A good buzz and a bad drone

Yesterday morning I witnessed ten minutes of civic ceremony that was both a microcosm of French civil administration and an indication of the ambition of this town and the region.

The occasion was the official opening of the newly refurbished 'Les Halles' - the meat and fish market. They have spent fourteen months renovating the nineteenth century building and a grand job they have done of it, with a new roof, cleaned up stonework and modern stalls for the traders inside. The place feels much cleaner and healthier than the old temporary market building, which is a good thing when you are buying food. The acoustics are also amazing, such that the daily banter of shoppers and traders echoes around , giving a very buzzy atmosphere to the place. It actually opened it's doors on Thursday, but they weren't going to let an opportunity like this go without a bit of official razzmatazz - especially as public money was involved.

So at 11.30 there was a little gathering of civic dignatories by the front door of Les Halles. There was the Chief of Police and the Chief Fire Officer, both in full official dress, buttons gleaming in the sunlight, M Le Maire, of course, and various official bristling moustaches, all neatly trimmed for the occasion. One thing you notice in France is that these are pretty much all male events.

Two poles had been erected either side of the front door, with the 'Tricoleur' and the flag of the EU mounted on top, fluttering in the breeze. Stretched between the two poles was a red, white and blue ribbon. The dignatories gathered at the appointed hour and, after the obligatory five minutes of kissing and handshakes, they lined up behind the tape with the Maire centre stage. The cute six year old girl who's turn it was this week, approached the Maire holding in her hands a crimson velvet cushion on top of which perched a polished pair of scissors. Cue the photo opportunity, Maire and cute child, which we will no doubt see in tomorrow's local paper, and then snip, ripple of applause, band strikes up and it's off for a glass of champagne in the adjacent 'Halle aux Grains', the fifteenth century open-sided market hall which was renovated two years ago.

I was interested to see that the ribbon once snipped was then cut into smaller pieces and given to the dignatories, as a memento of the occasion, I guess. I bet some of them have box fulls of bits of ribbon at home, in the same way that people used to collect bus tickets when I was a boy.

And this isn't the only renovation going on in town - there is scaffold up somewhere on nearly all the main streets as the old townhouses are smartened up. There is a major new underground car park being built and plans have been announced in the last two weeks for a new mutiplex cinema and a new 365 bed hospital. I'm sure all this investment is partly due to the increased number of visitors to the town and region, a result of the partnership with Ryanair at Carcassonne airport and also a very forward thinking Maire who is constantly trying to find ways to get the million plus visitors to the Cite per annum to come and spend some of their dosh in the bastide town. Then, there are people like me who have bought property here and are busy renovating them - and just in case you think I have been slacking, I've spent a day and half of the weekend painting ceilings and walls - less than a week now until the 'Inspector of Works' turns up. Help!

All this investment and all these people are exactly what I need to make the renovation of my apartments a success. It already feels as if the season has begun so I am definitely a bit late. The town was thronging with people yesterday with a party atmosphere helped by the live band and the fabulous Spring sunshine. Every outside table was taken all day as people firstly shopped at the market (local asparagus and Spanish strawberries already here in stall creaking proportions) and then watched the six nations rugby and finally celebrated St Patrick's Day, with a street party outside the Irish pub.

The other reason I know that the season has started is because there was a mosquito in my bedroom last night - in March! We don't usually get very many here even in the height of summer - I hope this wasn't a sign that this year will be different, perhaps as a result of the mildest winter on record. I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard that ominous drone buzz past my ear. I looked for it but I couldn't find it so had to concede defeat. There are two bites that I am aware of so far, one on my forehead and the other on the inside of my elbow. It was easy to find it in the morning. It was too fat and too slow, full of blood, my blood, which is now splattered across the top of a newspaper. Hah! Depressingly, I don't think the battle is won just yet.