When we first came to Sainte-Foy-La-Grande over 2 years ago I saw a little sign alongside the cemetery that read “Centre de Loisirs”, and registered it as a leisure centre.  I really didn’t pay it much attention at all until long after we had bought the house and returned to the BVI and started researching the area with Google maps (what did we do before them???).

Our research had led us to the knowledge of all sorts of sporting activities in the region but, in spite of having seen the signs for a leisure centre at each end of rue Michelet, we’d found no sign of it or any of the activities that one might reasonably expect to find, such as a swimming pool, or squash courts, sauna and so on.  This summer, having eaten way too much lunch one Sunday, I decided to go for a walk while Graham indulged in a close inspection of the inside of his eyelids.

I walked down the south side of the river heading west, under both bridges connecting Sainte-Foy-La-Grande to Port Sainte Foy, was adventurous enough to dabble my toes in the river (no, not swimming) and peered over and through many a hedge and gate before turning onto Avenue Maréchal Leclerc to head homewards.

As I crossed the crossroads of what I describe as Sainte-Foy’s inner ring road, I passed the north end of rue Michelet and its sign for the Centre de Loisirs, and decided to see if I could find it.  To my right was the abandoned building that was the old Lycee, looking forlorn, unloved and full of promise.  At the end of the outbuildings rue Michelet dog-legs round to the left and I shortly found myself back on Avenue de Verdun.  The closest thing that I’d seen to a leisure centre had been the cemetery, which is bordered on its east side by rue Michelet, and I was sure that French bureaucracy hadn’t that good (warped) a sense of humour.

The other day I was chatting with a friend and decided to ask where the leisure centre was, as I had clearly missed it during my walk.  “Ah,” came the response.  “A “Centre de Loisir” here isn’t what you think .  It isn’t a public sporting facility………….. Primary and middle schools here finish at 12 on a Wednesday (which we knew), and a Centre de Loisir is where working parents drop their kids until they have finished work.”

Personally, I like the thought of the cemetery being life’s ultimate leisure centre, but apparently it isn’t.