As you must be aware, yesterday saw the first round of voting for the next President of France.

We are not entitled to vote but it has been interesting to hear the views of those who are. Some friends are delighted with Sarkozy but the ones with left leanings are not so happy with Segolene Royal. It appears she has made quite a few mistakes already, including upsetting teachers by implying they have it easy.

With the choice of twelve candidates, many people were wary that splitting the left vote could make room for Le Pen to come second as he did last time. Therefore, many of the socialist minded felt constrained to vote Royal, without conviction, but to avoid the same thing happening.

Some of the defeated candidates are telling their supporters to vote against Sarkozy rather than for Royal, and Bayrou, (also right) who came third, refuses to recommend Sarzozy to his followers.

Whatever the result of the second round it looks as though there will be more discontentment than accord.

As for our village, the FN (National Front) has a worryingly large following: 114 votes for Le Pen against 190 for Sarkozy and 137 each for Royal and Bayrou.

As far as I know, we are the only immigrants here. Do we have neighbours who are not happy about that?