Ville De Lumières

Last night was the grand light switch on in Apt. I have probably explained previously to this post that the lights in Apt are done by the man who also does the Christmas lights for the Eiffel Tower, Regent Street, Oxford Street etc in London, and they all are made in, and come from Apt. For weeks Becca and I have seen cherry pickers in town, stringing the lights along the narrow streets and working on a beautiful cascade of lights from the fountain in the main square, Place de la Bouquerie. I wanted to go but this weekend Becca is seeing friends in Spain so I was slightly worried about going alone because the few times we've walked through the streets after dark, certain figures loitering in doorways and groups of people hanging round under the steps to the town pool have made me swear I won't do it alone. But I decided, if I was going to spend one year of my life in Apt it would be stupid to miss it, so I got wrapped up, made a thermos of tea and went out into the dark.

It was clear immediately I needn't have worried about being alone. A stream of people were making their way from the parking lot by the school, through the streets, where the vendors were out, with vats of 'vin chaud', crêpes and hot pastries for sale. I followed the crowd to Place de la Bouquerie and stood alone in the crowd, though a few of my children rushed up, and said 'Hello Amy!' and dashed away again. The french locals looked at me suspiciously, grunting and grumbling between themselves, raising their eyebrows at the foreign blonde girl standing on her own. It was a big family occasion and, being my first experience of sightseeing alone I felt a bit lost in the crowd. The Mayor of Apt took the stage that had been temporarily erected and made a short speech, thanking all the necessary people and then a loud countdown began. On one, a firework set off and exploded in the sky and the lights flickered on.

They looked lovely but it was a little anti climax, as immediately people started milling back through the streets, moving a millimetre a minute, as everyone tried to get back to the Place opposite the school on the other side of town to get a good spot for the fireworks. I needn't have worried about walking those streets alone- we were jammed in like sardines. The fireworks were the real stars of the show. I thought a little, not very wealthy town like Apt wouldn't have a great deal of funding for a great show and as my experience of fireworks are Thorganby bonfire and Cannes Bastille Day, both a far cry from each other, I rather thought Apt would fall short. I'm not sure I will ever see many fireworks that beat the ones in Cannes but these in Apt were a pretty magnificent display. I took plenty of pictures to demonstrate....