A small contribution to Guy Fawkes night

I put out a fire at our local hospital yesterday.  We live opposite the local hospital and Lesley and I often take a short cut through the grounds on our way to the Friday market.  For some time now as we have passed through we have observed burnt out pallets lying in a residue of chemical looking water.  We had bandied about ideas of what might be happening here.  Perhaps the hospital staff were out on strike and this was where they congregated sipping vin chaud and discussing matters political whilst keeping warm by a blazing pallet.  Well here were the staff all gathered around a flaming pallet whilst one by one they were selected by a man in green 'combinaisons', an all-in-one zip-up jobby rather like a Babygro for adults.  The staff were called forward one by one by name and handed a dry powder fire extinguisher.  The man in green then charged up the fire with what looked like petrol before letting each one in turn loose with the extinguisher.  As L and I tried to slip past unnoticed I was called into action by a wag and put through a local French fire drill.  Happily I was up to it and managed to douse the flames in one swift burst.  This was followed by much mirth and a little applause and we then passed on in the direction of the market. 

No 'rupture d'essence' here

All before a morning in the market

Once at the market we bought one of our favourite breads ‘La Jalousie’  This is a bread with a slightly sour flavour and is, I believe, made in the Aveyron.  It is advertised as a bread that you can keep for a week without freezing, a rare thing in France where your morning baguette can be going dry by mid-afternoon.  Laden with our loaf we headed off to Monsieur Troly’s stall.  M. Troly is an interesting man.  He is very much a man of his land and grows his produce under the ‘AB’ label ‘Agricole Biologique’.  I think he also has a unique selling point in that he turns his fields with the help of two large horses.  This could be the reason why all his vegetables look so fresh with vibrant colours.  His red Swiss chard is wonderful to look at and even better to taste.

Fresh produce readily available

A bargain at half the price - M. Troly's red Swiss chard