I was just wondering how many of you have adopted the habits of your French neighbours. For example: do you shut the shutters at night or half shut them when it’s sunny or raining hard? Do you eat your main meal at lunch time?
I didn’t shut shutters in brittany in the sumemr as you don’t need to but in the south you just can’t keep the temperature down without shutting out the sun - never thought I’d ever close out sunshine but when you get a few weeks of 35°+ it’s difficult keeping inside temperatures down to 25° even keeping the shutters closed - you need to keep the windows closed too never letting the heat in… my Mum still thinks I’m barking mad when I try to explain this to her!
as for meals - main meal at lunch time and everything stops for an hour or so, kids go to bed etc…
when in Rome…
We live on a main street in a very small village so my husband shuts our shutters (as do the French at night). It keeps the rooms downstairs warmer and adds more privacy. Besides, it is so exhilarating throwing open the shudders in the morning and inviting in a new day. We are pretty much all over the place on eating. It depends on our hunger and what we have in the house. We aren’t as regulated as the French. I find it so charming that if you are out in the village just before noon, people say “Bon Appetite.” Seems that food and eating are never far from the French consciousness. (same for me). We hang out our clothes – different from what we did in Canada. But we rarely lock our door unless we are going away. That’s a holdover from life in Canada. We feel safe here in our small winegrowers town of 250. We don’t stuff the fridge with a week’s worth of food. We generally go to markets a lot and buy only for 2 or 3 days at a time. Less waste and more taste. We drink more wine here because it’s better and cheaper.
I’m doing a “formation” - that means that I have ‘gone’!!
or is it quelle bordel, never sure of the gender?
Down here in the Languedoc Petit Con works well, but apparently it implications are a bit stronger up North, and Merde just doesn’t do it for me. Quel bordel is pretty good as well
I’m with you on the shutters Cathy!
This is one of my favourite blog themes - if you can be arsed to trawl through it, there are many references. If not http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/christmas-a-la-francais-ou
I think you pass the test Peter! I wish I could say “Oh là là!” like a native, but it does not spring readily to my lips and if I’m looking for a swearword, it’s nearly always an anglo-saxon word that I use.
Well I don’t have as many showers as when I was in London, I drink a lot more wine, I see nothing wrong with an apperro at 11 in the morning, I often drive in the middle of the road, I argue with chefs about the right way to cook a steak, I know how to make a wild boar stew, I smoke Gauloises roll ups, I often stop in the middle of supermarket aisles and talk to friends… nah, living amongst the French hasn’t changed me a bit.
Never be a French foodie me! But I do shut the shutters every night. Never half shut when it’s sunny though and only close in the rain if it is pounding at the windows (as they leak)!