And then, all of a suddenâ¦heâs yesterdayâs newsâ¦a warm-up actâ¦getting second billing. More about him later. Todayâ¦.we write about France. We spent the summer there, as weâve done for the last 27 years. We donât write about it often; it has become too familiar. Is that true of other things? Do deficits become so habitual that they are scarcely worth mentioning? Are US politicians so preternaturally stupid and dishonest that there is no longer any point in saying so? Friction is painful to the tender, innocent hand. Later, after the calluses appear, the hand feels nothing. Nevertheless, we pass along this recollection of last weekendâs going away partyâ¦marking the end of our stay in France. It is a reminder of the âsocial challengesâ faced by outsiders in rural France. The main characters⦠Our gardener, a willing worker, Damien is more like an old-fashioned âretainerâ than an employee. He comes with the property. He keeps an eye on it. And treats it as if it were his own. Which is the problem. For a gardener, he has an amazing contempt for plants. Unless restrained, he will mow down the flowers, spray herbicide on the remainderâ¦and salt the earth. âDamien, where did you get Round-Up,â we asked. âHasnât it been banned?â âYesâ¦but I have friends.â A cigarette almost permanently affixed to his mouthâ¦he is ready for any project, no matter how hard. But he likes company and much prefers to work with us, rather than for us. This summer, for example, we began building a modern (well insulated, heated) apartment in one of the outbuildings. In winter, our old, rambling house is almost impossible to heat. The windows rattle. The ceilings are high. There is no insulation, anywhere. And in the shoulder seasons, it is often uncomfortably cold, but not worth firing up the massive, whole-house furnace. So, Damien and your editor have spent many happy weekends on the apartment project â a little âpied a terreâ in the heart of La France Profonde. Damien is a master at local arts and crafts â such as making various forms of alcohol out of the native fruits. He is also a walking thesaurus of gallic curse words, which he puts together in lavish and original combinations. âPutain de merde!â [we will not translate]â¦he blurts out when something doesnât go exactly as planned. Unfortunately for Damien, but happily for the thesaurus, things often donât go as planned. Because Damien lacks patience. He works fast and tries to solve all problems by increasing the amount of force. Is a nail crooked? Hit it harder! Is the tractor reluctant to pick up a trash bin? Give it more gas! Does a tree limb get in his way? Cut it down! âWhy did you cut the tree down,â we ask? âCa mâa fait chier,â he replies (again, no translation is needed). After so many years with such a gardener on the job, our property is practically a wasteland. But we canât part with Damienâs colourful presence; he is as much a part of the place as the surviving oaks and old gables. Far from the Madding Crowd Along with Damien, at the dinner was his longtime friend and sidekick, Mickey (MeeKay). Both men are lifelong bachelors. Neither likes anything that gets in the way â neither of his work nor of his leisure. The friend is wiryâ¦retired on disability from the post office. The âvacherâ â Patrice, 62 years old â tends the farmâs cattle. He has one bad knee already and another one going fast. He is on leave from his job. One knee took a year to fix. The other one will take the next year. Most likely, he will never come back to work. The owner of the cattle â Pierre â is the last of five generations to till the local soil; he can barely wait to retire and leave. There was also a woman of about our age, Chantal, who pays the bills when we are gone. Charming and friendly, she is our source of local intel â news, gossip, social knowhowâ¦and it was she who connected us to the local fuddy-duddy set when we arrived. And Valerie â cheerful and attractive â comes in a couple times a week to tidy up. It was a jolly groupâ¦along with wives, children, husbandsâ¦and people of uncertain connection. We convened about 6pm near the old âorangerieâ (greenhouse) for an âaperoâ â drinks and hors dâoeuvres â white wine, punch, champagneâ¦along with pate on toast. The vacher brought us up to date on his knees. âOh, his knees,â said his wife. âYou must be tired of hearing about them. The worst thing is that he is in the house all the timeâ¦driving himselfâ¦and meâ¦both crazy.â âBeautiful weatherâ¦warmâ¦dry,â said Pierre, looking on the bright side of a severe drought. âHow was the hunt last week,â we asked? A group of hunters had assembled outside the gates. They were gunning for âsanglier,â (wild boar). Usually, when they get one or more, they put a substantial cut of meat in our freezer to thank us for letting them hunt on our land. We saw nothing in the freezer and guessed that the hunt hadnât gone well. âHenri (a neighbour) got a shot,â Pierre explained. âI think he wounded the animal, but we couldnât find him.â (The next day, Henri clarified: âI shot him in the jaw. Jean-Paul got off another shot that got him in the shoulder. But he didnât fall. We looked for himâ¦but there was no sign of him.