New Year's letter, 2006

This year in France brought back many memories of the Swan’s “en famille” as all of us joined together at our house during early July. From the invitation to join our neighbours for a 4 hour Sunday lunch to our own family meals, we shared in many of the local specialties.

It was a time to explore more of the local beaches and find our favourite (Grau d’Agde), bike to nearby villages and towns, watch the Tour de France as it flashed by the RN9 near Servian and celebrate and then commiserate with the villagers as France placed second and then lost in the World Cup.

July 14th was memorable as villagers turned out in the “Place” and accompanied the village band, dignitaries and soldiers to march through the village to the “Salle de Fetes” for a communal meal.

The village continues to welcome our Canadian guests and one recent visitor told us how his wife, an accomplished jazz singer, serenaded the owner of our favourite restaurant, “La Panouille” on the occasion of her birthday. These stories of the connections being made between our Canadian guests and this most hospitable village continue to remind us how this has become our “temps retrouvé”. We hope that others will discover the charm and flavour of this corner of France.

Andy and Andrea Swan