The weekly 145
The end of the tunnel...
When you see the end of the tunnel* (in the figurative sense) is that the grey hours are almost over, that we have found a solution to solve the difficult situations in which we were exhausted... a little like the first tunnel drills that, after carrying tons of land and rocks, saw the light of day appear and the end of a hard work.
Tunnel... the word is borrowed from English (XVth century) which first designated a tubular net (to capture the partridges and larks), then a pipe, a tube before taking its modern meaning... But! the English word is borrowed from French tonal, an ancient shape of barrel or tonnelle, the latter having the meaning of pipe only in 1551**.
Anyway, a nice round trip as often!
Surprisingly, tunnels have been found since ancient times!
- The Babylon tunnel, built according to the wish of Queen Semiramis, nearly 4,000 years ago.
- Eupalinos – architect of ancient Greece – built a long tunnel of 1,036 m which will bring into town water from a spring located north of the acropolis. A feat made between 550 and 530 B.C.: the tunnel is dug simultaneously, methodically, from its two ends without the junction being due to chance... not like the one Marcel Pagnol borrowed*** :
The tunnel, vaguely illuminated by lumignons in niches, was composed that of curves and turns: after a quarter hour of gnashing and bumps, we came out of the bowels of the earth, just at the beginning of Boulevard Chave, just three hundred meters from our starting point... My father explained to us that this singular work had been started by both ends, but that the terrasses, after a long and sinuous underground stroll, had met only by chance.
Let's jump into the 19th century where the development of road and rail networks requires rapid connections between two cities or countries. This will be born – and come true! – crazy projects such as:
- The Mont Blanc tunnel, inaugurated in 1965. « It was then the longest road tunnel in the world ».
- The Channel Tunnel, opened in 1994 : 50 km long.
- Well... All this is nice, but where is our tunnel?
Patience... He's coming!
Jeanne Monin
Research on several sites.
* The expression dates from the beginning of the twentieth century; We used to say « exit tunnel » (1897).
** Historical Dictionary of the French Language – Alain Rey.
***My mother's Castlepublished in 1957.
André Abbe
I'm still waiting for the tunnel of the Tende Pass to be reopened.
I had my habits on the road to this pass, the shortest to go from home to the valley Varaita, province of Cuneo.
On the way, at the end of the morning, I was going to picnic under the porch of this pretty chapel, beyond Tende, before attacking the laces of the pass.
Last summer, I passed the Larche Pass to go, packed with a multitude of trucks. When I returned, I got scared on the narrow – and too crowded in August – road from the Lombard Pass.
The year before, I had made a long detour by Pieve di Teco (with the village of Bagnols in the forest... I come out of the subject !).
Next year, I will pass through the Agnel Pass, one of the highest in the Alps, unless of course the tunnel of the Tende Pass is opened again.
[Photo A. Abbe]
Claude Boyer
These are names that remind me of his memories!
It was around 1965, at the time Schengen was in the boxes, there were still customs officers and their famous question:
– You have nothing to declare? ».
– You have nothing to declare? ».
On the French side, customs were in Tende and on the Italian side, just outside the famous tunnel before the descent to Limone. This road was the only way, let's say « practice », to reach Piedmont without passing through Vintimille.
Let's forget the Lombardy or the Cap then the Larche Pass, it's complicated today then at the time don't talk about it!
This pass of Tende was therefore very popular, in particular by a myriad of trucks which did not have the performance of those today, who were spitting out their blackish gases with emmazed particles; When we had the misfortune to fall behind one of them, we coltted it to the sum unless we had a powerful car that allowed to double it in one of the few possible places, which was not the case with our little Renault 8!
One day we fell behind a particularly slow truck which had to manoeuvre to negotiate some of the 46 laces on the pass. It was hot, it smelled like exhaust gas, my father was in all that he knew when we finally entered the tunnel whose exit we saw.
Happy to be released from the truck, my father usually makes him so respectful of the rules of any kind of our republic, ignores the ban on doubling in the work and exceeds the truck. He had forgotten that at the exit was the Italian customs post and the customs officer saw the headlights of our car double the heavyweight in the tunnel which is straight as an i.
