Sunday, May 4, 2014

Smiles and Frowns




We went for lunch today at one of our favorite restaurants in St.-Remy.  They have a fixed price menu that includes appetizer, main course and dessert.

The desserts are in a big display case near the entrance and they are wonderful.  They are made by the same bakery that made Christian’s awesome birthday cake.   
 
 
One of our favorite parts of going to this restaurant is watching the floor show.

When it comes time for dessert, you go to the display case to pick what you want and carry it back to your table.  I had a good seat for watching the action.  Every few minutes, a table full of people would get up, walk to the dessert case and start pointing and talking excitedly.  Then they would walk back to their table, carrying their prizes.  

Everyone who did this had the most enormous smile on their face, it was hilarious.  Kind of a giddy look, like a kid on Christmas morning.  Even the most bored, cynical Parisienne looked like a six-year-old who just got a pony.

Val and I were, of course, calm, cool and collected when we got our desserts.

After lunch we walked through the main square to pick up some bread.  We passed a group of young toughs lounging on the stairs of a building, drinking beers and making a mess.  As we walked by we could smell that distinctive odor of ganja.  This isn’t the sort of thing you usually see in bucolic St.-Remy. 

“Not the sharpest knives in the drawer,” said Val.  

“What do you mean?” I asked.  

“Well,” she said, “if you notice, they were sitting on the stairs of the mayor’s office.”

Sure enough, when we walked back a few minutes later a squad car had pulled up.  Two brawny police officers got out and restored order.  The kids didn’t look so tough anymore. And they definitely weren’t smiling.

That’s what passes for crime here in Mayberry R.F.D!

KVS

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