island Closes

www.sgdf.fr Le Mouvement Scouts et Guides de France Today there are 69 000 members, comprising 15 000 young volunteers who are younger than 25; and more than 800 local groups over 62 French departments and overseas territories. They are members of the International Association of Guides and Scouts, the International Organisation of Scouts and the French Federation of Scouts. They are part of a worldwide network which consists of 38 million scouts and guides. Everybody is welcome, irrespective of nationality, culture, social background or beliefs.

On publication day: 12th November 1954. Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants. President Benjamin Harrison designated Ellis Island as America’s first federal immigration center in 1890. 13

L’ Hérault: The Hidden River Text by Nigel Paige

In the 40 years I have been visiting the area, I have become increasingly aware how little of the great river between the Pont de Diable and Agde I have actually seen, so this year I equipped myself with an inflatable dinghy and set about exploring some of it. The obvious place to start was the Pont de Diable at St. Jean de Fos, but unfortunately the recent “improvements” (large car park, souvenir shop and restaurant, dogs not allowed now... which they only tell you after you have parked your car!) mean that it is difficult to get access to the river with your own craft, so I decided to start elsewhere, but you can get a little taste of what lies downstream by hiring a canoe for a couple of hours. The Pont de Diable, which dates from 1036, deserves its status as a World Heritage Site, so even if you do not start your river journey there, it is certainly worth making the detour to see it. It was built to connect the two local Abbeys at Aniane and Gellone; you should also visit the historic ‘circulade’ village of St. Jean de Fos, which probably grew up soon after the bridge was built. It has for many centuries been famous for its potteries which still attract tourists. Having failed at the Pont de Diable my first launching place was just above the Barrage

de Meuse (a hydro-electric dam) where there is easy access by car right to the top of the concrete slipway; from there I went upstream past the naturist camp of St.Pierre (no beach, just a few seemingly lifeless bodies floating on lilos anchored in midstream) almost as far as Aniane. As was the case during every one of my mini-voyages, one of the highlights was a glimpse of vivid blue as a kingfisher darted from perch to perch along the riverbank. You can also get to the river just below the Barrage du Meuse where there is a pleasant ‘beach’ from which you can swim. The lane leading to it is opposite the campsite so you have to carry your craft about 150 meters from the car park down to the water’s edge, but downstream it starts off shallow with mini-rapids not suitable for my inflatable. For most of its length the river level is held back by a series of weirs which were usually built to service a mill, which was probably the case at the weir and river crossing at the Chateau de Carabote. There is an access point further downstream at the Parcours de Peche close to Pouzols, but you have to find your way along very rough tracks between the lakes. In the end you can get your car down to the river but the faint-hearted may give up. To find it, you take the exit off the Pouzols

roundabout following the sign for Bages, which is in fact on the other side of the river and there is no bridge...perhaps there was once a ferry? On the other side of the river, a little further downstream at Canet, the campsite “Les Rivieres” is close to the confluence of the tributary La Lergue and L’Hérault itself, and there is access to the river for its visitors. The river bridge on the D2 towards Le Pouget gives a good view of the river both upstream and downstream, however it is too shallow for an inflatable in both directions. There is pedestrian access to the beach area, but it is quite a long carry from the car park for your canoe. My next launching point was at Belarga, the only village between Le Pont de Diable and Agde which lies right beside the river standing as it does on a natural outcrop of rock. The village probably dates from the 13th century and the chateau controls the road

from the coast to the hills and one of the few fords in the days that pre-date bridges. There are some traces of the old defensive walls around the village but the main landmark apart from the chateau is the rare and well preserved riverside tower with wind pump. The chateau once formed part of the estates of the Vicomté d’Aumelas, a name which survives as a wine appellation. In Belarga there is a small car park next to the chateau and ruins of a mill, from which a footpath leads to both the weir itself and the ‘beach’, a popular place to swim. You can launch your craft either from the weir to go upstream or from the beach to go downstream. It was about 1,000 meters downstream from Belarga that I found the fine old (disused) railway bridge with its 4 roman style arches dating from about 1860. The huge pile of driftwood stacked up against the central pier of this bridge gives a clue as to why there are so few buildings fronting this great river…every so often after heavy rains in the hills this normally tranquil river becomes a raging torrent, rising some 4 or 5 meters above its normal level in some places making the defense of permanent riverside buildings or landing stages very difficult. Progressing downstream, there is a long gap in my exploration past several weirs, some now in ruins, before we reach my next access point a few hundred meters above the impressive remains of the Roman bridge at St. Thibéry. This was the crossing point of

the Via Domitia which linked the roman colonies in Spain to Provincia (roughly the modern Provence) and across the Alps into Italy. Here there is easy access and launching at the end of the Rue du Bac beside an old pedestrian suspension bridge. The same road also leads to the Roman bridge but is closed from June to September, so you need to follow the road out of the village towards Florensac and turn back towards the bridge where there is a good slipway and parking. My final voyage started from the Quai Marius, a slipway just downstream from the road bridge on the D28 Bessan to Marseillan road. From there you can go upstream for about 1500 meters as far as the big old mill and weir whose name I have not been able to find. Downstream from quai Marius you soon pass the Guingette de Bessan. Here, unique on the Hérault, there is a floating pontoon landing stage which can accommodate large craft whose owners wish to dine at the open air restaurant; it came as a surprise to me that the largest canal boats can access this last stretch of the non-tidal river via a lock at Agde …but strangely very few seem to think of doing so. “In my many days spent on the river I saw only a handful of other river users apart from those at the recognised “basses nautiques” at the Meuse and Belarga …a remarkable contrast to the busy Canal du Midi….and on a hot, summer day the river has the great

advantage that you can slip over the side almost anywhere and enjoy a safe swim in unpolluted water or you can usually find a tiny ‘beach’ to swim from if you prefer.” Although the river current is negligible in many of the stretches mentioned, lifejackets should always be worn. Also, during the winter months violent storms in the Cevennes can cause flash floods in this stretch of the river, so any exploring on the water should be put on hold until the summer. I have much more of this beautiful river to explore next year and in the meantime if anyone has any information on any other launching sites I should be very grateful to hear from them. C. Nigel Paige 2012 Email: authenticfrance@aol.com

Belarga 15

Days Out

Exploring the Hérault.

Star Gazing…..

