'Allo, 'Allo! A Morning Greeting Gets This French Village Started Off Right

About 8 each morning in the village of Caunes-Minervois, in the Languedoc region of southern France, the loudspeakers mounted on top of the city hall turn on with a click, hiss and splutter.

Then comes the voice:

"'allo, 'allo!" it says and proceeds to relate the news of the day at a decidedly insistent decibel level.

The announcements may include information about the schools, a public charity campaign, a special at the bakery, or a weather report. Or they may list the farmers, butchers and other itinerant merchants setting up their stands for the weekly market on the bridge over the river that runs through the center of town.

It can be a rude awakening for a tourist who's not expecting it.

But the announcements are quite important to the people of Caunes-Minervois, said Terry and Lois Link, the American couple who run L'Ancienne Boulangerie, a bed-and breakfast inn here.

In fact, the Links said, Caunes' last mayoral election revolved around the morning gazette.

The incumbent mayor, responding to complaints about the noise from one faction of citizens - reportedly led by a weekend-only resident from the big city, Paris or someplace - had silenced the 8 a.m. loudspeaker. France's noise-abatement laws demanded it, he'd claimed.

The political challenger promised to resume the announcements. The other main plank of his platform was a plan to bottle and market the city's spring water, though he hadn't gotten around to analyzing its qualities and mineral content yet.

The challenger won. The announcements are back, and the water enterprise is still under consideration.

But still, months later, members of the proare back, and the water enterprise is still under consideration.

But still, months later, members of the pro- and anti-gazette factions hardly speak to one another, Lois said.

By the time the next election rolls around, in seven years, tempers probably will have cooled. "But then there'll probably be another issue - you know what I mean."

Life is good in Caunes-Minervois.

L'Ancienne Boulangerie, the village's only bed-and-breakfast inn, is housed in what had been the bakery for an 11th-century Benedictine abbey. It's across the 12-foot-wide cobbled street from the village's only hotel and dining room, in what had been a 15th-century manor house.

The Links, formerly of San Francisco - Terry was a newspaper reporter and editor; Lois, a chef, ran a catering business - bought their house in the medieval section of this village of 1,500 residents six years ago, on Terry's 50th birthday.

Their son had found it for them. Some years before he'd moved to the Languedoc region to study at the university in Toulouse (about a hour's drive from Caunes), and never left.

Three of the guest rooms they've remodeled share a bath. Of the two that have private baths, one opens to the rooftop patio-garden, the other looks out over the street where shortly after the gazette, neighbor women can be seen walking back home from the village bakery with the day's supply of fresh baguettes.

Lois is developing a package program for small groups of American travelers interested in French cuisine. With bed and breakfast will come daily cooking classes that she'll conduct in her kitchen.

She promises free time for exploring, too. There's the village and the abbey (now housing a museum and the tasting room of the local wine cooperative) to discover after all, plus the surrounding countryside and its vineyards.

A number of cities, towns and castle ruins are associated with Cathar history (Minerve, Carcassonne and the Lastours ruins are each about 25 miles away).

Other nearby attractions include the Limousis caves; the Cabrespine chasm; and Montolieu, which calls itself the "Village of the Book." Its entire downtown is made up of bookstores, and a museum-workshop for book binding and paper making.

Given the right timing, a visitor might even see the spring religious festival, in which the relics of four 5th-century martyrs are carried around Caunes' abbey walls in procession. Villagers ask their intercession to ensure enough rain to let the vineyards thrive.

Life is good in Caunes-Minervois.

That's not to say there are no problems left since the gazette issue was settled.

The old gentleman who's lived for years on the abbey grounds refuses to move, so full renovation for the museum is on hold.

And the clock that chimes the hours in the abbey tower is about four minutes off.

Oh, and the new mayor in the neighboring village of Rieux-Minervois - one of the new conservatives - has whitewashed over the legend that's been over the portal of the church for the past 200 years.

"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite," it had said.

Even in Caunes lots of people are upset.

Still, the furor may die down in a few years . . .

----------------------------------------------------------------- IF YOU GO

Caunes-Minervois, about 20 miles northeast of Carcassonne, provides a good base for exploring a number of Cathar castles and other sights in central Languedoc. Contact: Lois and Terry Link, L'Ancienne Boulangerie, Chambres d'Hotes, Rue St. Genes, Caunes-Minervois, France. Phone, from the U.S.: 011-33-468-780-132. Or e-mail: 74053.1065@compuserve.com.

Rates range from about $25 to $50 a night, depending on room and season.