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 Jeff Steiner's Americans in France.Resource for people that would like to live or travel in France. |
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NewsletterApril 2004
Apologies
Sorry to any old subscribers who received an e-mail confirmation to join my mailing lists. I changed list hosts and I imported all addresses to my new host, automatically an e-mail confirmation was sent. It was unintended.
What have I learned lately?
- French clothing brand 'Dim' is short for the French word Sunday 'Dimanche'. Why Dim? Sunday is the day traditionally when people dressed their best for church.
- Civil servants or their family members are the only people that can prepare political flyers for mailing. See Elections below.
Madrid Bombings
On March 16, 2004 at noon three minutes of silence where observed throughout France and Europe paying homage to those killed in the Madrid bombings five days earlier. Cars, busses, trains, schools and pedestrians stopped. Church bells and civil emergency sirens rang. All public radio stations played the same music: Guillaume Lekeu's Molto Adagio sempre cantante e doloroso. My wife's school held a general assembly. The principal spoke, next to him on stage was a Spanish staff member, representing the Spanish people.Down on the (French) farm
Many of my previous newsletters record how my wife, Marie-France, son, Samuel and I often spend our weekends and holidays on my in-laws farm. The farm located near Tournus on the A6 Autoroute, about three hours from Paris to the south, one and a half from Lyon to the north. Samuel loves riding in the tractor with his 'ton ton' (uncle) Bibi, as Thierry, my brother in law who now runs the farm, is often called by his nieces and nephews. Or he enjoys accompanying Thierry when he is feeding the animals. Thierry also has a Quatre-Quatre (4 X 4) used to get around the farm. Needless to say Samuel just loves riding in it. He gets to go into the fields and the bumpy ride that entails, read roller coaster for a three year old, is just toooo much fun sometimes. Lately Samuel has taken to calling out "Biiibi, Biiibi" when he can't find Thierry. He sounds like a three-year-old town crier.Elections
On March 21st and 28th France held regional elections. The results were not good for President Jacques Chirac's ruling Union pour la majorité présidentielle (UMP). The UMP won in only one region (Alsace) out of 26, with the results in Corsica still in question. Before the election Chirac's party and allies controlled 14 regions out of 26. How bad was it for the UMP? In the Loire Valley and Brittany regions the left-wing opposition consisting of the Socialist and Communist Parties, Greens and the Radical Left Party won for the first time in over a 100 years. Some are calling this the April 21st 2002 of the UMP (See May 2002 - Presidential Election). That result sent the left into the political wilderness. It is unclear if that will be the case for the UMP, which has a large parliamentary majority. National elections are not scheduled until 2007. After the first round it appeared the UMP might be able to hold on to a majority of the regions. This wasn't the case. In he second round the coalition of left parties received just under 50 percent of the vote nationwide. Chirac's UMP received 37%. The rest went to the extreme right National Front. As of this writing it is unclear if Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will resign.Follow @jeffsteiner
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