Friday 14th July

Sometimes you feel a bit deflated.  All that anticipation for the big day, a mad rush of adrenalin and excitement, and then it is over.  Yesterday was Le Tour in Eymet.  The biggest event in France and the biggest for the town in years.  It may be literally a once in a lifetime event.  And it was Fantastique.  But even 30 minutes after the riders had set off, special teams were dismantling the barriers and loading them onto lorries to be driven to the next start venue – Eymet, just one little stop on the never-ending tour.  And that is how it is with so many things.  Rock tours are managed in the same way, as are exhibitions.  Everything easy to assemble and dismantle.  As the caravan moves on.  And even the square, which had a stage with bands and a disco last night and tables and stools and a barbecue and wine stalls – this morning (Thursday) it is all gone in the middle of the night, the streets swept and litter all gone.  All we have left are the garlands of plastic flowers and painted bicycles decorating the town.  And one by one these too will disappear.

But today (Thursday) is market day.  The square is filled with stalls again and another form of madness takes over, and by one in the afternoon it will be gone – no sign remaining.  Tonight there will be music and a Marche Gourmande in the Parc.  We will all be drinking and eating under the trees, and on Friday morning there will be no trace that we were there.  For then the caravan moves on and it will be Bastille Day and more celebrations at the Parc Bretou, food and music and wine and fireworks.  In fact, for two months here it is one long party.  Just hope we are strong enough to keep going.  So, no time to be deflated at all.  Maybe in September we will relax and look back on another Summer of Madness.