27 nov

Started the day with snow in Nimes, and ended the day with frost in Taradeau, close to Draguignan. Highly unusual, both things. The strangest thing though happened at the camping in Ginasservis, where we wanted to stay for a few nights. It was full. We couldn’t believe it, having gotten used to being the only, or one of the only nuts who considered camping in these circumstances. So it took us another one and a half hour to get to Taradeau.
It was dark, so we imagined more of the surroundings than experienced it. The lights of our camper van work, but clarify the view maybe for 25 centimeters (10 inches). Even the bright lights were hardly able to make sense of the world beyond the one yard mark. But luckily we have TomTom to tell us when there is a hairpin curve coming up. And though this area hardly compares to the Pyrenees, there were plenty of those.
I had planned a tourist day, the ones that Julie dreads, because I always tend to want to get too much done in one day. It didn’t help that we couldn’t find the cathedral of Arles and strolled around the ancient town – mainly left ancient, this being charming as well as alarming – for the good part of an hour. And then the lovely cloisters were being restored, so basically covered with sheets that prevented a good look.
It seems like they are going to get the statues back into as much of the original state as possible. So this means that chopped of heads are going to be rescuplted and glued on again. It seems like a good thing to me. It puzzles me why there is more respect for the furious force of destruction than for the amazing powers of human imagination and ability. Why leave all these lovely saints, Gods and angels with their amputated heads?
There is a limit of course. Recreating Cluny would be lunatic. The church might have had a function at the time, but today’s role would be nothing more than being an amazingly large church that attracts a few tourists. Let’s build modern Disneylands, I would suggest. But the sculptures could be restored. It seems a matter of decency.
It might be a good thing for society as well, anticipating critics that this might be ‘too expensive’. Never before have I realised what an important role a city or town has in creating pleasurable living circumstances. Not with subsidies for anything someone can think of attracting his mind to, but creating roads, lightning, sidewalks, public buildings, street signs, that are effective, well made and pleasing to the eye.
We see so many examples of it here in France. There was a marble quarry close to Prades in the Pyrennees. The access to this beautiful red veined natural stone made the city to decide to build all the sidewalks out of it. Beautiful.

Or the lightning. In all these tourist traps that we have been visiting – plenty of money coming in of course – we recognized a same kind of beautifully shaped ancient looking modern lamp. Well done Rocamadour. Although I never want to see you anymore, I applaud you.

Or the street signs. Localize those. We have seen more different kinds of warnings for cows on the road then there are different breeds walking around. Long legs, thick legs, big bellies, large ears, long tails. On our next trip – when are we going to be 101 together? – we could go and photograph those. In Spain we saw the jolliest deer. It would easily jump over the biggest truck imaginable.
All these things bring happiness and harmony to a society. It is well worth spending some good money on it. The opposite is true of the sight of tolerated demolishment, as in the case of the destructed sculptures at churches. It gives the wrong kind of example. Violence is permitted, destroy what you want, respect is weakness.
Time for a new revolution, I would say.