Yesterday, we went to the “verre de l’amitié” meeting at our local salle des fêtes. Each person arriving greeted each of the assembled group with the incantation “bonne année et meilleurs vœux”, receiving an identical incantation in reply. As the assembly grew larger, the greetings took longer which meant that Madame le Maire started her speech 45 minutes late which by normal French standards is considered à l’heure.
It was interesting to see that the le bisou is making a strong return following the Covid scare. I do wish however, the men would shave more often.
The Maire’s speech started with a brief description of the parlous state of French finances, the chaos in the French political system, and the dangers facing the world in 2025 before moving on to the far more important subjects of lack of funds for the church repairs, the cost of lighting for the petanque court and the problems of dogs fouling the pavements in the village (which is a bit rich because our chemin has grass verges and everyone comes there to “walk” their dogs).
I think our bewildered looks made us stand out as foreigners because some new faces came across to introduce themselves to us. One very talkative woman even said she loved my sense of humour which was a bit embarrassing because, as far as I knew, I had not cracked any jokes.
We left less than replete have tested the cold pizza and less than exciting wine. As we were leaving, we noticed that the main party was in the kitchen at the back of the hall. It was loud men only sustained by bottles of eau de vie.
Our commune has a local law for the village … Dogs are not allowed to wander unattended and Dog Owners should collect “pooh” in a bag and take it back home for disposal…
I challenged one chap who let his dog foul my small wildflower patch by my front door, as I sat enjoying some unexpected sun.
He looked startled and his partner rummaged and produced tissues/whatever and collected the pooh…
Even with my accent, they both understood what I was saying (I was polite but obviously not amused)
Had to come back here to find my post because I had forgotten the date and, as the invitation also served as a confirmation, I had handed it in to the Maire.
Inspired by folk on this SF forum we decided to go along to Madame Le Maires “ceremonie des voeux 2025,” yesterday afternoon. We have avoided this for 17 years as being of a timid nature, felt it would be too much of a language challenge. It went a lot better than expected. We found that we did in fact know quite a few people. The speeches were informative and we were able to follow them. Glass of wine and a large slice of galette afterwards was very pleasant and done in true French style. (Actually we passed on the galette) Might go again next year.
Ours was due to start at 11am and I thought that I would turn up about that time even though I normally arrive anywhere at least 15 minutes early.
I also thought there would be only a few there so off we went at 5 minutes to. What a shock with one car park full, the street lined with cars and the overflow into the car park of the closed bar next door. I did though back up closely to the school bus shelter which is not interdit and I was surprised no-one else had taken it.
The salle was absolutely solid, I was welcomed at the door by the Maire and then as we all circulated gently, by many others too. There were many more faces that I recognised but couldn’t immediately put a name to or place in my experience. But one thing was certain, I was the only English person there.
Sadly, much of the seemingly interminal speeches, one by the Maire and one by someone I didn’t know, I could not understand, partly because I forgot to put my hearing aids in , but mainly because the sound system was iffy, sometimes cutting out completely.
After it all I had a very welcome cup of kir and a small canape and left to go back to the car where the dogs waited patiently for their walk down by the river. It was very warm in the salle so I could have been better off not togged all up for the weather. Never mind, and I will go back next year, but suitably equipped with hearing aids.
I should put that into perspective though, there are only 3 of us in the commune as far as I know, the other two a married couple. I am sure they would have been there but she has a problem with standing around for long and I know what she means, I’ve still got an aching back even now.
