Antony Mair, in his article about Returning home to the Dordogne --
Impressions of a former Londoner expressed the emotions and thoughts that I and so many of my friends here share.
Antony ends his article with these observations: "..........But this exile, for one, rapidly longed for what had been left behind. The heady richness of London life seemed, as the hours wore on, to be out of kilter with the quiet and steady pace I'd grown accustomed to. It was as if a swarm of flies was buzzing round me all the time. I found myself wanting to get back to the peace of our Périgord home, to Paul and the dogs, to the unpolluted air, to the spacious interiors of the houses, to the luminous landscape, to the shops where people say "Bonjour monsieur" as you enter and "Bonne journée" as you leave.That's why I felt like the Pope when our plane touched down. I didn't kiss the tarmac, of course. But I loved the sight of the late evening sky stretching wide over the Dordogne valley, with its mass of purple storm clouds streaming in from the west. In Bergerac's makeshift airport I pulled my suitcase off the rollers that act as the carrousel, in the tent that acts as the arrivals hall, and went to the field that acts as a carpark.
I drove up towards Ribérac in the gathering darkness, listening to a radio programme about French music in 1937. The wooded hills and little valleys with their clear streams, and the sleepy villages with their dishevelled shutters, crumbling facades and deserted streets, were like so many welcoming hands that greeted the passing car then sped it on its way, upwards and northwards, to the track that led to the open courtyard under the stormy night sky, the dogs jumping up in barking joy, the light spilling through the open doorway. When I turned off the car engine the silence was a sponge that had wiped away all the chaotic scrawl of noise and confusion, leaving a single word gleaming in the darkness. I was home."
And this morning, when a friend and I went on our early Sunday morning walk, (and I could not stop myself from taking these photographs at every turn!), Antony's words came back to me again, and I wanted to say "YES! And so am I. I, too, am home!"Click on Link:
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