"I was born in that house"

I was ambling down the street with one of the mamies, one of the Catalan grandmothers. We ambled because she had a cane to help her poor hip. Even the word amble might convey more speed than we were making. It was a bit of shock for me to discover although I thought of her as an elderly woman, a grandmother of the old fashioned rocking-chair type, she was only a couple of years older than I was.

The mamies have always been a part of Argelès for me. They are old women in house dresses and aprons, gray-hair pushed into buns. They often put their chairs on the street, knit and talk in fast Catalan. Sometimes they gather on benches near the beauty salon to share their lives.

One by one, the mamie told me the history of the house. Where the Swedes are now redoing their house, a fisherman with a long beard lived. Soldiers of all colours occupied the house next to where Jean-Pierre and Babette operate the little grocery store. The Danish journalist's house was very tiny, she said, still is and a man lived there all alone. He wasn't friendly, but he had a long beard too. I learned who was great with a needle, and who had well-behaved children, who taught and who lost children during the war.

When you live on a street with houses 400 years old, there is a lot of history that will never make a history book. The street is very international now: Danes, Swedes, Swiss, English, French, Catalan and a German.

The mamie pointed to another house. "English bought this one. They might need friends. You should say hello."

I will, not because they are English, but because this is a village where we know our neighbours. For years, the Catalans were not sure about the newcomers, but once our flamboyant Danish film director threw a street party the atmosphere changed. Mixing varies, but it is impossible not to share something with everyone be it a cup of tea at La Noisette, a move at the theatre around the corner, or a conversation with another woman as we amble home with our baskets of vegetables we bought for lunch. I doubt, despite the demographic change, if if is that much different then it was in this woman's childhood or 40 years ago when some of the houses were built.

I love having my moment on this street.