Brazil Day {la nuit}

Pimms in Provence

After the volleyball tournament, we left Brazil Day to go home for a bit and freshen up. When we returned, we did so with a bottle of Pimms. If Big Man was going to charge us €2.50 (or €2.70 depending on if I looked like a tourist or not) for some fizzy lemonade, we might as well mix it with some happy juice (that’s what I like to call Pimms… happy juice).  
Not wanting to risk the wrath of Big Man (You’ve seen the size of him right? His hands are like shovels.), Mrs. London and I, being the mature ladies that we are, hid our bottle in a bush, and whenever we were ready for a top up, would order another glass of lemonade and sneak off to mix our drinks before stashing the bottle back away in it’s hiding spot. We’re pretty classy.

And so the evening carried on… sitting around the ‘beach’, chatting with friends, listening to what sounded like the same techno song banging on and on for hours, and scampering off to mix our bootlegged booze. When dinner time rolled around, we opted to go to the ‘normal’ fête that was taking place in the school courtyard.

Sidenote: The normal fête used to be the night before… so it went traditional village fête on Wednesday night in the school courtyard followed by the fireworks and dancing and then the next day (Assumption of Mary, a Catholic holiday in France) Brazil Day would take place. But for some reason this year, they decided to do the whole shebang on the one day.

When we got to the courtyard it was packed, every one of the fifty tables was full (these tables are always booked in advance… we never have ourselves together enough to book one of the tables). We got in the line and ordered our dinner… a round of hot dogs and frites. Our ticket said we were number 47, and then we heard them call number twelve. WHAT?! That wasn’t good. 

Panic set in as I scanned the crowded courtyard and noticed that not a single table had plates of food on them, everyone was sitting there waiting. And then I looked over at hungry Gregory. Uh, oh.

The numbers rambled off slowly, but not as slowly as the older patrons took to acknowledge that it was indeed their number that had been called and make their way to the counter to collect their dinner. Hungry in the tummy Gregory decided to take matters into his own hands.

He grabbed the microphone from the announcer and got to work, “Number 14 your order is ready. Monsieur Mulot, that’s you, your order is ready. Please make your way to the counter to pick up your food. Hurry up.” And then a small old man would shuffle up to the counter, smile at Gregory (probably in an attempt to appease the hungry giant), take his tray and shuffle away. And it continued, “You really need to move faster, your dinner is getting cold. If you don’t want it, someone else will eat it. Let’s go.

People must have thought it was part of the entertainment, part of the fun, because they would come up, laugh with Gregory, pat him on the back, and walk off chuckling. They loved it!  Of course they were completely unaware that they themselves were in danger of being cooked and eaten if number 47 wasn’t called soon.

French Village Festival Provence

Night time descended on Le Petit Village, the colorful lights came on and the carousel lit up. The pretty carousel is brought in for the children. They won’t even let an adult sit on it which I think is kind of lame but being a rebel, Mrs. London ran and jumped on it for a quick photo. Unfortunately I’m a chicken and the photo came out blurry because I was in such a rush to snap it before we got caught and ended up in fête jail or something.

At 10PM the church bells rang out telling us that the fireworks would be starting. We made our way to the hill below my old house and found a patch of grass to sit on. In small villages in France, health and safety kind of goes out the window. There is no barrier to tell you where you should sit, or what a safe distance is. We all sat in the exact same spot we’ve been sitting these past few years. It probably would have been a good idea for the man setting off the display to stay where he has always done it as well but nope, he decided to move about 50 meters closer (that’s a total guesstimate of course, it sounds right in my head though).

When it comes to the fireworks portion of the fête, Le Petit Village does not mess around. The majority of the budget is blown on the fireworks. It’s quite a display for such a small village. And it’s quite a display when you’re practically sitting on top of the guy setting them off.

