My mom and I went to Béziers today to help move a bunch of old bookbinding equipment that my aunt Monique purchased. The equipment was purchased from an energetic 82-year-old lady whose family was once involved in bookbinding. There were many pieces, all of them large, heavy and made of solid iron. This is the type of equipment that will last generations. My aunt took a full year off of work a few years ago to take a course on bookbinding and she would like to take up the craft once she retires from her current job.
We had to dismantle the equipment as much as possible in order to be able to move it. On the way home one of the legs of a cutting machine went right through the floor of the truck. Fortunately this occured less than 1 KM from our final destination and didn’t end up posing much of a problem—the truck was still driveable and the bookbinding equipment wasn’t damaged at all.
On Monday I will return to my aunts house to assist in re-assembling the equipment and I will bring my camera along to take photos of it.
Here are a couple of interesting facts about Béziers:
- it was the birth place of Pierre Paul Riquet, the fellow who built the Canal du Midi.
- it was the first city to be sacked in the Albigensian Crusade in 1209. When one of the crusaders asked how one should distinguish the Cathars from the Catholics the response from the Papal legate was “Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius”, which translates to “Kill them all! God will know his own.”
Powerful statement from the Papal legate. Some contemporary movements used similar statements not that long ago.
Comment by off2europe2 — June 23, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
Powerful statements indeed.
Comment by admin — June 24, 2007 @ 1:02 am