Charity, Translation and Global Warming

Téléthon
It's been said that the French don't do as much charity work as the English and it appears to be true. It probably isn't true that the French do less volunteering though; lots of local activities are made possible only with the help of many volunteers.

However, once a year the nation succumbs to a positive orgy of charity giving: the Téléthon weekend at the beginning of December. It works much like Children in Need bonanzas on English television except that it isn't directed at a single charity but at each and every one. In the village it kicks off with a knees up and a meal on the Friday evening. Then there are various parades, demonstrations and tournaments on the Saturday, plus an all-day fruit and vegetable market; there was a moules/frites lunch on offer and more music and food in the evening. And a bit more of the same on the Sunday.

I decided to take part in the boules tournament, “à la melée”, meaning pairs to make teams were drawn out of a hat. With a good partner, anything would be possible. As it happens, I drew someone of about my standard and we won one match before being eliminated. Organisation of the tournament was something that could only happen here though. The tournament was due to start at 14.00 so I went along just before then. At about 14.10 someone appeared with a piece of paper and two or three of us put our names down; then a hiatus. Finally the announcer called for more participants and repeated that several times over the next 20 minutes or so. Realising I was in for a wait I looked to see what else was on and saw there was to be a demonstration of shooting (at boules) also scheduled for 14.00; so I asked about that. It turned out that the person taking the names was to give the shooting demonstration, so was otherwise occupied. I then asked where we were playing, as the centre of the Téléthon organisation was in the St Marcel room, on the other side of the village to the boules pistes. “Don't know”, was the helpful answer. Eventually 16 participants were found and we scratched around for somewhere to play, the only viable space being around a cake-stall tent with people wandering around it all the time. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it, although the demonstration of shooting seemed to be forgotten.

Next year, if I can intercede in time, I'll suggest having the shooting demonstration 30 minutes before the tournament starts. That will attract all the potential boules players to one spot without the need for multiple announcements. And I'll suggest having both organised from the Cafe des Sports, right hext to the boules pistes. Only in Provence............................................

Translation
I've found a solution to one of the translation difficulties I mentioned in my last posting: the double-entendre in the word “feu” (fire and deceased). It came to me while I was sitting on the loo, of course. “Allumer un feu”, with the double meaning, can be translated by “light a pyre”. I think it's going to take a few more visits to the loo to sort out the other translation problem but burns in place of blisters may come to my rescue. And in the meantime........another double entendre has emerged: “au courant”, meaning “in the know” but containing the word “courant” which can imply electricity. Ah well, it was only something of a game anyway.

Global Warming
I went with Daniel to collect some wine from his favourite cooperative in St Cécile Les Vignes and to visit a friends of his, Jean-Claude, who grows some of the grapes the cooperative uses. Over aperitifs and lots of genial chat, two points emerged. One is that global warming (temporary, lasting, due to carbon dioxide or not) is having an effect on the local agriculture. Jean-Claude (more or less my age) said that the grape harvest was always on the 25th of September, give or take a day or two. This year and last it has been the 5th of September. And, for the olive harvest, orchard owners put out nets to catch the olives when they start falling, which until very recently was always at the end of November or early December. Now the nets are out at the end of October.