Fête du Citron 🍋

 Menton is buzzing and very very busy. The 90th Fête du Citron has begun. And once again I have left, just as it is starting. For the past week massive deliveries have been arriving at restaurants and at the shops that sell local goods and gifts, staff have been unpacking and arranging everything ready for the influx of visitors. Final touches were added to the citrus sculptures—the theme this year is, for obvious reasons, the Olympics










The inauguration ceremony was attended by many, I’m sure the parade on Sunday was spectacular but instead of attending, I went for a walk in the mountains, in Italy.  The people that I spend time with, have experienced 30+ years of these fêtes, so they only see the disruption: the impossibility of parking, the difficulty of getting about even on foot, the packed trains, the queues in supermarkets, the unlikelihood of being able to make a restaurant reservation for the duration of the celebrations.  But it is great for the town and many people certainly seem to enjoy it! Therefore I have decided that next year, I am not going to approach it as a resident, but as a tourist. I’m sure that that way, I will be able to experience the wonder and spectacle of it, without letting the annoyances override the joy.

Nothing can spoil the beauty of the town, which had its best face on for the visitors.


and the peace of a walk in the mountains will still be there if it gets too much.





On a completely different note, here's a tale of clothes shopping in France:
Last week, I saw a dress in a boutique window that I really liked.  I went in and asked, in my best French, if they had my size. The proprietor, a very elegantly dressed lady, went to look in the store room and returned, saying that she only had the next size down. She seemed very confident that it would fit me, so I tried it on.
It fitted me in places but not in others. 
Madame took one look at me and hustled me back into the changing room, exclaiming that it was not the dress that was wrong, it was my underclothes. As instructed, I removed the dress and stood there mutely, as she proceeded to completely rearrange my underclothes—adjusting straps, pulling this way and that. I put the dress back on and 'Voila,' it fitted perfectly. 
Of course I bought the dress, I just hope it's not too much of a challenge to recreate her magic.
This is not a service I have come across in Marks and Spencer or John Lewis!




I seem to be in a re reading mood at the moment and I indulged myself with an Inspector Lynley mystery.





If you have enjoyed reading this and would like to be sent a link when the next episode is published, please contact me on info@jacquelinejames.co.uk and I will add you to the list.

Here is the link to my website:-









Comments

  1. JayneFebruary 20, 2024 at 11:48 AM

    Wow- the citrus sculptures look amazing. Definitely think you should see it through a tourists eyes next year. Great tale about dress shopping. I have a French lady here working in a lovely boutique that I simply ask “what have you got for me” she gets it right every time!

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