The Planétarium Galilée, Montpellier

quipped with the latest technology and 3D visualization, the planetarium takes you on a virtual, intergalactic voyage as seen from under the impressive dome screen, revealing the mysteries of astronomical phenomena. Throughout November up until 19th December, the planetarium will be showing a range of films on the stars and planets (‘Vacances sur Altair’), the history of space travel (‘L’aube de l’ère spatial’), the input of scientific observation instruments (‘L’Univers au telescope’), galaxies and deep space (‘Le temps des galaxies), a new show on the theme of the effects of space on the human body (‘Astronaute’); and ‘Sonic Vision’, a unique experience in a graphic and hypnotizing universe, a total immersion in the image… The astronomical shows are suitable for all audiences (young children from 4 years old, families or enthusiasts). The sessions are composed of two parts: projection of a film, followed by a presentation of the night sky by a guide. All of the films are broadcast in French, however the planetarium provide free HF headphones with simultaneous translations into English. Headsets are available from the information desk upon arrival. The planetarium also runs a programme of talks, courses and lectures given by experts over the course of the year which are usually free and open to the public. For more information please visit their website. Prices: Rate: € 6,30 Children’s rate (up to 12 ): € 5,30 Rate Pass’Agglo: € 5,30, children: € 4,80 Special rate for groups. Ticket office opens at 13h 100, allée Ulysse, Odysseum, 34000 MONTPELLIER Tel : 33 (0)4 67 13 26 26 fax : 33 (0)4 67 13 26 29 www.planetarium-galilee.montpellier-agglo.com/astronomie

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Experience the difference 16

Q: TV. In what television series do you find the character Sergeant Brodie? *** WIN a beautiful piece of jewellery from Ian Mills Jewellery Q: Where is Ian’s jewellery sourced from? *** WIN 2 tickets to the Planetarium Nostrum in Montpellier Q: Whose catchphrase is “to infinity and beyond?” *** All entries to: competition@theheraulttimes.com

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Lifestyle

“So wearing a corset certainly changes your state of mind. Radha Mitchell, actress

elf-taught designer Séverine Dartois made her first designs when she was 15. A montpelliérain, she has made a name for herself, creating a universe which is both glamorous and fantastic, elegant and ethereal.

romantic. Throughout her collections Séverine has breathed life into forgotten styles and cuts with the help of historic patterns, adapting them to modern taste. “I love world history, whether past or contemporary. The etchings from the end of the 19th century to the work of the great fashion designers such as Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix….. I find a source of inexhaustible inspiration… The period

known as the Belle Epoque (1870-1910) was a time when the production of corsets was prolific, giving me a multitude of possibilities for my creations.” With an eye for detail, the corsets are made to measure, from splendid fabrics, silks and leather, then embellished by hand with antique lace, feathers, and sometimes ceramic.

The corset, containing the French word corps for body, is a fashion mainstay that has been in use in one form or another for hundreds of years, although its existence extends as far back as Neolithic man. From a masochistic undergarment promoted by French 16th century court etiquette requiring that the ‘ideal woman’s’ waist should measure 13 inches, the corset became an outer fashion garment in the mid 1980s made popular by Madonna. For young designer Séverine Dartois, creating corsets began from her love of couture and the arts which has transformed into a veritable vocation. In her early designs she drew inspiration from fantasy universes found in literature; blending Cbyerpunk with images associated with apocalyptic futurist worlds and urban fantasy, where the extraordinary intertwines with reality. Over time, as her interest in art and literature developed and diversified her corsets became more elegant, refined, feminine and

To see Séverine’s collection see: http://severine-dartois.com or contact her on severine.dartois@gmail.com 17

ith

nW O s ’ t a

www.heraultwhatson.com

What’s On Where Monday 12th November to Sunday 2nd December, 2012 “Pourquoi les mathématiques?” Free interactive Exhibition Médiathèque centrale d’Agglomération Emile Zola, Montpellier *** Until Sunday 18th November

FESTIVAL “PLAZA FLAMENCA” À BEZIERS An exceptional program of Flamenco, including performances, talks, workshops and exhibitions in different locations in Béziers Allées Paul Riquet 34500 BEZIERS: Telephone 33 (0)4 67 36 82 30 *** Thursday 15th November – Saturday 17th November Montpellier Exhibition Cartooning for Peace

The number of participants in each tournament is limited. On-line registration is recommended on the website MIG: www.montpellieringame.com ***

Montpellier - Zenith Sud 15h & 20.00h Mamma Mia

Friday 16 November Palavas les Flots 17h The dictator au Cinéma Le Nautilus – Tarifs : 5€ (réduit 4€) 19h30 De rouille et d’os au Cinéma Le Nautilus – Tarifs : 5€ (réduit 4€) *** Tuesday November 14th to Friday November 30th Music Organised by Conservatoire de Montpellier Free concerts for everyone For details see: www.montpellier-agglo.com/ conservatoire *** Sunday 18th November, 2012 Spanish Music: Concerto d’Aranjuez Agde 15h30 Eglise Saint-Sever 15€/reductions 12€ Reservations: Ecole de Musique 04 67 00 06 00 *** GIGNAC: Concert « Cheveu + Marvin » (rock, noise, garage) Salle club de l’Espace Culturel à 18h – Tarif 10 €/Tarif réduit 8 € Contact : Office Culturel au 04 67 56 10 32 ou www.oc.gignac.fr *** Wednesday 21 November - 20h00 Julien Clerc Béziers - Salle Zinga Zanga Traverse de Colombiers - Montfloures

*** Wednesday November 15th to Sunday, 18th November J-17: Montpellier in Game For the 3rd year in a row, the Montpellier In Game is being held in the Corum, with actors from the world of video games - 32 hours non-stop for more than 600 gamers and nearly 20 000€ of prize money to be won. This year the accent is on eSport, with an entire level of the Corum dedicated to the event: League of Legends, Counter Strike Source, Call of Duty… The event will be the 2nd largest event in France.

23, 24, & 25 November

Nouveau spectacle “Pianistic”. Après une tournée symphonique triomphale accompagnée d’une cinquantaine de musiciens, Julien Clerc retrouvera son public dans des salles plus intimes, à l’occasion d’un récital à deux pianos. *** 18

*** Thursday 29 November CSF drop in day The Drop in Days are still going but we have a new temporary venue until January when the new one is up and running in Pezenas (near the Old Netto) in the meantime Cat and Stephen are hosting the event at their home in Le Bosc. NEW VENUE 10.30 - 16.00 VENUE: 4 LE PIERRE ALEXANDRE, LOIRAS, 34700 LE BOSC MORNING Reiki with Pam Refloxology with Marylene Guided Relaxaion with Cat at 12:00 AFTERNOON Reiki with Pam Refloxology with Marylene Movement to music with Karen PLUS! REFRESHMENTS AND LIGHT LUNCH. HOW TO GET THERE: Exit 56 on A75 Salelles du Bosc. Cross village of Salellles and continue for 3km. On arrival at Loiras and immediately after the village sign, turn right where you see the new villas. No 4 is the one with the blue shutters at the end of the short road. There is plenty of parking on the access road. Drop in Day is for all English speakers affected by cancer whatever their nationality. Patients, their families and friends are all very welcome.Active listeners (wearing names badges with blue ribbons) are always on hand. *** Friday 30th November, 2012 Agde Literary meeting with Michel Arcens, Jazz Journalist 16h30 Free Médiathèque Maison des Savoirs: 04 67 94 67 00

ith

nW O s ’ t a

www.heraultwhatson.com

What’s On Where Every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Theatre/Music Lodève L’Art en Poche Programmed events From 17h 40, Grand Rue Open Saturday 9 h 30 to 13 h For more information: gisela.thode@laposte. net tel. 0682483411 *** Thursday 22nd November Dance La Casse-Noisette de St Petersbourg (The Nut Cracker) 20h Zinga Zanga Traverse de Colombiers - Montflourès 34500 BEZIERS Telephone: 33 (0)4 67 36 82 82, 33 (0)4 67 76 20 20, 33 (0)5 49 73 66 16 http://www.indigo-productions.fr ***

