Food For Thought

Food For Thought

I'm becoming more and more conscious of how weather affects diet. In the past that must necessarily have been the case since you could only eat what was available at the time. Now, with ubiquitous supermarkets, fridges and freezers, you can eat most things within your budget at any time of the year. But…….what do you feel like eating?

I find, much more so here than when i was in the UK, that what I want to eat/drink depends a lot on the weather. Most of the year I'm happy with a typical French breakfast: next to nothing plus coffee. But the weather has been cold for the past 2-3 weeks, sunny but cold, and so I have been indulging in plates of porridge and bacon sandwiches for breakfast. They set me up to face the cold outside. Also, when I'm entertaining friends to eat in the evening, I cook stews, casseroles, pies, curries and the like; and the wine to go with the meal has to be red.

In the warm weather, despite the fact that my body probably needs similar sustenance, I'd never dream of cooking a stew. I might cook meat, even a curry possibly, but the meat would probably be chicken and fish and salads would be on my mind. Rosé and white wine also; I almost never drink rosé wine in the winter, despite this region having some of the best rosé wine in the world. That's unremarkable except in that the preference is dictated by the weather. The food in supermarkets here is more seasonal than in the UK but I can still have more or less anything that I want; but I find my choices are very much influenced by the weather, which was rarely the case when I was in the UK.

The Wrinklies' Lunch

Still on food, «crumblies» might be a better translation for the French slang «croulants» to describe those of us of mature years. This year, as every year, the village offers everyone over 60 years of age a free lunch, served by members of the village council and the mayor. The reason given for this generosity is to thank the wrinklies for past services to the village. For the record, the menu this year was as follows.

Apéritif

Feuiilleté forestier sur lit de salade verte

Cassolette de la mer

Sauté de canard aux agrumes

Petite épautre des Baronnies et légumes de saison

Fromages

Tiramisu au café

Café, thé

Vins: Côtes du Rgone rouge et blanc, clairette de Die

The meal was great and so was the company. Having got through that lot I managed (just) to get home without going down on all fours and crawling. I think this is just one more brilliant thing about this village ;

A Thought On Brexit

If you are old enough to remember the early years of TV you may remember a frequent message on a screen showing extreme interference («snow»): Do not switch off your set, there is a temporary fault in transmission. I remember seeing somewhere a variation on that: Do not switch off your mind, there s a temporary fault in reality. Apt or what?

Brexit Summary

Brexit Summary

Given what I have been saying on Brexit I can't let the latest development, the defeat of May's Brexit deal, go uncommented. The defeat of Corbyn's no confidence in May vote was not a development, simply a miscalculation by a dogmatically inclined politician and, unfortunately, leader of the Opposition, who seems not to, or refuses to, accept anything outside his dogma.

According to the latest You Gov survey around 12% more people in the UK want Brexit to be cancelled than for it to go ahead. I'm shocked. Well, at least that disposes of the «will of the people» argument. If the will of the people is to be done now Brexit will be cancelled. What I can't get my head round is the 44% who apparently still want it to go ahead. Why?

I've disposed of the «will of the people» argument so let's address the democratic issue. If anyone claims the referendum result was a democratic vote they are right. However, if they claim that therefore it must be enacted they are wrong. Constitutionally a referendum in Britain can only ever be advisory, whatever any politician says (and who on earth believes that politicians should always be taken at their word?). Both the Act of parliament that allowed a referendum (necessary, as a referendum is no part of the UK's democratic process, please note) and the Act that defined it both clearly stated that the result could only ever be advisory. So why do some people still insist that the result has to enacted? Quite simply, that is not true.

So much for those theoretical arguments. What of the practicalities? I can see only four possibilities going forward. The first is that May's deal second time around is accepted but, given the huge majority against it first time around, that has little credence.

Another is that a «no deal» Brexit happens. I think it could do, but only by accident. A significant majority of MPs have said that they will not let it happen because of the disastrous financial consequences (an economic recession of up to two decades estimated by one of its supporters, Rees-Mogg). Put it this way, if the Leave campaign had proposed an economic recession of up to two decades, higher food prices, fewer jobs and less money for the NHS, who would have voted for it? More pertinently for the Government, who would at a subsequent general election? The will of the people? An undeliverable impossible dream was needed.

