New Markets, New People, Same Old Sheep

Hello Alll
You know it is going to be one of those weeks when everything has be done in a short amount of time and you think you have been organised and got up nice and early to ensure that you can get to bed before 11pm and then the phone rings. "Hello Helen" says lovely neighbour "I only have 3 sheep and I have no idea where the other ones are". Of course this is the one day that your delightful husband has been organised enough to get himself down to the shed with all 3 dogs early as he also has appointments and places to go today. So quick call. Fortunately he is in signal range and the sheep are not baaing too loudly "**** resigned voice "Ok I will head back there now". Now the interminable choice should I go and assist and then everyone is happy and I work late or keep my own time schedule. No be a good girl and go help. Luckily they were not far and easy to bring back. I will call this picture "Wot, there was a fence".
Anyhow this week marked our first Saturday at St Foy La Grande. The sun was shining and I had been offered help by an able-bodied glamorous assistant/friend. Off we set feeling brave. My friend likened our arrival to ones first day at a new school, quite accurately as most of the stall holders at a market have been there for years, and some have inherited their spaces from family who had been there for years. They look at you firstly because you are evidently foreign and then check you out to make sure you are not in direct competition with them. Luckily I think we are the only stand that does what we do at the market. Once they warm up a bit they are mostly chatty and quite curious about the new luxuries you are bringing from foreign lands. British sausages?....luxury? Absolutely when made by Franklin Farm.
We even manged to find some new clients which was great, one of whom was my neighbouring standholder who informed me that his Grandmother (french and local to the area) also added bread to her cooking so I should not think that it is unusual to add bread to a sausage mixture. What a lovely man. His wife and he were selling cherries so of course we just had to buy some. Yum yum. I can actually recommend cumberland sausages and cherries as a good flavour combination. How do I know? We cook samples at the market so people can try before they buy.

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The town is a bastide (a fortified town) set on the banks of the Dordgne River where 2 different departments of France join, the Dordogne and the Gironde it was estabished in 1255. They certainly knew how to dra a stright line in 1255. It is apparently one of the smallest communes in france covering only 51 hectares. 
Here endeth my brief history lesson.

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By its geographical nature, proximity to Bordeaux, the river it brings together people from different areas of our region and has quite a cosmopolitan feell about it. So no I don't feel cosy there yet like I do in Riberac, but maybe once I have done my time and weathered a winter going to the market it will start to feel a bit more cosy.
Off to the abattoir later must remember to check the van for stowaways before I leave.....
See you all soon
Helen

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