This Spring there will be elections for the maire and his chosen councillors and so, although electioneering has not officially started, tonight's gathering held particular significance for our Mayor.
It started at six o'clock with the presentation of prizes for the Christmas tree competition. They awarded the first prize to someone I don't know at all and then the other 45 entrants received a certificate with a photo of the mairie adorned in Christmas lights together with a flower - a kind of lily in a pot. In the 'business section' only one shop took part - the chemist. So our pharmacist won the prize. It was contained in an envelope so I suspect it was a voucher. Not sure if I dare ask her which shop she can spend it in - or how much it's worth!
The meeting was scheduled to begin at seven and as you can be pretty sure that everything will start late we had plenty of time to walk back home, have a bowl of onion soup and then go back.
As we approached the village hall there was loud music - bagpipes and drums. The Celtic Group from a nearby village were providing the entertainment. They perform Breton, Scottish and Irish tunes but the four drums are a bit overpowering even for the half dozen or so bagpipes and the bombards can hardly be heard at all above the din. Most people were obviously a bit put out by the volume as they couldn't gossip. Some children had their hands over their ears but one little girl near us was dancing like a Dervish - having a great time.
At ten past seven the band trouped out and one of the adjoints took the microphone. He had a problem calling for silence as everyone was determined to make up for lost time in chatting to their neighbours. After four attenpts to call the meeting to order the noise died down enough for him to introduce the maire.
Monsieur T took his place and the room fell (practically) silent. There were still children playing catch among the audience so I found it difficult to follow all he said. He referred to the unpopular roadworks without any note of apology except to say it was unfortunate that they had hit a few problems and so were lasting longer than expected.
He spoke about more 'travaux' in Rue du Moulin and the fact that they have started work on repairing the church which has been closed for ages after some stones fell down in the entrance.
He said something about new arrangements for waste which will include a means of composting but I'm going to have to ask someone exactly what he said about that.
Then there was the group photo. I always try my best to hide at the back but this time the maire and his wife came into the group at the last minute. He came and stood behind me (he's very tall) while his wife put her arm round my shoulder and propelled me to the front.
After that the band came back in and it was time for the Vin d'amitié - champagne of course - helped down by copious supplies of sandwiches and galettes.
As this was Bear's first appearance for nearly three months various people came up to say hello and ask after his health. However, there were not as many familiar faces as usual so we didn't stay too long.
On the way back Bear remarked,
"Could you imagine this sort of thing happening in England?"
I think not.
