Saturday 7th April

Well Chartres was quite nice, though nothing spectacular, but even the smallest of French towns and cities seem to display far more civic pride than do the English.  Each town centre has a vast square or two, with grand names like Place de la Republique, and the streets are more often than not named after General’s from the two world wars or even the Napoleonic era.  And I think that it is the singular fact that the French had a Revolution, even if it was followed by a dictator who ended up crowning himself emporer which makes all the difference.  At one stroke the French dispensed with the idea, if not the actaulite of rulers, both divine and by birth.  The English of course had their Revolution too, but the king was soon re-instated and business continued as normal.  The idea of being a citizen rather than a subject is embedded in the French soul, and in many ways they are a communist country.  Not economically, though they are far more socialist than we are, but in how they treat everyone.  The ideas of Liberte, Fraternite and Egalite are woven into the constitution, and the well-being of each individual is seen as society’s goal, rather than the enrichment of certain individuals at the expense of others.

This becomes self-evident when you see how they elevate all of their municipal buildings; they love grand Mairies’ and Prefectures and Conseils and each town square is smart and well-looked after, small monuments to the idea of being a citizen; one may not have much as an individual, but as a citizen one has lots to proud of.  In England we are rather ashamed of our public buildings, and town centres are for shopping and commerce, not for ostentatious displays of civic pride.  A pity, I really like the French squares and statues and pride in their Gallic heritage; the British are rather ashamed of our once great empire I think.  So, in Chartres we have a grand square, with fountains and large public buildings.  In fact in France, in every town just follow the signs for Centreville to discover what is happening.

And today we drove almost due South for over four hours to Limoges, which is just half way down the country, but south of the Loire, and sunny and warm at last.