6 Weeks in Carcassonne — Learning French from the Cat

Georgina Dorrington
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

Week 1 — Je parlerai francais au chat — I’m going to talk French with the cat


“clear long-stem glass” by rawpixel on Unsplash

I’m cat-sitting in France. I’ve swapped my usual habitat of the Cambrideshire fens for a rural area of France, close to the Carcassonne and Limoux area, and in a few days time I’m going to be left to fend for myself. My Dad and his wife, who live here, will be off to attend to their family duties in the north and I dutifully stepped in to look after their travel-averse cat, N.

This will mean about a month on my own so it’s learn French or completely forget how to talk. Like many a lazy, English-speaker, it’s been my New Year’s Resolution every year since I left school and, apart from some last minute Duolingo cramming after my flight was booked, I’ve spent the last 30 years doing precisely nothing about it. But me and le chat need to get along so this needs to change.


From 6 down to 3

I’ve actually been here for a week already as I came over with my sister and her 2 children. Obviously it’s been great fun splashing about in the pool and not getting a word in edgeways.

We’ve walked, cycled, paddle boarded (I kneeled), talked (in English), eaten way too much delicious food (big thanks to the exquisite cooking skills of L, my Dad’s wife), scoffed cheese (enough to warrant a separate category from food) and drunk blanquette.

You need know no more about what a lovely area of France this is than to try blanquette de Limoux. Pronounced sort of like blanket, it’s a very reasonably priced bubbly white wine that claims to be older than champage but who knows. It apparently means ‘small white’ but that’s just an excuse to help yourself to another, if you ask me. And for the equivalent of around £2.25 ($2.90), and sometimes even less, for a glass in a local bar, why wouldn’t you?

It’s not a rich area. There are towns and villages all over that have gone slightly past rustic charm and I’m told work is scarce. But it’s a place where simple pleasures are still valued and you don’t need to be especially wealthy to enjoy them.

And so with 3 members of the family having returned to the UK, and with another 2 heading off in a few days, those simple pleasures seems like a good way to occupy my time this coming month.

Une blanquette, s’il vous plait?

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