Friday 23rd November to Sunday 25th November LA BOUTIQUE DE NOEL A PALAVAS LES FLOTS The Phare de la Méditerranée transforms into the house of Father Christmas. 40 stands, producers and artisans. Activities, tombola and prizes to win Free entry Phare de la Méditerranée 34250 PALAVAS-LES-FLOTS Tel: 33 (0)4 67 07 73 34 tourisme@palavaslesflots.com *** Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th November Foire d’Automne/Autumn Fair Parc des Expositions Avenue du Viguier 34500 BEZIERS Téléphone filaire : 33 (0)4 67 809 959 Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th November Cassan Cracker Fair Chateau Cassan, Roujan 100+ exhibitors, Food and Music Entry 2€ Children FREE *** Sunday 25th November Irish Celtic 17h Zinga Zanga Traverse de Colombiers - Montflourès 34500 BEZIERS Tel : 33 (0)4 67 36 82 82, 33 (0)4 67 76 20 20 , 33 (0)5 49 73 66 16 http://www.indigo-productions.fr *** Saturday, 1st December, 2012 Marché de Noel de Carnon Port de plaisance 34280 CARNON Tel: 33 + (0)4 67 50 51 15 ***

SERVICE OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS

Saturday 1st December, 19h Midi Cricket Club Midi Cricket Club invites you to join them in launching the festive season with a traditional Christmas buffet, live band, a raffle and of course a cameo Hérault appearance of Santa Claus.Price: adult 25€ (inc. wine), children under 12 7 € Reservations: dom.george1968@gmail.com or call 06 50 61 99 03. Space is limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. *** Saturday, 8th December Marché de Noel de Ganges 9h-18h30 34190 GANGES Telephone: 33 (0)4 67 73 00 56 *** Friday 9th December, 2012 The 5th International Christmas Market, Bessan 9h-18h Numerous stands celebrating Christmas traditions in different countries and regions of France Renseignements au 06 89 93 74 *** December 20th Publishers Birthday. It is customary in todays soceity for people to be excused taking time to pass on good wishes by donating money and gifts to good causes. I believe this is correct for everyone else but I like Birthday cards so send away. Cakes and biscuits never refused. Friday 21st December

Mayan Prophecy getting closer! WORLD ENDS

us the taste of roast turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies and give us an instant flashback to bulging Christmas stockings, elderly aunts sipping too much sweet sherry and the grown ups falling asleep in front of the Queen’s speech. This is all the more potent for those of us who are now ourselves the grownups, living away from our own country and family, in a culture that has their own, very different Christmas traditions. And if it seems hypocritical to go to church once a year at Christmas and then only to wallow in what the Welsh call hiraeth, well, it’s a perfectly understandable and human thing to want to do and there are many who would say that its better to go to church just once a year than not at all. There will be a warm welcome for all at The Service of 9 Lessons and Carols to be held in the parish church of Fontes on Sunday 9th December at 3.00pm. The service will be led by Rev Roger Smith, a Church of England clergyman, and other ministers and will follow the traditional format, with the exception that a small number of the readings and carols will be in French as a mark of gratitude and respect to our French hosts. The singing will be led by the Appassionata choir conducted by Roger Munns. At the end of the service wine and mince pies will be served to all.

Parish church of Fontes, Saturday 9th December, 3.00pm. Text by Trish Walker

hat is it about Christmas carols, and in particular the service of 9 lessons and carols, which holds such widespread appeal? They appeal not only to those who are regular church goers, but also to those who would normally avoid singing hymns and church. Many people are familiar with the story of how the service of 9 lessons and carols was devised in the 19th century by the Bishop of Truro who hoped to keep local men out of the pubs on Christmas Eve. History does not record how successful he was in this well meant endeavour- not very one suspects- but since then the idea has certainly become established as one of the English-speaking world’s most hallowed traditions, with the service in King’s College Chapel Cambridge being broadcast all over the globe. And here we have the answer to its broad appeal-tradition and nostalgia. Christmas carols for so many people bring back to us vividly our childhood, our families, our schooldays, our friends, previous Christmases in other places, with other people. They summon up for 19

Exhibition

Theatre

Why Mathematics?

french theatre is some of the richest theatre in the world.

Pourquoi les mathématiques? Free interactive Exhibition

The beauty of this genre is not always about language so we heartily recommend that you visit the theatre wherever you are. Right now at the Illustré theatre in Pezenas there is a wonderful play on and we have 2 tickets for you to WIN (see page 16) . Fictionary is set on the secluded island retreat of Jane Morris, a popular romantic novelist, in the mansion home she shares with Monique her maid and an imaginary 18th century romantic hero called Barry. Stan Lowe is a recently divorced graphic novelist from the USA who has agreed to collaborate with Jane to save his flagging career. He also has an imaginary friend; an ageing comic book hero called Captain Super. Can Jane and Stan co-write a romantic 18th century comic book? Will they make their own dream of true love a reality? Does Barry fancy Captain Super? Turn up and find out.

Médiathèque centrale d’Agglomération Emile Zola, Montpellier Open until 2nd December, 2012

Why maths? is a highly interactive exhibition addressing all ages. Through the numerous hands-on exhibits, the exhibition provides a route to independent understanding and just goes to prove that math is interesting and accessible to everyone. Part of daily life, it plays a primordial role in culture, development and progress in human society. Visitors can rest assured that this science has (finally) been made interesting, astonishing and useful. A UNESCO initiative, “Pourquoi les mathématiques” has been touring the world since 2004. Exhibition on loan from the department of Mathematics, Université Montpellier II. Médiathèque centrale d’Agglomération Emile Zola Espace Sciences et Loisirs (1st floor) Free Access 218, Bd de l’Aéroport International – Montpellier Tramway lignes 1 ou 4, stop “Place de l’Europe” For more information www.montpellier-agglo.com/mediatheques

Claudette writes:

HIDDEN TREASURES

The lady in my local boulangerie in Fabrégues is a treasure. We moved here from Germany in 2009 with no French and a little boy who was terribly homesick. Not only did she make us feel welcome but the smiles and welcome to our son as we

collected our croissants and baguette each morning was wonderful. To this day there are treats for him; a sweet from the counter and a piece of meringue. But most of all her patience in teaching him a word of French a day made a little boy feel special. Thank you Marie, you are a treasure.

“I think he might be a mole”

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What’s in a a name....

