The traders had claimed their pitches on the Saint Bénézet bridge by daybreak, hoping for a good day’s business after a disastrous year when the weekly market had been suspended, as had been so many of the town’s normal activities. The opening of the bridge symbolised Avignon’s surviving the plague: trade lay at the heart of its determination and spirit to move on with optimism and renewed zest for life. A few early risers were inspecting the wares for sale, searching for bargains, bartering to get this or that at a decent price. The cheesemonger displayed yellow-rind truckles and unctuous white cheeses he had made with the milk from his goat herd that was breeding once more. Peasant farmers from the fertile Rhône valley had been able to harvest winter vegetables, no longer fearful of hiri
