February is the time for the AGM and 'St. Agathe' meal for the 'Club des Anciens'.
As usual the meeting started nearly forty minutes late, was brief and chaotic. The one thing we noticed in the accounts was that the club spends serious money on booze. Nearly 300 euros for champagne was third on the list and then there were three more amounts to a local drinks depot for similar sums.
We were all 'a table' by midday for champagne and nibbles and then the President sprang a surprise.
'As it is St. Agathe's day the men will be serving the meal and clearing the dishes' she announced. This was greeted with gallic noises of dismay from the men and shrieks of delight from the women. Mme Coutin then proceeded to pick two men from each table (of about twenty people) to be the waiters. I felt sorry for Daniel, who was sitting opposite us. He doesn't actually retire till next month and this was his very first meal with the club. I tried to cheer him up by saying he was chosen because he was the youngest but I'm not sure that was enough to mollify him.
It was interesting to see that some of the chaps were quite domesticated whereas others looked a bit lost but they all mucked in with a will and we got through the meal in record time. Coffee was served by half past four. Soon after that people started to get their coats.
Then the man opposite us mentioned that the local team (Sedan) were playing at five and the match was being televised.