Sue Hicks continues her look into the history of Street names

Louis Pasteur

Pasteur was convinced of the rightness of the germ theory of disease despite much medical opposition. Inspired by the work of Edward Jenner in vaccinating against smallpox, Pasteur developed a vaccine against rabies by using a weakened strain of the disease-causing organism but did not dare test on a human volunteer. In 1885 the mother of 9 year old Joseph Meister who had been bitten by a rabid dog begged Pasteur to help. The boy was given twelve treatments over 10 days and did not contact rabies against all expectations. (Joseph later became gatekeeper at the Pasteur Institute and tended his saviour’s grave.) Pasteur then went on to develop a vaccine against anthrax. In the highly competitive academic life of mid 19th century France,

n the Middle Ages, streets were named after their function, for example Market Place, but from the 17th century prominent people began to be honoured by street signs bearing their name. Within a year of his death, a rue ‘Louis Pasteur’ was named after him in Paris and his is now the second most frequently used proper name according to La Poste. Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, in the Jura region in 1822. He received only a “mediocre” for his chemistry bac. Perhaps not being a brilliant student from the start encouraged Pasteur to be very thorough and attentive to detail. In addition, his myopia is thought to have enhanced his close vision so that he saw things hidden to those around him. He himself said that, “Chance only favours the prepared mind.” After gaining his doctorat at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris in 1847, Pasteur worked for several years in research and teaching in Dijon and Strasbourg before being appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Lille. Part of the remit of the faculty was to find solutions to the practical problems of local industries which included alcoholic drinks. The souring of wine and beer caused enormous difficulties and losses and was thought to be spontaneously generated. Pasteur showed through his swan neck flask experiments that organisms such as bacteria coming from the environment were responsible for the souring and that heating and immediately cooling the liquid solved the problem. The process was named pasteurisation and was subsequently developed for treating milk. By 1865, Pasteur was director of scientific studies back in Paris at the Ecole Normale where he had been a student. He is described as being frank, stubborn, prodigiously self confident, intensely serious and an excellent teacher who gave beautifully organised, if not spell binding lectures. He was asked to help the silk industry in the south where there was a disastrous epidemic amongst the silkworms. With no experience of the subject, Pasteur identified parasitic infections as the cause and advocated that only disease free eggs should be selected and thus the industry was saved.

Pasteur was combative and self assured with a zealous concern for his intellectual property. He also fought to obtain what became generous government support by French (if not by German) standards and managed to interest the Emperor Louis Napoleon and the Empress Eugene in his work and dedicated books to them. In 1888, the first Institute Pasteur was founded by international subscription. Amongst many honours, he was awarded the Legion of Honour, became a member of the Academy of Sciences and was given a state funeral on his death in 1895. Louis Pasteur’s contributions to science, technology and medicine are multiple. “Saviour” of the beer, wine and silk industries and countless individuals who received life saving vaccinations, he was surely justified in writing, aged 30, to his somewhat neglected wife that he would “lead her to posterity”.

Did you know - Teille - Onion and chopped squid tentacles (Sète)

This commonly found dish was imported from Gaeta in Italy to Sète by Italian immigrants in the eighteenth century. Adrienne Virduci made it commercially from 1937 and the recipe passed down. The traditional Teille is still made by his grandchildren.

www.l-artiste.com

elcome to the art pages of The Herault Times. All articles are taken from the bi-lingual Visual Arts magazine L’Artiste or

the L’Hérault Art website. Please visit us at www.l-artiste.com or www.lheraultart.com If you have an exhibition or art event and would like to see it on these pages please drop us a line at info@theheraulttimes.com. All exhibitions are online at www.lheraultart.com

Me, Myself and I

rench contemporary artist Bruno Peinado was born in 1970 in Montpellier. He lives and works in Douarnenez, Brittany and New York. His work can be found in public and private collections in France, including Galerie Lovenbruck in Paris, as well as in the museums of Jerusalem and Luxembourg. In 2006 he was nominated for the much coveted Marcel Duchamp prize.

His work is constructed from cultural artifacts from the modern world. Key works of great paintings, of modernism and the avant-garde and industrial objects, brands, logos and advertising slogans are appropriated and re-worked without distinction, often accompanied by long, humorous, informative sub-texts. The anti-copyright campaign or the questioning of the notion of originality, are many of the

resistance strategies that Peinado deliberately brings to the fore, opposing the simplification of the world which paralyses the senses. Peinado is also recognized as an accomplished draughtsman. He has collated his watercolour illustrations (1995-2005) into a 1,600 catalogue entitled ‘Me, Myself and I’, a stunning publication which has the quality of a visual diary.

Exhibition : Pierre Lohner (1934-2008) Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier, 16th November – 6th December, 2012 Vernissage, Friday, 16th November, 18h -21h This exhibition focuses on the drawings of Pierre Lohner. Lohner was professor of anatomical drawing at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Techniques de Paris. He also drew for the column ‘Horizons’ in the journal Le Monde during the 1990s. Galerie de l’Ancien Courrier pay homage to the artist through an exhibition dedicated to Women Women who he defended, who he sublimated in his unique way. It is significant that the artist loved Ingres (1780-1867) and the Mannerist movement who sought for freedom in the representation of the body. His work also reveals primitive elements. Pierre Lohner found his angular signature in unlikely curves. His figures express sometimes force, sometimes the fragility of being feminine. Throughout his portraits, Lohner shows us the ancestral Woman, powerful, at times furious protector, yet whose faces carry such unforgettable, poignant expressions. Galerie de l’Ancien Courrier 3, rue de l’Ancien Courrier, 34000 Montpellier

philippe morlighem “peintures” Saturday 10 November – Saturday 15 December 2012

In each of us there are sparks of creativity that can ignite the dormant talent within. We are all “Sensitive”. Some will paint or write, others will compose, sing, cook, build a bridge, an airplane or climb the Eiffel Tower ... Our life is in the way we breathe and what we do. To create is also to exist in the eyes of others. Camus said: “ To create is to give form to our fate.” We are all born with a destiny. I often go out into nature, searching for context.While walking I gather subjects, the energy of lines, colours, qualities, depths, horizons, volumes and also smells, anything and everything that stimulates my imagination. I take notes. The choice of subject matter is also an opportunity for me to explore different forms of expression, to try to translate a new emotion. When I place my easel in front of “Pic de Vissou” I do not have the same vision, the same feelings, the same sensibilities as when I face of the rocks at “Cap Creus”, the wind is not the same, the light, the shadows and the smells are different. 22

www.l-artiste.com

ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST I

am not a writer or a journalist; neither am I a man who walks into art galleries and spends hours trying to understand what the thoughts of the artist were. I am someone who looks and sees. We live in a world of fleeting glimpses and most people I know have forgotten how to look. Why? I don’t know? Laziness? Modern life? Expectation? But if you wnt to reconnect then I believe deep in my soul that if you want to have a visual experience of art, suffering and inspiration, then the work of Ernest PignonErnest is a good place to start. Born in Nice in 1942, Ernest-Pignon is a selftaught visual artist. He changed his name so as not to be confused with the painter Edouard Pignon. Much of his work is political and social, embracing topics such as apartheid, AIDS and nuclear weapons. Acquaintances of mine refuse to look further than this so miss seeing his work, but there is poetry and humour and unlike many of the current contemporary artists he takes a position; and just to shock you all, he really can draw. Some would say that Ernest Pignon-Ernest invented street art. I don’t believe this. He is an urban artist who uses his surroundings as a canvas, whereas street art is an expression placed into surroundings. I have read that he has a formula for his installations or as I continue to see them: ‘Urban Interventions’. He chooses a town, sometimes of his own volition and sometimes just by chance. From there he explores; day and night he walks the streets. He soaks himself with the noises, colours and materials around him. Then he immerses himself in books and all the information he can find on his chosen place. He develops his work by drawing on newspaper or other media using charcoal or black chalk. He has been quoted as saying he likes the fragility of paper. He puts his work up at night if he’s able, the artwork more illuminating as it is reveals itself in the emerging dawn; pasting it on a wall, a telephone booth, a church, in whatever location he has chosen as his canvas. Over time the images start to disintegrate, they are left to the elements, the pollution, the weather, the workings of a city; he never signs them: “…their degradation also contains meaning…” Pignon-Ernest began by making architectural drawings. He was a great admirer of Picasso, but realized he could not follow in his footsteps; they had to be his own. He later participate in the Salon de la Jeune Peinture. His involvement there coincides with the first time he put his work outside.

