Spring and Mairies

Spring
The weather has changed over the last two days and spring seems a genuine prospect. So I've cut down the pentstemons and taken a large number of cuttings, fed handfuls of chicken shit around the hole I dug in the road for my wisteria, hopefully to persuade it to finally reach the underside of my balcony at the front, and surveyed the small back garden. I've thrown hundreds of seeds down there since the autumn, even some from a visit to Wisley in England when I kindly decided to do some dead-heading for them, so I'm anxious to see what will take and not sure what it will look like if and when it sprouts. However, there are some definite weeds so I'll take advantage of the weather, if it continues, to clean the space up a bit. There's no sign yet of the bulbs for which I dug holes in the other side of the road but I got the idea and planted them late so there's still time for them to show. The narcissi in pots at the front of the house are all in bloom, along with the pansies.

I still intend to dig another hole in the road opposite my kitchen and plant a climbing rose to go up one of the lime trees. The neighbours all say this is fine and just to go do it but I wonder what they really think about this mad Englishman who keeps digging holes in the road. I may have to claim officially that I'm doing a public service by calming the traffic (what there is of it).

Mayors
The mayoral system in France is quite different to anything in England. Mayors and Mairies here have a lot more power and the system is certainly open to abuse. However, I think that, on the whole, the system works quite well, certainly within a small village like Mollans; I find it is definitely preferable to the neutered local government in England, which apparently has the most centralised local government in Europe. If I feel strongly about anything, I have absolutely no problem in bending the ear of the mayor or any of the councillors here (most probably in the Bar du Pont). Many people take advantage of this easy access and below I reproduce a sample of extracts from letters received in Mairies in the region, kindly supplied by one of our councillors, Jacques Thibault.

Les ralentisseurs que vous avez mis devant l'école sont trop hauts et ma femme se fait sauter quatres fois par jour.

Depuis que vous avez acheté un ordinateur à la Mairie il n'y a plus moyens de trafiquer les papiers comme vous faisiez avant.

Le cimetière est dans un ètat pas possible et tous ceux qui y habitent pensent comme moi.

Est-ce qu'on ne pourrait pas déplacer le bal du 14 juillet jusqu'au 15 août?

Oui, Monsieur le maire, vous êtes responsable des cacas des chiens même si ce n'est pas vous qui les avez faites personnelllement

Le toit de l'église fuit depuis longtemps et la vierge est toujours mouillée. Faites quelquechose pour elle s'il vous plait, Monsieur le maire

Parce que vous avez fait la route pas assez large mon voisin est obligé de faire pleins de manoeuvres difficiles dans son garage et alors ce qui devait arriver est arrivé. Un matin où il était sûrement bourré, il a fini par réussir à rentrer dans ma femme.

Si c'est le maire qui est chargé d'enlever les ordures, que dois-je faire avec ma femme?

These quotes are reproduced faithfully. The French expression and grammar are not mine.