I am a resolute supporter of progress, believing that a Continuous Improvement Program should be part of everyone’s life (and that includes every home, every business, every government, and so on). And I am delighted to report that our little village is demonstrating progress on a broad range of fronts.
Take, for example, Daglan’s status as a Village Fleuri. A month or so ago (June 11, 2017, in “Some sunny summer Sunday joys”) I showed off the first official sign commemorating our achievement, located as you enter the village from the north, which is to say from St. Cybranet. At the time, it was the only such sign at any of the three entrances to the village. But now the other two signs are up, and here is the one at the Pont Neuf entrance to Daglan:
New sign, freshly painted bridge.
But that’s not all. Also in the photo is a view of the Pont Neuf, our bridge over the Céou River. It had been looking pretty ratty. But now it’s been thoroughly sand-blasted, then primed, and then painted in a restful beige. Okay, not exciting — but still nice evidence of civic progress.
On the private enterprise side of things, here is the front of our Café de la Fleur, which had been the out-of-business Bistroquet for some time. The operators of the café are themselves enthusiastic progressives, continually updating and beautifying their business. Now it has a nice, strong sign out front — like this:
Lavazza is the brand of coffee the café serves.
A few days ago, I noticed a couple of the village workers down on their hands and knees in the Place de la Liberté, fiddling with what seemed to be underground pipes. Sure enough — they were turning on the flow of water to the fountain that’s centred in the village square, a flow that (for some reason) had been stopped for quite some time. Here it is, as it looked early this afternoon:
Flow, ye mighty fountain, flow!
Perhaps the most exciting project these days is the complete renovation — you’d really have to say complete re-building — of a run down pile of stones that’s tucked away, just off the Place de la Liberté. A derelict house for years, and quite an eyesore, it’s now being turned into a liveable space.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but here is a photo of a project in full swing most days (actually, since today is a Saturday, it’s a non-working day). What you can’t see is that an entire set of stone steps, leading down from the front door to the ground level, has been removed:
A stone-by-stone re-building.
There is more progress to report. But not now. Friends Keith and Kathy from Toronto are arriving tonight, and tomorrow we’re off to the Michelin-starred Le Vieux Logis, and Monday we’re off to Le Diabolo Fraise, and Tuesday we have a picnic planned with several friends. How come? Because the Tour de France is on its way through. Yahoo! And I guess all this fun is progress, of sorts, as well.
Radio Free Daglan 