Only one more day to 2022.
I meet the jolly lady who retired from the mayor's office at the last election in Leclerc, by the large open chill cabinets that are being stocked with platters of finger food for thirty. She catches me leaning over the small cakes drenched in dark chocolate, which look delicious. I regretfully turn my back on them. After all, what would we do with thirty small chocolate cakes on New Year's Eve when there will only be the two of us?
She tells me they had a family Christmas, but - like us - their New Year's Eve will be a party-free zone. We share the experience of an "other half" whose view is that this is only a day like any other. She and I, on the other hand, will be keeping an eye on the TV to count down the final minutes. I might even raise a glass to absent friends - we have a somewhat strange orange Martini that Tod bought with the intention of adding a suitably festive flavour to the carrots on Christmas Day. We both agreed next time we'll use Frank Cooper's Oxford marmalade which has a suitably tangy bite to the oranges. As usual, we over-catered - after all how big a capon did we need just for the four of us? The meat from the bones of yesterday's stock sits in the fridge looking at me reproachfully every time I open the door. Maybe a curry in a day or two?
The jolly lady and I seem to be the only shoppers in Leclerc not stocking up for tomorrow night's celebrations. Shopping trolley loads of alcohol are being wheeled through the check-outs. There is a special counter set up with an assistant just for the oysters and the seafood section has never looked so exotic. Do the French in France Profonde really buy sea urchins and if so, what on earth do they do with them?
Even though we will be having quiet nights in, we wish each other "Bonnes fêtes" - the traditional greeting for this time of year - and agree we will meet again shortly in 2023, at the mayor's annual shindig on January 6th, where he will give the commune his annual overview - his first for three years. No doubt it will be a very crowded and cheerful affair - whatever he has to impart.
So, whether you are happily letting 2022 quietly slip away or sending it off with an exuberant celebration, may I say "Bonnes fêtes" and wish that 2023 is happy and healthy and that we all find at least some small measure of sanity and hope in the year ahead.
And all the best to you both, hoping, like you, for some sanity in the year to come. I remember those shellfish stands in the supermarkets. A friend, an ex Paris bus driver, used to insist on having a box opened and sampling one, his view being that oysters dredged up from the depths of the viviers risked being skinny - and it was his money he was spending! I too have another half who thinks it is a day like any other.....
ReplyDeleteHello Fly, glad to see Blogger is letting you comment. :-) Thank you for your good wishes. What did he do if they were skinny, I wonder? I can imagine several boxes being opened, all then being one oyster short! Snails I like. Oysters - I've never dared try.
DeleteAdd my Bonnes Fetes to you both. I'd love to have written more IN FRENCH but I am forgetting how! Perhaps next year friends may return to a couple of bissous... Lesley
ReplyDeleteHello Lesley, thank you for your good wishes. I have always struggled with written French and tend to use Google translate and Deepl to help me. I just about get by these days with spoken French but still find I have cloth ears when it comes to someone young speaking fast (like our new vet!)
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