â âThen, almost unbelievably, I got a call late in the evening. It was my neighbour. He said there was a wounded sanglier in the field in front of my house. I went out with my rifle. I found him. Alive, but barely. I knew it was the same animal, because he had been shot in the mussel. This time, I shot him in the head to put him out of his misery. What a curious coincidenceâ¦that of all the thousands of acres nearby, he should find his way to my farmâ¦me, the person who shot him in the first place.â) Dual Pitfalls After a half hour or so of polite conversation, the whole group moved into the orangerie where a long table had been set up. It was a âpot luckâ dinner with each household bringing a dish. Damien provided the main course â a beef bourguignon. That is probably a good place to begin our subject â dos and donâts for a âdiner campagnard.â Because, if youâre having boeuf bourguignon you need to serve the right wine. Bordeaux wines are strong enough for the occasion, and to our tastes, quite satisfactory. But to be fully âen regleâ you need to serve a wine from Burgundy, the region where boeuf bourguignon comes from. Before you get to table, though, you encounter two linguistic pitfallsâ¦and a protocolary challenge. As guests arrive, you need to greet them properly. In this case, we knew almost all of them. But there were some new wives and children in the mix. So, the first questionâ¦.how do you address them? If you know the womanâs first name, you say it: Bonjour Christineâ¦or Bonjour Odile. If you donât know them, you say, Bonjour Madame or Bonjour Mademoiselle. Which? If you know the woman is married, it is always âBonjour Madame.â But, in the French countryside today it is very common for couples not to marry. Nevertheless, you use the âmadameâ where and when it is obvious that the woman is no virgin. âMademoiselleâ is reserved for young women, those unmarried, under the age of 50 or so. Next thing: as you are saying âhelloââ¦you have a moment to decide whether you should reach for the womanâs hand or make a stab at her cheeks. A few years ago, it was rare to âfaire la biseâ [kiss] with people out of your own family. But now, it is very common. Once a bond of friendship is established, you embrace the woman on both cheeks. In some places, further south, a pair of women might even do it twice on each cheek, the two heads bobbing back and forth like metronomes. But if you are meeting the woman for the first time, or you have a more distant or formal relationship with her, you simply shake her hand, as you do with all of the men present. Traditionally, French men kiss each other on the cheek. When Marechal Foche handed out medals in The First World War, he embraced the soldiers. But it is less common today, and it would make us uncomfortable. There is an exception for children. Typically, they are kissed on the cheeks â even in the very first meeting. A well-educated child will present both checks to every adult to whom he is introduced. After the initial greeting, there is another choice to make. Tu or Vous? Everyone who has ever taken a French lesson knows the general set-up. You say âtuâ [you] in an informal, familiar setting. Vous is formal. But there are nuances. When you address children, use the âtuâ form. When you address adults, use the âvousâ formâ¦But, adults who know each other well will sometimes use the âtuâ form. Young people of equal social standing may refer to each other as âtu.â Older people do too. The Traditional Program It varies with region, culture, and individual families. Some couples stick to âvousâ between husband and wife. But in any formal settingâ¦or when you donât know the peopleâ¦.or when you have doubts about how close you are, youâre better off sticking with âvous.â And it doesnât have to be symmetric. In many families, children âvousâ their parentsâ¦but âtuâ each other. Our gardener uses the âvousâ form when he talks to us. But we use âtuâ in response. With Elizabeth, who keeps more of a distance with him, it is âvousâ both going and coming. Damien was in charge of the dinner. He sticks with the traditional program⦠After the âaperoâ came the first course â a fish terrine. Then, the main course, the beef bourguignon. That was followed by the salad course. Then, the cheese course. Followed by the desert â two delicious cakesâ¦one, a cheesecake made by Patriceâ¦and the other, a chocolate cake made by Chantal. Then, at the end, came coffeeâ¦and/or an after dinner cognac. Finally, as the cognac was being served, your editor rose and tapped upon his glass. He, as the chatelain (owner of the chateau where the dinner was held), had a role to play too: âI just want to spend a second thanking you allâ¦all of those who work in our little villageâ¦all who help on the farm or help those who work on the farm⦠â¦and I think we should also say a special thanks to Damien and Mickey for hosting this dinnerâ¦â Damien radiated satisfaction. A good dinnerâ¦in good companyâ¦is a worthy project and a notable, memorable achievement. Then, reaching for another glass of cognac, Damien knocked a cup over. âOaannn! Bordel de pute!â Regards, Bill Bonner, For The Daily Reckoning Australia All advice is general advice and has not taken into account your personal circumstances. Please seek independent financial advice regarding your own situation, or if in doubt about the suitability of an investment. The post La France Profonde appeared first on Daily Reckoning Australia. [Image] Here are Some More Investing Tips and Resources. Enjoy! Sponsored
