Meanwhile also in Provence, an annual ritual called the “toilettage de printemps” has been taking place. It sounds rather like something that might happen in a lady’s boudoir, but it’s nothing of the sort. In fact, it’s the annual spring clean of the beaches in Nice, to make sure they are clean and tidy for the summer. It’s promised that they will all be spick and span by April 24.
Another natural phenomenon has just taken place, at around 08.45 this morning Irish and British time. The full moon was seen as blood red in North and South America, as well as in Australia and New Zealand; this morning’s full moon is the first of four between now and September 28, 2015 and each of these blood red full moons will be followed by six full moons that will be the normal white colour. This will be only the eighth time since the time of Christ that this particular succession of full moons will have been seen, so many see them as a portent of great and possibly threatening change and disastrous events.
While still on the subject of everything natural, the zoo at Vincennes in south-east Paris, which has been closed for renovations for the past six years, has just reopened, claiming to be the most humane zoo in the world for animals, as well as the most ecologically friendly. The London Independent newspaper and website referred to it as the “Ark de Triomphe”! So it definitely sounds worth a visit.
More joys of Paris are promised for next month, when Carla Bruni, wife of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be presenting a series on BBC Radio 2 called “Postcards from Paris”, with plenty of inevitable chansons francaises. Talking of radio, it was wonderful, this lovely sunny afternoon, being able to listen to a performance of Beethoven’s piano concerto number five, the Emperor, from Berlin, on BBC Radio 3, while last Saturday afternoon, a performance of Beethoven’s symphony number six, the pastoral, was broadcast by the French language classical music service of Radio Suisse International. We sometimes forget how the Internet and wireless technology make all these marvels possible, one of the countless benefits of new technology.
Meanwhile, the slagging of President Hollande continues apace. One French news website the other day listed all the nicknames he’d been given, from Monsieur Flamby, after a brand of very wobbly caramel creme, to Monsieur Penguin, for the way he waddles. Now, after all the French military interventions in Mali, he is now being called Attila! I presume Attila the Hun rather than Attila the Hen!
One piece of good legislative news emerged in France the other day. New laws affect some 300,000 workers who are employed by digital companies like Google and Facebook. France has had an official 35 hour working week since 1999, but the spread of smartphones and digitial devices means that it is easier than ever for managers to get in touch with their staff after hours. Now it will be illegal to send emails or tweets to staff out of working hours, although the bosses still put in much longer working weeks than a mere 35 hours.
Another strange piece of news has emerged from France. A very recent survey of drinking habits reveals that only one French person in 10 is now drinking every day, compared with14 per cent just two years ago.
Also in Paris, a big battle is going on over the redevelopment of the old La Samaritaine department store, which closed down nearly 10 years ago. The Art Nouveau building is now owned by LVMH, the luxury brands company, which in turn, is owned by France’s richest man, Bernard Arnault. Three of its facades have already been knocked down, including some sections of the building that dated back to the 17th century. Now, controversy is raging over whether the fourth façade should be knocked down and replaced by what many critics say will be an outsized shower curtain.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here in Ireland, it turns out that two ministers in the current government are allegedly making small fortunes for themselves by playing the share market very astutely. Just shows, they are said to be making pots of money for themselves, while at the same time, their government is piling on the costs and cutting benefits for those most in need, like people on long term sickness disability and pensioners.
A Noel Coward quip that I heard on Radio New Zealand the other day could well apply to many members of the present government in Dublin, which is terrific at promising things, not so good at implementing them. Noel Coward said that you should never trust a person with short legs, because their brains are too near their bottoms!
But those government ministers who are supposed to be making a fortune from playing the stock market should bear in mind what Warren Buffett says. He’s the shrewdest investor in the US and has been for decades. His latest pearls of wisdom concern the stock market; he reckons we’re going to see a big stock market crash this year.
Whatever about the deviousness of government ministers, at least I saw a most delightful sight in Dublin the other day, at the Airfield heritage estate, where a traditional farm has been well preserved. When I was there the other day, all the lambs and the calves from the Jersey herd were in the fields, a wholly delightful sight. Also on the subject of animals, the lovely Scottish town of St Andrews has a 14 year old cat called Hamish McHamish, one of the town’s ‘characters’. A statue of the cat was duly unveiled the other day.
Some events in Ireland are not so lovely, though. The other evening, an MEP called Phil Prendergast was walking to a funeral home in Cork city when a man came up to her, spat in her eye and called her “Labour scum” before walking away. She has had to undergo tests to make sure that she hasn’t picked up diseases like hepatitis as a result and has to wait the best part of a month for the results. A pretty nasty carry-on.
Last week’s state visit to Britain by the Irish president has also produced some very mixed views. While nearly everyone is in favour of better relations between the two countries, a deep seated cynicism is hard to dislodge. Someone wrote into one of the Dublin papers the other days saying that the idea of shared history between the two countries is all bunkum, that what is really meant was 800 years of imperial exploitation, starvation and slavery. No wonder the Brits are being so nice to the Irish, so that less than charming UK companies like Tesco and the UK State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (Ulster Bank) can continue to perform here in Ireland. For years, Tesco in Ireland has had a higher profit margin than any other Tesco operation anywhere in the world, although its performance has slipped a lot in recent times. The Royal Bank of Scotland has also been free to lose vast amounts of money in Ireland and many of its Ulster Bank customers who have distressed mortgages and other loans that have turned sour have very disgruntled views of the bank and are inclined to view it (and indeed all other bankers) as a little bit like a cross between Attila the Hun and the Waffen SS.
Murderous goings-on have been happening in the tiny principality of Lichenstein, which is sandwiched between western Austria and eastern Switzerland. We can claim to have spent all of one night there once, in the capital, Vaduz, which is so small that once you’ve seen the main church and the outside of the royal castle, you’ve seen everything. Liechenstein also has another peculiar claim to fame, that it’s the world centre for making false teeth! A not so pleasant side of this tiny country was seen the other day when the head of a private bank was shot dead in the underground car park of his bank headquarters, apparently by someone who’d been having a seven year dispute with the bank. The gunman, according to local reports, then committed suicide.
The ongoing disputes in eastern Ukraine keep getting worse and worse-where it’s all going to end is anyone’s guess. But trying to sort out the facts from the vast amounts of pr verbiage that both sides, the US and Russia, are putting out is anything by easy. The task is not helped by the Russians’ endless capacity for self-deception. I’d be a bit wary if I were in the shoes of two friends of ours, who are soon to go on a Russian river cruise, between Moscow and St Petersburg. The way things are going, I’d be very wary of being inside Russia any time soon but having said that I hope they have an enjoyable and interesting time. These days, you’re not safe going anywhere, with the odd exceptions. A good friend of mine here in Dublin is heading to Paris on Thursday for a weeklong break. With the spring weather as it is at the moment, I can’t think of any better destination!