Like Taverny, Bois D'Arcy, and Marly-le-Roi, Leffond was one of those towns of France which I came to know quite well.
Leffond really is more of a sleepy little village than anything else. This is not much more than a hamlet, really.
Yet, therein lies its charm.
I had not been here in a long time. Talking my high school days, just after my freshman year. At the time, I was just 14 years old. Obviously, a lot has changed with the world in all of that time.
Still, when I first got out of the car, I instantly recognized the distinctive peace and silence of this place. That same feeling like nothing really ever happens or changes here, but not in a bad way. For a brief moment, it felt a bit like stepping back in time.
As a kid at the time, I found this village quaint, yet also a bit on the boring side, admittedly.
Now as an adult, the distinctive old and almost overlooked feel of this place appealed to me a lot more.
One of the advantages of it being so slow and quiet here was that it forced me to explore a little bit. Most likely more than I otherwise would have done. So this tiny village left a big impression on my mind. It was, in some ways, a real connection with rural life, with a distinctly French feel to it.
Over the years, my mind kept going back to memories of this place. And my curiosity finally got the better of me. Really, I went out of the way to see it again.
Again, as noted earlier, my WiFi connection here at this particular Paris hotel feels very weak, especially when I try to do anything with pictures.
So I will revisit this little village later, when I have more time and more reliable internet access.
For now, here are just a few pictures.
Enjoy.
Recently, I told my brother that a mutual friend of ours, who we had spent much of the summer of 1989 in France with, got into contact with me via Facebook.
Well, he sent me a couple of pictures from that summer, and it seemed worth sharing here.
The first picture may have been taken by me, although I cannot say for sure. But my brother is on the left, our Algerian friend Riad is in the middle (he is the one who recently got into contact with me, and who sent me these two pictures), and Bruno, who is from France, is on the right, looking at Riad (or so it seems to me). We were in Leffond, a small town in eastern France, not too far from Dijon, which is the most famous large city within the vicinity of the area where this picture was taken.
The second picture was also taken in Leffond. This one features only Riad, and he is in the Renault 5 (back then known here in the United States as "Le Car") that belonged to my aunt, who was the one who took us in during those summers of the 1980's. This was the last such summer when we visited, and my guess is that my brother, like me, has fond memories of this summer. Leffond is a very small town, and there was usually not all that much for kids to do. But we were all teenagers (the three pictures below, as well as me), which made it a lot more fun, I think, for all of us. We played a lot of ping pong, and generally had some good times, despite a language barrier particularly with me.
Indeed, that summer was fun, and I mostly have positive memories from it. Being in Leffond for what turned out to be the last of our summer vacations in France of the 1980's, and being able to enjoy the company of young men who were more or less our age, it made it especially fun. If memory serves correctly, Bruno was the oldest among us, and Riad just a little younger than him. My brother was likely a year or two younger than them, and I am just shy of three years younger than him, which made me the baby and the brat of the pack.
Still, it was good times, and it seemed particularly timing, given the confinement that we are all subjected to nowadays with the Covid-19, to remember this summer.
Enjoy!
Leffond:
The Gaulois were brothers who were friends of the family, and who owned a local restaurant either in or very near Leffond.
My uncle would host these large parties, which were more or less outdoor barbecues, often with fireworks at night. They would roast a pig or lamb, I think. There would be a large campfire. These are some pictures of the one from 1987, which I think was held on or around la fête nationale (often referred to in English as Bastille Day) on July 14th.
My brother with my cousin, Jean-Louis. He and my uncle both were pilots at a nearby airport in Gray. The triangular structure on the table, I believe, was part of one of those planes, which were known as ULM's.
Here is a picture that I recently found, without even really looking for it, or anything. Suddenly, it was just there.
Thought that I would share.
There are a lot of things that clue you in on when this was taken. The Kodak camera that I am holding, for one. The velcro hightop sneakers, for another. Those short shorts. The fact that I had hair on top of my head, which is not a minor one.
Leffond, 1985
Mon village vu par Théo: LEFFOND
https://tnla-2016-les-boeufs-bourguignons.blogspot.com/2015/11/mon-village-vu-par-theo-leffond.html
Leffond
http://www.mairie-champlitte.fr/leffond.htm
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