In 1966, Pignon-Ernest created his first major works as a conscious statement against France’s nuclear capabilities in Provence. Deeply moved by the silhouettes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki he created collages of the shadows. In the ‘70s he made a series of political works under the title: 1971, ‘The Commune’, a series of works situated around Paris including the steps of the Sacré-Coeur. In 1974 he displayed “Nice Twin-Cape Town”, through which he took a stand against the twinning of the two cities during apartheid. He also created the installations ‘Immigrants’ (1975) and ‘Evictions’ (1979). Some say his best work was in Naples, where his works are complex, yet free. He pays a passing salute to the 17th century and to Caravaggio, Virgil and Pompeii; and as if to prove the point he visited there four times over a seven or eight year period. “It feels, he says, that I cherished Naples, I know the walls of Naples, texture, to the fingertips…” Later, an artistic journey to Soweto materialized arguably one of the most iconic pieces that Ernest Pignon-Ernest has produced, (image left) that of a woman carrying a man, a victim of the AIDS epidemic, the inspiration taken from “I do not work in situations, a powerful photograph of a man carrying the body of a I try to work situations.” young child who had been killed by the police. By substituting the father for a woman, he highlights how in reality it is women who bear the brunt of this ‘war’; and by substituting the child he conveyed the desperate need to fight an enemy that had no respect for colour, age or gender. I read about Pignon-Ernest’s time in Palestine where he created works in response to his friend’s death, and was struck by a single line quoted by him: “I do not work in situations, I try to work situations.” In the galleries and museums which exhibit his work, whatever the space, it holds its own; but the soul and basis of his work is in the outdoors where his canvas is the city, the people and his thoughts. “Extases”

get the best price, and setting your selling price too high. Start-up costs which include initial stock will vary considerably dependent on the item chosen but 1000 to 3000 Euro’s would be average. This will include tables, printed material, insurance, parasol, etc. After commencement your major on-going expenses will be travel related. Registration as a trader is relatively simple, inexpensive, and will take 1 to 2 months. There are several choices of regime which need to be examined carefully. The auto-entrepreneur scheme is the quickest and most straight forward. As a newcomer you will have to register by a specified early hour, wait patiently for the draw, and then be told what space has been allocated to you. The placier normally from the Police Municipale

Hmmm, now did I remember to set the alarm?

If you would like further information about becoming a market trader in the Hérault, please feel free to contact me and I will be happy to try and help: ian.mills41@gmail.com

Keith Taylor sells prints of his creative photography in the Clermont L’Hérault market

NB. Connexion publishes a guide on markets. Images Keith Taylor 24

Kerith Biggs after 8 years in the local markets is a well known figure with her secondhand books and greetings cards. Don’t ask her for Mills and Boon!

is firmly in charge. You will not always obtain all the space you require, and sometimes there will be no space at all particularly in the summer months. There is a small reasonable charge based on the number of meters you have, usually just over a euro per meter. Meanwhile, the professionals who have obtained permanent status by attending the markets for a couple of years in all weathers will have arrived and are setting up their stands in their usual spots. Each market is different, there are good, bad, and indifferent places, and only trial and error will tell you where you want to be. Traffic flow- in this case pedestrian - is the key. There is an excellent camaraderie amongst the traders. After a short time you will be on first name terms with your neighbours and exchanging news and ideas. If you have not been allocated any space one of the permanents will try and squeeze you in. Each trader is a born optimist, and starts the day with a big sales target in mind. A highly successful day will be announced on leaving to your fellow traders as “a champagne day”. A more recent development has been the infiltration of other nationalities other than French and North African into the Hérault markets. Clermont L’Hérault, for example, in addition to the growing number of British (see captions under photo’s), has Serbian, Russian, Italian, German, and Belgian traders! The attraction of passing a pleasant morning in the sunshine, watching the world go by, talking to customers and acquaintances is unbeatable and can become somewhat addictive. After a slow start, sales usually pick-up from 11am onwards and the morning soon passes. By 12.30 it’s as good as over and time to pack -up, head for home for a cold beer, a late lunch and perhaps a nap. All that fresh air has a soporific effect! There is always an amusing incident or news to share with your nearest and dearest when you get in. Then later in the day, it is out with the checklist and time to replace all the stock sold.

Ian Mills - a man ith a smile for all occasions sells hand crafted jewellery from India.

Karen Richardson sells a wide range of homemade English baked goods. Her speciality is wedding cakes.

f you have difficulty getting up early then being a market trader is certainly not for you. In these difficult economic times many have tried working the markets for the first time and found it a daunting prospect. By my own observations this year at least 90% quit after only a short period of time. Why is this? Well, the choice of product that you wish to sell is absolutely crucial. It must be different to whatever is already out there, and its selling price must be acceptable to market habitués. It must also provide you with a reasonable profit. It sounds simple but research will show you that such products are difficult to find. A 30 Euro T shirt however beautiful is a non-starter! Other common mistakes include buying too much stock to

Mark Wood, 17 years in the local markets is the British veteran selling a colourful range of pottery kitchenware.

Market Square Heroes

Stained Glass (Vitraux)

In Europe, the art of stained glass reached its height between 1150 and 1500, when magnificent windows were created for cathedrals. Many of the gothic cathedrals in France, such as Amiens, Reims, Rouen and Notre Dame in Paris possess stunning examples of stained-glass. Most of what is known about medieval stained-glass making comes from a twelfth-century German monk who called himself Theophilus. An artist and metalworker himself, Theophilus described in his text, On Diverse Arts, how he carefully studied glaziers and glass painters at work in order to provide detailed directions for creating windows of “inestimable beauty.” Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.

Rod McKee

Noteworthy stained-glass windows in France Chartres cathedral has the most beautiful collection of stainedglass in France, representing 5000 figures. Bourges cathedral is considered the second most important French building for the number, interest and age of its stained-glass windows. Metz cathedral has the largest amount of stained-glass windows in France (6500 m2), with a notable number created by Chagall. Mans cathedral has eight 12th century stained glass windows, of which the most important is of the Ascension, dated approximately 1120; it represents the apostles and the Virgin Mary watching Jesus ascending to heaven. The American Church in Paris has two windows made by Tiffany; these are valued at around a million euros each and are worth seeing, as there there are only a small number of Tiffany windows outside of the USA.

Stained-glass artist, Rod Mckee talks to The HT about his passion for glass.

