Vernissage a la Francais

Tuesday 9th February

The complexion of the Café is changing.  At first we had only English, the French seemed slightly wary of us; maybe they thought we couldn’t possibly make decent coffee, but gradually they have started to come in and now on some days at least half of our customers are French.  At least my French language skills are being improved (slowly), but it is really nice to feel accepted by our French neighbours.  Actually we have experienced almost no anti-English feeling amongst the French, in fact they seem to welcome us in as we buy their houses and spend money in their shops and restaurants; I just wish the English in England had a better attitude to immigrants.

Last night was another Vernissage, this time of a lovely French lady, Dominique Bocher.  It was a dark rainy night and we had asked quite a few of our friends but very few turned up.  Thank goodness for Dominique and her family and friends, as they filled the café.  French was being spoken by everyone, and it was fantastique; a really lovely evening.  I was forced to speak French and was surprised to find that our next door French neighbour was there and she is a good friend of Dominique’s, her mother also lives a few doors away, so now we know a few more French people.  There were a few children and I was struck by how well-behaved they were, especially compared to our few English children who often want to run around and touch everything; they each had a glass of coke or orange juice and politely handed the glasses back when they were finished, and didn’t whine for any more.  We sold three paintings too, which makes it the most successful of all our Vernissages so far.