A third is a second referendum but, realistically, that would in May's probably more or less accurate estimation (two more Acts of Parliament and considerable discussion and organisation needed) take a year to organise. It looks impractical.

The fourth possibility is to delay or cancel Brexit. The EU is probably thoroughly fed up with the UK by now and its reaction to a proposed extension is unlikely to be positive and, if granted, would probably include onerous conditions. Cancelling Brexit would have no negative implications, apart from the considerable costs already incurred for no reason.

So the obvious conclusion as I see it is that Brexit should be cancelled. But………….44% of the population apparently still does not see it that way. So which of the alternatives above do they want? There is an understandable reaction, I think, which ignores my first two points above and says: we are now fed up with the whole mess, just get on with it. However, that just gets back to my second set of points; which of the possibilities do you want?

There is another counter argument. If we are not going to deliver the result of the referendum, why did we have one? The answer to that is clear and generally accepted. We had one because the Conservative Party was split before the general election before last and David Cameron, not confident of winning the election and afraid of the UKIP influence, chose it as a way of trying to avoid a split in the conservative party. That failed; the Conservative party is still split. There was discontent with the EU in the UK, as in all EU countries, but no public clamour for a Brexit. The referendum came about not through any debate on the UK's future but because of a spat in the Conservative party. It' really should be only as important as that but has got out of hand. Again, impossible undeliverable dreams needed.

For myself I can explain the 44% in only one of three ways. Some part of that percentage must be the neo- fascist racist boneheads who support such organisations as the EDL and BNP. Another part I can only explain as people who have bought the impossible dream sold to them: return to the days of Empire (reconquer India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, etc). Do these people ever reason, think of practicalities? A final part, I suspect, are fed up with the whole process and just want done with the mess. These, in my view, are the most dangerous because, in throwing up their hand in despair they despair of their own important part in the democratic process; indeed of democracy itself.

So, if Brexit is cancelled, which is still just a possibility; what do we have? Certainly not Nirvana. We return to a situation, at significant cost, in which a large and important minority of people are discontented with the EU of which we are still a part. The good point there, I think, is that we share that situation with many other EU countries and that is the best indicator that the EU will be subject to the necessary reforms, for the benefit of all concerned. Somewhat paradoxically, a Conservative Thatcher handbagging will be needed.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Let's face it, this is the time of the year to do that, if ever there is one. Looking back is easy and not painful for me personally. Looking forward is quite another matter and I do not claim to be or seek to be any kind of Nostradamus but I do have some thoughts. So let's start with the easy bit.

Holiday Festivities And The Past Year

I had a good festive period; Carl (in photo) was here with me and I was able to eat, drink and make soberly merry with good friends; The presents I gave to family and friends seem to have been well chosen and well received. I couldn't ask for more. 

The pre-season activities, in particular my participation in the “bonnets rouges” singing of carols in the Bar du Pont also went very well (see photo, I'm on the right)) with a positive write-up in the local Le Dauphiné newspaper. That was very largely due to the patience, talent and perseverance of friend Jo.

The earlier part of the year passed with little of note. A couple of good friends died. It wasn't unexpected but was nonetheless saddening andt is something I am now resigned to; like it or not, as friends get older it is something that is going to happen rather regularly in the future until I am one of those who departs. So be it.

There is one outstanding item on my agenda from last year, an apparently trivial one but one that is important to me, and that is to get the Mairie to prune the lime trees across the road in front of my house to allow more sunlight in and a better floral display in the summer. As is the practice here, I shall enlist the support of friends in the village to put pressure on the Mairie to get that done. That is trivial in the general scheme of things but important to me and my neighbours.

The only other matter of importance to me is that I have had trouble for years in walking very far. Diagnosed in the UK as a problem with my hips it was identified here as a blockage in the Aorta where it splits to go down the legs and removal of that has given me back my legs. It feels great.