I started to work with glass as a hobby whilst living in Belgium, I attended a couple of night courses on Tiffany glass - which traditionally uses opalescent glass in a variety of colors and textures – and began making small items like sun- catchers, leading from there to lamp shades in the Tiffany style. I found working with glass rewarding and a very good medium to work with; and it turned out I was quite good at it. I then decided to further my skills and to enrol in three Stained Glass window courses at a professional glass workshop in the UK. I moved to France in 2003 and started working with glass as a hobby. It became quite popular in my village and I was always being asked to make items such as lamps as gifts or windows for my neighbours. Due to the amount of work I was undertaking I decided to seek advice about becoming an artisan. I ended up registering as a Glass Artist under the banner of ‘Maison d’Artist’, so I have been classed as a glass artist ever since. There are a few very capable glass artists in our area, working in both stained glass and glass fusing. On occasions I work with a female Dutch artist who works with fusing; we put both our skills together and produce items in both mediums. Most of my work is of my own design whether it is windows, lamps or just ‘Objet d’Art’. I often see patterns that I can convert into stained glass windows, panels or Tiffany style objects, I really enjoy designing and working with Art Deco or Art Nouveau styles; most of my Tiffany lamps are made with these two periods in mind, they are also very popular with the majority of my clients. I have also had a number of commissions for stained glass windows based on the Art Deco and Art Nouveau period. The majority of these have been my own designs. My client base is about 70% French and 30% British and I find I have made more window and lamps for French clients who seem to share my passion for this period. I have had a couple of unusual requests, about 4 years ago I had a French couple arrive at the house looking to buy a large Languedoc Cross in Glass, this couple lived in Sarlat in the Dordogne. They had a very good friend who was born in the Languedoc who then later settled in the Dordogne; sadly he had terminal cancer and wanted a Languedoc Cross to be fitted to his coffin. So as I only make these to order they asked if I could make one and have it ready by the next day, so I had a very late night. I would like to have the opportunity to design and construct large stained glass windows for a public building where I had total control of the design, colours and texture of the glass to be used. Today the materials which I use like glass, lead, copper, solder and some chemicals have become very expensive, so for large pieces of work the initial lay out can be out of my reach, sadly the same goes for most of my potential clients. www.vitrauxfrance.com T: 04 67 23 97 29 M: 06 74 21 51 13 E: rod.mckee@wanadoo.fr

“Seasonal and Fresh” Recipe Times

with Bassie Scott

Beef in red wine with prunes and chestnuts

I remember prunes in the UK being like little bullets for the most part. Here in France the prunes from Agen are a sheer delight. Plump and black and ‘just’ dried so as not to break your teeth, they are a great addition to this warming casserole. I have given chestnuts another outing too this month as they help to give a sublime richness to the sauce. I have added a little twist to serve it with, gremolata, which finishes off the dish beautifully.

Pre-heat oven to 160 c, gas 3 Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

500 g Stewing Beef (I bought bourguignon beef from the butcher) 3 Shallots, roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 2 large carrots, roughly chopped 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped 1red pepper, sliced 12 Agen prunes 12 chestnuts, peeled and halved 2 tsps Dijon mustard Half a bottle of red wine Good glug of olive oil 4 sprigs of thyme 2 bay leaves Salt and pepper For the gremolata: Good handful of parsley 2 garlic cloves Zest of a lemon

Method - Heat half of the olive oil in a casserole dish and add all the vegetables. Sweat these gently to release their sweetness. - Meanwhile, cut beef into chunks, dust with flour and place in a frying pan with the rest of the oil and fry until brown all over. - Add beef to vegetables in casserole dish; pour in the red wine, prunes, chestnuts and a wine glass full of water. Pop in the thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and finally, add the Dijon mustard and stir everything around really well. -Pop in the oven and forget about it for a good 3 hours. At this point you could just put your feet up or you could make the gremolata: - Chop parsley finely. Chop garlic finely. Mix together with the zest of lemon. Set aside for when the casserole is ready. - Serve with grained mustard mash potato to mop up all that gorgeous sauce.

Cook’s note: Gremolata is actually Italian, traditionally served with osso bucco. If giving this to guests, do check they like raw garlic, it’s powerful! 26

“Seasonal and Fresh” Easy Fish Pie with Red Pesto and Petit Pois

hen writing the recipes for the November issue we were in the depths of a greyness which seemed to go on for days after such a beautiful summer. Wind and rain interspersed and seemed to call for hearty meals. So my apologies if you’re reading this and it’s sunny and warm outside but they’re good standbys anyway for those cold nights that have us yearning for open fires and chestnuts roasting. I’d bought a piece of white fish and was racking my brains for a recipe. In the supermarket I spied fresh béchamel sauce and that got me thinking. My apologies for not actually making the sauce but the dish got made in half the time which for me is a good thing – I am up to my eyes in prepping Christmas food for Cassan Fair right now! I fed this to husband Hugh and my friend Ginny who both deemed it yummy enough to share with you all. I hope you agree.

Pre heat oven to 200 c, gas 4 Serves 4

Ingredients

Method

400g white fish fillet, cut into chunks 2 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly and par boiled 2 tbsps red pesto (or to your own taste) 200g petit pois 1 packet of fresh béchamel sauce (in cold section, near milk usually)

- Pour boiling water over the petit pois and leave to stand. Meanwhile pour the béchamel into a saucepan, add the fish and the red pesto and bring to a simmer. After 5 minutes of low simmering, turn the heat off. - Drain the peas and add to the fish mixture. - For the breadcrumb mix – whizz all the ingredients in a food processor. If you don’t have one, melt the butter and mix into the other ingredients well by hand. - Butter an ovenproof dish. Put one layer of potatoes on the bottom. Next put all the fish mixture on top. Place another layer of potatoes on the fish and finally the breadcrumb mixture. Dot with butter, bake for 20 minutes or until crispy and brown. - Enjoy with nothing more than hunks of crusty bread.

For breadcrumb topping: 2 handfuls of breadcrumbs Bunch of parsley, finely chopped 50 g butter Zest of a lemon 15 g grated parmesan

Cook’s note: If you have a hankering for homemade Christmas Puddings, mince pies, mincemeat, marmalade, fudge, or just want to say hello and perhaps share recipe ideas, I will be at the Cassan Fair on 24/25th November. My stand is in the Chapel, in front of the stage. Look forward to meeting you there. 27

PORT - EMERGENCY - DIY - TECH SUPPORT - EMERGENCY - DIY -TECH SUPPORT - DIY - TE

The Art of the Bricoleur

Giving old windows a face lift

fter we moved into our house here several people advised us to replace the original 1950’s windows with double glazing - ‘much needed insulation against the summer heat and the winter cold’; sound advice but beyond our budget. The windows are in really good condition; I am sure that windows of the same age would be a far worse state if they had been exposed to 60 years of British weather. When the time came to paint the first set of windows I baulked at covering the handle mechanism with yet another coat of paint and decided to see what lay beneath. I have never been a fan of chemical paint

strippers (décapant) preferring a heat gun,

Hugh Scott scraper, and, for metal, a wire brush. With the bit to be stripped held in a bench vice, a little heat quickly softened the paint enough for the bulk to be scraped off. A wiz with the wire brush soon had the bits back to bare metal. The only slightly tricky bit was the handle. It was held together by a pin that had to be tapped out before the individual components could be stripped. Putting the handle back together did need one little trick. The whole thing is held together under tension. There is a square of metal with a hole in the middle that acts as a spring. It has to be compressed or squashed before the pin that holds the handle on can be replaced. My solution was to use a clamp to compress the spring and line up the holes so that the pin could be gently tapped back in. I then finished the job by spraying everything with several coats of clear varnish.

