The local news has announced that because of the snow heavy lorry traffic has been stopped on the  the A-9 motorway .Firemen are distributing packed lunches!Oh la belle France!I can’t remember this happening on the M-1

Despite living in the depths of the French countryside, what a joy, this does not mean one is deprived of concerts of a very hight quality.The other night I drove over to Clermon l’Hérault,about 40 minutes, to enjoy a concert of music by Mozart,Bach,and Prokofiev given by two distinguished musicians, Conrad Wilkinson(piano) and Paul O’Hanlon(violin).It was a delight.

Conrad, his wife,and two small children have been living in the area for six years, eschewing life in the big city, and the probability of a greater variety of work,for the pleasure of living in France with the extraordinarily high quality of life and a wonderful environment in which to bring up children.At the end of the performance the theatre manager came on to the stage and announced that it was Conrad’s birthday whereupon the whole audience rose and sang “Happy Birthday”! We then went down to the foyer where a glass of wine was offered and we had a chance to meet the two artistes, a thoroughly enjoyable evening out.

La tour carrée

Standing proud above the old village of Colombières-sur-Orb,the tour carrée dates back to the 11th century and is the last remnant of a previous château.Unfortunately the rock on which the tower was built has split and it is in danger of falling down so the village of some 300 inhabiatants is trying to raise the money to save it.

Of course the first step in any project is to find out whether  a grant(subvention) is available from the local mairie, the department or the state.Fortunately as this has been declared a heritage site  a large percentage of the cost will be available in the form of a grant but the villagers  will still have to find €25,000.So this summer there will no doubt be  a busy round of picnics,dances and fêtes of all kinds to raise money.

I feel strongly that those of us who are fortunate enough to enjoy the delights of living here,and there are many,should contribute to saving these wonderful heritage sites, testimony to the fascinating history of  the France that we love.Fortunately the French state encourages people to support the “patrimoine” by allowing French residents a reduction in income tax in the following year of 60% of the sum donated.Thus if you give  say €100,you will have €60 deducted from your tax,so the net cost to you is €40.Vivent  les subventions!

One of the delights of living in this area is that we have our local Slow Food convivium  (www.slowfood.com),and very convivial we are too! Our latest outing was to a local truffle plantation.I had visions of spending the afternoon stumbling around damp woods vainly seeking the elusive truffle on the off chance that we might come across one or two with the help of the owner’s truffle hunting dog,Vicki.

To begin with there was no wood but an exposed hillside just outside Bédarieux where the truffle farmer had planted 330 oak saplings,none much more than two feet tall.Vicki was unleashed and within about half an hour had found 26 truffles of various sizes.I began to smell a rat (or perhaps I should say a truffle). If it was that easy surely they would not be so rare and expensive. The farmer owned up that he had planted them to demonstrate Vicki’s ability to find them which was truly impressive.

I must admit that I find the truffle somewhat overrated,or maybe my tastebuds find the taste a little too subtle.In my experience truffles should be eaten with something very simple like pasta,the truffle being shaved over the dish at the last minute.This is really delicious.

In the evening we all had dinner at the truly remarkable Auberge des Gorges de Madale which by the greatest of good fortunes happens to be only five minutes from where I live.

You hear endless complaints about the bureaucracy in France,and it is true that everything is laid down and codified but with the notable exceptions of R.S.I (Régime Sociale des Indépendents) and France Telecom, a national disgrace, I have had no problem with the bureaucracy even having started a business,changed my driving licence to a French one,and had a replacement Carte Grise (vehicle registratation document) supplied when I mislaid the original.

The secret is NEVER try and do anything by post unless you  absolutely have to.It is worth driving for a couple of hours if necessary to have a face to face meeting rather than trying to deal with officialdom by post.In my experience, with the approach”Can you please help me? I’m a stupid foreigner, I don’t understand this document” I have invariable been met with not only help but a willingness to bend the rules if necessary to solve a minor problem.Civil servants are people too.Never adopt an arrogant,angry or facetious approach.And if you don’t speak French take someone along with you who does.

