I am less stupid than I was. That’s right, I’ve poked my head into a hole in a stone altar and am now “relieved of all the different types of universal stupidity.” You may be wondering nevertheless, so I’ll explain.
The special purpose of our escape from the city was not actually to visit the 11th century church at Saint-Germain-en-Brionnais in the gentle Burgundy countryside for “treatment” in the débeurdinoir – the miraculous hole in the altar. No, that was an entertaining diversion and something to tuck away in the deep recesses of the mind ready to recall for trivia quizzes. (Débeurdinoir derives from the word beurdin which in local dialect means stupid/simple.)
Our purpose was to enjoy a visit with our French-New Zealand family and see the newly installed organ in the Charolles church. Our cousin Lois is the driving force behind the 13-year (plus) project which has culminated in the installation of this magnificent organ that will be officially inaugurated during a week-end of concerts on 2nd and 3rd of July.
We were treated to a sampling of music and a guided “tour” of the knobs and handles that control the organ sound – what skill mastery to get everything right and take account of the temperature of the church interior as well.
As with all our visits to Charolles there were happy memories made. We renewed acquaintance with Clicquot the pet crow, ate delicious slow-cooked jarret de boeuf (charolais beef of course and cooked at home), enjoyed Burgundy wine, tasty French cheeses (we agreed on the ONE cheese we would select to have on a desert island: aged Comté) and fine chocolates made by local artisan chocolatier Monsieur Dufoux whose chocolate shop we had visited in the afternoon.
Dark chocolate, red wine, good company and a débeurdinoir – definitely a weekend getaway with more health benefits than we ever imagined.
keirybeesparis 