Scene of the Crime

Scene of the Crime
Originally uploaded by The Stitchin Sheep.

I have a really, really good excuse for not blogging yesterday. You're never going to believe it, so I took pictures for proof.

This is the scene of the crime. In the background, sort of roped off, you can see our mailbox. Even further off, you can see the ruins of a small castle that sits at the edge of our property (but not on it).

I went to get the mail yesterday, and I came across some people laying all this red and white tape all over. Curious as to why they were blocking off my mailbox, I asked what was going on. They quickly ushered me away from the area and asked me to take my family away for the entire afternoon and evening. We were not allowed to return until after 9 pm.

Quite concerned for our safety and too frightened to ask more questions, we all headed off to my mother-in-law's house for dinner. Upon our return we, learned what had happened...

Apparently, there was a group of bank-robbing bandits taking up residence in the abandoned castle. Some shots were fired, which drew the attention of some neighbors, and eventually the police were called in to investigate. As it turns out, the fire-breathing dragon who still inhabits the castle (unbeknowst to the bandits) during the summer months was packing her bags for the long flight south for the winter. She heard the bandits arguing and decided to intervene. After fire was exchanged for several minutes (pun intended), the bandits saw they were no match for the flaming anger of the lady dragon and decided to flee. Apparently, one of them bumped his head on our mailbox when he tripped over a branch. That's why the area is roped off.

Okay, actually, what really happened is The Rallye des Cevennes (Cevennes Rally - which is a rally car race done near here) was doing some trials in our area. They had permission from the prefecture (local government officials) to completely close down our narrow, windy road so they could race down it at idiotically high rates of speed to see who might qualify for the real race.

Since it began at 3 pm and went on until 9, our only real choice, besides sticking around and watching the craziness was to get out and stay out most of the day. I almost chose option number two out of curiosity, but the little lambchops have playgroup on Fridays, and the husband had a meeting in Montpellier.

This is the part where I admit to being a great big liar, but the real thing was not quite as interesting as the made-up tale. It was a bit strange to me not to be able to access my own driveway for half a day, though.