I was flying into Marseille from a trip to Montenegro and had a window seat and the weather was clear.

I could see the Stade Velodrome so thought I should be able to make out Notre Dame de la Garde – known locally as la bonne mère.

And there she was.

I also saw le vieux port and the big cruise ships in the newer port.

We had a choice of events to go to this Saturday. It was either:

Or…

So we opted for the former.

There was plenty of:

And of course des callisons.

There were also representatives from our fantastic local newspaper La Provence.

When they mentioned the need to support local journalism, they had me hooked so we signed up.

Now to persuade them they need a weekly column about the trials of a Brit living in France post-Brexit.

During the weekly shop I came across a word I hadn’t seen before on a fridge unit.

Turns out it means offal. How did I not know that? I used to live in Lyon.

There were some choice cuts of meat available – vegans and vegetarians look away now.

There was the ever popular pig throat.

Not forgetting pig heart.

There were other cuts:

And the classic offal option.

Now please, if you have a nervous disposition scroll no further.

You could even buy a vacuumed-packed pig’s head – if that’s what you fancy for your Friday night’s dinner.

I went to another atelier at Pole Emploi – this one about setting up your own business in France.

There were some useful bits of information but my main question will be whether they can help me with my visa issues.

But I noticed a few English words sneaking in to the presentation including one I had never heard before.

Bien sur there were our old friends le coaching, le bootcamp, le pitch and le business plan.

But les afterworks?

That was a new one for me.

Cath spotted this affiche on a wall in La Ciotat for a visiting pet exhibition.

She then pointed out the initials NAC on the poster.

Vente chien, chat, NAC

What does that mean?

Turns out it means nouveaux animaux de compagnie – which includes birds, reptiles, fish etc.

There are some rules about keeping these pets – fortunately the Ministry of Agriculture has all the info you will need.

While we were in Toulouse we saw a road sign that said:

Vous êtes en pays Cathare

And in Toulouse we saw the Maurand Tower – home to Pierre Maurand – described by the sign outside as a notable Cathar who was condemned by the papal legate of heresy and so was forced to pull down his tower.

We also went to Foix where there is a castle (closed when we visited) which was a Cathar centre and held out against Simon de Montfort when Pope Innocent III called the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) against the heretic Cathars.

But here’s the thing. According to historian Tom Holland on the restishistory podcast, there were no such things as Cathars.

It was meant to be: “a shadowy, heretical church, modelled on the Catholic Church. And it believed there was a god who is good and there a god who is evil and they have rival powers, equal powers.”

But according to Holland they were just people who held attitudes towards their Christian faith that had been absolutely orthodox a couple of centuries before.

He also points out that the name Cathar wasn’t coined until the late 19th century.

That’s not to say there wasn’t a bloody crusade that killed tens of thousands of people in southwest France.

There just wasn’t anyone called a Cathar. Despite what the Occitaine tourist board might have you believe.

We went for a few days to Toulouse and, as I tend to do, I noticed a few similarities with our former home city of Lyon.

The hire bikes are exactly the same as the ones in Lyon – les bournes aussi.

The chocolate shops act as calendars – just as they do in Lyon.

So obviously we bought some.

And there was even A Smoking Dog of sorts.

It’s been a while but we shared a nice café gourmand in Toulouse.

We came for a few days and had a lovely lunch in L’Imperiale, a restaurant in Le Marché Victor Hugo.

I had turbot and it came with this absolutely delicious fondue of brussel sprouts.

I asked the chef how it was made. We might try and recreate it at Christmas.

My excellent birding friend Jim has been in touch to point out that the bird that crashed into my window wasn’t un roitelet huppé.

As you can see, this bird has a white supercilium and a black eye stripe.

And that means it is un roitelet triple-bandeau – a firecrest

It is also the first firecrest I have ever seen.

Thanks Jim.

On a trip to Lourmarin we stumbled across a colour run and various other activities to raise money for la mucoviscidose – cystic fibrosis.

We didn’t take part in the 5km run but did buy some raffle tickets with the chance of winning a restaurant meal among other prizes.

We also watched a great display of drumming from this group in their orange salopettes

We then bought a couple of pastries from this enticing display – not for charity, just because they looked gorgeous.

Lourmarin is always well worth a visit, as the jumper says.