you can't, you won't and you don't stop

W H E W !

It’s that season again here in The LPV… BBQs, BBQs, and more BBQs. Not that I’m complaining, but sometimes a BBQ during the day turns into a party at night and then I tend to end up a big ol’ M.E. double S, never being at home, neglecting a sad Fifty and an abandoned blog.

So without further ado, I give you a little rundown of the latest news of my life in Le Petit Village.

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++ France has a new President elected by 51.63% of the vote. Allow me to introduce you to François Hollande. Good luck François, you’re going to need it.

++ Hollande got 60% of the vote here in The LPV… not too shabby, but keep in mind that in the first round of voting, he only got 20% while the Communist candidate got 30%. That’s right, I said Communist. The LPV is as red as Hugo Chavez’s shirt.

++ The Husband and I spent Election Day at Papa’s house. We ate homemade pizza and awaited the results. It was very dramatic. Even though the polls close in France at 8pm (earlier in some places), the winning candidate is announced at the same time with an estimated count. A countdown begins on the television screen and about thirty seconds before the announcement, pictures of Hollande and Sarkozy alternate flashing on the screen… until dun dun dun… at exactly 8pm, Hollande’s photo stood alone. There was something very Hunger Games about it.

++ Yesterday was a holiday here in France, V-E Day (Victory in Europe) but because yesterday was a Tuesday and it’s kind of dumb to have a weekend and then go to work on Monday only to have off on Tuesday, a lot of people got Monday off here too. They call it faire le pont which means, make the bridge. We made a bridge last week too, because the 1st of May, Fête du Travail, happened to fall on a Tuesday as well. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t mind making bridges every week.

++ Here in The LPV we celebrate bridge making with BBQs. On Monday, Brother-in-Law hosted one. Because no BBQ here could possibly go off without some sort of strange activity, The Husband and Gatz got into a wrestling match, crashed into a fence taking it down, and also, crashed on top of poor Honey’s Honey (The Husband made a very embarrassed and chastened apology to her yesterday morning).

++ And yesterday we went to a BBQ at The Cousin’s in Avignon where all the boys took turns shooting at frogs. I wish I was joking, but I’m not.

bisou

29 responses to “you can't, you won't and you don't stop”

  1. I was thinking as I read it that it sounded very hunger games like! If we never hear from Sarkozy again we will know why. And I cracked up at shooting frogs. Here only hicks would do that!

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  2. My students yesterday were laughing at me because I said I would miss Sarkozy and his charisma. They didn't feel that being charismatic was an important quality in a president. But then they did elect Ms. Merkel so….. there you go. Hopefully it wasn't really a Hunger Games situation because I do want to see Sarkozy and his eyebrows again!Love the bridge phrases, here they call it a Brückentag (bridge day), and were very surprised that we didn't have a word for it in English. I couldn't think of anything because I think in the U.S. we would just call that 'being a lazy jerk and taking an extra day off.' 🙂

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  3. I'm going to miss Sarko too, and Carla of course. They had that certain je ne sais quoi… I wish Hollande luck as well, very trying times ahead to be sure. BBQ sounds awesome, you know how we Aussies love a BBQ. Not so big on the shooting frogs, although up in the north of Oz they often take to the Cane Toads with golf clubs. That makes us sound really classy, doesn't it?

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  4. Ahh outdoor space and BBQs. i think they sound wonderful. bridge weekends here mean Sir L takes conference calls from home. ps: thanks for the LPV update about the election:)

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  5. Yes, I'll miss Sarko and Carla too – bit of glamour. Very dramatic the way they do the telly thing. I always liked that expression 'faire le pont', we used to do that alot!! Wish we could the BBQ thing here but it's raining AGAIN! Moan, moan, moan. Enjoy!Sharon

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  6. Wow, that's crazy that the communist guy got that much of the vote! I also love how you compared the election results to Hunger Games. Win! Ahhhhh BBQs. I miss them… That'll be one good thing about going home!!

