Pecheurs, a vos lignes !
The day dawns hot. It's the annual fishing competition and from seven onwards groups of gentlemen in waders and beanie hats congregate outside the Salle des Fetes. At seven thirty, prompt, they all head off, in single file, down the hill towards the lake. The mayor, resplendent in a pair of dungarees, open toed sandals and red pork pie hat, starts the competition with the stirring words " Pecheurs, a vos lignes ! ". Bob and Sophie watch the proceedings with great interest. Madame mayor has made honey croissants. The Old Farmer has set up a trestle table and dispenses home made wine from a stainless steel tea urn. From the roaring trade he's doing it can be assumed that these are bibulous fishers. He charges €1 for a large plastic tumbler of the saccharine liquid.
By noon the village cats have sensibly lost all pretence at activity and can be found sleeping, contentedly, under the visiting fishermen's cars and vans. Sophie is keen to 'get after them'.
This article is intriguing. Without national symbols, shared beliefs and common language what holds us together as countries and what does it mean for the way our societies develop ? http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9555222/2067-the-end-of-british-christianity/
5 comments:
Interesting Spectator article. I wonder what the equivalent statistics would show for France, where the church is, I think, far less bound up with the state and the intellectual tradition of atheism is stronger than in the UK?
Cheers,
Gail (breakfasting with Ed Stourton on in the background).
PS I suspect the horrors of modern day religious extremism, now viewable on YouTube, contribute to a distrust of religion in general.
Honey croissants. oh yum!
Did anyone tell the angelic duo that there were honey croissants in the offing?
Sophie really just wants to get at the cats so that she can be first in the queue if the returning fishermen accidentally drop a fish or two. That's if they've caught any of course !
In a dogs' world there is no such thing as 'let sleeping cats lie.'
How very enterprising of the Old Farmer. I hope he made enough to cover his gas/petrol costs for the next trip.
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