The fireworks banged off and we oohed and aahed as they exploded over our heads… directly over our heads. Happy laughter turned into nervous laughter as we realized that we were taking shrapnel. You know that saying, ‘it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye’? Wiser words have never been spoken. I took a direct hit into my eyeball. THERE WAS A FIREWORK IN MY EYE! Luckily all of that Pimms I had been drinking managed to keep me calm until we returned to Le Petit Bar, where I was able to wash the grit out of my eye. (After Mrs. London looked at it and exclaimed, “Oh sh*t! You’ve got a meteor in your eye!” Way to keep the situation level and panic-free Mrs. London.)

We returned to the courtyard for some dancing and cotton candy and finished the night with a round of Champagne courtesy of Big Man, a small apology for all of the price gauging I’m sure. We sat on a bench, watched the madness unfolding on the dance floor (and next to us as some random guy decided our picnic table was his personal shake your bon-bon podium), and laughed hysterically while we toasted to having survived another Brazil Day.

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19 responses to “Brazil Day {la nuit}”

  1. Yup you captured the mood pretty well…. great series, Sara!

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  2. haha,,i can imagine when gregory took the charge of the microphone.

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  3. What fun! I love that Gregory started calling orders, but love it even more that you hid your Pimm's in the bushes! So something i would do!

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  4. Whew…that is a LOT of partying! I don't think I'd be able to keep up. I'd be sleeping in the bushes with the hidden Pimm's! (Genius idea, by the way…)I actually LOLed at Gregory whipping the old folks into action. I am the EXACT same way when I'm hungry. I do not like to wait. No ma'am.I'm glad you didn't lose an eye. Pirate patches are only cool for like a day.

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  5. Ha, I have this vision of these pensioners on zimmer frames trying to rush to their hotdogs :oDLoving the hiding the Pimms in the bush idea, way to stick it to the (Big) 'Man' ;o)

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  6. I wanna come hang out with you guys sometime. Sounds like so much fun!xoxoSelena

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  7. The whole evening sounds like it was a blast. Happy to hear the fireworks shrapnel didn't do any permanent damage to your eye.

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  8. I know what you mean about those fireworks. I saw the Bastille Day ones years ago Eyragues and couldn't believe that they were directly over our heads! Hope your eye is ok! Just another cultural difference I guess.

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  9. Haha poor hungry Gregory. Brazil Day sounds/looks like so much fun. Someday I'd love to visit Le Petit.

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  10. You did NOT hide the bottle of Pimm's in the bushes?!? Oh my, I loooove that. Ok that AND Gregory's playing Julie, the cruise director from Love Boat. ;)PS. Glad your peepers are ok!

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  11. How much fun, but where are the caipirinhas???

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  12. Looks like you guys had a blast! Sometimes in Istanbul, we would bring our own flask of rum and just order cokes to save us from the price gouging at the bar/club. 🙂

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  13. I think the picture of you and Mrs London scurrying furtively to the bushes is great. I think I might have kept the bottle in a bag under the table. Did you have slices of cucumber and chopped fruit stashed in the bushes too?!We had fireworks too…but we viewed them from above as we were at a friends' fancy dress party.You can read about it over at my View from the Teapot blog (http://dormouse.wibsite.com/2013/08/30/the-names-catwoman-dormouse-catwoman/)

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  14. Sounds like a lot of fun! 🙂 Danica

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  15. Sounds like a great night! Love that your husband took over the microphone. He must have been really hungry! 🙂

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  16. What a day. Sounds fun and bet that was funny about announcing the orders. I've always wanted to try Pimms.

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  17. Did you go to the DMV or a restaurant? That number system sounds like our DMV system…ALSO, the LPV has like 5 holidays to every 1 US holiday….now I know why you moved there! This Brazil day sounds like something I could totally get on board with. #passthepimms

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  18. Hurray for Pimm's!!! On Brazil Day!!!…but holy sh*t with the fireworks dude.

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  19. I so want to come party with you. any event with a bon bon podium is EXCELLENT in my book!

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