Under siege. Part 4.

Day 5. Monday, 28th September 2015.

Last evening the activity wound down and rides and stalls gradually closed. At 8.00.p.m. only the two slot-machine arcades (oops, sorry, “Casinos”) were open, the music muted but still attracting about 20 people.  By 10 o’clock all was quiet.  At 10.30. a little clattering as some prepared to dismantle and move out, a very few last night and early this morning. Many still remain.

How quiet it was this morning!

My heel is less painful  but still sore.  I managed to get my shoes on and we decide to go for a short walk.  We must have looked like “poor, old dears” - arms linked and a walking stick each side of us.  We managed 15 minutes around the block and limped back home. But it was good to be out in the sunshine if only briefly.

The funfair thinned considerably but the dodgem cars, two kiddies’ roundabouts, the two Casinos and a few stalls prepare to open for business at 4.00.-4.30.p.m. The music was gentle and quiet at first, then increased in pace and volume at 4.40 in time to attract the children getting ready to leave the nearby junior school ten minutes later, but with little result. The entrance and exit doors have been changed since the fair was here last, when children spilled from school straight into the funfair!

Work on both the juniors’ and babies’ schools took a year to complete.  Both were enlarged and the catchment area extended.  Both schools are now behind gates in a side turning, next to the Salle which building was - still is? - shared with the junior school.

 By 6.00.p.m. a few older children and a young couple were chancing their arm at the slot machines, but the little roundabouts were almost empty - just three excited little girls with mama nearby.  Gradually the funfair took on a neglected air and at 7.00. the packing up and closing started.  For the past couple of years we have wondered why they stayed open for the Monday evening with little attendance;  this year with even fewer people around they obviously decided to call it a day early.

At dusk the men work hard dismantling and packing and some of the lorries and trailers depart.

It’s not a life we envy.

As a glorious sunset slips behind rooftops, the rooks gather and head home.

The men continued to work quickly, efficiently and as quietly as possible but it is in the wee small hours before the last, big lorry is loaded but they do not disturb us.


 Day 6.  Tuesday, 29th September 2015.

The rest of the vehicles started to leave in the morning.

By 9.30. all the rubbish they had bagged up - about 20 large black bin bags! -  was collected by the town council workers using a tractor and trailer.  All that remained were two residential caravans, one lorry and two small trailers in the place at the front of our house. By 11.30. all had gone except for one small trailer for collection later.

We were impressed with the funfair people and the hard work they cheerfully do to provide surrounding villages and towns with life and colour.

It’s not their fault that their pitches surround our house!

Residents gradually bring back their cars but we only have a few days’ respite - it is the Autumn Fair on Sunday!  Cars will again have to be re-located but only from Saturday night until late Sunday to make way for the many stalls that will be set up in the centre and many of its surrounding streets.

Our siege has not quite finished yet…

Under siege. Part 2.

Day 3. Friday, 25th September 2015.

Blocked sinks in our kitchen today have given us focus on inside rather than out! 

The fairground men worked until late last night, under bright electric lights and today this is the view from our first-floor windows.

At the side…

Opposite this one...

...below the window sills. (view of the other side of these at the end of this article).

From the front window…

Two of the residential caravans - even more cabling on the ground. 

In the afternoon, I decide on a short walk, step outside the front door and am confronted with even more cables…

I cross the road…

...turn the corner and look back with the Salle des fêtes on the right...

...then leave the 'chaos' behind, taking the first turning on the right...the countryside is not far away.

The lane runs between gardens and cultivated land.










There are signs of Autumn colours...

looks as if somebody is getting ready for Hallowe'en.

Back home...

At least it's been quieter today - outside anyway. 

Under siege! Part 1.

The last weekend in September is the time for the Fête Patronale…which means the funfair is coming to town.  Not just to town. But in town. Right in the centre.  Centre ville.  Filling the squares and roads which lie in front of and beside our corner house.

Friends have asked how we stand it - but the tradition has been going on here far, far longer than we have.  It’s the way it is…c’est la vie.

Of course it takes a long time to set up a funfair with all its stalls, rides and other attractions.  They don’t just breeze in for the weekend. Oh, no.

Day 1.  Wednesday, 23rd September 2015.

A notice from Monsieur le Maire is wrapped on each car’s windscreen wiper…

All cars to be cleared from the area from today until next Tuesday.

Parking spaces will have to be found somewhere else in town.








The first fair vehicles arrive…and I take photos from our first-floor side and front windows…

It has begun!

Day 2. Thursday, 24th September 2015.

The chaos spreads with more vehicles of all shapes and sizes and power lines snake across pavements and roads.

Ron walks carefully to avoid cables!

Cables on the pavement outside our front door.

For a while we escape to the peace of Lac de Paix - the home of the family business 

There, the anglers are happy - they are catching many good-sized fish and the sun is shining on this beautiful and peaceful spot.

On the way back, the countryside looks lovely...

Back in town we are delighted to find our parking space is still available and take the short walk from it to our home for a welcome cuppa to celebrate.  As the streets continue to fill up, this may well be our last outing in the car for a few days! 

We decide to “shop local” - open the side (garage) door…

Facing the open door.

To the left - no room to walk on the pavement this way!

Good job we wanted to turn right!

…and walk past other “attractions” being set up.

On the way back from the shop, we gawp and hope we, nor anybody else living in centre ville, have need of emergency services for the next few days!

To be continued…