If you are not DIY savvy then may be its time you talked to a…

Dessinateur Projeteur (Architectural Designer) Text by Florent Gauriau

he role of a dessinateur projeteur (architectural designer) is to design and produce plans for new construction projects, translating sketches into a concrete design plan. The plans may be technically detailed, used for initial design purposes or for obtaining a building permit. The dessinateur can represent his/her client at the Mairie, the Communauté d’Agglomeration or the Direction Départmentale des Territoires et de la Mer, whichever service is dealing with the application. Working independently or as the head of a construction team, he/she is well-trained in key aspects of architecture, urban design and technical application. The dessinateur is responsible for remaining abreast of building regulations and also design software technologies. Measurements and photographs are taken and technical aspects ascertained: classified zones, flood risk areas, ground type, etc. A cost analysis prior to the project can also be provided. Dessinateurs may also head up the

building team; remaining present throughout to ensure that plans are correctly followed and time limits are respected - a role that has been known to save clients endless frustration and money. If you’re building a sports stadium, office

block, or have a listed property that requires complex work you may wish to consider an architect; otherwise a good dessinateur projeteur is more than capable, and usually a lot more affordable.

For information on building rules and regulations see: http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/ F17578.xhtml 28

e-male

Computer Speak What do I buy?

There is a huge choice of computers and devices in the marketplace now and some people (Techgadget) are claiming that there is an overkill situation before the consumer. I have received a number of letters about presents for Christmas and generally choosing what is best for someone. This is a tricky subject nowadays with the influx of smartphones, tablets, hybrids and those old faithfuls the laptop and the desktop. So how do you choose the right one for you?

If you want an Apple it is fairly simple. Go to their website and you get 3 choices. Once there it is simply a matter of screen size, memory and realistically how much you can afford. Go to Microsoft and the much talked about Windows 8 and it is a minefield with RTM versions, touch versions, tablet, slate, laptop or upgrade. So with Apple just check your budget, go online or to a store and hey presto, you are off. Microsoft. Well I am asked to tell you what I think and if honest I wouldn’t buy a Windows 8 device just yet unless on a laptop or desktop (in other words a new machine). The version that is currently available on tablets and slates (the ones with the cool keyboards) are not using the full version (and power) of Windows 8. For example, those of you using Outlook do not receive this on the current models. Just wait a month and all will be revealed in it’s full glory. So to the question. Desktops are the best all round solution. Easy to upgrade, cheaper to fix and easily customised. (Not Apple) Laptops are not dead yet, no tablet can fully replace the functionality of a laptop and won’t for a few years yet. Tablets are great if you are on the move and focus on email (Apples email client is excellent), web browsing and video and entertainment.Best at the moment; Acer, Samsung and iPad 5 Smartphones are wonderful if you want to be permanently connected. (iPhone 4 and Samsung S3 are outstanding.) Hybrids are curious but the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is the best in this genre by far. And don’t forget, in the new world of geeky technology, advertising and cool are sometimes just as important if it is a gift.

Classified Adverts Simply Church Christian worship, prayer & teaching including children’s programme. 2nd and 4th Sundays. Everyone welcome. Mail: info@simplychurch.fr Web: www.simplychurch.fr ** The Church of England at St. Pargoire, Holy Communion 2nd Sunday each month at 10 am. Everyone welcome. Details achstp@gmail.com **

Emotional, linguistic and practical support to cancer patients and their families through our team of trained volunteers. For information and support: Helpline: 04 67 44 87 06, email:csf.languedoc@gmail.com, www.csf-languedoc.com All welcome. **

SERVICES

MAN WITH A VAN Deliveries, collections, removals, house clearance, garden clearance/maintenance. No job too small. No room in your car? Furniture/Building Materials to collect? Rubbish to dispose of? Please call or email Tim. 0033 (0)7 87 22 05 55. enquiries@manwithavan.fr ** Tired of Housework? Out of season cleaners. Competitive rates tel: 0467 24 83 72 mob: 0687 64 97 29 Siret registered ** Commercial Cleaning Machine for hire. Cleans soft furnishings, rugs, mattresses, sunbed cushions, car interiors, etc. Contact Trudi: 0499570589 trudi@ppm34.fr ** FURNITURE MAKERS Specialists in kitchens & furniture for Bedrooms, bathrooms or libraries Built-in or freestanding IKEA units & worktops fitted Upholstery, traditional to modern

RUGBY ENTHUSIASTS

I am looking for fellow Rugby followers...... do you go to matches? Can I join you? I will gladly share petrol costs. Please contact Penny. email: pouzollespenny@yahoo.co.uk

** Man seeking woman

-NB All Personals are allocated an email that only the person placing the ad can see For meals and cinema. Solvent male, 52 yrs seeks friendship and companion. I just want someone to share experiences with. reply to this ad by mailing: thtsharetime4@theheraulttimes.com

** ENTERTAINMENT Shenanigan’s Irish owned and run, family pub and restaurant. All rugby, Gaelic and Hurling shown live. Guinness & Bulmers Plate of the day 10e with a glass of wine. Taxi available. Open all year. Vias centre – 0430178387. **

OPPORTUNITIES

T: 04 68 31 53 61 E:jiginfo@ymail.com Siret:51091584600016 **

The Tuesday Club

Looking for additional spending money before Christmas? Neal’s Yard, currently the UK’s fastest growing organic body care direct sales company, is looking for independent consultants in France. FREE training, excellent income plan! Please contact me, Pam Kay pamkay.personal@gmail.com 0642159631 **

A lively group of English speaking people from all nationalities meet to hear talks, exchange ideas and socialise. www.tuesdayclub.eu tuesdayclub.fr@gmail.com

SERVICES **

“Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols on Sunday 9 December at 15h.00 at Fontes Church, everyone welcome, wine and mince pies served after the Service”. **

TRAINING

** Women’s International Club, Languedoc- Roussilon Meets in Saint Chinian, 1st Thursday of month , 2.30pm., at Salle de L’Abbatiale. Our meetings are conducted in French and English. info@wic-lr.com www.wic-lr.com

Do you want to sell Online? Starts November in Clermont L’Herault. Register your interest. Info@theheraulttimes.com Subject: SEO **

Looking for

I am looking for fellow writers to form a writer’s support group. Please call Jean at 04-67-44-15-65. Or e-mail me at jkatzcar@aol.com **

www.opticaldiscount.com (10% reduction if you show this ad) **

Classified Adverts PROPERTY SERVICES

LANGUEDOCPROPERTYSERVICE.com

Help in Hérault with property repairs & garden maintenance, pools, decoration, keyholding & changeovers. Established. Bilingual. Reliable. 06 31 74 45 88

Perfect Property Management Professional, reliable company for all of your property needs. Changeovers, pool maintenance and repairs, project management. Siret registered. Contact Trudi: 0499570589 trudi@ppm34.fr www.perfectpropertymanagement.com ** Roquebrun Property Management Personalised services for holiday homes and seasonal rentals. Full or ‘pay as you go’ service. Homes available to rent for 1- 15 people. Call Sue on 0652752445. www.househunterslanguedoc.com ** For All Your Propety Care Needs Complete pool care inc. winter shutdown, gardening inc strimming, changeovers, general painting interior and exterior, varnishing, oiling shutters etc. Siret registered est 10 years Tel: 04 67 24 83 72 06 87 64 97 29 www.property34fr.com **

Dick Fowler Construction

Liner Pools, Solid Pools All house renovation and construction work Email; fowlerbatiment@gmail.com Port: 0670 91 12 17 Capeb/GDF Suez grants available for loft and wall insulation

Dyson Property Renovations English Qualified Builder Kitchens, Bathrooms, Decorating and Renovations Professional and reliable Free Estimates – References Available No Job Too Small Tel: 0647 09 38 65 m: roydyson36@yahoo.co.uk www.dysonpropertyrenovations.com ** Tiling and General Building

Renovations 20 years experience in the building industry. Contact Brian Dawson 06 73 52 04 19 34370 Maraussan C.C Le Lirou Tél : 04 67 21 82 34

JEWELLERY

Makes an ideal gift. See us at the CHATEAU CASSAN XMAS FAIR 24/25th Nov. New consignment of over 150 designs just arrived from India. Excellent quality and wonderful prices. Ian Mills 04.67.29.77.14. ian.mills 41@gmail.com.

