Vive la Difference by Alison Croft
We migrated from Australia to retire to France about three years ago.
We now live in a very small village of about 150 inhabitants near
Laguepie. We have found it interesting to compare life in the French
countryside with living in a village, called Toodyay, in the
Australian bush in Western Australia. There are some similarities but
a lot of differences – the most important difference is our
relationship with the local Maire. In Toodyay, we never met nor saw
the Shire CEO but his councillors were to be seen conspiring in the
local cafe on Saturday mornings. Here, in France, the Mairie is
opposite our house and the Maire is directly involved in all aspects
of village life.
One similarity is that both villages have a river running through. In
Toodyay, the river is called the Avon and there is an annual Avon
descent in the winter where canoeists from around the world
participate in shooting the rapids and skirting the mudbanks. Near our
village, there is a swimming area and the Aveyron river flows with
water all the year.
One major difference is that the social life in Toodyay centres around
three pubs, where the local labourers and 'cockies' (farmers) meet and
drink. Flinging snakes at one's friends seems to bring an extra
comradeship there! And of course there are the weekend 'barbies' where
everyone brings a dish and lots of beer, and wear shorts, T-shirts and
thongs (flip-flops). In the French village the social centre is
definitely the 'salle des fetes' where well-dressed and elegant people
of all ages attend the 'the dansants', wedding receptions and birthday
parties.
The other significant difference is the involvement of the Maire in
supporting and caring for the villagers. He is very popular in the
village and often there are tractors and cars stopped alongside him
when he is cleaning the local noticeboards. The Maire ensured that
all the villagers could manage when we had a 2–day power cut 2 years
ago by personally visiting the houses. He takes a dustpan and brush to
clear up broken glass lying in the road after a minor crash. He
officiates at weddings at the Mairie. He drove to Albi, one Friday
afternoon for a new modem to replace our defunct one to ensure we had
a functional phone and internet line when my husband was incapacitated
and I had to go to a funeral in England. He also arranged for a
telecom engineer to install the modem.
We love village life in France and prefer it for all these reasons but
also because of the lack of insects! Hardly any flies in spring and
summer (no fly screens obscuring our views), a few tiny spiders and no
snakes. In Toodyay, we had 'blowies' (big shiny flies) in November,
mud wasps nesting in the mud bricks of our cottage in December, ants
varying in size between tiny to 'soldier ants' of 2 cms length that
bite, and big hairy 'huntsmen' in the hot summer months.
Vive la Difference!!
