Stylish Street Lights

When we were in Prissac a couple of weeks ago we didn't notice the stylish street lighting, but Susan did take a photo of them coincidentally.

It wasn't until I was looking on Streetview that I realised how good they were - kind of stylised medieval torch.

I like interesting street furniture, especially when proper thought has gone into it.

The Loches Coat of Arms

The Loches town coat of arms (Fr. blason) is three fleur de lys and six fish. It is to say the least, aquatic.

The coat of arms of a town can tell you a lot about its origins.

The lilies refer to the chateau, stormed and taken by Philippe-Auguste on three occasions, and remaining in crown hands from the time of Saint Louis. The river fish that are referred to as 'loches' naturally come to mind to evoke the name of the town.

The word 'loches' comes from 'lucca' or 'lokka' meaning ditch or lagoon. Also, in the Celtic language, 'luc', 'leuc' and 'lug' (pronounced 'loc'h') signifies enclosed water or marsh. Loches is in fact surrounded by water meadows created out of the old drained marshes.

Today the coat of arms is seen decorating the municipal vehicles, on tourist guide booklets and street flags.

What Flags Should Fly?

There has been a bit of chuntering in the past few years about French town halls' right to fly foreign nations flags alongside the uncontroversial French, European Union or regional ones.

Ukrainian flags went up on the majority of town halls as soon as the full scale invasion started. More recently and more controversially, Palestinian flags have been appearing, and occasionally, Israeli flags, albeit on a more limited scale.

 

 Loches Town Hall (Fr. Hôtel de Ville) flying the Ukrainian and French flags.

But town halls are supposed to abide by a principle of neutrality when providing public services. Several times individual local authorities have been challenged in the courts over the flags they've chosen to fly. These challenges are always treated on a case by case basis, and don't always result in similar outcomes.

There is no law requiring any flag at all be displayed, not even the French flag. So any flag must pass the test of being considered politically and religiously neutral if it is being displayed by a public body. Everyone's freedom of conscience and dignity must be respected, all citizens must be treated equally no matter what their convictions.

In cases that have gone to court over the flying of Ukranian flags the judgements have been that it is not an infringement of neutrality, but a demonstration of solidarity, with a nation that has been the victim of agression. Palestinian flags are allowed in situations where the flag is flown for a short time, also to express humanitarian solidarity with the victims in Gaza. These temporary flags, and those on town halls where there are no complaints, are tolerated. Some town halls habitually fly flags for specific occasions eg the Olympics, Pride Week.

Buy Local Honey

If you want to support your local economy and ensure you are buying a quality product produced by someone who cares about the environment, then buy honey directly from your local small scale apiarist. In France, look for the wording on the label which says 'Récolté et mis en pot en France' ('Harvested and potted in France'). Reject honey that says 'Miel d'origine UE' ('Honey from the EU') or worse, 'Miel d'origine hors UE' ('Honey from outside the EU').

 

Chestnut honey and forest honey, from two different Loire Valley apiarists.

Why buy local honey? Beekeepers themselves will sometimes spout a load of nonsense about how you are helping endangered pollinators and biodiversity, but this is rarely true [see my post about 'The Trouble With Honey Bees]. What you are doing though is contributing to a circular, short distance economy, helping it to be resilient, durable and if necessary, reactive. 

 

Buckwheat honey.

You will also be getting a much more interesting range of flavour profiles than anything in the supermarket, which is nearly always blended on an industrial scale, not single source. You will quickly learn how to tell honey produced in the spring (pale, floral, very sweet) from honey produced in the autumn (dark, fruity, with a touch of bitterness to balance the sweetness). Then you can learn the differences between linden (Fr. tilleul), robinia (Fr. acacia), sunflower (Fr. tournesol), buckwheat (Fr. sarrasin), chestnut (Fr. chataigner), heather (Fr. bruyère), canola (Fr. colza) and buckthorn (Fr. bourdaine). I've even had carrot honey from one apiarist!

 

 Linden honey.

Cheap honey is always adulterated with syrup. If it is imported it has been through several hands, all with the opportunity of cutting it to make more profit. It has been transported long distances and has thus contributed to air pollution and greenhouse gases. 

 

A swarm of honey bees in a bush.

I recommend visiting your local apiarist and buying direct from their shed. Ask if they will show you around -- usually they are delighted to show you how they work and to talk about honey bees. And now that you know them, you will have someone to call when one day a swarm of bees takes up residence in your peach tree (or whatever, in your garden...). Your apiarist friend will come and collect them, and thank you for calling them.

 

Bernard the apiarist, showing Joy and me inside a hive.

If you can't make it to your beekeeper's shed, buy from them at your village market. You can still have a chat about the bees, their work and the honey, and they'll still come and gather up the swarm in your garden if you ask them.

My personal preference is for the dark strong autumnal honeys like chestnut. I'm not overly impressed by 'acacia', which is the most popular honey in France. But at least in France there is an expectation that you take food seriously and treat it respectfully, hence people knowing what the different varieties of honey are like, just as they know what the different varieties of strawberries or apples are like. Honey is not just honey in France.

Three W's

Not all of our photos are masterpieces. I know when these photos were taken. I know where these photos were taken. But I have no idea why these photos were taken.

I took all three - it's interesting that they're all railway related, but they're probably not interesting per se.

Merovingian Sarcophagi in Poitiers

The Society of Antiquarians of the West and the City of Poitiers considered that the Baptistry of Saint John was an appropriate place to keep their collection of Merovingian sarcophagi and the State agreed. In 1838 the Baptistry became the Museum of Antiquities of the West and was opened to the public. 

Most of the sarcophagi were added to the collection in 1885, and come from Vienne and Deux-Sèvres, dating from the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries. The intention had originally been that they should go to the Museum of French Monuments in Paris, but the transfer never happened.

So the little Baptistry is blessed with a rich and extensive collection of Merovingian sarcophagi. Many of them are decorated with the three barred cross in the Poitevin style. Scholars are still debating what this symbol means. Does it stand for the Trinity, or is it purely decorative? A few rarer pieces have zoomorphic or anthropomorphic decorations, with birds and people visible on some examples. There are lots of heavily worked geometric patterns, vegetative designs and rosettes ornamenting the sarcophagi covers.

The sarcophagi are made from local stone, and usually trapezoidal in shape. Any that are rectangular are reused ancient coffins. Perhaps the most unusual piece is the double sarcophagi found at Saint Pierre des Eglises, decorated with cushions cut into the stone. 

Further Reading: My blog post on  The Merovingian Necropolis at Civaux.

Simon's blog post on  The Baptistère de Saint-Jean, Poitiers.