France-the French & French things!

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Living, as every respectable Marquis should, in France, I am obviously subject to the things which go on in France, and as you probably don't know, there is a General "Presidentielle" Election coming up very shortly.


Mr Chirac has decided to give it all up, and stand again, he's going to his country retreat, and probably await the arrival of the Gendarmes!


This gives free field to the infighting, and (in this Election) "bitchiness" of almost all Political things.


There is, however, one thing which I am at a loss to understand.


In France, anyone who wishes to present him/herself as a Candidate at a General Election, is firstly required to find 500 people, in signature form, to support him/her. Not just anybody will do, but 500 promises to support the canditature from the Mayors of France.


That means, somebody already elected as "Maire" (Mayor) of a community, going from less than 500 souls up to the big cities.


Now, it seems to me that these people, having already been elected on the basis of some Politics or other, and generally members of Political Parties, have little interest in supporting somebody from a different Political Party than their own.


In fact, this year, accusations are many and plentiful that the Socialists have told the Mayors elected under their auspices, NOT to support anybody else outside of the Socialist candidates.


Other accusations are that Mayors of smaller communes are being menaced by their own Citizens that if he/she supports a certain other candidate, then he/she will not be popular, and probably OUT when the next LOCAL elections come around!


Whilst I accept that some form of control as to the numbers of people presenting themselves as Candidates must be made (imagine 30 million Candidates, each one with 1 vote!), I am at a loss to see how already firmly convinced and elected Politicians can be impartial in their offers of support to other Candidates, with a completely different point of view.


In fact, there are quite a number of Mayors, who, in the name of Democracy, do exactly that, hence the fright given to the French last time around, with the arrival of the Front National in the end round!


To avoid this happening again, the main Parties have demanded their Mayors NOT to support anyone else!


Hardly Democratic, and frankly, I doubt that I would vote for anyone who has successfully blocked the presentation of a Candidate using "non-Democratic" tactics.


But then - I ain't French, so I ain't got a vote anyway! Only in the local elections can I tell them all (politely) to "go and get ........."


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On a different theme, the French are rather upset about the drop in wine consume, world-wide, and have started "packaging" the product in more varied, and the think, more attractive ways.


Hand painted bottles (in collection varieties) have been around for quite a while, but the latest idea is rather out of order!


Wines in Cans (like Coke etc) and with a little drinking straw stuck on the side of the can! As one wine producer stated, "if it attracts the younger people to drink wine, then I'm all for it!!!"


**************************Finally, here are a few statements of fact from the latest Official Guide to Sexual Practices of the French (issued just yesterday by the Authorities concerned):


The first sexual contact is at (for girls) 17.6 years of age. For boys it is 17,4 years of age (the girls are rapidly catching up).


The total of sexual partners in a lifespan for women is 4,4 partners, for men 11,6. Women, however do NOT count partners as those who pass in the night, only those who stay a while!


Older women are far more active than in the last Survey.


4.1% of all men have had "gay" experiences, 4.0% women.


Tests for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases have been made by 50,1% of all women, against 45% of all males.


Finally - the "pro-rata" (weekly) of all French people (this means the frequency of sexual relations per week) is 4,1. (A little more than once every 2 days!!)


On top of all that, condoms are used in over 89% of cases. A condom (in colloquial French) is called "un lettre Anglais!!!!"




Interesting - isn't it?