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[Privacy Policy/Disclosures]( [La France Profonde]( And then, all of a suddenâ¦heâs yesterdayâs newsâ¦a warm-up actâ¦getting second billing. More about him later. Todayâ¦.we write about France. We spent the summer there, as weâve done for the last 27 years. We donât write about it often; it has become too familiar. Is that true of other things? Do deficits become so habitual that they are scarcely worth mentioning? Are US politicians so preternaturally stupid and dishonest that there is no longer any point in saying so? Friction is painful to the tender, innocent hand. Later, after the calluses appear, the hand feels nothing. Nevertheless, we pass along this recollection of last weekendâs going away partyâ¦marking the end of our stay in France. It is a reminder of the âsocial challengesâ faced by outsiders in rural France. The main characters⦠Our gardener, a willing worker, Damien is more like an old-fashioned âretainerâ than an employee. He comes with the property. He keeps an eye on it. And treats it as if it were his own. Which is the problem. For a gardener, he has an amazing contempt for plants. Unless restrained, he will mow down the flowers, spray herbicide on the remainderâ¦and salt the earth. âDamien, where did you get Round-Up,â we asked. âHasnât it been banned?â âYesâ¦but I have friends.â A cigarette almost permanently affixed to his mouthâ¦he is ready for any project, no matter how hard. But he likes company and much prefers to work with us, rather than for us. This summer, for example, we began building a modern (well insulated, heated) apartment in one of the outbuildings. In winter, our old, rambling house is almost impossible to heat. The windows rattle. The ceilings are high. There is no insulation, anywhere. And in the shoulder seasons, it is often uncomfortably cold, but not worth firing up the massive, whole-house furnace. So, Damien and your editor have spent many happy weekends on the apartment project â a little âpied a terreâ in the heart of La France Profonde. Damien is a master at local arts and crafts â such as making various forms of alcohol out of the native fruits. He is also a walking thesaurus of gallic curse words, which he puts together in lavish and original combinations. âPutain de merde!â [we will not translate]â¦he blurts out when something doesnât go exactly as planned. Unfortunately for Damien, but happily for the thesaurus, things often donât go as planned. Because Damien lacks patience. He works fast and tries to solve all problems by increasing the amount of force. Is a nail crooked? Hit it harder! Is the tractor reluctant to pick up a trash bin? Give it more gas! Does a tree limb get in his way? Cut it down! âWhy did you cut the tree down,â we ask? âCa mâa fait chier,â he replies (again, no translation is needed). After so many years with such a gardener on the job, our property is practically a wasteland. But we canât part with Damienâs colourful presence; he is as much a part of the place as the surviving oaks and old gables. Far from the Madding Crowd Along with Damien, at the dinner was his longtime friend and sidekick, Mickey (MeeKay). Both men are lifelong bachelors. Neither likes anything that gets in the way â neither of his work nor of his leisure. The friend is wiryâ¦retired on disability from the post office. The âvacherâ â Patrice, 62 years old â tends the farmâs cattle. He has one bad knee already and another one going fast. He is on leave from his job. One knee took a year to fix. The other one will take the next year. Most likely, he will never come back to work. The owner of the cattle â Pierre â is the last of five generations to till the local soil; he can barely wait to retire and leave. There was also a woman of about our age, Chantal, who pays the bills when we are gone. Charming and friendly, she is our source of local intel â news, gossip, social knowhowâ¦and it was she who connected us to the local fuddy-duddy set when we arrived. And Valerie â cheerful and attractive â comes in a couple times a week to tidy up. It was a jolly groupâ¦along with wives, children, husbandsâ¦and people of uncertain connection. We convened about 6pm near the old âorangerieâ (greenhouse) for an âaperoâ â drinks and hors dâoeuvres â white wine, punch, champagneâ¦along with pate on toast. The vacher brought us up to date on his knees. âOh, his knees,â said his wife. âYou must be tired of hearing about them. The worst thing is that he is in the house all the timeâ¦driving himselfâ¦and meâ¦both crazy.â âBeautiful weatherâ¦warmâ¦dry,â said Pierre, looking on the bright side of a severe drought. âHow was the hunt last week,â we asked? A group of hunters had assembled outside the gates. They were gunning for âsanglier,â (wild boar). Usually, when they get one or more, they put a substantial cut of meat in our freezer to thank us for letting them hunt on our land. We saw nothing in the freezer and guessed that the hunt hadnât gone well. âHenri (a neighbour) got a shot,â Pierre explained. âI think he wounded the animal, but we couldnât find him.â (The next day, Henri clarified: âI shot him in the jaw. Jean-Paul got off another shot that got him in the shoulder. But he didnât fall. We looked for himâ¦but there was no sign of him.