Filed under: Foreign culture | Tags: england, english, france, french, my fair lady, prof, professor higgins, social
Having just returned from holidaying in the south west of France, I’ve been thinking about the lack of that certain je ne sais quoi that we have when it comes to socialising en mass in Britain.
In the local town near to where I was staying, they held a big gathering of all the villagers on the Friday night celebrating a local saint. (Although the premise may have been religious, there was no heavy emphasis on this aspect, I add.) The night involved the inhabitants eating and drinking together on long trestle tables, whilst listening and later dancing to some pretty loud, up-beat music (surprising modern for such an historic town). The morning after, we drove past the square to see it had returned to how it was a few days ago: spotless. One would not have even have realised there had been a huge celebration here unless one was told.
So, if the French can celebrate in a civilised and tidy fashion – and I know I am at risk of sounding like Professor Higgins – why can’t the English?
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Wonderful story to illustrate an important point in entertaining. A rule I learned when entertaining in a large house is to never go to bed until it looked like the party never happened. That’s lot easier when you have a paid staff to look after things, but if you don’t, roll up your sleeves and as they say here in Canada, “get ‘er dun!”
Comment by Jay Remer 01/02/2009 @ 2:17 pm