A fete day in Provence,

I just love it when I have something special to look forwards to !

Most of my life is fairly ordinary, general housework, gardening, my walks .... all the usual sort of things. So, an excitement is very welcome !!

One day which I enjoyed very much was the fete day at the campsite outside Roussillon when we were on holiday there this year.




The judgement !

It started off with a day-long boules tournament with teams of campers and locals battling it out !!


This is a game which we play occasionally but I don't seem to have too much of a competitive spirit and a few hours slugging it away didn't tempt me at all.

But, I went to watch awhile and admire the skill and intensity of involvement..

They all seemed to be having a great time and the competitions seemed quite fierce.......

I was actually much more interested in the swimming pool as it was a humid, scorcher of a day and I needed to cool off and what better way than a few lengths in an unheated pool and a quick shower.

By the end of our stay at the campsite the pool was lovely and almost too warm for cooling off in !!

When the competition was eventually over I again went to watch the prize giving ceremony - all very light hearted and fun with goodies handed out to almost all it seemed.

In the morning I had been to visit a fellow brit at the campsite - Cecille was quite an elderly lady (an anglican priest) who had lived in an anglican community in Provence for 25 years but had now returned to Devon to enjoy her 'almost' retirement.

She had been coming to this campsite for years and had a caravan permanently stored here.

Cecille

She had actually taken the ferry to Bilbao and then driven over by herself, taking a few days with overnight stops en route.

Very spirited.





We arranged that she would come to the fete with us, and were to pick her up just before 7 pm when it all kicked off proper !!



Well, most of the time we had been in Provence we had had fantastic weather but today it was fickle and by the early evening there were clouds rumbling by and showers of rain now and then.



When the boules competition was eventually over we went to watch the prize giving ceremony - all very light hearted and fun with goodies handed out to almost all it seemed.

local vintner

We then all trooped down into the games room for glasses of wine supplied by the local vintner while the staff decided if the whole event could carry on indoor or outdoors.

We had in fact sampled  quite a few of his delicious wines already !

Thankfully it was decided that it was all systems go and we wandered down to the party area - which was all set up with tables and chairs (in rows) and music speakers with a dj and we could also smell the delicious chicken paella.

We take our place and the festivities begin.




Jugs of wine and bottles of water are placed in front of us and we we queue up in turn to be served our supper - we'd had to book our place and the charge for the whole evening was 15 Euros each.

 A bargain as it turned out.


Luckily for us we sat opposite the most funny happy-go-lucky chap I've ever met - he had a big wide grin and was full of jollity all night long and best of all I later found out that he loved to dance too !!

 He was actually Dutch and so he and his wife spoke excellent English, thank goodness. Also she didn't seem to mind me monopolising him for dancing !!!

One of the best things about the continental festivals for me is the dancing that follows and the fact that most of the people there will at one stage or another over the evening be up on the dancefloor enjoying themselves !!!

So un-british-like but such good fun, well for me at least.

To my husband it is an endurance test, although it does rather depend how many beers he's had !!


The were all sorts of dance styles that night - rocknroll, salsa, ce rock, the conga (a few times !!) and whatever you felt like doing really. Simply fun.


Cecille retired fairly early but we stayed on till the bitter end and by then Phil had actually danced a few times with me even and especially the slow smoochy number at the end ! A real trial for him but so appreciated by me.



 A lovely huggy number to round the evening off and even after ever so many years of marriage it is still blissful.





Dancing queen ????

    I awake the next morning to tweaks and creaks in my back    and hips - oh dear, the toll is felt by the body having been whirling and twirling all night long.

Still, no pain, no gain is what they say and I reckon it was worth it for all the joy I felt when dancing.

Can't wait for next time now....!.