I mentioned earlier that Samois-sur-Seine was hosting a free jazz festival last weekend, and that this week there will be a bigger event held near the grounds of the Château de Fontainebleau. As it turned out, France experienced its hottest weather ever over the weekend, and the performers and the audience were put under some duress.

But the show had to go on.

The early performers copped the full brunt of the last of the sun and the heat of the day.

We attended only for a short while on the first night (Friday) as we were both pretty tired from taking the dog on two rather long walks. Around 8.00pm we walked the 10 minutes into the centre of the village to get an idea of how things were set up and to enjoy what was on offer.

There was standing room only by that time and people were enjoying glasses of wine and cold beers while they listened to the jazz music style made famous by the gypsy Django Reinhardt. So Mick and I joined in and soaked up the experience for a short while, but we were home before 10pm. It would have been earlier had we not taken a few wrong turns to get to our new address!!

On Saturday evening, we decided we would go into the village earlier and take our own chairs – just in case. As it turned out, the start of the concert was delayed 30 minutes because the performers would have melted in the glaring sun. Mick spotted some shade and set up our chairs next to a family of mum, dad and four children. Once the music started, the little girl sitting beside me got right into the swing of the rhythm and would clap enthusiastically when a set was finished. I asked her if she could speak French because I had heard mum and the older daughter speaking earlier and I had not recognised much of what they were saying. But the little girl assured me she could speak French. She told me her name and her little’s sister’s name and how old they all were etc etc.

But then, she asked me …….

Pouvez-vous me donner un peu d’argent? (or something similar).

After my initial surprise, I asked her what she would buy with the money? And she replied – “Bonbons” (which means lollies or candy).

So I asked her how much she wanted and she quickly told me €2. I checked with her mum before I gave it to her and then she was off like a shot to spend her windfall.

As soon as she returned with lots of goodies, more than I thought €2 would buy, she offered me a lolly and then proceeded to share them with her mum and dad and her siblings.

Mick and I were pretty sure they were a family of gypsies, as there are a lot of gypsies who live in the area. Actually, in one camping ground quite close to the Seine River, and near the back of where we are staying there is a large group of them who live there, and we were told that some times they can cause problems.

Oddly enough, this family were the only gypsies we saw at any of the concerts over the long weekend. They were very friendly and the children were very well behaved and caring of each other. We were very happy to have met them.

Our final excursion was on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully the weather had cooled down a little. The free concert this time was on the banks of the Seine. Mick and I enjoyed some time here listening to the guitarists while chatting to a local woman we met who was also enjoying the music.

It was a wonderful experience.

Perhaps some of you are wondering what sort of problems we were told the gypsies create. One of the major concerns for the locals around where we are staying is this…

The white specks in these photos are actually toilet paper and tissues left behind by some of the campers. There was a lot of evidence, not too far from the camp, that this area had been used for other ‘business’.

I’m happy to report that by Monday afternoon, all the ‘evidence’ had been removed.