lundi 25 février 2008

Stay outside

So, I forgot to go food shopping yesterday. Well, I kind of forgot, and kind of didn't want to and kind of found anything else to do.

In the UK this wouldn't be a problem. In France it's a near disaster. With all of the supermarkets closed (along with all of the other shops), and an empty fridge, I ventured out to see if I could find a corner shop that had a meal lurking within its shelves.

I found one open in the old town and I managed to find some mushrooms (that had seen better days), some onions that were about to take root, creme fraiche that was speeding past the sell by date at an alarming rate and some pasta from the 1980's. You get the picture.

Whilst paying, a guy comes in and goes straight to the head of the queue, effectively pushing in. This being France, no-one cares about this lack of politesse.

Anyway, he goes unnoticed until he starts shouting 'don't come into the shop sweetheart' and 'stay where you are, I won't be a moment'.

He's talking to a little girl (I mean little, no more than four years old) who is stood outside the shop door.

'Your daughter can come in' says the shop assistant, helpfully.

'No, no, no - she's fine outside' says the father.

'There's no need for her to wait outside'

'There is' he said 'she's holding my cigarette'

On closer inspection the little girl is indeed stood there with an inch of lit cigarette in her hand, looking at it bemusedly.

'Don't smoke it, sweetheart', said the loving father, 'remember what happened last time...'

13 commentaires:

Lola a dit…

That is a WICKED story. And what's more, I believe it.

softinthehead a dit…

Great parenting skills!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

The poor little girls face. She was bewildered, to say the least. She'd been made to stand outside with the dogs...

CawfeeGuy a dit…

FABULOUS!
in the US he'd have been pelted to death by housewives hurling cans of soup and Hot Pockets.

great blog btw!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Hi cawfeeguy...

the idea of housewives throwing 'hot pockets' is very funny.

Unfortunately, what with this being France and all, they'd be more likely to be throwing money at her and making her dance....

aims a dit…

OMG!

It really is hard to juggle priorities sometimes isn't it?

Amazing to see that the law 'Thou shalt not smoke inside a public building' has such an impact on people..

Indeed the cad would have been pelted here in Canada too..and should have been.

sally in norfolk a dit…

cannot believe this is true... please tell me its not :-(

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Sorry Sally, it's very true.

And very sad too.

Breezy a dit…

I'm shocked! Fancy not doing your food shopping earlier

Swearing Mother a dit…

Oh I love France, they have all the same rules as us in the UK but they just don't give a damn.

If the cigarette incident had happened here, Social Services would have had that little girl adopted by now.

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Breezy - you win best comment! It was quite sluttish of me, but hey - what can I say? No defence.

And SM, you are so right - a friend was caught doing 180kmh the other day (that's, like, 112 mph or something?). He got a 90 euro fine!

In the UK that would surely warrant a 12 month driving ban and a hefty fine...?

A Lewis a dit…

He had to have been an American. Just had to! What a freak.

savannah a dit…

found you via the hangar queen and very glad i did! i've seen far worse (or different depending on your pov) while in france. ;-)