Gilets Jaunes Etc

The Gilets Jaunes

There's been quite a bit in the English as well as the French press about the «gilets jaunes» protesters in France and the disruption they are causing. Let it be said right at the beginning that there is nothing the French love as much as a protest; they have more practice at it than most and generally do it better. In this case the protest is supposedly all about the tax on car fuel but it goes rather deeper than that. There is widespread underlying unrest at what are perceived to be fat cat public servants too and the wealth gap that is growing in France as it is in England.

The initial protests were mild and benign ; stopping motorists so the protesters could make their case, disrupting but not totally stopping traffic flows and also, on occcasion, line dancing across roads: a marked protest but non-violent. In Mollan they had a barecue at a road junction. The big mistake the French authorities have made, in my view, is to engage the CRS (a big French mistake in itself in my view) to disperse the protesters. I can only describe the widely hated CRS ae a kind of rent-a-thug organisation that has official backing. It is a volunteer force, quite heavily armed, whose rôle is to curb and prevent civil unrest. What type of person do you think is going to volunteer for that? Intervention by the CRS virtually ensures violence. I asked friend Daniel about why France had the CRS and he could only answer that the French authorities were always sensitive to civil unrest in a negative way, perhaps with the historical example of the Commune in mind.

There is another historical precedent. During the wars of religion in France in mediaeval times the king François premier licensed bands of thugs to beat up protestants and take their possessions. But, being thugs, these bands didn't generally ask too many questions about religion but took what they wanted anyway. It helps explain the nmber of villages in my region plastered on hillsides or in other difficulty accessible places. But France is supposed to be civilised now. Whatever. Macron has given a few inches, a 6-month moratorium on rises in fuel tax, but also faces the problem of somehow reducing the over-generous terms of employment of public servants.

We've discussed the «gilets jaunes» in our English conversation classes and also the translation in the English press. Yellow vests? That's a hopeless translation. Literally a «gilet» is a waistcoat, wnich would not be a good translation but neither is replacing it with an undergarment. Maybe some confused journalist thought that the «gilet» is really a jacket and jacket in French is «veste» and somehow mixed them up. For the benefit of any journalist (????) reading this, in English we call them high-visibility jackets.

Birds Disappearing

I've been puzzled by the lack of birds feeding on my balcony. The feeders are full of grain, sunflower seeds and fat balls and have been since the latter part of the summer but I haven't yet had to refill them once, as against once a week formerly. Now only one or two great tits come regularly. The probable reason has only just occurred to me. Last summer some heavy (and very noisy) machinery was used to flatten the bed of the river opposite my house and clear it of shrubbery. This was no doubt in anticipation of a probable wet autumn and as a flood prevention measure. However, the birds that come to the feeders on my balcony come primarily from across the river. They alight in the lime trees opposite, then fly onto the grape vine over my balcony and then onto the feeders. It's a bit like watching planes in a stack coming into Heathrow. The heavy machinery obviously will have disrupted the birds' environment but I fear it may also have destroyed many nests. I wonder how long it will take for the birds to recover confidence and return.

Christmas Lights

The coloured Christmas lights are up in all the villages around. In Mollans, I am pleased to report, the village council has eschewed the normal Christmas colour of red and instead our lights are all blue and white. As a Chelsea supporter, albeit one in the glooms at the moment, I find that most tasteful.