Good, but not quite… not only are both spellings used by different authorities, the signs at the edge of the village have both ‘Laroque’ and the original Occitan form, ‘La Ròca de Bolhac’, whereas according to la Poste, it’s ‘La Roque Bouillac’; meanwhile the locals pronounce it laròca buyaca
Now you know as much (or as little) as me!
There’s a strong strand of trainspottery in my psyche. This sort of detail opens a new un-spotted file in my already cluttered head.
Cluttered, that is, to those of brutish or heathenish habit. To some of us, looking on these things:
'The Heavens are telling the Glory of God,
The wonder of His Work, displays the Firmanent". 
Perhaps I’ve eaten more pain épicé than is wise with my cup of Tetley’s tea, it does overheat my imagination.
old memories… my old neck of the woods, lived in Aubin, Decazeville and Saint Santin !
Nice shot of my tabac in the first photo, Carl,. It was a flower shop until the 60s when they knocked down all the buildings opposite and built the hlm.
@an_droo Nice shot of my tabac in the first photo…
Which one, please Andrew? I spot two fairly obvious shops, each with its sunblind extended over the pavement, and to the right of one of them is what appears to be a shop with its entrance between two vitrines.
The latter has a sign on the wall that I find hard to decipher, but could be Boucherie and Charcuterie.
I can’t settle to eat until I know. Sorry!, 
Thanks Andrew, now I can eat a couple of chipolatas with choucroute in peace. The Place Gambetta looks huge. I don’t suppose it has been converted into a car-park by any chance? 
My little hamlets name often doesn’t appear on paper maps but usually bears the marking 17% It doesn’t sound the same though “I am going on holiday to 17% “ does it
@Pat1 thinks it’s perhaps underwhelming to holiday in 17%.……but
… surely if you say “we’re holidaying in Dix-Sept-par-Cent” it sounds very exotic and romantic, not to say extravagantly expensive to the naive English or north-American ear? 
$$$$$$$$$
The video is great fun, Andrew, and the market impressive. The accent is very distinctive and, to my ear, “twangy” ; it’s delivered very quickly by the marketeers, but marketeers everywhere have their own patter. 
Accent, we don’t have an accent here, people elsewhere in France have accents
Yep, Thierry selling his fouace just opposite my tabac (opposite the side entrance, that is) has a great sales pitch but he’s a bit “lourd” at times but he’s a regular customer as are most of the other commerçants. It used to be one of the biggest markets in the region but is slowly reducing in size although it still takes up three big “place” and the adjoing roads. Keeps us busy !
That’s a lovely video Andrew, I used to watch that program most days. I miss France so much.
Fouace being occitan for…?
It is bread originally cooked under the ashes.
The word comes originally from focus meaning fireplace (= foyer).
Nowadays it is enriched dough with fleur d’oranger etc, I think. Fougasse which comes from where I am from is slightly different but the name is of the same origin.
Thank you, Véronique. + for the etymology which help this older chap anchor it in his cobwebby memory (well, relatively cobwebby).
I have quite a good visual vocabulary now, I can read pretty fluently without translating into English, but it still isn’t as easily accessible when I’m speaking with others…
I might struggle to guess which of the three was your favourite… 
Don’t know if you’re still up to speed on St Santin, but if not, it continues to have two mayors and not only be in two different departments, but two different regions!
That might intrigue a few readers…
We have recently bought the house in the photo below:
There is now a war memorial where the people are standing.
These postcards were found in a wardrobe drawer in the barn.
Just around the corner is the main village square, we found this photo showing the Pompiers proudly showing of their new piece of equipment :
This is now the location of an excellent Night Market every Friday.
Mat,
Wow and thanks!
I always find encountering French village war memorials so poignant, far too often one sees the same surname repeated two, three or even more times. However, your photo is even much more than that, it’s actually on the brink of being an art work because you write that the people in the photograph were subsequently replaced at that site by a war memorial. If I was still making public art, rather than writing about visual culture (the latter’s easier and much less expensive) I’d love to make a piece of work based on your photograph. It contains some important aspects of French history.
Thanks again for a thought provoking post
Naming, defining and the creation or ordering of ontologies are often far less stable or ‘logical’ processses than the casual observer might assume to be the case…
I prefer to avoid Wikipaedia as it can be too unreliable, but the Borges’ link below illustrates my point and is also a very clever riposte to academic intellectualism (despite being principally appreciated by the aforementioned).
We may seem to be getting a long way from Old photos…, but I do like Peter’s implicit notion of mapping France through poster’s photos.
Enjoy