So much for the past. What does Dicken's ghost of the future foretell?

Looking Forward

For me personally, the demon on the near horizon is Brexit. I am in the process of trying to obtain French citizenship and have no reason to doubt that that will eventually succeed. It will take a while as French administrative processes move slowly but I foresee no absolute problem there. For the UK, to which I still have a strong personal attachment not only for myself but also for family and friends, the problem is much greater.

I totally fail to comprehend the apparent fatalism with which many UK friends apparently regard Brexit as inevitable. It need not be inevitable and the populace can stop it if it decides to. Rightly or wrongly I see Brexit as part of a more general phenomenon in Europe: the rise of the extreme right and nationalism backed by external funds to a significant extent. In France the “gilets jaunes” started as a protest against tax on fuel and looked initially to be a standard, short-lived French show of popular defiance. However the protest has become prolonged and extended its remit to include many more social grievances, all linked to the wealth gap. Throughout most of Europe the wealth gap, already large, is growing. Continuation of this trend can lead only to revolution of some sort, certainly in countries more amenable to revolution than the UK. If allied with nationalism, as Mitterand once said; that means war. That may sound over dramatic but I can see no other conclusion unless the trend to an increasing wealth gap is reversed. War in Europe nowadays may seem unthinkable but I can't see it in the interest of the extreme right and their wealthy backers to reverse that trend. War, on the other hand, would do them no harm.

I therefore think that the struggle to combat right-wing extremism and the further accumulation of wealth by the already extremely wealthy is paramount for the year ahead and must be won. The unlikely alliance between the very rich and the ill-informed and poor must be broken or Orwell will become a reluctant prophet. If it is, Europe can settle down to its usual messy compromises, but peaceably. If not, very dark days indeed lie ahead.

Why Brexit Must Be Stopped

Why Brexit Must Be Stopped

Let's be clear. I want Brexit stopped, so I'm biaised. Many others don't. But I think there are compelling reasosn to stop it even excluding economic factors; it's about the kind of country I would like Britain to be.

If Brexit happens, those who lied and committed electoral fraud will win. If they win, why would they change their methods, because those methods will have worked? Those who voted Leave because of xenophobia and racism will win. I'm sure that xenophobia and racism were not factors for many Leave voters but equally sure that they were an important factor. Police statistics show a steep rise in race-related crimes since the referendum. The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that he fears civil violence if Brexit does not happen and I think he is right. I think, as he does, that disappointed Leavers are very likely to take to the streets, violently. Historically that has always been what extreme right-wing supporters do.

So, if Brexit happens, what kind of Britain will we have? One in which liars and fraudster, xenophones and racists prevail. Possibly even one in which the government gives in to threats of violence in the streets. That is not a Britain I wish to see.Ask yourself who would want to see that kind of Britain.

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.

Progress

Progress Towards Christmas

I'm on schedule. All my Christmas greetings that go by post are in the post. Those I deliver locally or send by email have still to be done but they can wait until next week. All presents for family have been ordered and are on their way. The Christmas quiz for the Beaumont library is done and I've run off copies. The Christmas carols, under Jo's management, are well on their way; we all have our «bonnets rouges» and three of us red capes (the three kings). I've written the historical introductions to the carols, subject to any amendments by René, and done the rounds putting posters in both bakers, the Bar du Pont, the Mairie, the library and the Post Office. The English conversation classes finish next week until the end of January and the students have very generously given Steve and I each a bottle of single malt scotch and a basket of wine, pâtés and chocolates. We'll drink some fizz at the last session next Tuesday. Finally, I've planted another 50 narcissi in various places in the front; should look good when the spring comes. Friends will be coming to me to eat on Boxing Day but there is nothing to be done for that until a day or so beforehand. So all is on schedule, barring any last minute crisis.

