28 août au 7 septembre

Dimanche, 28 août
Les Folies de Binbin

This day that had been advertised far and wide: Les Folies de Bibin. Binbin is a giant and it appeared that there’d be a carnival procession with all the bands going on a fairly long route around town. Because of recent terrorist attacks, security issues had meant that the route shortened to about half a mile. This worked in our favour as the start was a couple of hundred yards away and they all went past the flat, though we did go down to the square and watch them in action. The bands lined up at the bottom of the street,

marched into the square, did their turn and were replaced by another group. I was struck by the range of bands: traditional military-type ones, one who managed to do a precision shuffle which made them look like clockwork toys (and who also danced to Cell Block Tango), a samba band, traditional dancers and one with bizarre headgear and/or false (I hope!) paunches who threw oranges into the crowd.

The Rats Bougris were there: five guys on springy stilts terrorising anyone who came within reach. One small boy pulled a rat's tail, was chased, grabbed and turned upside down.

He was probably traumatised for life but nobody seemed too worried.  

  

Keeping the flat cool with the blinds down

Binbin appeared, preceded by a large caterpillar and a confetti canon and with his entourage of Walt Disney characters, no doubt all extremely hot. It had all been very stop-start but it became even more stop at this point. All the children liked him, and the eight burly men carrying him were glad of the rest: they swapped places every few yards. 

 And then, after all the procession had gone, all that was left was the confetti.

Mercredi, 7 septembre
Je pense que je suis bien dans mes baskets*
Yesterday evening I walked across town to the Maison des Associations for their “volunteering Tuesday,” hoping to find something to make me feel more included in local life and help me practise my French. There were a couple of things on offer which could be good but after a couple of fruitless phone calls today I went across the square to the Maison du Quartier and had a chat to see what they had on offer. Let’s just say I’ll be back: various fitness and craft groups every week, plus occasional meetings, talks, etc. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

*This translates literally as “I think I’m ok in my basketball shoes” but means “I think I’m a happy bunny.”