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Dec. 16th, 2006 09:28 amLast night was the Christmas dinner of the Gosport French Circle, a group for French people and Francophiles living in the area. On arrival we were offered a glass of pineau - lovely stuff - and talked to Éléonore, the president, a southern Frenchwoman of French West Indian extraction, and Marie-Ange, her deputy, who came from Limoges. Both were married to Gosportian men. We'd brought a bottle of the St-Emilion wine we'd been given during the Royan trip; Marie-Ange's eyes lit up when she saw it, as she said she was brought up on St-Emilion wine. I spoke in French the whole time, which went down well.
Éléonore explained that after dinner we'd be singing French songs, as they do at all their monthly meetings. I asked if Cadet Rouselle would be included; she said malheureusement, no, although they normally include it, tonight we'd just have French Christmas carols. After we'd been chatting for half an hour there was a full bottle of pineau still on the table, so I helped myself to seconds.
To open the evening Éléonore led us all in a parody of the Marseillaise about 'bring on the food', then we went up to fill our plates from the massive buffet - so big your plate was full by the time you got halfway down, so everyone returned to their seats to eat their first plateful, then went back to fill their plate again from the other side of the table. It was mostly cold stuff - cold beef and pork, pâté, potato salad, rice, noodles and Mediterranean vegetables - but there was also hot pasta, beef rounds in sour cream and, most delicious of all, chargrilled chicken. All very, very tasty, but very filling! We still all had room for baked cheesecake and fresh fruit for dessert :) Felt stuffed to the gunnels after, though.
Over dinner I talked to Marie-Ange and her Durham born husband Chris. They'd met while he was working in France in the early 80s, then his employers had gone bust. Applying for jobs in England, he'd had a choice of one in Manchester or one in Portsmouth. He chose Portsmouth because of Marie-Ange - it has a direct boat link to France and they thought the milder southern climate would be more to her liking than the Mancunian.
After dinner my mother made a speech that I'd translated for her earlier, and didn't do too bad a job of it - I only heard a couple of howlers in her pronunciation - and got a generous round of applause for her effort, then Éléonore read out a poem by Florian about birth, life and death and asked us all to remember the members of the Circle who were no longer with us (they'd lost a few over this year).
Then we were free to chat. A lady whom I took to be English came over and admired my consort's badge, then she asked what the "other one" was. I immediately twigged that she meant the HawkSupport metal badge on my lapel, so explained "My football team. It's the Havant & Waterlooville Supporters' Club." She was amused by that. After asking why I didn't support Gosport Borough, she said she'd heard of H&W. "Weren't they in the Cup recently?"
"Yes," I said. "We lost to Millwall."
"They did well getting that far," she smiled.
A few minutes later, when Marie-Ange had gone to the chambre des dames, the lady came over and sat in her seat, by me and my mother. Her name was Kristen and she was actually American - as soon as she mentioned it, for the first time I noticed it in her accent. She asked us all about English local government, so we explained how it works, and Kristen told us how American local government is different, and we shared our observations on how French local government is different still. When she mentioned Ken Livingstone, we had to tell her all about the difference between cities with elected mayors with political power, and most towns where the Mayor is just a civic ambassador.
The night ended with the French carols, complete with two of the French guys accompanying us on accordions. Some of the carols went to the same tunes as English ones - we all particularly enjoyed 'Vive le vent' which is to the tune of 'Jingle Bells'. Another had the tune of 'O Christmas Tree'. Afterwards my mother told me that she'd particularly enjoyed singing that one; as she's a lifelong Labour supporter, and the carol has more or less the same tune as the old Labour anthem The Red Flag, she'd taken great pleasure in singing that tune in our venue for the night - the Parish Centre, located in a solid Conservative part of town!
