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Choose your speciality on the left
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The third half time
You don’t have to wreck your body at a local rugby match to participate. Just support a Midi-Pyrenees club. It’s a post match decompression session, which takes the following form:
1. Go to the bar. Drink, discuss the match. Criticise the players, who will be there too, and the referee if you wish. Everyone drink some more, then repeat.
2. Meal. Drink. Discussion now opens out into the situation of rugby today, the most successful clubs of the moment, etc.
3. Cheese + dessert. Drink. The discussion turns to women. This stage is not advisable if you are on the alumni of Sainte-Marie des Oiseaux Convent. Drink some more.
In Noé, 20 kilometres from Toulouse, the third half-time is often held “Chez Alex”. This venue is well known throughout the region. He collects rugby shirts, and all local clubs are represented.
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The local Bingo
It’s known as “aller à une rifle,” and takes place on a Sunday in the local bar. Plump ducks, whole hams, and harvest baskets are up for grabs as the top prize. It’s a family affair, everyone sits down at a long table and the grids are paid for: 20 francs each, or 6 for 100 francs. Near the bar, the caller starts the balls rolling, and calls out the numbers: “Sixty-nine,” he shouts, and back comes the repartee, “Wipe your moustache!” – there is a witty answer to most numbers. There’s a dry run, then the real thing, playing for prizes. There’s a pause between each game to allow the barman to serve the players. The tension mounts as the game progresses until an old lady will shout: “Full house!” She’ll pass her bingo form to the barman who’ll check it carefully. Once he’s confirmed the winner, everybody throws the grains of corn that they have been using to cover their numbers up in the air. It’s chaos, as the old lady makes her way through the throng with her whole smoked ham under her arm…
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go back to the art of living home
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