Festa nacionala?

Today is the French fête nationale and it's a holiday, but here in the Midi it isn't really celebrated in the same way as in northern France, le grand nord which begins somewhere indefinable and is seen as a very different country. Everyone here enjoys the holiday, certainly, but most of our friends would say that we're not in France, we're in Occitania. Many houses are decorated in some way with the la crotz occitana, as this balcony, although it's not in its traditional red and gold colours here.

Whether this is France or Occitania, or a mix of both, there'll be a good party tonight, with dancing on the esplanade to..... the music of a flamenco group. The large Spanish population of our village is another interesting story.....