J and the kids went off to church on Sunday and that gave me the opportunity to pop into Vence, our local town, to get J her Easter pressies. She’d been dropping hints all week that she’d got Easter eggs for us all and reminisced about when we were together in London and I would hide her eggs in the house and then say ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ as she tried to find them. All this verbal posturing was meant to remind me that Easter Sunday was approaching and that I’d better get my act together and make sure she was not left wanting when the Easter goodies were being handed out!
As I approached the town, it was as if it was a Saturday. Cars were everywhere, the pavement cafés were overflowing and there was a farmer’s market in the town square. As I headed to the flower shop, hoping it would be open, I noticed that all the food and drink shops were open and there were queues snaking out of their doors in every case.
When I got to the flower shop I had to queue there also. People were buying virtually every flower and plant on display but the staff, although incredibly busy were still putting gift ribbons on all the bouquets. On my way back to the square, the bread shops were similarly busy as were the delis and wine shops but the biggest queues were to be found at the patisseries where gateaux galore adorned the windows – but not for long. It became obvious to me that Easter is a day for visiting family and friends in France and the chocolatiers, patisseries and delis make sure they don’t arrive empty handed.
I couldn’t see any chocolate eggs for sale so I got the next best thing – a dressed lobster! One of the Easter traditions in France is the chocolate fish – yup – you heard correctly – the chocolate fish, but I couldn’t see any of those either, probably because I couldn’t get near enough the windows to see if any were on display so I just went into a deli and got a dressed lobster. I’m sure J will enjoy that more than an egg! I mean eggs are so predictable!
As I walked back to my scooter, I was stopped in my tracks by some Gendarmes who were clearing the way for a troupe of people playing what looked like ancient instruments. They were followed by women and girls dressed like Pilgrims (you know – the Pilgrim Fathers sort of thing) and finally there were a couple of really old guys carrying muskets. As they passed me, I noticed both of them cocking their weapons. I thought it was just them playing to the crowd which had gathered, but then, ‘BOOM’, both of them fired into the air. The noise was deafening and quite a few of the crowd were startled. So was I, but only because I thought of this happening in the UK and the fact that if these old guys had let their weapons off there, they’d be in the clink by now facing a 27 day terrorism detention order.
Vive la France!
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