Preparing for a Blizzard and it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit

Béziers, France

13 August 2024

Dear Family and Friends,

I’m sure that many of you have heard me talk about Feria.  It is the festival that starts tomorrow and includes much celebration, music, drinking, dancing, bull fighting, horse shows and I’m not even sure what else. It is the week that Beziers’s population goes from somewhere in the mid 70 thousand range to the 1 Million plus range. So, fasten your seatbelts, here we go.

I have been hearing about Feria from day one. Every expat, every resident I’ve encountered has  had something to say about Feria.  Depending on their perspective, and their relationship with me, and frankly their own interest in me whether it’s friend, companion, someone who benefits financially from my staying here or someone who wouldn’t mind me getting the heck out of here. Everyone talks about it.  And it starts August 14th or tomorrow as I’m writing this on the 13th (happy birthday Steve and Betsy.)

A few months ago I asked one business owner. “So where do they stay?” His response was “anywhere they can find a place to sit or lay down, they will.” And then pointing toward the area in which I now live, “just stay away from there.”

One of the controversial elements of Feria is the bull fighting. I have never been to a bull fight and I do know the basics, and I fully understand that it is not a fair fight, but I also know that many feel that it is a part of their culture, and as such I feel that I would like to experience it once. Many of my new friends have strong feelings about it simply being animal cruelty. I have heard others wax on about the ritual, the pageantry, the allegory, and the cultural significance. I am decidedly on the fence. There are things in culture that seem abhorrent to some and natural to others. I don’t think this is one of the things that I am going to want to accept as a new cultural practice for myself, but I will experience it once and I’ll report back if I have an epiphany in one way or another.

Less controversial, but universally discussed are lots of drinking, lots of music, lots of noise that comes from drunken celebrating, crowds of people, and generally all the things that go with crowds of drunken people.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I’m not a crowd kind of person. Did I go to Paris during the Olympics? No, I’m not a crowd kind of person. Am I going to be living in a crowded neighborhood for the next several days?  Yes. So my instincts are pretty much, prepare for a blizzard. I will most likely spend more time at home over the coming days than I normally do and I attacked the grocery store as if there was an impending blizzard. 

The shopping list looks like I’m preparing for a blizzard, first one needs to be prepared with food that does not require cooking. In this case because it’s hot out and I don’t want to turn on the stove any more than necessary. But the principle of hunkering down includes a lot of the same foods and beverages. For example:

Milk

Eggs

Butter

Cheese

Beer

Wine

Bourbon

Chips

Cold cuts

Tuna fish

Condiments

And more beer, because it’s hot out and friends will stop by

On the way to and from the grocery store, stages are being built, shops are closing up, tourists are starting to amass and in general I see fewer people that I recognize because many of the natives have fled.

Signs like this are popping up all over my area. Basically, it says closed for Feria.

Like with a blizzard there is some anticipation. Will the crowds live up to the predictions? Will there be people sleeping on my doorstep? Will I be able to sleep at all? I am looking forward to experiencing it, and I am kind of excited to be in my apartment with a place to sleep, a shower (more on that in a moment,) and perhaps most importantly a toilette.

That said, progress has been creeping along on my apartment. I figured out a way to vent two air conditioning units in my apartment. It’s not enough to make it feel like 70 something all over, but it’s enough to give me a comfortable place to sleep (with some awesome white noise) and a place to relax and watch tv in relative comfort. I also installed a shower curtain rod and a holder for the shower wand. Heretofore I have been showering in the tub with the handheld shower wand, this generally requires kind of a tub/shower bathing approach so as not to have water all over the room. Let’s just say I am thrilled to be able to stand and shower! It’s the little things in life, right?

Before. And the caulking is a project for another day.

After

Surprisingly these things took a lot of figuring out and a few friends to get supplies from the local version of a Home Depot/Lowes/Menards. Thanks to all those who helped, gave ideas, cheered me on and loaned me tools!

Still much going on in getting life organized and settling into living in France. Learning new things, and words daily. It’s all good. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy, and it’s not but it’s definitely manageable and mostly enjoyable.

I hope this finds you all well!

Bonne journée!