Even the incredible RSI solved a problem overnight with a meeting after countless letters,registered letters and e-mails remained unanswered,or at least the latter answered with an automatic reply promising an answer “as soon as possible”.That was eight months ago and I’m still waiting!

Before the arrival of the Internet the initial role of the property hunter was to place before prospective clients properties that met their requirements culled from local sources whether they be estate agents or private clients. Some prospective purchasers still require this service which we happily provide.

But increasingly clients search the Internet themselves for suitable properties. Often they are unable to visit the property themselves immediately, or do not entirely trust the opinion of the estate agents who are, after all, trying to sell the property.The property hunter can then visit the property,provide additional details and photographs,both of the property itself and the surrounding area which can be equally important, and provide a “warts and all” assessment.The saving in time, air fares, and hotel costs fully justifies the fees payable in commissioning a house hunter to work for you.

Some 40 kilometres from Toulouse,near the village of Revels( a jolly name for  a place for a day out!)  lie the Museum and Gardens of the Canal du Midi, devoted to the great work of Pierre-Paul Ricquet, the genius behind what must be one of man’s finest achievements.The museum is next to the great dam of St.Ferréol which was built to feed the canal and was for many centuries the biggest dam in Europe.In  summer the lakeside is a great place for a picnic.

Linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean,work began on the canal in 1665 and was completed in 1680, the year in which its instigator and builder died with just three kilometres still to be completed.He had started the enterprise in his 57th year at a time when the average life expectancy of a man was 40 years,and it took all his fortune and a debt of 2,000,000 pounds for his children to pay off.

The scale of the work is astonishing.The length of the canal is 240km,the width varies from 16 to 19m., 7,000,000 cubic metres of soil had to be excavated by 12,000 men and women. Bridges,locks and tunnels had to be built and numerous engineering problems overcome.Ricquet managed to engage the interest and support of Colbert,Louis XIV’s minister and even the King himself, although the relationship was not always an easy one.

The Museum provides an excellent introduction to this amazing feat of imagination,organisation and perseverance,and given the tools available at the time,basically picks and shovels, puts into perspective great engineering achievements of our time such as the Channel Tunnel. Website www.museeducanaldumidi.fr

Nothing encourages me more to look forward to the lovely,long,lazy days of summer  than my Hibiscus.Last summer it bloomed every day beside the swimming pool, its heavenly colour contrasting with the blue of the pool.Each bloom only lasts for one day here, but it is a joy.

We all have our moments in the sun-they are to be savoured.

Even if you are not some kind of aeronautic anorak a visit to the Airbus 380 site in Toulouse is a great day out and Toulouse itself is a wonderful city.It is necessary to book one of the tours in advance(they are both in French and English) and to take your passport or means of identification with you. One of the visitors the day I went was a young Australian guy who spoke immaculate French, surely as rare a bird as the A-380!

The tour begins with a visit to a precise replica of the “telemetry room” which provides live monitoring of the test flights, so that you watch  a film shot both from the ground and from the cockpit as the plane makes its first flight in April 2005, and at the same time see the data being recorded  (It would have been indelicate to ask the question, but did I notice all the crew had parachutes?)Of course the flight was perfect and it is amazing to see this 450 ton aircraft leave the ground.

You are then taken by coach to the  Airbus 380 assembly building where you can see the actual process of assembly taking place, and this is where the numbers become impressive. The assembly line covers 25 acres! Parts of the aircraft are manufactured in Germany ,the UK, Spain,and France and then shipped to Toulouse for assembly. For example the wings weighing 35 tons and having a length of 150 feet are made in Wales,put on barges on the river Dee to the port of Mostyn,shipped from there to France,put on another barge up the Garonne,and then transported by road to the site by night to minimize the chaos on the roads. I ventured that this must be  an extremely costly method of production only to be told that Boeing have wings made in Japan, not previously known as a low cost manufacturing country .Assembly in fact only takes 3 weeks followed by 6 weeks of testing. One airline,Emirates, has ordered 58 of these huge aircraft, and one has been ordered as a private plane by a Middle Eastern Sheikh! The price is around €350 million.

