Views of Millau. Above, the old bridge over the River Tarn which now holds an art gallery and to the left Le Puncho d'Agast. The hill overlooking Millau from where the hang gliders launch over the town.
Views of Millau. Above, the old bridge over the River Tarn which now holds an art gallery and to the left Le Puncho d'Agast. The hill overlooking Millau from where the hang gliders launch over the town.
In October 1991, during Half-Term, 2 coaches set off for Millau along with a group of pupils from Bridlington and Headlands Schools not knowing what to expect or what kind of welcome would await us in this town with which we were about to twin. In those days it was a long journey, no channel tunnel, no motorway down to the South of France in the direction of Millau, it was a gruelling 24 hour journey. But spirits were high, most of the passengers would be staying with families, many of them didn't speak any French at all and sales of French-English dictionaries in Bridlington more than trebled in the week prior to the visit. The coach had a great mix of people on board from all walks of life and representing all age groups. But no matter what the age group as we approached Millau the coach began to fall silent, the realisation that they were about to meet people they had only had information on paper about and they had to share a house with for a week.
Fortunately, the beauty of the view of the town of Millau somewhat calmed the nerves and as the coach turned in to the station car park, wave upon wave of smiling, sunburnt, happy families waited to greet us, their friendliness was immediately obvious from stepping off the coach and the traditional 3 kisses on the cheek became the order of the night as people disappeared one by one with their host families, safe in the knowledge that we would all be meeting up the next day. From that moment, we never looked back. The Twinning week was full of dancing, laughing happy people who really enjoyed their experiences in their host families. The language differences never really caused too many problems as our visitors became very skilled in the art of mime, drawing and learning very important vocabulary. We also learned how to play each other's games and were introduced to Petanque, the French game of bowls. As a result, we now have a Petanque Club in Bridlington. Of course there were misunderstandings, all the usual ones - sleeping until midday because you are waiting for it to get light because no one has told you that the windows have shutters on them; feeling like a large juicy steak and ordering steak tartare; the French too confusing the words teeth and teats or buttons and bottoms, all were greeted with much fun and laughter on both sides. As were the range of new experiences - a two hour lunch, collecting snails for the table, collecting wild mushrooms and sitting outside a café in October in a Tshirt drinking cold beer!
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Not so different after all. The Bridlington Millau Twinning Association.
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