That's how my father – collecting there one of the very rare PVs of his motorist life – swore, but a little late, that he would not take it anymore.
- The Echoes of the Week
Tyrolean or Tropezian?
The train « Nice-Cuneo »
Echinocactus grusonii
Between Rians and Vauplane Mountain - Passadoc
Tyrolean or Tropezian?
Are you tyrolean or tropezian costume?
I never wore a traditional Provencal costume. I never owned one, but I could have rented or borrowed one. During all my military service I had the impression of being disguised and I did not want to renew the experience.
The Arlesiennes and Niçoises in uniform are beautiful. It is more difficult for men to get to their advantage with taiole and velvet brailles.
In Europe, Tyrolians are the champions of traditional outfits. We see them every day in their panties.
At a beer party in the summer of 1973, I noticed that they were wearing both a belt and straps. We're careful in Austria!
Photos: Tyrol (Austria, 1973) and St. Tropez (Var, 1981) and text : André Abbe.
Giselle Penat-Lorde
The same is true in Bavaria, a German land next to Austrian Tyrol, where traditional costumes have not taken a ride and are more than fashionable. Just take a descent to the Oktoberfest/Beer Festival in Munich to have a whole panel. And we meet them every day in the city...
I had colleagues (men and women) in Munich, native Bavarians, who came elsewhere to work in Dirndl and traditional costumes, not necessarily Lederhosen. Long pants, jackets, etc., of course the famous Loden, coats, very practical jackets in winter!
For years I kept a coat, an unusable grey loden! It's impossible to separate even when I return to the motherland. It happened to wear it again in Lyon without being disguised. I really used it to the rope... He later served as a cover for our German shepherd who loved him very much too!
Not all of these costumes are limited to classics, i.e. the Dirndl for women and the Lederhosen for men. It's much more differentiated.
Each costume is already unique and there is not really a traditional Bavarian costume and I think it is the same in Austria, so Tyrol of course.
There are different types of traditional costumes in Bavaria. Each region has its own history and thus its own traditional costume. Only for the Upper Bavaria there are about six, if my memories « Bavarian » are good:
• the traditional Berchtesgaden costume;
• the traditional costume of the Chiemgau region;
• the traditional inner costume;
• the traditional costume of the Isarwinkel;
• the traditional costume of Miesbach;
• the traditional Werdenfelser Land costume.
It is certain that all these costumes are renowned for the quality of their material, the modernity of their patterns and cuts. It is already a real fashion and sewing industry in Munich.
Old memory also: we had good knowledge in Saint-Raphaël, happy parents of 7 children including 4 boys, who during holidays in Bavaria and Austria in the late 50s/early 60s had invested in buying Lederhosen for the kids, after seeing the children running there in Lederhosen, putting them to the test ... easy to maintain, lasting, inaccessible and in case of hanging, at the shoemaker for a leather or suede rustine!
I don't know if the kids really liked each other. « Small Bavarians or Tyroleans » in their schoolyard...
Claude Boyer
In the 1960s, I knew some at school in Puget that came winter as summer with these Lederhosen... It is today that I learn the name of what for me were « Leather shorts ».
Giselle Penat-Lorde
I most often use the German word as an indecrottable Germanist that I was and remains...
Could our Raphaelian offspring have moved to the Puget-sur Argens? Or did they emulate leather panties?
What was practical in these shorts that were inaccessible and adaptable for years with a system of buckles, belts, straps, is that they passed from one brother to another ... And they certainly kept these qualities... return insured on investment!
I remember the little boy in the German family in Trier/Trier who welcomed me for years during the summer and who I found every year in Lederhosen ... He had several leather and suede. It was quite fluid and seemed to float in these shorts, legs like bowls; He was really not advantaged by this garment. The father had one that he put only to do the gardening work.
I think the kid who became a rebellious teen had to quickly throw the Lederhosen at the nettles and wear jeans...
What was less common in the Moselle region than in Bavaria, but not a lot of children were wearing it in the villages of the Mosellan winegrowers.
