Why the French Should Drink Tea

Amid the pandemonium at the Gare du Nord last Tuesday afternoon, when a stand-off between police and French youths degenerated into a pitched battle that lasted well into the evening, an English family sat calmly sipping cups of tea.
‘There seems to be an awful lot of police about,’ remarked my friend Rhino’s step-Mum. ‘Can you pass the milk?’
Below them, in the shopping centre under the Eurostar terminal where Rhino’s parents had arrived for a weekend break in the City of Light, the familiar stench of tear gas filled the air. A reminder of the tensions still simmering after the November 2005 riots that swept across immigrant neighbourhoods.
In contrast to the remarkable British sang-froid displayed by Rhino’s family, the presidential candidates worked themselves up into a pitch of excitement. Socialist candidate Segolene Royal pointed the finger squarely at Nicolas Sarkozy, who had just stepped down from his job as France’s No. 1 cop. She accused the right of failing on crime issues, while centrist candidate Francois Bayrou said Sarkozy’s policies were alienating suburban youth. Sarkozy, ignoring whistles and cat-calls as he took the train from the Gare du Nord the next day, defended the police and claimed the left were siding with hooligans and law-breakers.
France politicians, it seems, are just as excitable as the country’s youth, turning a relatively minor incident, which resulted in the arrest of 13 people, into a campaign issue. It’s a reflection of the collective madness, what I call French Schizophrenia, that is gripping the world’s sixth largest economy. There is no structure to the debate among the presidential candidates about France’s future. The campaign is unpredictable, a whirlwind of emotion, driven by the feeling of the moment rather than a clear political direction. And after five years of growing fear and uncertainty, a clear direction is exactly what France needs.

(For a first-hand account of the therapeutic benefits of tea-drinking during riots, I bring you Rhino and his fabulous Bookpacker blog.) P.S. I did not steal the wallpaper from him. It's just we both have good taste.

Amazon Reality

I just checked out www.amazon.fr and if you search on my name, you can find my book!!!! It is finally finally starting to feel really real. And as my friend Isa just said, definately too late to turn back now. So from tomorrow, get clickety click click-ing! The more books are sold in French, the more my publisher will find it worthwhile to find an English publisher. Which means that my Mum will be able to understand it. Which is in fact my ultimate goal. So go forth and buy! Even if you don't understand you can decorate your coffee table with a book in French which will make you look cosmopolitan, multi-lingual, intellectual and totally au fait with French politics ahead of the most important elections in a very long time.

Brigitte

I have just turned the final page of 'J'Habite en bas de chez vous,' the story of Brigitte, who survived on the streets of Paris for two years. Even in her darkest moments, she held herself apart from those with whom she shared a pavement. It wasn't that she thought herself superior, only that she refused to follow them down the path of no return. She avoided the trap of booze, drugs or the dangerous mix of both that most sans abri use to escape their reality for a few moments. She insisted on regular showers and tried to keep herself as clean as possible. She cut her hair short and dressed in dark, heavy cover-alls to make herself unremarkable. When she could, she applied a little makeup.

Two things struck me about her story. The first was her relation with her neighbours in Place des Vosges and other passers by. She recounts many tales of amazing kindness - and others of horrible cruelty. Like the well-known (and unnamed) resident who ordered the police to rid the arches around the square of the homeless who took shelter there. While she understands his fear for his family - the eviction occured after one of them was knifed by a homeless junkie - she beseeches him for not doing more to change the system so people like her can find shelter. 'Dans la rue il y a beaucoupp des gens normaux a qui le ciel est tombe sur la tete.'

The most powerful part of her story though, is how the street transformed her. You can see it in her green eyes that peer out from the cover of her book. Passively strong without being agressive. Overcoming her situation required enormous strength. She lost the soft part of her - perhaps forever. Though she has escaped the street, it has not escaped her. She likes to sleep with the windows open, and often suffers nightmares. She says she wants to forget, but not completely. The memory keeps her on her toes, reminding her that she - like you or me - could end up in the dirt, under the stars.

Reality Check from Scotland

Before my little sondage, I thought that all the world was talking about the French elections. Then I got this little mail....

'Really i have no idea about the election. I presumed one was happening since Chirac's step down, but without radio or tv, we are in the dark.'

Flag Waving and all that...

As voters become increasingly disillusioned by the election race, presidential candidates are trying to give their electorate a boost by telling them that they should simply feel great about being French. From a country whose self introspection and depression (among many other things) inspired me to write a book, the sudden emergence of Gallic pride is a tad unsettling.

