French Markets

With my straw basket firmly in hand His Lordship and I hit the food market in Carcassonne early yesterday. We were immediately assailed by the colourful displays of fruit, flowers and vegetables. Throngs of people patiently queued alongside delectable piles of red peppers, courgettes, french beans, large juicy blood red oranges sliced to sample. A jolly red and white checked stall carefully stacked with saucisson of every variety, alongside a stall giving out the strong aroma of cheeses drifting on the warm air. Bunches of the first local Asparagus from the Aude packed in wooden crates, tiny loose lettuce leaves all perky and fresh just begging to be placed in a bag and taken home and dived into with a slight sprinkle of olive oil. I lost His Lordship after five minutes but I was engrossed by the sights and smells assailing me and got carried away by the bustle.

The bright vibrant bunches of mimosa with their unmistakable scent striking to the eye suddenly draw me towards the flower stall. There are bunches of stocks, gypsophila, freesia's, tiny bunches of narcissus heralding the arrival of spring. Pots of hycinths and tiny African violets bloom. The faces of pansies waver gently in the breeze, bold colours of purple, blues and yellow.

In the distance I spy His Lordship, face lit up with excitement and triumph holding aloft a bunch just for me.

But wait, it's a bunch of carrots he's holding up into the air.

Nobody could accuse the carrot of not being a seductive vegetable which my photograph clearly shows.