jan-11 - Lochwinnoch Online

Postcard from Picardy December 2010
Friends Reunited - despite the snow!
There was an Englishman, a German, a Scotsman and an
Italian...It's a bit like an old music-hall joke, but for Chris
Smith, Juergen Hoffmann, Folco Bencini and myself, early
December usually sees us celebrating Chris' birthday at his
home just south of Paris in a town called Antony. The party
went ahead despite the chaos which was caused by
the snowfall in France and in Scotland, even Madame
Pauline Vallance managing to fly in through a window of
opportunity between snowstorms for what has become a
kind of friendly pilgrimage over the last few years.
Many of Chris' friends had come from afar to join in the
fun: Paris, Bonn, Florence, Nimes, Vienna, Beith and of
course Lochwinnoch via Beauvais!
This international group of friends and chancers has been
interlinked for over 30 years now, having been brought
together via European Youth Exchanges in the 1970s. I
met Juergen and Folco in Port Leucate in the south of
France in 1978 and Juergen introduced me to his English
friend Chris when we were visiting Juergen at home in
Bonn, former capital of what was then known as West
Germany for his birthday party a few years later.
December 2010 was a special reunion for us, as Juergen
had undergone surgery for cancer earlier in the year, and
was by then well enough to return to work and even travel
by train from Bonn to Paris for our get-together. Even the
happy faces in the photograph do not show the degree to
which we were delighted and relieved to be able to be
reunited one more time.
The day after the party, a few of us met in the centre of
Paris. So the Scots and the Italians had a rendez-vous at
the place St Michel, followed by animated chat and a hot
chocolate in a nearby cafe. My friend Folco took a picture
of Pauline and myself inside the cafe, and if you look
carefully you can see his reflection in the mirror, just
between our heads. It reminds me a bit of ancient
18
paintings or even Hitchcock films where the artist or
director plays a cameo role.
Thereafter, Pauline and I had a stroll around the
concourse and then the interior of Notre Dame Cathedral,
soaking up the Christmas atmosphere before heading for
the airport at Roissy/Charles de Gaulle for Pauline's flight
home. It's surpising what you can cram into 24 hours,
n'est-ce pas?
The magnificent facade
of Beauvais Cathedral
has been cleaned up and
now beams benignly over
the Christmas Market in
the town centre. Its
imposing Gothic style,
especially when
illuminated at night,
makes it look like an
ancient architectural
animated character
offering protection to
the juxtaposed modern
buildings which now
radiate throughout the
streets of Beauvais:
something which you'd expect to see in one of the many
ranges of Bandes Dessinees (Illustrated Comic Books)
which are very popular in France. The Christmas market
seems to come to life at night, with a veritable village of
Alpine chalet-style shops being erected around the
special attraction of the outdoor ice rink which
miraculously appears every December in the square just
in front of the Hotel de Ville (town hall). Due to the
intense cold which has been prevalent this year, I wonder
if they could simply have flooded the square with a few
inches of water and let nature provide the freezing
power? Maybe I'm thinking too much of Castle Semple
Loch last year!