We finished by all standing and singing the Marseillaise, then said our farewells - some of the French people giving us the traditional double-cheek kiss. As we said goodbye to Éléonore, I asked her if she'd heard of the Zidane coup de boule song - she laughed and said she had, and added that Zizou is still very popular in France right now. We agreed that he has to be forgiven for the headbutt because of all that he did for French football before. Then on to all the others still waiting with double-cheek kisses, Joyeux Noëls and Bonne années...
Éléonore explained that after dinner we'd be singing French songs, as they do at all their monthly meetings. I asked if Cadet Rouselle would be included; she said malheureusement, no, although they normally include it, tonight we'd just have French Christmas carols. After we'd been chatting for half an hour there was a full bottle of pineau still on the table, so I helped myself to seconds.
To open the evening Éléonore led us all in a parody of the Marseillaise about 'bring on the food', then we went up to fill our plates from the massive buffet - so big your plate was full by the time you got halfway down, so everyone returned to their seats to eat their first plateful, then went back to fill their plate again from the other side of the table. It was mostly cold stuff - cold beef and pork, pâté, potato salad, rice, noodles and Mediterranean vegetables - but there was also hot pasta, beef rounds in sour cream and, most delicious of all, chargrilled chicken. All very, very tasty, but very filling! We still all had room for baked cheesecake and fresh fruit for dessert :) Felt stuffed to the gunnels after, though.
Over dinner I talked to Marie-Ange and her Durham born husband Chris. They'd met while he was working in France in the early 80s, then his employers had gone bust. Applying for jobs in England, he'd had a choice of one in Manchester or one in Portsmouth. He chose Portsmouth because of Marie-Ange - it has a direct boat link to France and they thought the milder southern climate would be more to her liking than the Mancunian.
After dinner my mother made a speech that I'd translated for her earlier, and didn't do too bad a job of it - I only heard a couple of howlers in her pronunciation - and got a generous round of applause for her effort, then Éléonore read out a poem by Florian about birth, life and death and asked us all to remember the members of the Circle who were no longer with us (they'd lost a few over this year).
Then we were free to chat. A lady whom I took to be English came over and admired my consort's badge, then she asked what the "other one" was. I immediately twigged that she meant the HawkSupport metal badge on my lapel, so explained "My football team. It's the Havant & Waterlooville Supporters' Club." She was amused by that. After asking why I didn't support Gosport Borough, she said she'd heard of H&W. "Weren't they in the Cup recently?"
"Yes," I said. "We lost to Millwall."
"They did well getting that far," she smiled.
A few minutes later, when Marie-Ange had gone to the chambre des dames, the lady came over and sat in her seat, by me and my mother. Her name was Kristen and she was actually American - as soon as she mentioned it, for the first time I noticed it in her accent. She asked us all about English local government, so we explained how it works, and Kristen told us how American local government is different, and we shared our observations on how French local government is different still. When she mentioned Ken Livingstone, we had to tell her all about the difference between cities with elected mayors with political power, and most towns where the Mayor is just a civic ambassador.
The night ended with the French carols, complete with two of the French guys accompanying us on accordions. Some of the carols went to the same tunes as English ones - we all particularly enjoyed 'Vive le vent' which is to the tune of 'Jingle Bells'. Another had the tune of 'O Christmas Tree'. Afterwards my mother told me that she'd particularly enjoyed singing that one; as she's a lifelong Labour supporter, and the carol has more or less the same tune as the old Labour anthem The Red Flag, she'd taken great pleasure in singing that tune in our venue for the night - the Parish Centre, located in a solid Conservative part of town!
We finished by all standing and singing the Marseillaise, then said our farewells - some of the French people giving us the traditional double-cheek kiss. As we said goodbye to Éléonore, I asked her if she'd heard of the Zidane coup de boule song - she laughed and said she had, and added that Zizou is still very popular in France right now. We agreed that he has to be forgiven for the headbutt because of all that he did for French football before. Then on to all the others still waiting with double-cheek kisses, Joyeux Noëls and Bonne années...
