Ask French people to organise something small like who is going in whose car or who is partnering whom in tennis and it can take them half an hour to make a decision but ask them to organise an event including feeding 60, hundreds or over a thousand and they are magnificent.
Recently we went to the Car Rally, which is really a race of very old cars and motorbikes but you are not allowed to call it a race because that would involve a whole lot of bureaucracy. The French are past masters at avoiding their own laws or those of the EU by simply ignoring them. Unlike the British who scrutinise and analyse every line and go to great lengths to ensure that everyone adheres to them, no matter how stupid the law.
The British would have got on a lot better in the EU if they had taken a leaf out of the French book. Let the law makers employ their time setting out laws and regulations and then adapt them to your own use.
But I digress. On Sunday I went to a hog roast event. Everyone took their own plates and cutlery. Some brought chairs and tables if they had them and plastic cloths. Wine came in caskets and poured into jugs and the local butcher came and roasted the hogs. Some people brought salads, dessert and cheese and the whole thing worked.
In Saumur each summer they have Les Grandes Tables where tables and benches are set up in the streets and there are food tents and music. Local wine producers provide the wine. Thousands attend and it is wonderfully organised. Of course they have the advantage of the probability of good weather something Britain never has.
Recently we went to the Car Rally, which is really a race of very old cars and motorbikes but you are not allowed to call it a race because that would involve a whole lot of bureaucracy. The French are past masters at avoiding their own laws or those of the EU by simply ignoring them. Unlike the British who scrutinise and analyse every line and go to great lengths to ensure that everyone adheres to them, no matter how stupid the law.
The British would have got on a lot better in the EU if they had taken a leaf out of the French book. Let the law makers employ their time setting out laws and regulations and then adapt them to your own use.
But I digress. On Sunday I went to a hog roast event. Everyone took their own plates and cutlery. Some brought chairs and tables if they had them and plastic cloths. Wine came in caskets and poured into jugs and the local butcher came and roasted the hogs. Some people brought salads, dessert and cheese and the whole thing worked.
In Saumur each summer they have Les Grandes Tables where tables and benches are set up in the streets and there are food tents and music. Local wine producers provide the wine. Thousands attend and it is wonderfully organised. Of course they have the advantage of the probability of good weather something Britain never has.
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