eve 'n' earlier

I am staring at the 11cm high figurine of 'Venus De Willendorf 1, 23,750 BC, in the musée in Bram with a shock of recognition. I am resembling her more closely every day as we languish in Languedoc.

In the brochure of the exhibition, EVES ET REVES 'La Prehistoire Au Feminine', at this modest little 'musee archeologique', I see that the figurine is described as 'statuette obèse.' And she has traces of 'de colouration rouge.' The flush of wine... the burn of the sun?

Even though I carry within me a tiny trace of genetic material from Esclarmonde, my Cathar ancestor from the 12^th century, I haven't inherited any of her traits. No leanings towards austerity or saintliness or hard work or martyrdom. Instead, a hedonistic disposition and a particular love of food and wine.

I have definitely been overdoing it with the cheeses, desserts, rich sauces and wines. I went to buy a new shirt today and found that I have increased by two sizes in just nine weeks. I am now eXtra eXtra Large. Apparently one morning's walking each week isn't enough to burn up the calories from the divine wine and French cuisine.

We joined a walking group this week for a fairly gruelling hike in the hills around Limoux, but, appetites stimulated, we followed this with one of those French three course lunches which involves a salade entrée, a lapin [rabbit] casserole in a rich sauce, and a chocolate pudding with crème anglaise or a crème catalan. And all of it washed down with a pitcher of rose and a coffee... Total price? Thirteen euro. Too easy. And too fattening.

Same 'Place'... different eras.

And then there are the pryrenean cheeses we buy at the market; goats, blue or sheep, which go particularly well with crusty baguettes from the boulangerie where we are tempted by the 'pain au raisin' or the 'pain au chocolat' [which are soft and warm and melt in your mouth].

And the blanquette! The cheap, fizzy, but very good, wine which the Benedictine Monks at Abbaye Saint- Hilaire invented in 1531, well before champagne was a twinkle in anyone's glass. My theory is that because they were a silent order, they needed something exceptional to drink to make life merry, and they had time on their hands to experiment.

The Limoux Blanquette is still the signature wine of the region and is relentlessly promoted along with the Cathar history; bubbles and bibles.

Abbaye Saint- Hilaire.

Last week, as we stood in the musty cellars where the silent monks made and stored their delicious brew, I wondered if a vow of silence includes laughter?

Unfortunately, with all of this indulgence, my stomach is revolting [in more ways than one!]. A couple of bad bouts of reflux during the night convince me of the need to be more moderate.

We must walk more I decide. So we take an evening stroll around the village, ending up at our only bar/restaurant, for a glass of wine. When Madame tells us that she has fresh salmon tonight, we have to reserve a table for dinner. And of course it is warm and still and beautiful in the courtyard which is enclosed by a sheer granite cliff on one side and a tall stone house and leafy trees on the other.

There are three courses, including the 'saumon' with a buttery tarragon sauce. Madame, who cooks the salmon and picks the herbs for the sauce from the courtyard garden and wears a short tight sexy dress, asks if we like it. Dave replies, “C'est impeccable” and she goes into raptures, her arms flapping like a sparrow's and her expression simultaneously coy and ecstatic.

“It comes from Norway,” she says. “It is not fatty like the others.”

“But it is probably very tired,” Dave says.

Luckily our host/chef had spent a summer living in England as a schoolgirl, so she understands the joke. Well at least she appears to laugh.

There is a reason for Dave's use of the word 'impeccable'... pronounced 'ahm-pek-arb(l)'

He is losing confidence in his ability to communicate in French, so I read him the appendix from Terry Darlington's book, 'Narrow Dog to Carcassonne'. It explains how to speak French in fifteen minutes.

Terry writes;

“Impeccable – the nearest we have in English is the obsolete 'top hole'. Just say “impeccable, impeccable” quietly every 5 seconds and smile, with a few simple hand gestures. The land and all that is in it will be yours.”

I urge Dave to try it and it certainly seems to have the desired effect.

Unlike Dave, I am conversing fluently with the waitress. Or perhaps she is speaking and I am smiling and nodding and saying “Oui, oui,” or “d'accord” at what seem like suitable intervals.

“You are doing well with your French” Dave says.

“Oh no. I don't understand a thing. I just guess what she is saying, watch her facial expressions and arm movements, and choose an innocuous response.”

We have decided that I am in fact a throw back to Stone Age woman. Somehow I missed the intervening evolutionary stages. That must be why I feel an affinity with this region. Some of the earliest human remains of Stone Age dwellers in Europe, Homo Erectus ,from half a million years ago, come from Languedoc. They were found near Perpignan, an hour or so from here, in the early 1970s. Archaeologists continue to unearth layer upon of pre-history here.

Every subsequent wave of humans in the region achieved dominance through their skills with technology [and sometimes with a good dose of aggressiveness or ruthlessness].

First the Neanderthals took over, around 150,000 BC. Their advances in tool making meant they could hunt bigger beasts, the elephants and mammoths of the area, rather than chucking stones at smaller birds and animals. They made fires, and kindled the development of early religion and culture.

From around 35,000 BC, modern humans, Homo Sapiens, moved into Languedoc and gained ascendancy by 14,000 BC. Dave and I saw their awesome cave paintings of the animals they hunted at Niaux and they made Venus statuettes, like some that we are viewing in Bram. In time, fishing, agriculture and animal husbandry were developed as the inventive Homo Sapiens further advanced technology.

'EVES ET REVES'  

left: SHTOJ 14086 2,200 BC, Bronze ancien (Albanie)

middle: VENUS A LA CORNE 22,000 BC, Piquealeolith gravetto-solutreen (France)

right: TURRIGA 2,500 BC, Néolithique récent (Italie)

In Bram, we see archaeological evidence from the Bronze Age, when the clever Celts moved into the region in 800 BC.

Bram 'en Place'

The musee has many examples of their coins, jewellery, dwellings, and ceramics. The big pots, hundreds of fragments, painstakingly stuck together, look like huge three dimensional jigsaws with some pieces missing. I notice that we drink our wine at lunch from pitchers the same shape. Some inventions don't need improvement!

The technology thing certainly passed me by! And I am quite a gentle soul, easily intimidated by bullies. I am totally inept, even with the simplest technology. I have trouble remembering which way to turn the door handle in the house I have lived in for over twenty years. Remote-controls send me into catatonic states.

My emotions override thought. I rely on non-verbals in communication. Senses and intuition are strong.

Yep. Definitely a stone age woman, and increasingly resembling one of those figurines, the early fertility goddesses from the paleolithic age, around 23,000 B.C.