Free Au Revoir by Mary Moody

somehow they have already tuned into my Australian sense of humour, and the gifts reflect this: an Aussie bush hat with swinging tampons instead of corks; a vulgar barbecue apron with false plastic breasts, featuring unseemly slogans in French. It’s good to see a strong thread of bad taste running through French culture. I sleep soundly after my birthday party and wonder the following morning what form the celebration would have taken had I stayed at home. Most probably it would have been a Sunday lunch for the immediate family of fifteen which I would have planned, shopped for and cooked, with David clearing up and doing the dishes.
    One thing I puzzle over while I am staying at Jock’s is the way in which I position myself to sleep now that I am alone in a bed. Instead of spreading myself out and luxuriating in the space that’s suddenly available, I curl up on my usual side and never venture onto the other side of the bed at all. The sheets and pillowcases on David’s side of the bed remain smooth and untouched. I assume it’s just a force of habit, after so many years of accommodating his shape alongside me. But I wish I could thrash about and make use of the entire bed space, rather than keeping so tidily to one side.

10
    E VEN QUITE WELL-TRAVELLED friends, who are familiar with Provence, the Dordogne, Normandy and the Loire valley, are rarely aware of the department known as the Lot. Indeed, before I arrived, I had seen it on the map and largely dismissed it as a rural no-man’s land; which it is, in the sense that it lacks overdevelopment and industrialisation. But what it lacks in modernity and sophistication it makes up for tenfold in old-world charm and grace.
    This is one of the oldest parts of France, rich in history and steeped in a cultural and agricultural tradition that is still very much in evidence to this day. It’s a hidden treasure, although now that the Dordogne has become over-popular with tourists, and with foreigners buying second homes, eyes are turning to this tranquil place. The department takes its name from the free-flowing Lot River, which winds through vineyards and townships and is crossed at various points by wonderfully romantic ancient stone bridges.
    Tranquil is exactly the right word for the Lot, because thisarea is the least populated in all of Europe, with a current head count not very different from that of Roman times. It was not always so, because during various phases of its history, the Lot boasted thriving towns and villages and a very rich economy. Now, however, it has suffered the fate of rural areas all over the world—an exodus of the young population who, once educated, seek larger towns and cities and a more modern lifestyle. It is their loss.
    The way in which France is divided into various territories can be very confusing, because it hasn’t been neatly portioned into states with well-defined borders, and there are layers of names, some dating back to Roman times, which are still in use in conjunction with modern names. The southwest of France, for example, is also known by the ancient name of Aquitaine, but in many maps, weather charts and newspapers it is also called Suds Ouest. Within the southwest are several departments including the Lot, which also carries the ancient name of Quercy.
    Likewise the department of the Dordogne is also still frequently referred to as Périgord, its name from ancient times. The region has been peopled since prehistoric times and archaeological evidence shows that the warm valleys dotted with caves must have been the most favourable environment for the evolution of human species in all of Europe. There are well over one hundred decorated caves dated between 30000 and 10000 BC in southwest France, some of which are open to the public during the summer season. Visiting them, you get a spine-tingling feeling realising how long people have walked on this part of the earth, almost as long as the