For my part, it happened to me in my early childhood, to have pretty little dresses and/or blouses in Provençal fabric that Mom sewed with love, but no typical costume of Comtadine or Arlesienne!
Claude Boyer
Who knows? Maybe we're talking about the same. There wasn't supposed to be a lot of clothes in our area...
Who knows? Maybe we're talking about the same. There wasn't supposed to be a lot of clothes in our area...
Culturally, I see myself more in bravade in the « ate-daube » as in leather panties singing the yodel And brandishing a bottle of beer!
The "Nice-Cuneo" train
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the connection of the municipalities of Tende and the Brig, in 1997, I had the pleasure of organising a week of broadcasts « South Mediterranean » on France TV.
The Nice-Coni train (Cuneo if you prefer) had occupied a large place in the programme, as it was and remains important for these countries.
During the fascist period, the Italians had built an oversized station at Saint-Dalmas to show their wealth and power.
There would be a lot to talk about. Is it a connection or annexation? Tende and the Brig had never been French before except during the short Napoleonic period.
In 1947, after the referendum, the commune of La Brig was divided into three. One part for France, another for the province of Cuneo in Piedmont and a third for the province of Imperia in Liguria.
Why make it simple when you can make it complicated!
[Text and photo : André Abbe – In the photo, taken close to the current border, we see the train coming from Italy – Small red arrow].
Claude Boyer
To flatter his ego, Mussolini built this disproportionate station in Saint-Dalmas. He owned a country villa in Tende and wanted to arrive in a building worthy of his dictatorial megalomania.
To flatter his ego, Mussolini built this disproportionate station in Saint-Dalmas. He owned a country villa in Tende and wanted to arrive in a building worthy of his dictatorial megalomania.
Eric Dehorter
15 years later [2012], I painted the portrait of the TER line manager whose father chose to remain Italian when the mother opted for French nationality!
15 years later [2012], I painted the portrait of the TER line manager whose father chose to remain Italian when the mother opted for French nationality!
Echinocactus grusonii
Echinocactus grusonii... Or mother-in-law cushion, you knew?
We are in Fréjus, located between Cannes and Aix-en-Provence (for those who know little about Provence...)
Capitou Cactus (led by Mr Maccario) was one of the largest producers of cactus in Europe. André was there for a specialized agricultural newspaper.
Throughout his career he wrote thousands of articles that were to be accompanied by photographs. He had two devices: one charged with colour film, the other with black and white film. Depending on the specific requirements of the articles, André submitted the photos in color or black and white with the text.
François Abbe
PS: There are other photos, but we always think that it can please readers to see people they knew...
Jean-philippe Tinois
The Monaco Garden: a great visit to the old plants, trees and old greenhouses adjacent to the old house.
Claude Boyer : If you like what stings, don't hesitate !…
Between Rians and Vauplane Mountain
My friend Julien Raynaud did not want goats in his flock. On the other hand, they were appreciated by the Michels of Touyet.
That year, I had accompanied André and Henri Michel in transhumance between Rians (Var) and the mountain of Vauplane, commune of Soleilhas.
We had followed the gorges of the Verdon, on the road to the right bank. Rove goats were not dizzy...
[Text and photo André Abbe – June 1979 transhumance]
Animal abuse
Animal abuse? Polemic in sight!
Comments are welcome provided they are written with kindness, smile, respect.
André Abbe
I just read that 400 philosophers signed a petition to stop mistreating animals and eating animal meat. The omnivorous mammal that I rebelled at the idea of having to become vegetarian or vegan one day.
The so-called philosophers should first ask carnivorous animals to stop eating herbivores.
If we stopped raising domestic animals, our landscapes would change irreparably. Our philosophers would no longer recognize anything by walking around the Mercantour after the disappearance of the Alps... »
Below: The photo of André Abbe is a souvenir of his shepherd friend Julien Raynaud. The cabin is located on Mont Mounier, in Mercantour (Alpes Maritimes).
- These are cited in « The Gazette » :
André Abbe
François Abbe
Claude Boyer
Eric Dehorter
Jeanne Monin
Giselle Penat-Lorde
Jean-Philippe Tinois - Layout
Jeanne Monin