Following the visit to the assembly hall you return on the coach to the reception area,and   enter a full size scale model of the A 380 passenger cabin, both in tourist and business class configurations, which gives an idea of the huge space available for passengers on two decks.

Airbus is a remarkable example of European co-operation to produce the most successful civil aircraft manufacturing company in the world. Would that there were more such examples.

Life in the Languedoc has so many advantages that although I have no statistics to prove it, I am convinced that there are many   reasons why retired people can expect to increase their life expectancy by at least 5 years!Why?

1) Stress.

Life in England is stressful because of the density of population and the ever-present pressure of time.Time is elastic here.Don’t expect anyone to arrive on time for a meeting  because we have “le petit quart d’heure du Midi”(the little quarter of an hour of the Midi).Being late for anything is a concept that is hard to grasp for most people.

2) Dress

What you wear for any occasion  is of little or no significance.I had to go to a funeral of someone in the village and sought advice as to what to wear.”Jeans  and a leather jacket is most appropriate” I was told.As I possess neither  I wore a pair of dark grey trousers, a blazer and a tie,one of the only two people there doing so.The mayor turned up in his usual jeans and sweater that he wears to the office.Of course in the summer the major decision of the day is what colour shorts to wear.If you feel the need to show off your designer labels and your new BMW,don’t even think of coming to live here.No one will notice!

3)Food and drink

Where does one start?Living in the largest wine producing area in France,and one which is now known for quality as well as quantity,the wine lover is truly in heaven.The medical profession seems to be increasingly at odds as to whether wine is good or bad for you,but the fact cannot be disputed  that in moderate quantities it makes you feel good, and surely that is life prolonging.What you decide are moderate quantities is up to you!

You can buy meat,fish,fruit and vegetables of the highest quality to cook at home,or enjoy fresh oysters or fish straight from the sea in one of the many seaside restaurants,or head into the mountains for hearty wild boar stews and breathtaking views.

4) Driving

The French have a reputation for not being the best drivers in the world.Actually I think this is unjustified.Once you understand that they cannot bear being behind the car in front of them you can relax and let them press on.The road system and maintenance are world class,the traffic density outside the major cities is minimal,and there is almost always somewhere to park as usually any horizontal surface is available even if  subject to a notice saying “No parking”.Driving in the UK is one of the most stressful experiences mainly due to traffic density,so  here you can again enjoy the long forgotten pleasures of motoring.

5)Healthcare

As one gets older one has to accept the fact that visits to the doctor tend to become more frequent.The French health service,usually considered the best in the world,puts more emphasis on prevention than cure.Therefore it is normal to have a blood test annually,and the doctor takes my blood pressure whenever I go to see him even if  my visit is for a  sore throat!,and always pronounces it perfect,

And the service is impeccable.A friend of mine became very ill one Saturday night,was taken into hospital on Sunday,diagnosed with gallstones that day,was operated on on Monday(keyhole surgery naturally) and was back at home on Wednesday.Of course the health service is massively indebted but no one seems to care as long as the service is first class, which it is.

6) Technology

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology one can live in deepest rural France and yet still enjoy watching a test Match in Australia during the day and a performance of “La Bohème” from the Met in New York in the evening.

7) Fun!

If your idea of fun is to have long  boozey lunches in the sun by the pool with your friends,or enjoying walking through amazing landscapes, or visiting magnificent old churches and villages often untouched by modern life,or drifting round the wine domains tasting and discussing the wines with the vigneron or vigneronne who produces them, or climbing one of the local gorges  with a picnic,and having a rock pool to yourself to swim in,or browsing the local markets, or listening to classical music in 14th century churches, the low key laid back Languedoc is for you, and I’m sure you will live a longer and more contented life.So what is stopping you coming and joining the FUN!

And even if you are one of those sad souls who insists on spending  their declining years hitting little white balls round a field trying to get them into a hole,and then taking them out again,you can do that too and there are plenty of people around who are similarly afflicted.