Comedie Musicale 2

It's been a good year for primary school shows, for once. A couple of weeks ago we had my youngest's class put on a little show based on the year's work in theatre/dance, French and music. A few weeks before that he was in a series of sketches written to underline the importance of safety at railway stations. It was a regional competition and his class won. Parents were invited to a performance of the winning show.

Last night his school vied favourably with the final of the French X-Factor (between Brit Matthew and sassy Marina - he won) to put on a show where all the classes participated in a coherent storyline. This sort of event usually lasts for hours. There is a theme and each class has to perform, dressed up accordingly. Last year it was the Planets and we saw kids prance around being Venus, Mars, etc. It was tedious and annoying.

I don't know what came over them this year, but instead of being subjected to a long drawn-out series of whimsical nonsense, there was a proper story and no wimpishness. Amazing!

The story started with the kiddies of the maternelle. A king and queen were out riding one day and came across an abandoned baby girl. The king took pity on her and decided to rescue her and take her home. A few years later he died and she was left to the mercy of her cruel step-mother, but was entertained by small creatures and birds who did all the dusting, cleaning and sweeping.

Then we saw the start of the Mowgli story - he was found as a baby by a bear and was brought up by the animals of the jungle. Unfortunately he had to fight the tiger, won, and decided to leave the forest because he knew the tiger would never cease to try and kill him. Three fairies visited the children to tell them they'd be attractive, go on a journey and meet a prince/princess.

At one point the girl was stolen by pirates, rescued by corsairs and attended a ball where there was courtly dancing. Then things moved to the city to a West Side Story theme of dodgy types (my son's class) and hippy types. The two groups ended up fighting to the music of WSS.

Eventually, Mowgli and the princess found each other and fitted their two talismans (two sides of a broken heart) together, and had a party to celebrate their success.

It lasted an hour and a half, was slick and well produced and the kids had been drilled to within an inch of their lives so it was a pleasure to watch. The amphitheatre was packed with parents of all types from nut brown skinny women to paler (working) men, the glamorously dressed and ones in shorts and tops. For once, I didn't feel like I needed a constant supply of rosé to keep me going.

This will be a hard act to follow, and as the head is leaving along with 2 other stalwart members of staff, I'll be interested to see what they produce next year. One thing's for sure though, this will go down as a vintage year for interesting, snappy, short performances. I never thought I'd see that.

Comedie Musicale

I received instructions from my youngest yesterday - be present at the school for 5.45pm on the dot! Yessir!

His class were to perform a little show for parents. I'll just say that again for those who have forgotten my kids go to a French school - my son took part in a musical show as part of his education!

French schools are not renowned for including creativity in the curriculum which is why I'm drawing attention to the fact. Children often learn by rote and their handwriting is strictly controlled, and if they want to express their creativity they're obliged to join an association outside school. Inside it's noses to the grindstone and robot responses, please!

My youngest had kept his activities pretty quiet, along with most other things. It was only fairly recently that he slipped it into the conversation that they were preparing a show as part of the year's work. Three teachers were involved to bring together music, dance and French in a show written by the children (aged 10/11). They suggested the music and came up with the theme of the library to run through the show.

The story was that a couple of boys had to prepare a project on Africa so they went to the library to find some books on the subject. When they found one on a topic such as living conditions, they 'went off to read about it' and the class came out to dance or enact a song on the subject. Another topic was music and the last one was a traditional story about a poor girl with a step mother who had to go and visit a leopard to mend a vase and as she was polite and respectful was rewarded while the step-sister was selfish and rude, and she got punished (she was eaten by a snake).

The whole class was involved in the dance routines, with more or less shuffling... and there was one scene which required playing various traditional instruments by a small group (including my son who had to keep the rhythm). They had to learn songs, music and dialogue, plus the story-teller's story. It was pretty impressive because they did an excellent job.

To be fair, primary schools do make more of an effort to get the kids performing at least for an end of year 'kermesse' (which is usually dire) which has a theme such as planets, the sea, Africa, the environment, etc. with kids performing some sort of bland little routine (after which or during preferably, you need a strong drink). What was different about my son's show is that it was longer than usual - 30mins so they had time to get their teeth into a story, and instead of being dire, it was interesting!