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  7. My husband wanted me to let you know that although Hollande is from our department and I think its cool b/c I have stood 3 feet away from him and now everyone knows where we live, he did NOT VOTE for him haha 🙂 I don't know anything about politics US or French, so I was just rooting for the guy most familiar to me! (Now I can tell the Frenchman I have done my due diligence with you)

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  8. Oh the election…I've been brainwashed into thinking that France is going to become like Greece and everyone is going to kill themselves (according to Max's papa) so I hid the whole day in fear of the result 😉 Now I realize that his dad is being ridiculous and we always have Canada.

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  9. mmmm all I can think about is sausages and burgers and pimms mmmm I need BBQ asap! xxx

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  10. BBQ – Provencal rose' wine. Again, a food group unto itself. And what IS it about Communism? Many young people find it very fashionable (and probably don't even know what it means). It's like Communism is the new black. Socialism is like Beavis putting his hand in the fryer repeatedly and saying “ow” (Greece) and doing it again. They think “grease is cool” – get it Greece? We just don't learn. Now I know why they were shooting at frogs. xoxo

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  11. I had a feeling Hollande would win. American newspapers had a field day since the centre-left party is still called the Socialist Party instead of something like Labour or whanot. Funny to see right-wingers here go nuts about it.

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  12. Whoa the election sounds so intense! A count down! Photos flashing! When I saw athe results on CNN they seemed so much less intense. I gotta attend one of these BBQs! Sounds liek a blast

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  13. I wish Hollande all the best. Its easy to make big promises when one is campaigning but a lot harder to change things when you are the President especially when you have to get agreement with Germany.

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  14. Elections, bbqs, wrestling and frog killings! Never a dull minute in LPV eh? Love your post title,,I'm still sadz about MCAs passing…Husband and I have a bet going…how long will it take for Carla to dump Sarko?!!…

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  16. The U.S. Congress, years ago, ruined having any “bridge days”, when they decided to reschedule most of our holidays on a Monday…aren't we efficient! I say, “Down with work, up with bar-b's!”

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  17. Can you please write a book about your LPV life, please? Or make a movie! I want to come visit and just take it all in.

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  18. “We ate homemade pizza and awaited the results. It was very dramatic.” So funny. Very Hunger Games. LOLAnd poor Honey's Honey! I hope she is okay. Silly boys. 😉

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  19. It certainly will be interesting to see what comes of this change in party!

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  20. When you say, “Shooting at Frogs”, you're not being derogatory to the French, are you?Fred was totally glued to his Iphone for the election results. And with one minute to go, his phone died! I thought he was about to drop too.m.

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  21. Sounds so much more dramatic than our drawn out elections over here!

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  22. I love May in France! Last year was great because you didn't have to faire le pont (asking for the Monday off sometimes isn't easy) and had automatic three day weekends for the whole month of May. What should be interesting is next year when the holidays will fall on Wednesday, let's see if we can push the bridge for a five day weekend! Oh and us in the Marais got 61% for Hollande! Not surprised!

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  23. Such an interesting post and I've always loved the 'faire le pont' expression. I wonder when the rain will stop here in the UK so that we might enjoy a little barbecue too – soon I hope!http://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk/

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  24. Ha ha dumb fools taking the fence down! Too funny and homemade pizza? Yes, please. I've never been able to get it quite right though. xo

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  25. Shooting at frogs….lots of giggles here on reading that. We're finally moving to Charente next Wednesday….should we be frightened of Hollande? I doubt it….I think, in spite of his rhetoric, he'll have to tow the line that Merkozy has set. But, feicead muid. Looking forward to faire le pont in our future!

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  26. Bbqs sound like loads of fun!! Super jealous there 😉 But, communist? Oh wow…you shocked me with that statistic!!

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  27. How much fun! I love hearing about elections in other countries. It's interesting to see everyone's different takes on democracy.I wish us Americans could “make the bridge” more often! That makes much more sense 😉

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  28. So many BBQ's–so much fun! Never knew the French adored them so…. Bonne chance à Monsieur Hollande–I know it makes a lot of people nervous, but sometimes change can be a good thing. What do you think will happen with Sarkozy and Carla Bruni?

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  29. I really must start watching French TV! And the faire le pont? Well, we are going to faire le pont this week for the first time. Because last time? My husband didn't know about it (why doesn't anyone fill the Americans in?) and was one of the only people at work on the Monday before the Tuesday holiday.

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