I want to pay a tribute to my village, my childhood village. Vallègue. Vallègue is a little city like hundred of thousand others in France. Maybe in this text, other rural people recognize their own village. You don’t have to come in my village, you can just walk through it. But if you come in, you will discover my little piece of paradise. Let me talk about Vallègue.
Since I was little, I have been living in front of a lake. This lake is a very important place for the village, it’s down from it. During the cold season, trees are nude because leaves leave trees. But the runners, warmly dressed, keep fit because Christmas parties arrived or are over. The lake water is frozen and ducks are cold (I assume, I haven’t talk to them !) However, when it’s the hot season, the lake becomes a meeting place. Picnics, families walks, and especially a fishing place. Now, you have discovered the lake, let’s climb to the village.
When you arrive at the top of the village, the bar-pizzeria is the first thing that you see. « L’Oasis du Lauragais ». A very friendly place. Isabelle, the boss of this place, cooks delicious pizzas. During the summer season, the bar is also the award’s place of weekly pétanque tournament. Sometimes, Isabelle organises parties and invites an DJ. Also, this place is the shelter when the annual village party reaches and end, but it goes on until sunrise. People memories are rooted in its walls.
When you leave the bar, if you turn right, you’re going now to the primary school. A place where boys play football using two hoodies as goal’s post. A patch of grass transform football players into rugbymen. In the classrooms, children are listening to their teacher Mylène. In the canteen, friends are together. In classroom, friends are together. But when parents come to pick up their children, it’s time to say goodbye. But tomorrow will be here soon.
Now if you turn left, the village’s heart opens its doors. A village’s square appears in front of us. In this place, during holidays, young boys play football from ten a clock in the morning till 7pm under the hot sun. With no rules. Harsh tackles are legal, there is no referee, the game is finished when the owner’s ball goes at home and scores are endless. Of course, games start again the next day. Behind this place, you can see a castle. The Vallègue’s Castle. Once a year, you can visit it during “Heritage Day”. The village’s square and the castle are close to each other, therefore many balls are sent in the castle but fortunately, the castle residents return them.
Last but not least, the true village’s hearth is the church. An architectural beauty, a very important place for elders.