It all began with Sarkozy who sought to reap some National Front voters by promising a Ministry of Immigration and National Identity. Oo la la! Everyone immediately began accusing the son of a Hungarian immigrant of pandering to the far-right. And then suddenly Segolene plucked the flag right out from underneath him. At a March 18 rally for 4,000 local elected officials she played the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, and urged all French people to display a flag at home.
The guns from the far left came out. José Bové, the anti-capitalist farmer, accused Royal of 'trying to Americanise our country,' a sentiment echoed by the centrist Bayrou.
I could get distracted here and warble into a long rant about flags. (To be brief: football hooligans in the U.K. destroyed any pride we may have had in out Union Jack flag which is rarely seen on public buildings in the U.K. As a teenager I was taken aback by the prevelance of the French flag, and as a 20-something equally taken aback by the fondness for the American flag in the U.S.). But I'd rather focus on the important things. Why is there suddenly this renewed call for patriotism? Often when people reach out for symbols of strength, it is because they are feeling awfully insecure.

France 24

I was sipping champagne at a reception for the new British Ambassador to France, Sir Peter Westmacott, when my phone rang. It nearly tipped my glass over as I fished my phone out from the inner darkness of my Mulberry bag.
'What are you doing right now?' said F.
'I'm sipping champagne at the British Embassy,' I said, hoping to impress him.
'Great. And what are you doing in the next half an hour?'
'Er,' I said.
'Right, give me the adress and I'm sending a taxi round. France 24 want to interview you about your book.'
'But, wait, stop, um...' I bumbled. But F was insistent. He knows that I need a bit of bullying when it comes to getting around my last minute nerves. 'Great, fine, super thanks,' I said. Then went in search of some nibbles to line my stomach.
And so it was, totally unprepared and a little bit tipsy, that I did my first ever TV interview. Interviews plural I should say. In English and in French. No matter that I was filling in at the very last minute for somebody more important who dropped out. I got 30 full minutes of air time to talk about my baby in French and in English.

TV Reject

I am a TV reject. Sigh, sniffle. After two telehone interviews on my book and my views on the presidential campaign, I was invited to air my views on France 2's Sunday lunchtime show 'Un Dimanche de Campagne.' The journalist told me he liked my book, loved my accent, and would send a taxi round to pick me up. Would I mind being filmed during the make-up session? No problemo. And could I speak about the British perspective on the French campaign? Mais bien sur.... I dispatched my uncle and various friends out to the pub Friday night for sample surveys....

And then Saturday, I receieved an unintelligible call on my mobile. I called back to find out that France 2 don't want me after all. They must have found someone more important with a better accent. Sniff.
After being consoled bu Donato, I got another call from the France 2 assistant informing me that my taxi had been booked.
'But I've just been told you don't want me anymore,' I said, much to the poor man's embarassement.

So France 2 may not want me. But having gone to the trouble of doing a random UK-census of the campaign, I wouldn't want my respondents efforts to go to waste.

From The Plough pub in Appleton, near Oxford.

'From a bloke-ish perspective it has to be Segolene; add the Royal name to the good looks and she's the must-win choice. Benchmarked against Angela Merkel at the Euro-summits, she looks a winner to me. She'd charm the socks off the likes of Gordon Brown, and George Bush; on the other hand if she has to handle Hilary [Clinton], that might be tougher... Didn't Nicolas Sarkozy let slip some dodgy remarks about immigrants ? '

From a proprietaire:

'I'm certainly interested in the French political scene, partly because of our property but also because it is so different from our system. I find it astonishing that they have stuck with Chirac for so long and still allow him to behave like he's untouchable.
'I also find the constant comparisons with Blair quite amusing. Blair is now very unpopular in the UK and, whilst he's trying very hard to establish his legacy, most people don't think he's got one apart from Iraq. The French seems to have difficulty in hiding their secret admiration of our system and our national character, however hard they try.'

From a Chirac admirer:

'We are happy that the French are recognising the fact that they are no longer the centre of the universe. The Brits suffered the same fate some forty years ago.
'We will miss Chirac because it is the end of supremely confident and arrogant presidents (in the style of De Gaulle) and fear that everything which comes after will be focussed on public relations rather than clear and coherent policies.'

From Scotland:

'Here all attention is on the Scottish election, the leadership battle between Blair and Brown and the possible breaking up of UK if the SNP wins which is looking like a real possibility. i haven't seen much in the British papers at all about the French elections.'