the feu is lit – lightbulb moment

IN THE SUMMER OF 1999 we were browsing the shelves in a Carpentras Librairie when I picked up a copy of the Plissons' PHARES OUEST*. I was, as they say, 'blown away'. I had to have it, there and then. I had never seen such a mouth watering selection of lighthouses; beautifully photographed by Philip Plisson and his son. I had my nose in it for the rest of our holiday (in Le Barroux). I relished the diversity of French lights in particular… That's the book, top right.

So imagine my (and possibly our) anticipation when in 2000, en route to Cucuron for that year's summer jolly, Mme Melling espied a poster in La Rochelle, not dissimilar to the flyer displayed above (lower right) that I have somehow retained all this time.

No debate, we were off to the caisse! We dished out the entrance fee and had the exhibition of the Plisson lighthouse extravaganza almost to ourselves, there at the maritime museum's exhibition centre. Wonderful pictures at very decent sizes and in startling definition! True, they could have been exhibited a little more sympathetically (it was clearly a road show style of exhibition, so displayed on a portable stand system not ideal for lighthouses which are declarations of permanence) but my enthusiasm for lighthouses was well and truly kindled. I've even held on to my 15 franc ticket, fgs! I've been (we've been) tracking French Lighthouses down ever since. Hence this blog.

The other contributory 'lightbulb' (or should that be 'lighthouse') moment was when we saw a dusty and probably sun-faded chart in a dirty shop window in nearby Rochefort, closed for lunch, which immediately appealed to my penchant for typologies: this chart (or poster) was clearly a typology of lighthouses, French ones, and I mistakenly thought at the time, possibly all of the main phares of France.

Mme Melling and I cannot settle on when this was, not that it matters particularly to you, my dear public, except that in 2004 when we took ourselves off to La Cotinière on the Île d'Oléron, and we were sizing up and climbing up the phares around the place, we saw that self-same lighthouse chart in a gallery/shop window, this time in tip top condition, nicely framed and suitably priced. Not a hundred metres from our holiday-rented house! We were in that gallery-cum-shop and parting with the euros with immediate effect, and thus it was that the magnificent renditions of Héron lighthouses came into my life, and became my benchmark of all things phare in Fr. That momentous acquisition graces our walls (left) back at Company HQ to this day.

If I could only go back and buy up what else that gallery had from the Héron & Héron stable, back in 2004… >sigh<.

Well, actually Mme Melling and self have been back, but there was no sign of any Héron & Héron artworks in the window, and said shop wasn't open anyway, so we had a rather expensive but good coffee in the cafe down the road, left the island and continued our progress to Sablet. My quest for Héron output goes on (Héron's dad 'handed in his portfolio' some years ago so now it is Héron singular… Héron senior didn't do phares anyway).

So that is how all this drivel about phares began. I hope it clarifies matters regarding my obsession, and assuages your sympathies for my family members, who actually encourage me and join in enthusiastically seeking out the feux, as and when. There you are. My soul is laid bare…

*Phares Ouest Philip Plisson & Guillaume Plisson, Daniel Charles (text)
Editions du Chêne 1999. There is an English Edition of the book but it is OOP. I have managed to acquire a copy of that English Edition… it arrived in a rather badly damaged state from an on-line second hand bookshop, who refunded me my payment when I brought the unsatisfactory condition of the purchase (advertised as very good), and did not request the return of it… 

I can live with that…