Days 141-145, 31 Oct-4 Nov '14, Benevent-l'Abbaye (day trip), Maximum Antique Store (AKA: "le déchèterie" in Mailhac-sur-Benaize). Wow - how time flies when day trips start to happen. So much so that actually writing about them falls by the wayside after walking the dogs, building fires and enjoying country living. Halloween passed un-remarked - enough things go bump in the night out here in the dark that I usually leave a light on anyway. After All Hallows Eve of course is All Saints Day - actually a French holiday on 1 November. I had been hugely impressed with all the stores selling inordinately cheap chrysanthemum plants in full bloom. Turns out that they have one purpose only - basically to put on the graves of your nearest and dearest departeds on All Saints Day. Not the done thing to turn up with for a dinner party. All completely foreign to me however as 'mums are May flowers in Australia/NZ and used particularly for Mother's Day. Pretty though and a lot of towns had them around their war memorials etc. Not initially realising it was a holiday, my neighbours and I headed up to a little town in the hills called Benevent-l'Abbaye. They are helping their dad put a holiday house on the market - so we checked that out then hit the town... to find only the Brocante and the Salon de The (Tea Shop/Coffee Shop) open. We checked out the Brocante which was really a shrine to art deco and the sixties. I suspect his prices are high because he doesn't want people to buy anything and wreck his displays (check out the photos). We took a turn around the 12th C. abbey dedicated to St Bartholomew (pictured). This is actually on the Pilgrims Way of St James and a stopping point on the journey to Santiago. Marked with a Pilgrims' Shell and everything (remember those from Brussels!) I left them to sorting some furniture and had a coffee and cake (grande cafe au'lait et gateux au chocolat). Before we knew it all the stone buildings were turning to gold and the sun was going down... about 4.30 pm. So it was back on the road - roughly an hour's drive home. Where I learned another interesting fact. Driving a UK car in France after dark is a bit dodgy unless you fit little reflectors so that when you dip the headlights they point the other way (due to the other side of the road thing). Another very interesting fact... now, by law, every vehicle on the road must carry enough high visibility vests for all possible passengers (eg. even if just 2 of you in car... if it's a 5 seater, then 5 vests). Along with a safety triangle and a first aid kit. And, more recently, 2 breathalyzer kits - now how's that for saving money. If you get pulled over to be breath tested, you supply the kit (and god help you with the fine if you don't have one). Apparently they're not expensive, but they didn't have enough supplies on hand in shops when the law was rolled out (logistics eh), so there's some leniency at the moment. Now that's money saving. You'd think the economy would be going great guns, but apparently it's getting throttled by bureaucracy at every turn. Almost impossible to take on part-timers between the social welfare, health etc. Anyone starting a small business from scratch may have to cough up 5-10,000 euros before they even open their doors... tax in advance (on the off chance they make a profit) - can see the cash economy prospering can't you... Then, after all the fun I had at the flea market in Spain, get this... French people are allowed to have only 2 car boot sales per person per year. For a married couple, that means you can load up the boot 4 times per annum and flog your stuff. And apparently it's not an empty bit of bureaucratic nonsense... inspectors actually cruise about boot fairs on weekends taking names and you must have official identification to prove who you are. And that you haven't sold too many old records in the current year. Nope. No economic problems here. If there's a land speed record for travelling in reverse, I'd say France is the front-runner. But - there are other places to acquire variously antiques and utter junk. Today's day trip was to the dump. Not the big stinky landfill type of dump, but rather to the place where all the furniture goes when you leave stuff out for council collection. And where anything else goes that has an ounce of life left in it when they sort the rubbish. The French term is "le déchèterie" - the recycling centre - which does sound tres chic, oui? I am a treasure hunter from way back so this was huge fun (probably would have been more fun if I'd not had wet cold toes and it was 10 degrees). Found an amazing pair of armchairs for the bargain price of 250 euros - A$375 say - would cost closer to $1500+ in Sydney. Unfortunately just could not fit them in my bag. But I took a photo for memory's sake and can imagine "my" chairs in front of a roaring fire. Well that is me for a couple of days, enjoy the photos and stay tuned for another enthralling instalment of life in deepest, darkest and decidedly nippy France (5 degrees this morning!)