ILE D'OR
le Dramont, France
I had pulled over to the side of the road to look back up at Cap Dramont and the semaphore station there. There was this slab of concrete that looked like the roof of something abandoned, and it stuck out from the side of the cliff along the highway. Had a guardrail around the edge. Anyway I walked down onto this slab of concrete and using the guardrail for a lens support, I started taking some telephoto shots of the semaphore.
This guy on a bicycle road down onto the concrete slab and stopped over to the side and started drinking some water. I had been prompted by the guy in the office to say Bonjour and Merci in order to have the best chance of getting a French person to speak English to me. I wanted to ask about the signal so I looked at him and said Bonjour. He replied the same. Then I looked at him again and asked rather sheepishly if he spoke English. You see this was my 5th week in Europe and I was growing weary of asking everyone if they spoke English before a conversation could begin, because I speak only English. Well, his eyes light up brighter than a 1st order Fresnel as he blurts out, "It's the only language to speak". He was a chef from Alta, Utah during the winter at the ski resort. He had been in Europe for 4 or 5 months riding around on a bicycle. We were both so desperate to hear and speak English to another English speaking person, that we stood and yakked at each other saying whatever came to mind, just to say and hear the words. Funniest part of my whole trip were those 30 minutes.
I turned back to take shots of Dramont and noticed that there was a structure out on this tiny island, since my bicycle friend had pointed out the sailboats. I thought it looked vaguely familiar, like the ancient vuurtoren of the Netherlands, Plompetoren for instance. At any rate, the Avis map calls it Ile d'Or, I call it a firetower. Decide for yourself.
OF THE MOUNTAINS
John B Caddell
Copyright 2001