WELL-BEING Drop in Day

Centre d’Ostéopathie et d’Intégration Structurelle (®Rolfing)

Recently opened in Lodève Annette Beckett qualified osteopath since 1992 cranial osteopathy for adults, children, babies annette@beckettosteo.com Barry P. Beckett Certified Rolfer, Rolf Institute 1993 Structural Integration, Postural Improvement, Osteopathics. motionpresent@gmail.com 06 30 64 88 40 **

ACCOMMODATION

New Bed & Breakfast in Cessenon sur Orb, 10 kms from St Chinian. 2 luxury King Sized rooms, 1 min walk to river & town centre. Wifi/Internet access. Chris & Susan. Ph 0033 (0) 9 80 39 94 33. lovesy.huston@gmail.com **

GARDENING

MATHIEU GOUDOU - LE JARDINIER Make your life in the garden easier using less water and chemicals. Local expertise for creation and maintenance. Prompt and reliable. English Spoken. Tel: 0623 46 35 42 **

TAXI

Tel: 0033 (0) 467 21 72 38

Last Thursday of the month (exc July/Aug/Dec) for support, fun activities and pampering hosted by CSF- Languedoc. For information and support:: Helpline: 04 67 44 87 06, email: csf.languedoc@gmail.com, www.csf-languedoc.com All welcome. **

e-mail: agenceviastaxi@free.fr Any Distance - Up to 8 Passengers E-mail Reservations welcome Estimates Given All enquiries welcome **

BOOKS

Le Bookshop Librairie Anglophone / café 8 rue du Bras de Fer - 340000 Montpellier Tel./Fax : 04 67 66 22 90 contact@lebookshop.com www.lebookshop.com ** ENGLISH BOOKS AND CARDS

Bespoke massage, Mobile service,

Handyman Services Satellite Installation – Renovation Tel: 0499 41 61 80 Mob: 0609 54 06 62 Email: handyman34450@hotmail.co.uk Ashley Vias 34450 **

Group bookings taken. Thai massages, Reflexology, Neck and face massage, Reiki, Oil massage. Susannah 0652752445 / 0467243142 Based in Ceps / Cazedarnes, **

MANICURE & PEDICURE By Pam Kay Pezenas & Surrounding Village nailsbypamkay@gmail.com 064 21 59 631 30

available at the English Bookstall at the following markets: Monday- Bedarieux, Tuesday - Marseillan Ville, Wednesday Clermont l’Herault, Saturday - Lodeve. Contact Kerith Biggs 04 67 96 68 87 **

English Books at the Bourse ,Pezenas.

The next sales are Sunday November 4th December 2nd and January 6th from 10 am to noon . The Café de la Bourse is next to the Hotel Moliere in Pezenas All books are 1Euro or less . Excellent coffee and company . Want to book a table ? Call Carole on 0467905910. **

CHRISTMAS CARDS (IN AID OF CANCER RESEARCH)

Now available from the English book stall at the following markets: Bedarieux -Monday Marseillan Ville - Tuesday Clermont L’Herault - Wednesday Lodeve - Saturday Contact: Kerith 04 67 96 68 87 ** Optique Bonnaterre

17, Blvd Gambetta 34800 Clermont L’Herault English Spoken

Stuart Turpie

he condemnation of the 7 times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong came as little surprise to French cycling fans. Although the harsh details of doping in his teams, such as U.S Postal, made for ugly headlines, taking away his 7 titles still leaves unanswered questions of prize money, the anger of sponsors and possible blind eyes by some at

Tel: 04 67 96 01 85 www.opticiens-atol.com **

Artisan

Je propose mes services pour des travaux de Maçonnerie en pierre (stone masonry), enduits à la chaux (lime plaster), pierre-sèche (dry stone). Philippe Eymard 06.03.06.60.84 ou ph.eymard@gmail.com **

Bretons. Many thousands of Euros were bet in villages near Montpellier, it’s claimed by girlfriends and associates of the Montpellier players. Strictly Forbidden!!! Having 5 very good players suspended, Montpellier has yet to win in European competition and is no longer dominant in the French League. Players are indignant that they would never “throw a game” intentionally. That is hard to prove if players are just off form. Nicola Kerapatic, a superstar did not even play, though his partner did place bets. Putting on bets is totally illegal and then against your own side looks very bad indeed. Some players seem to be hoping that they will be punished within the sport, just for breaking betting rules rather than throwing a match. The legal process is going to be drawn out and complicated. The reaction in the city has been one of utter dismay. Some sponsors have pulled out. Karabatic’s role as a poster boy alongside Tony Parker and Thierry Henry, for an on line betting company has been met with bitter ironic smiles. But it’s not all gloom in the World of sport. Here in Hérault we have an outstanding sporting achievement by a local Brit. Elizabeth Bowers came second in her category (060) in the National Half Marathon Championships on October 7th this year in Nancy in a time of 95 minutes. Liz who is based in Nizas, competes for a Montpellier Club (MAAM). She also won the French Mountain championships in the Pyrenees last year. A huge well done from all Brits and fellow Hérault Sports fans!

the sports authorities in the past. The real issue is whether the culture of doping is a thing of the past. Dutch sponsors Rabobank have pulled out of the sport. Have they let down the new, young generation of riders, who claim to be clean? Many prominent cyclists, such as Bradley Wiggins, who have built their reputations on the foundation of hard work alone, have taken a stand against drugs in sport. There are some very positive signs. The winning times in races are slower; impossible fight backs from injury are now unheard of, riders are taking several minutes longer on stiff climbs. Despite the tremendous effort by Team GB in the Olympic Road Race they were unable to get back to the front to allow Mark Cavendish a crack at the sprint. Let’s hope that this positive evidence is going to bear fruit at the time of brilliance in Team GB, team Sky and on the track. It’s going to be a struggle to convince a wary public. The Montpellier Handball Club betting scandal has moved into legal stages. At the end of last season Montpellier, just crowned champions again, lost a match in Rennes. The Breton team needed to win to avoid relegation. Montpellier fielded a weakened squad. The problem was that huge sums were bet at Francaise des Jeux on the half time score being a lead for the Elizabeth Bowers (left)

Good Times....Fun Times.....The Herault Times 31