Table des matières

A FRENCH CHILDHOOD

The farm at Granou

Probably tipped off about what was happening, Auguste quickly withdrew the baby and put him in the care of the Estival family in Granou, perhaps on the recommendation of the Carennac Ayroles, who came from that village. This was a very fortunate decision, baby Guy quickly recovering and developing a life-long attachment to his wet-nurse Mrs Estival² (Malou) and his milk-brother Jean (Jeannot). All along my childhood, we paid frequent visits to the farm where Guy had been happy, and were every time horrified by how backward the place was. He told how he used to walk the 4km every morning to school in Bonneviole, how he played seeking newts in the little streams, and how much he loved the lush countryside. He actually wrote this up in a short text, to explain his home-sickness when living in Australia. The farm house was still very backward until the 1980’s with no bathroom, nor even running water. The family were probably quite poor, as they owned only part of the land they cultivated, about 3 ha, renting the rest from the Py Ayrolles family, from which our cousin Jean-Claude is descended. During their visits in the 60's, my parents would bring, a hamper full of household provisions, including a large bottle of Nescafé, presumably an expensive item at the time. Of course the farm provided basic ingredients such as milk, eggs and vegetables, and probably they killed a pig once a year, but the city delicacies were unknown. Jeannot, with his rough hands and rougher sense of humour, was always a terror to my siblings and I, but I discovered many years later that he had much charm behind uneducated manners, and much common sense in spite of having received the scantiest education. He ran this small holding honestly all his life and was often engaged on paralegal work on a voluntary basis (tribunal des prudhomes, tribunal des baux ruraux for example), which means that under the gruff exterior, his qualities were appreciated even by the authorities. Never did the difference in their destinies put up any barrier between Guy and the Estivals, their affection for him always seemed perfectly genuine. On his return from Australia, Guy was so keen to help them that he gave them the chassis and engine of the put-put to haul the water up from the Bave, the small affluent to the Dordogne which runs at the bottom of the Granou hill. Nicky was sent to spend a few summer holidays there, much in the same way that I was "appointed" to look after Hélène.

From Auntie Helen’s memories, we know that the little Guy was brought to Carennac now and then to spend the day with his grandparents, in spite the difficulties of arranging the transport, which entailed using Baptiste’s horse and cart or renting a vehicle for the purpose. But he may not have been too pleased to have to visit the old Bouyssonies, if we believe the anectdote that he always wanted to be brought back "home" to Granou. Later, Jeannot remembers, as a youth on holiday in Carennac in the 30's, Guy used escape the Bouyssonie tyranny and walk to Granou. Guy perhaps never developed an unqualified attachment for Carennac, and even seemed to hold a grudge of some kind towards the Bouyssonies. He sometimes said that he held it against them to have accepted that he be given to a wet nurse to be looked after. While in Australia, it was for the surrounding countryside, the little stone walls of the Causse, the tiny streams in which he used to fish small shrimps (civelles) that he was deeply homesick.
A charming and early illustration of this love is given by a short essay (rédaction) which also displays imagination and an early talent for writing. Given the high mark of 19/20, it runs as follows:

“Mon village n’est pas aussi grand ni aussi beau que la ville, mais je ne l’aime pas moins pour cela. C’est là qu’est la maison paternelle, c’est là que demeurent mes parents et toute ma famille, c’est là que je suis né et que je veux rester toujours.

Il y a dans le village de fort jolies maisons, et chacune a sa cour et son jardin. Les rues ne sont pas pavées mais elles sont très bien entretenues et très propres.

Nous avons aussi une belle place devant l’église toute plantée d’arbres avec une fontaine au milieu et notre église est si jolie, avec son clocher surmonté d’une flèche dorée ! Ce clocher semble me montrer le ciel notre vraie patrie.

Exercice de langage : mon village s’appelle Granou, il est situé sur une colline. Il y a dix maisons. Elles sont toutes jolies. La place se trouve près du pont sur la rive gauche de la rivière. Sur la place, il y a une croix de fer sur un socle de pierre. » Here someone has written a comment in pencil (perhaps the proud father) : « c’est bien mignon ». The text continues:
“Autour de la place il y a trois maisons. Dans mon village il n’y a pas de monuments. L’église est sur un petit monticule au bord de la Dordogne. Elle est très vieille (XIIè siècle). Quoique vieille elle est jolie et je m’aime beaucoup, j’y vais tous les dimanches.

J’aime mon village parce que j’y ai vécu longtemps et qu'il est joli. J’ai quitté mon village pour aller vivre avec mes parents à Orthez. » Signed : Montin.

Of course much of the text is invented, written quite a few years after he had left the Lot, but shows clearly where Guy’s affections were.
Today, Granou still holds a special place in our family history, as it is like an extra family, very close to what could be Guy's real family. Malou loved him as much as her own son, and in 1940, when she heard he had but little money while in North Africa, came to see Baptiste to offer up some of her savings to be sent to him. The affection has been continued in a very touching way by the next generation, Jeannot and Jeannette. All family members get an affectionate welcome whenever we visit, which is extremely rarely, and news about the whole family is asked for with great interest. As they were tenants of an estate belonging to the Ayrolles family, they are very much in touch with Carennac news. They knew Hélène well, from regular visits to each other, but Jeannot kept a vividly antagonist view of the aunt, for being far too authoritarian and interfering. The family connection extends even beyond: Jeannette had a niece called Nadine, who used to come on holidays with her parents (brother Robert and sister-in-law of Jeannette), and ended marrying a Granou neighbour Chabot, and who was also very friendly. She unfortunately died before reaching her 60s, in 2010.

Granou also has kept up a good friendly relationship with Le Merle, since the very old days, helped by the fact that Jeannot and Pierre were catechism palls in Bonneviole. Annually they would sell a pig to the Merle Montins.