â âThen, almost unbelievably, I got a call late in the evening. It was my neighbour. He said there was a wounded sanglier in the field in front of my house. I went out with my rifle. I found him. Alive, but barely. I knew it was the same animal, because he had been shot in the mussel. This time, I shot him in the head to put him out of his misery. What a curious coincidenceâ¦that of all the thousands of acres nearby, he should find his way to my farmâ¦me, the person who shot him in the first place.â) Dual Pitfalls After a half hour or so of polite conversation, the whole group moved into the orangerie where a long table had been set up. It was a âpot luckâ dinner with each household bringing a dish. Damien provided the main course â a beef bourguignon. That is probably a good place to begin our subject â dos and donâts for a âdiner campagnard.â Because, if youâre having boeuf bourguignon you need to serve the right wine. Bordeaux wines are strong enough for the occasion, and to our tastes, quite satisfactory. But to be fully âen regleâ you need to serve a wine from Burgundy, the region where boeuf bourguignon comes from. Before you get to table, though, you encounter two linguistic pitfallsâ¦and a protocolary challenge. As guests arrive, you need to greet them properly. In this case, we knew almost all of them. But there were some new wives and children in the mix. So, the first questionâ¦.how do you address them? If you know the womanâs first name, you say it: Bonjour Christineâ¦or Bonjour Odile. If you donât know them, you say, Bonjour Madame or Bonjour Mademoiselle. Which? If you know the woman is married, it is always âBonjour Madame.â But, in the French countryside today it is very common for couples not to marry. Nevertheless, you use the âmadameâ where and when it is obvious that the woman is no virgin. âMademoiselleâ is reserved for young women, those unmarried, under the age of 50 or so. Next thing: as you are saying âhelloââ¦you have a moment to decide whether you should reach for the womanâs hand or make a stab at her cheeks. A few years ago, it was rare to âfaire la biseâ [kiss] with people out of your own family. But now, it is very common. Once a bond of friendship is established, you embrace the woman on both cheeks. In some places, further south, a pair of women might even do it twice on each cheek, the two heads bobbing back and forth like metronomes. But if you are meeting the woman for the first time, or you have a more distant or formal relationship with her, you simply shake her hand, as you do with all of the men present. Traditionally, French men kiss each other on the cheek. When Marechal Foche handed out medals in The First World War, he embraced the soldiers. But it is less common today, and it would make us uncomfortable. There is an exception for children. Typically, they are kissed on the cheeks â even in the very first meeting. A well-educated child will present both checks to every adult to whom he is introduced. After the initial greeting, there is another choice to make. Tu or Vous? Everyone who has ever taken a French lesson knows the general set-up. You say âtuâ [you] in an informal, familiar setting. Vous is formal. But there are nuances. When you address children, use the âtuâ form. When you address adults, use the âvousâ formâ¦But, adults who know each other well will sometimes use the âtuâ form. Young people of equal social standing may refer to each other as âtu.â Older people do too. The Traditional Program It varies with region, culture, and individual families. Some couples stick to âvousâ between husband and wife. But in any formal settingâ¦or when you donât know the peopleâ¦.or when you have doubts about how close you are, youâre better off sticking with âvous.â And it doesnât have to be symmetric. In many families, children âvousâ their parentsâ¦but âtuâ each other. Our gardener uses the âvousâ form when he talks to us. But we use âtuâ in response. With Elizabeth, who keeps more of a distance with him, it is âvousâ both going and coming. Damien was in charge of the dinner. He sticks with the traditional program⦠After the âaperoâ came the first course â a fish terrine. Then, the main course, the beef bourguignon. That was followed by the salad course. Then, the cheese course. Followed by the desert â two delicious cakesâ¦one, a cheesecake made by Patriceâ¦and the other, a chocolate cake made by Chantal. Then, at the end, came coffeeâ¦and/or an after dinner cognac. Finally, as the cognac was being served, your editor rose and tapped upon his glass. He, as the chatelain (owner of the chateau where the dinner was held), had a role to play too: âI just want to spend a second thanking you allâ¦all of those who work in our little villageâ¦all who help on the farm or help those who work on the farm⦠â¦and I think we should also say a special thanks to Damien and Mickey for hosting this dinnerâ¦â Damien radiated satisfaction. A good dinnerâ¦in good companyâ¦is a worthy project and a notable, memorable achievement. Then, reaching for another glass of cognac, Damien knocked a cup over. âOaannn! Bordel de pute!â Regards, Bill Bonner, For The Daily Reckoning Australia All advice is general advice and has not taken into account your personal circumstances. Please seek independent financial advice regarding your own situation, or if in doubt about the suitability of an investment. The post La France Profonde appeared first on Daily Reckoning Australia. [Continue Reading...]( [La France Profonde]( And, in case you missed it: - [Return to Normalâ¦Donât Bank on it](
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