blog -->, France, Children, Languedoc
A ‘hurtie’ day
Our weekend with Marguerite is going well so far. She has got used to us wearing knotted handkerchiefs on our heads and eating nothing but jelly and baked beans.
Bea had a bad go on her new pink bike. In fact she was complaining about how bad a bike-rider Marguerite is when she drove into the back of me and crashed. She has a horrible cut on her knee. Leo hit his head on the table when he stood up after rescuing his yellow car from the floor, Marguerite got her finger caught in a folding table (dangerous things these tables) and Olivia was stung by a bee. She concluded it was a “hurtie day”.
We had a lovely picnic at annual event just over the hill which involves sitting in the sunshine drinking wine and eating while listening to music and occasionally popping up to various stalls which sell wine, food and goat’s cheese. The children ran around having fun, we ate and drank far too much and had a perfect time. We were with some friends whom we invited to pop by for tea and a swim on their way home.
Sadly after all that wine and goat’s cheese not only Rupert and I, but Bea and Leo were passed out by the pool when they showed up. We were all naked, as is our habit when swimming alone (another custom for Marguerite to share with the rest of the village when she escapes). Rupert luckily had his straw hat strategically covering some of him but the rest of us were just plain undressed.
When we stumbled upstairs for a cup of tea we found a note: ‘Popped by but you were all asleep by the pool, see you very soon we hope’. ‘But maybe not so much of you’ they might have added.
Finally, Madeleine. The agony goes on. But is this a generational thing? The father of a friend of mine had the following conversation with him yesterday:
“This Madeleine thing….do you think the world is having a Diana moment?”
“Why?” asked my friend.
“Well, if we’d lost one of you, I mean of course we would have been upset, but we would have got over it.”
“How long do you think that would have taken you?”
“Oh, I would say about a week.”
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007
27 May 2007 helena
Hi Helena!
Totally enjoyable reed! Your posts are something I look forward to as they are funny and happy and always put me in a good mood!
We just got back from Languedoc, where we also visited Pezenas for a few days. It is so relaxed and we really enjoyed everyone we met there! Canal du Midi was my favourite part of Languedoc!
How is your book about ageing going? I am reading “Secret” by Rhonda Byrne, it is sort of a new Bible of how to be or get everything you ever want. In the book she teaches that if you want to stay young you might as well do, you just have to exercise your brain on wanting it.
That brought me right back in a holiday mood.
On the Madeleine case:
I don’t think the reaction to Madeleine is a generational thing. I’m your generation and have to agree with your father’s friend. I do believe England (it’s funny to suggest ‘the world’ is watching - it clearly isn’t) is having a Diana moment. Not that it would take me a week to get over any kind of loss but Diana’s death was a classic case of mass-hysteria and so is this.
In discussions I get criticised as somehow it implies I don’t care about the Madeleine case. I care but am also hugely irritated by the hypocrisy of many reactions. “One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic”. But I wonder if more and more people are actually starting to share my views but are reluctant to admit to it in writing.
Reply to Maria - book going well very well thanks, almost finished, I met someone in Jamaica who told me about ‘Secrets’ and so now I go to bed every night saying ‘I have the smooth complexion of a twenty year old’….I can’t tell you it’s worked yet though I’m afraid.
So glad you enjoy the blog and that you had fun in Pezenas, it’s such a lovely place.
Hx
That doesn’t sound like a very loving father, your picnic sounds lovely. i was trying desperately to have a nice like picnic, but it seems all odds are against me, every time i reschedule someone else cancels then the weather report predicts the worst, i mean is it so hard to have a pleasant little lunch in the park without the whole thing hitting the fan!
What a lovely day you’ve described! What more could one ask for than wine, cheese, sun and water? Almost perfect! Scandalizing the friends — now that makes it perfect!
I simply must reply to the comments on comparing the death of Diana to the abduction of Madeleine. When Diana died, it was the end of a fairy tale. We had watched as a shy young woman became a blushing bride and devoted mother. We sympathized when the cracks in the facade of the fairy tale revealed an unstable marriage, which resulted in its demise. Even so, we wanted Diana to have the fairy tale ending. To find love and happiness. Her death cut short the fairy tale we all envisioned. And, yes, mass hysteria ensued.
Our reactions to Madeleine story can be described in one word HOPE. We hope that she is still alive, we hope that she will be found, we hope that she will be reunited with her parents. Her abduction strikes fear in the heart of every parent. There may also be an element of shock. We tend to believe people who are pretty, educated, and relatively well-to-do, have “perfect” lives. It comes as a bit of a shock to realize that evil lurks everywhere and no one is immune. Our world, as we know it, can be changed in a moment’s time.
As to the poster’s quote of “One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic,” I believe this is not an unusual reaction. We believe, we HOPE, that we can help prevent one death. But we feel hopeless against the death of millions. We can be overwhelmed by the events in Darfur — how do we help all those affected?
But with Madeleine, we are fully aware that at least one person knows where she is and what has happened with her. It seems more likely that there are several people who have information. We cannot help but believe that if we look hard enough, look in enough rooms, look in enough countries, spread the word and her picture wide enough, she will be found. Hope springs eternal …
sounds a though the wine was a good panacea for “hurtie day”. Careful the burn! (naked tanning
Re: Madeleine. It seems obvious (to me at least) that in cases like these people project their own deep fears about parental inadequacy and something going terribly wrong despite their best efforts and tireless, obsessive vigilance. If the result is mass hysteria it is because so many parents today are so intently focused on raising perfect children. In addition, we as a culture have become intolerant of the slightest interference from something beyond our control to these well-laid plans. Incidentally, today I saw a mother and her four-year old child playing catch with a soft rubber ball–and the child was wearing a crash helmet!
It also occurs to me that people are having fewer children and having them later and, as a result, see their offspring as the sole heir to the throne–the investment they could never replace without going to great lengths and bringing in fertility specialists.
I don’t mean to imply that people don’t love and cherish their children. But the cultural and social backdrop we live in is very different from that of our parents, grandparents and earlier ancestors.
Hi Peggy
Nice to have you back. I agree with you, especially about the deep fears and the control element. Cannot believe the helment incident - I remember when I was little seeing my aunt and uncle put helmets on my cousins when they went bike-riding. My mother and I used to laugh about it. But of course now I make mine wear them too! But NOT I hasten to add while playing ball games.
Hx