The Start Of The Bastille Day Weekend

July 11, 2014

     This is a three-day weekend in France, as Monday is what English-speakers call "Bastille Day".  No one in France calls it that --it's just "La Fête Nationale" --the national holiday.  Monday there will be a huge parade in Paris, with all the armed forces marching, along with the just-graduated engineers of the École Polytechnique, marching in tricorned hats and uniforms with epaulettes.  

     In Carcassonne there will be fireworks over La Cité, the restored medieval fortress.  To see them, it's a good idea to arrive in the early afternoon, park the car in the direction of the return trip by the banks of the Canal du Midi, and spend the day in town, visiting the outdoor market in Place Carnot, where goods normally sold in Carcassonne's shops will be on sale.

     In Caunes, everyone will be recovering from the celebration of the night before.  There will be fireworks in the soccer stadium at 9 p.m., followed by a dance at 10 p.m.  At La Marbrerie, the chef here, a jolly young man, says he'll dance --and any woman there will be obliged to dance with him.

     At my restaurant office, it will be business as usual, although opening and closing hours may be a bit more flexible.  Chez Marlene, the tiny grocery opposite La Mairie --Caunes' City Hall --will be open in the morning.  Caunes is a very quiet village anyway, so I am not sure that it will be any quieter than it is normally.

     To give you an example of how quiet Caunes is, the post office closes at noon two days a week and does not re-open in the afternoon.  The two boulangeries close at noon and only re-open at 4:00 p.m.  Even La Marbrerie and Chez Marlene close for part of the afternoon every day.

     It is only the grands surfaces --the big shopping centers-- that stay open through the afternoon --and not necessarily all shops do.

     I have had an opportunity to compare the quality of goods and services over the last few weeks, returning by force of habit to the Pont Rouge, where there is an Intermarché "Hyper-Marché", along with an "Odobio", a "Mac-Dan",  a "Brico Marché", a "Cap Cinema" and an "Aldi", among other stores.  Drive a bit further towards the A61 toll highway and you can shop at the "Le Clerc" shopping center.  Le Clerc began as an appliance store, but now offers clothes, entertainment media, books, concert tickets, travel, and everything else available at Intermarché, along with what looks like a good hairdresser's, a store carrying the latest French perfumes, and a newsstand that seem to carry every magazine published in France.

     The difference between the two shopping centers is not so much in the products as in the quality of the service.  Asking personnel to find any article at Intermarché is to come face-to-face with the schlumperei of young French without much to look forward to.  At LeClerc, on the other hand, the personnel is middle-aged and energetic and knowledgeable.  And "customer service" is not an oxymoron.  Having had so many negative experiences with French products and services as I was setting up house, I feel as though this afternoon I saw a side of France I almost believed had ceased to exist.

      In the news, the latest disastrous strike is that of the personnel working for a shipping company, SNCM, with responsibility for most of the trade between Marseille, Corsica and North Africa.  The intransigence of the unions and years of mismanagement and corruption have brought the commerce to a stop, with the port of Marseille's shipping having been literally halted.  Le Figaro called it a "national shame".  That's the least of it.