Lazy Summer

Over the years, I’ve had many conversations with French friends about vacations. The consensus is that you really need at least three weeks. The first week you’re still winding down from your regular life and are not yet really on vacation. The last week you are realizing that you won’t be able to do everything you’d hoped to, feeling nostalgic that the end is approaching and starting to think of what is waiting for you – both welcome and less welcome – at home. So it’s really only the week or weeks in between that you are totally and blissfully on vacation.
I’ve been putting this into practice in Charlottesville since I last posted. My friends here go to the beach or New Hampshire or Maine where it’s cooler when it’s time for their short American vacations. They wonder why I come to hot, humid Charlottesville in the summer. I explain that, if you are in vacation mode, Charlottesville feels several degrees cooler and not nearly as humid as it is for them dashing around living their non-vacation lives.
I left Paris with lots of plans -- for blog posts and other things I’d at last have time for. The first week I was halfway between Paris and Charlottesville -- making plans with friends and arranging my various summer activities while checking the internet regularly for Paris weather and the latest news on the political scandal that had been developing daily since June. But gradually, Charlottesville weather seemed much more important and French political scandals not nearly as interesting. I had settled.
When I woke up now I had fewer questions. Shall I go to the pool?



Is this a pilates day?



A knitting day?
Which friend am I meeting for which concert, movie, lunch, dinner or chat?
Is it cool enough to sit outside or is this a day to bless the air-conditioning?



I did exert myself last Sunday to take a three hour bus ride to Washington to meet up with a friend from Maryland. Another lunch and chat – but further afield.


Yes, of course, I was home sometimes. But then it was lounging time. I read. I knitted. I listened to the radio. I napped. I checked Facebook. I thought of my blog and of you, my readers, every day. But in full and blissful vacation mode that’s all I could manage.
Now I’m entering the Last Days. Soon it will be time for my last swim, my last knitting group, my last pilates class until next time. One moment I’m wondering where the time went; the next is filled with good memories that answer that question. There are small regrets. I remember the books I read



But also those I meant to read.



I’m proud of the hat I finished. But sorry I’ll have to finish the matching scarf in Paris.

There’s more fun to come this summer. And I’ll tell you about it, I promise. But now it’s time for another iced tea. And I’d like to finish my library book before I have to leave.

Feuilleton d'été

For the last twenty years or so, one of the staples of French summer television has been the “feuilleton d’été” (Summer saga), a mini-series, usually programmed once a week throughout the summer. Summer sagas are good old-fashioned melodramas with heroes, villains and family secrets. Their settings are places viewers have visited or dreamed of visiting – luxurious places with gorgeous weather (unless a storm is necessary for the plot) providing the escapism needed during this lazy time of year.
I feel somewhat sorry for those who slaved over scripts and filming this winter as our most exciting summer sagas this year have been dealt with daily in the news.
The first – “Chaos in Blue” -- began in early June.



Dramatis personae:
Raymond Domenech: A former professional football player for Lyon, Strasbourg, Paris and Bordeaux. Named manager of the French national team in 2004. What secret led to his being kept on even after the disastrous defeat of France in the Euro 2008? Why do the heroes of 1998 roll their eyes each time his name is mentioned?

Nicolas Anelka: “the bad boy of French football”. Talented, yes, but what score did he get on the “Are you a team player?” quiz?
What did he really say in the locker room at half time on June 17th? Who told the press and why? Why did his picture disappear from a hamburger chain’s advertisement on June 20th?

Picture taken June 24th. Where's Anelka?


Thierry Henry: He scored 3 goals with the mythical 1998 French National team. But will he be more remembered for the goal he scored with his hand against Ireland in November 2009? Or for the fact that President Sarkozy sent a car with a motorcycle escort on June 24th when he and the team returned glumly from South Africa? Henry was sped to a secret meeting at the Palais Elysées while government organizations waited for the President at the Quai d’Orsay to prepare the G20 meeting and 2 million French people marched the streets to protest the planned increase in retirement age from 60 to 62.

Rama Yad: Exotically beautiful Muslim woman, born in Senegal, married to the son of a Yiddish singer, formerly Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights and, since June 23rd 2009, Secretary of State for (I’m not making this up) Sports. But why did Rama consider it necessary to complain about the expense of the French team’s hotel in South Africa before they had even lost a match? And why was an even more expensive hotel room reserved for her when she went to see them?

Roseline Bachelot: enthusiastic Minister of Health (and Sport). Boss and rival of Rama Yad. Which version of her secret meeting with the players before the match with South Africa is the true one? Did she bring them to tears with her lecture on their responsibilities to the youth of France or did she find a team with “immature leaders ordering around frightened kids”?

Jean Pierre Escalettes: The 75 year old President of the French Football Federation. Is he the cause or the innocent victim of the South African disaster? Did he resign or was he asked to step down?

Such an exciting time we’ve had. Can’t wait for the episodes later this summer and fall.
Will Laurent Blanc, the new manager be able to create a winning team by August?
Will there be a Football Summit in October?
Will FIFA exclude France from international competition for political interference?
Will the French Football Federation resign collectively in December?

Stay tuned.

Singing and Dancing to Summer

« Il n’y a pas eu mort d’homme » the French say ruefully after complaining about something or bracingly when someone else has been complaining about something. “Nobody died.” I’ve been saying it a lot since mid-May when the electronic devices that make my life comfortable began falling apart one after the other.
My printer went first; it was only 8 years old. I decided it was time for a new computer too. My 6 year old Dell, while still working, was showing definite signs of wishing to retire. Go to the store and buy a new printer – which also photocopies and scans or will as soon as I figure out how --; call Dell and order a new laptop; hire a guy to come transfer the insides of my old computer into the new one. An efficient day’s work.
Except the computer didn’t. Work that is. I entered into a 2 week long customer service nightmare with Dell. I now have a perfectly working laptop. But only after I e-mailed an American Dell executive whose name and contact details a friend had. His response resulted in my call being followed to completion by the Director of Technical Support Europe and a phone call of apology from the Director of Customer Service Europe. It was hard to go back to my normal, anonymous life.
In the midst of my Dell crisis, my 7 year old cable box stopped functioning. One electronic problem at a time seemed more than sufficient. So, having called the cable company and found out where to buy a new one, I decided that could wait. Now every evening a message pops up saying “Soon France will switch to digital TV and your set will stop working.” Sigh.
By the beginning of June, serenity was returning to my life -- when my internet access failed. At least I thought that was the problem until I picked up my phone to call customer service and heard … nothing. It turned out the water company had cut through the telephone cable while performing some mysterious and disruptive task “to make your life better”. Guess again. Five long days without cable TV’s international channels, the internet, e-mail and international long distance made my world seem very small.
Fortunately, June is a month of music and dance as we move joyfully towards summer so I got some relief from my electronic woes.

My choir’s two concerts were successful and well-attended.



There were other concerts to go to.













the pre-school’s end of year festivities












and, of course, la Fête de la Musique
























Life gradually looked good again.


Welcome summer.