Parliament Rules Again

With the government defeats yesterday the outcome of Brexit is still unclear but there is at least one good result: parliament has decided to reassume its proper rôle and rule again. For the pasr two years there has been a danger that the result of a referendum which, constitutionally, could never be binding whatever any politician said, would be allowed to be regarded as such, with parliament neglecting its rôle as ruler of Britain. Britain has never been ruled by plebiscite; it is parmiament's duty to rule. If Brexit doesn't happen, this will not be a betrayal of democracy as many Brexiteers and some of the gutter press want to claim. It will in fact be the opposite; a reaffirmation of democracy. The gpvernment, time after time, has tried to avoid scrutiny of its proposals by parliament and now, perhaps just in time, parliament has asserted its authority, as is its legal right and duty. That the government has been found in contempt of this, for the first time in history, is a true and proper judgement on the government's macinations. All the chaos, and the referendum itself, has been the result of a deep divide in the Conservative party, exploited by various individuals for their own purposes without regard for the consequences for the country. So let the Conservative party put its own house in order and let parliament in its own house rule.

Christmas Is Coming

Christmas Is Coming

And so is winter. I've discovered that the threshold for when I really wake up to this is the remembrance ceremony in the village on the 11th of November. It's quite a low'-key and moving ceremony and always has it's Clochemerle element with the sound system. It is guaranteed that either at least once microphones will be off when they should be on for the speeches or that the recording of the national anthem played will be out of step with the children from the school who are singing it. It happens every year and I find it rather endearing. Every formal ceremony should have its Clochemerle moment.

I know that the advent of Christmas is heralded in the shops long before then but that is too early for the perception to really hit home with me. After the remembrance ceremony, however, three things happen in quick succession: I get asked to create the Christmas quiz for the Beaumont library again and I get asked to come to the first rehearsal of the Christmas carols and those two things remind me to check the number of Christmas cards I have left over from last year and to think about presents for family in England. Also, Beaujolais nouveau arrives in the village.

In fact the first rehearsal for the Christmas carols was on the 15^th of November, which is when the Beaujolais nouveau arrived at the Bar du Pont. So immediately after the rehearsal Steve, Jo and I went along to the Bar du Pont for a tasting. This year I thought it was quite good and Patrique and Valérie in the bar provided skewers of chicken, mushrooms and slices of quiche to go with it, all on the house. It made for a convivial evening.

I had two suggestions to make for the carols this year. The first was to make more of an introduction to each carol than the usual “and now we will sing…..”. I feel there should be more time between each carol. The second, because we now have a repertoire of over a dozen with which we are all familiar, whether in English, French, German or Latin,was to get the audience to chose one of those in the repertoire but not in the programme. We try to get the audience singing along with us and this would increase audience participation. I'm not sure yet whether these will be accepted but have been researching the history of carols anyway to get the story behind those we will sing. One interesting point to emerge is that carols weren't sung in churches in England until late in the 19^th century. They were sung long before then but in the streets, the age old tradition of wassailing. The word “carol” itself originally meant a dance in a circle so the origins are specifically jollity rather than religion. It points up a different attitude to religion between Britain and France. We Brits sing primarily for the conviviality; the fact that most, but not all, carols are religious is incidental to many of us. For the French, the religious connotations can be a serious inhibition. Many of my French friends who would like to sing won't join in because of the hard religious-secular divide in France.

I've been creating the Christmas quiz for the Beaumont library for two years now and have developed a structure. The total of around 100 questions is divided into around 10 sections, each section with a theme. After grouping potential questions under each theme I review them to try to ensure that there are two hard questions and two dead easy ones in each section; and therein lies the perennial problem: personal knowledge. What seems easy or difficult to me isn't necessarily so for anyone else. I just have to hope that, over 100 questions, the differences even out.

Another sign that Christmas is approaching is that Roberto has started offering a seafood platter, oysters and prawns, as an alternative to the Monday evening pizzas at the Bar du Pont. Oysters figure prominently in the traditional French Christmas meals. And with Christmas comes winter. Snow is forecast tomorrow down to 1000ft; the ski station at Mt Serein will be pleased but the road to the summit of Mt Ventoux is already cut off. I hope the snow stays up there. Even so, you can hardly get out of the village without getting to 1000ft so I'd better check my tyres.