FRENCH BULLET POINTS THAT DESERVE FULL POSTS

I try to post on my blog once a week. I try to keep my blog mostly about our life in France. Occasionally, I miss a week. Occasionally, I stray off point. I try to keep a list going, bullet points that can be expanded to full posts. 

Here are some to consider...

Order a café in France and you are served what Americans call espresso. It comes in a tiny little cup that is not bottomless. That's OK. You learn to sit with it in front of you for more than an hour, just hanging out and watching the world go by. Perfectly satisfactory way to spend an idle morning.   

Whether you call it global warming, climate change or use some other descriptive, Mother Earth is pissed and letting us know. Defunding studies and scrubbing terminology from websites will not affect outcomes already barreling down the pike. Seek higher ground. Now.

A sandwich in France only needs three ingredients - a fresh-baked baguette split lengthwise, a full schmear of creamy French butter (lightly salted), and a slice or two of jambon blanc - deli ham sliced to order by your local butcher. It's called a jambon beurre. You can add other stuff, but you're just gilding the lily.

A Facebook friend that I have never met personally posted a screed about Israel recently that was so full of horse hockey that I felt the need to respond. Of course, he doubled down. The amount of asserted 'facts' that were simply garbage was astounding. It has become impossible to have a serious conversation about the Middle East given the manner in which the narrative has been controlled by folks with agendas. 

In theory, capitalism gets it right. The marketplace can and should provide workers with a fair share of the of the fruits of their labor. Consumers should be able to trust that their purchases are safe to use and environmentally friendly. Entrepreneurs should be able to bring their ideas to the marketplace without encountering a regulatory system that favors monopoly over competition. In other words, capitalism should be about creating a fair marketplace, not about rewarding the accumulation of capital. How do we get there?

We live in a small square in the center of our village called La Placette - literally The Little Square. Three small streets feed into it. If you stand in the middle of the square, you can easily see three number 2s without turning your head: 2 Rue de la Placette, 2 La Placette, and 2 Rue Saint Antoine. Amazon drivers short circuit from the confusion.