Once they get to collège, they perform nothing more and can be as creative as a rotting toe nail. Mind you, at that age they're probably too cool to go on stage with their school mates so it would be incredibly difficult anyway for teachers to prise them away from their phones and get them to rehearse.

At that age now they prefer making their own movies, filmed on their phones, of them doing silly things and then taking the piss out of each other, but secretly proud of their creative achievements... Actually, I'm dead jealous of the technology they have. I would have loved to be able to do similar when I was that age.

Naturally I forgot to take any pictures or film my youngest's show, but it did mean I could enjoy it as it happened instead of later on a screen...

Maniac in Espadrilles

Despite the ups and downs of yesterday, we did manage to get to Palavas after lunch à deux. I was in search of espadrilles and decided that the beach was as good a place as any to find some. How wrong I was.

Palavas was, however, packed. There was a classic car show going on which was generating a lot of interest with people out after Easter lunch on a nice day. We managed to park the car - a feat in itself - and joined the throngs milling up and down the canal-side road to the beach. With not an espadrille in sight, we walked up the other main road and came across a shoe shop with some at 25€ each. We left those to the tourist pigeons with more money than sense and gave up the search.

Instead we headed for the car show, a lot of which was taking place outside in the carpark for free. First we came to the American classic car section with Cadillacs, Pontiacs, a Bonneville, Chevrolets, Fords and Buicks. They had been lovingly looked after and were a spectacular sight, especially the cabriolets. Just looking at them images of road trips would spring up and you could see yourself driving off into the sunset on a dusty Texan road towards cactus country. Some of the owners were dressed to go with their cars, with varying degrees of success...

As we walked around, a country and western band belted out suitable music to help us really appreciate the Americana, and a tacos stand stood by to help us get the American look (big).

From there we moved onto the army vehicles and I immediately wished the boys had been there as kids were climbing all over the tanks and armoured trucks firing the empty guns and having a great time. I'm afraid I didn't pay enough attention to the signs to know what sort of vehicles they were except that they seemed to be French.

Next up were the classic cars. When you're young, you consider classic cars as museum pieces. When you get older, they represent periods of your youth, and younger days. There were some British cars such as the Triumph Herald, an MGB, a Ford Cortina from 1965, an Escort from the seventies, and a Mini. A terrific Mini Cooper 1300 customed into a beach buggy. Oh, I fell in love with it, how could you not? Green and yellow, open to the skies, a mean little engine, and total charm.

It was for sale. I asked how much. How much would you think? A couple of thousand euros? A guy who was not its owner told us he believed the car was going for ten thousand euros! That's more than I paid for my Peugeot 406 Estate. With a regretful tear, I moved on, came back to take some photos, a last wistful look, restrained myself from dashing to the Presse to buy loto tickets... and said good-bye.

In the classic French car line-up there were Renault 4s, Citroen DS, Alpine Renaults, Deudeuches, and Peugeots. There were also some beautiful old Mercedes 190SL, Spiders, Simcas, and Volkswagons. When I was very young, we used to have a sticker on the car of the front of some car by a mountain or a tunnel (I forget which), and I had a thing about knowing what the backs of cars looked like once I'd seen the front. The picture was of a very old car though, and there were no more on the roads, so I searched in vain for years (yes, I'm a bit weird like that). Finally, yesterday, I saw the front of the car from the sticker. It was starting to drive off. Memories of my quest flooded into my head. I had to see what the back looked like! This may be my last chance!

I edged round a group of people who were standing inconveniently blocking my view, and got a good look at the boot, lights, bumper, back windscreen and wheels. It was an old Simca with vertical back lights in a line, a big boot that bent over the end, and a heavy line. You can't imagine the nostalgia I felt, the feeling taking me right back to my pre-teen years.

I said nothing - well, I didn't want to come across as some sort of lunatic on the look-out for the shape of the backs of cars. It doesn't go with being a modern, go-getting paper-pusher mother of two boys type, does it?

We finished our tour, my mind completely transported to various parts of the globe, the past, and wishful thinking. I do like cars. Always have!