Of Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax, Of Tribunals & Cheese

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things…”

So, it seems as though my usual provender of foodstuffs and non-foodstuff grocery items may have indeed been indulging in a little bit of Doublethink.

Regular reader(s) (and, come to think of it, Ted: where are you?) may recall that the supply of mozzarella at the supermarket I normally visit of a Monday had rather mysteriously dried up. Moreover, there was no sign that there had ever been mozzarella anywhere in the place. The staff too were remarkably reticent when it came to the matter of pizza-suitable rubbery cheese.

However, not only had I not imagined the existence of mozzarella but the stuff was freely available and reasonably priced at a rival supermarket on the rough side of town. Actually, “rough” is a little misleading. Fontenay hasn’t got a rough bit, though there are corners of it where the litter bins are emptied less regularly.

Of course, this goes no way to explaining why Messers Le Clerc had stopped selling the stuff when there was clear demand for it and then tried to deny they ever stocked it.

I wonder if I’m making too much of this?

“And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings.”

As regards more weighty matters, My Dear Wife attended her tribunal this morning to see whether on not she was elected. The proposition of the Préfet of the Vendée placed before the panel was that the election of My Dear Wife and her colleague be confirmed and that the second round election be annulled altogether.

From what I can gather (for I was not there), the procurateur (who is one of the panel and acts for the State in these matters) read out the Préfet’s position, filled in the background, cited the two bits of relevant jurisprudence (nice to see that Le Langon is not the first commune to balls this up) and added the legal opinion, which included the view that there was no need to re-run the election of the mayor by the council since the second round made no material difference to this. The President of the tribunal then asked all those in the room who had registered an interest in the case if they had anything to add, and no-one did.

Since neither the procurateur nor anyone else had any objection to the proposal, then that should be it. However, formally, the panel must deliberate on the basis of what happened on the day in court and will hand down a written judgement to confirm matters. This they have undertaken to do before November 10th.

The upshot of annulling the second round and allowing the election of the mayor to stand is that Mr Bodin (who, it has been said, stood only to annoy his sister-in-law) will not now have a seat on the council.

How disappointed he is about this I cannot say.

My Dear Wife is out tonight at a council meeting. Though her place at the table has yet to be formally confirmed she is being included with her colleague in discussion, albeit without the right to vote. Jobs are also being lined up for her, though I cannot as yet say whet these are.

What is clear is that there is plenty of work to be done, and I have a feeling that I’m going to be roped into doing some of it. Not that I mind. I came to France with a desire to integrate and to contribute, and now I’m getting an opportunity to do so.