La Vie Culturelle

Since returning to Sarlat post-half term , there seems to have been a whole lot more going on; more to see, to do and to visit. Perhaps it is because the periphery of our little French life has got much wider grâce à Chevy, or maybe it’s due to the fact that we are no longer struggling to settle in and spending hours on mundane chores like trying to find a duvet (!) or working out the best way to get to school in the mornings. Anyway, whatever the reason, the past week or so has been a lot of fun. The Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine played on Friday night at the Centre Culturelle in Bergerac. For only €6, I was treated to The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas, Prokofiev’s 3^rd Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1. It was such a treat to hear an orchestra again, in spite of the fact that the Centre Culturelle is more like a glorified cinema, some of the first violinists were so far off-stage that they may as well have been sitting in the car park, people chatted the entire way through and, for some reason, the French like to clap in rhythm at the end of pieces. Jokes. It was really good fun and the standard was very high, especially the soloist – a Macedonian called Simon Trpceski who seemed to enjoy playing so much he hardly touched the seat during the whole performance. It was also a great chance to hear Tchaikovsky #1. I haven’t really heard it before but have been spotifying it – especially the third movement which is absolutely stunning. What a treat!

L'Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine - under the baton of Jérémie Rhorer

The orchestra whirling through the wee encore

Ben and Tyler in the newly found 'Buddha Bar' in Bergerac post-concert

Ellie, Tyler, Rosie and Katie - teaching the Americans the meaning of some 'British' hand signals 

Post-concert, I joined les Bergeraçois in a bar in town, completely buzzing from my little classical music ‘fix’. It wasn’t quite the same as going to Jabez or to the Spoons in Manchester city centre, which is what I’ve become so used to, but was really good fun all the same – especially as we ended up in this grimy bar/club called El Mojito later on in the night. With UK Top 40 blasting, weird soft-porn and sport on television screens and ‘le punch’ sold very cheaply, it was a bizarre but hilarious night all the same!

En plus, Joe, Alaina and I went along to Sarlat RFC (They’re called CASPN – not sure what it means though) playing on Saturday night. I didn’t catch who they were playing (the scoreboard only says Sarlat and visiteurs so I didn’t actually have any idea who they were. But with a black and yellow stripy kit, they were probably the wasps. Probably. (Definitely not!)

Anyway, it was such a good match. The stadium was packed, there were little half-pints on sale, big gruff men shouted continually at the ref, kids were running around the track alongside the pitch, supporters on the home bench had brought along a big bass drum so it felt as though we had stepped into Jumanji... in short, the atmosphere was amazing. And we won, which is something that, as a Scotland supporter, I have rarely experienced! I’ve decided that I’m definitely a CASPN supporter as of today. Whoop

The CASPN Stadium - just on the outskirts of Sarlat

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I feel a bit spoilt! There's loads more happening in the next couple of weeks. The Sarlat Film Festival starts on the 9th November and runs until the 13th, which looks to be quite a substantial event. We have another holiday (!) on the 11th November for Armistice Day and, as it falls on a Thursday, that gives us a 5-day weekend. I reckon I could get used to this: three days work, one and a half weeks off, two days work, five days off... sometimes the French really do know how to live!