Gers - Le Vieux Presbetere

We are staying in an old building in the Gers region. It is the original house attached to a church in a tiny little village -- the house is about 400 years old. It has been done up by an English couple who also rent out two Gites (holiday accom) in an old barn. They are away for 10 days and we are looking after the house and two large, undisciplined French hunting dogs. The countryside is quite beautiful and we take the dogs for extended walks (attempting unsuccessfully to exhaust them) -- it is rolling countryside with a variety of crops and small areas of forest, vineyards, wheat and ground being prepared for sunflowers or maize.

I saw a deer in the forest yesterday -- wildlife sightings are rare especially something as large as a deer -- squirrels are a little more common. The countryside is very civilised with villages everywhere. The farmers live on their farms here in large complexes of house, barns, shed etc. A lot of these farm houses are in disrepair and the English are buying them and renovating them, sometimes quite beautifully. There are quite a few English and Dutch people here, apparently not nearly as many as in Provence, but still quite a few. This has good and bad aspects -- they save the buildings but this also puts the prices up and the farmers now can't afford to buy houses in the area. A lot of the English refuse to learn to speak French, and some of them are retirees who don't spend money or participate in community life -- this naturally causes resentment by the locals.

The English people we have spoken to say England is too crowded -- the English ruled this part of France for hundreds of years before the 100 years war, so they have a long association and it is probably part of a continual shifting migration. They say there is currently a real brain drain of French people into London -- better opportunities and you can work for longer than 35 hours a week in England -- it is illegal to work longer than 35 hours a week here -- unless you are a farmer of course or self employed. That rule was brought in to attempt to maintain a quality of life and to protect family life -- it seems there are a range of unforseen consequences and the current presidential election could be a real turning point depending on whether the right or the left candidate gets in.

We are learning that participation in community life is essential here and it opens all sorts of doors. The bureaucracy is incredible but if you know people there are many ways around it. We are getting to know a Canadian lady who has lived in France for 20 years and worked as a Chef and Restaurant owner. We looked after her house and dog for a week -- in a small village called Vic Fezensac. She is introducing us to different aspects of community life as did our friends in Alsace -- finding a car, insuring the car, getting it registered, finding a house, a school. Doing all these things as an outsider can be very very difficult, but if you know someone from a tight knit community it can be quite simple. Not so different to Stanthorpe really !!!