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Poïpoï Folyó
You cannot step into the same river twice
A man approached to talk about the map in relation to my search for dams. Map open on my phone, he taps on a visible shift seen in the width of the river. “You can see the water is bulging due to a dam built on a lumber seller’s property to provide him electrical power for cutting his wood”. I am here for four days. Visit each standalone bench I encounter around the flow of the creek.
1
I’m pointing the recorder 12 o’clock and 11 o’clock upward where I hear the cries of various birds, mostly crows. (birds chirping first, then crows as the recording goes on). From the right side, there is a car passing every few minutes through the bridge over the water that is now still (the sound of a car driving around the ear) because the dam blocks its flow. There is just one van behind me, someone lives in it, it looks like, permanently parked. [The next day you can write – the van moved slightly] The cars go round the serpentine, which is hugged by a mountain from the left, and the river from the right (the sound of a car driving around and inside the ear). After 15 minutes of stillness, birds take an interest in my device. (chirping becomes louder) I can hear them but can’t see them. They are the size of a golf ball.
2
The biosphere of Casseneuil is full of local plants and tropical species from the former French Colonies. [Name some countries in their colonial name.] Their color is violently inflamed, dark red berries and flowers carefully construct the aesthetical view for the owners’. I’m in somebody’s backyard now, the fence was open, but the house looks abandoned. I am now looking at a private view of the Léde, the other creek of the Lot. The stream is significantly slower here, you can hear the famous waterfall from down the road, about 1 km from where I am standing (sound of distant waterfall and cars/steps). Spiders and small flies are interested in my bright blue coat. (insect sounds) With these palm trees, one can feel as if on the tropical forest, albeit it is cold and some birds and ants. The palm tree in front of me has dried out in the cold, and some type of ivy has taken over its tall, dry torso. A banana in my backpack from Carrefour which was imported from Spain.
3
Down by the water a steep path leading. The water falling is loud and robust, frightening. (increasing sound of waterfall) Sit down. A small whirlpool to my left. (suddenly dropping mic into water, hydrophone) The water arrives in the whirlpool until it is ready to flow toward the bridge. Average temperature 15ºC. So far, not any fishes. A medieval vessel of a house, fallen roof and no windows. To my right, an abandoned water mill, must be few hundred years old. Entrances to buildings are blocked with plywood. The river was once managed by these infrastructures, which are built from permanent materials, standing there like few-hundred-meter ghosts, overgrown by weeds and moss, their empty windowsills are towering towards the skies, as the sun shines through. (steps) After hours in the cold, I am lizardlike, basking on a dry rock. A great egret has circled around to rest opposite me, looking left to right, walking to and fro. The bird is watching me from across the stream. We are alone. The man also pointed at an off-road location, where it is possible to observe an egret flock, every day around 5. This becomes the most important event of my day. (quiet sound of distant egrets) I look up: somebody started fishing by the bridge.
4
I must pass two hours until the birds arrive, crossing the bridge on the wide river. The sound of a leaf blower truck can be heard from across the Lot; this is what attracts me there. (leaf blower increasing) One man slowly drives the truck while another is sucking the lawn. A small park with flat moss, decorated with stones. My head starts to hurt from the constant noise, I imagine, normally it would be a quiet place for a picnic. Although there are scarcely any people to enjoy the lawn, the grass is cut strictly flat.
5
I’ve been searching for two hours, trying first to see the egret’s gathering place which showed to be inaccessible due to overgrowth and a steep, slippery, muddy hill. (sound of sewers) Asked about 5 inhabitants by attempting to pronounce French words. After concluding that the gathering place is inaccessible from the road, I came back through the bridge. I walked into a kindergarten after not having hope of the road leading down any soon to the shore. Five women are having a meeting. They gestured me to the Nautical Centre, which I already knew was not the spot. Still, I walked there in hopes that there would be some fishermen to ask, who sat there all day yesterday. I came across some equipment, thrown in the water, but he was sitting in this car, playing Candy Crush. He didn’t know anything about this bird and pointed me to the Cascade, where I was earlier already. I went back again to the same spot, towards the fist location, the kindergarten, and I found another car, an older woman in crutches, a young man smoking, and his little sister. He told me the shore is blocked but I can try to go down, there is no use in trying to go further along the streets.
I saw the same blockade that stopped me the first time, then I realized the sign of prohibition concerns cars and bikes only, and that there is a good 2,5 meters of freshly cut path along the shore behind the bar. I was led here by one white bird who is sitting on location, waiting since 4.30 PM.
The sun is setting, perhaps their meeting cue, what is 5 PM for me, is twillight for them. The little sister now heard to be playing drums on a barrel in the distance. (sound of drums) “Cattle egrets remove ticks and flies from cattle and consume them. This benefits both organisms, but it has been implicated in the spread of tick-borne animal diseases.”