My father spoke excellent French, good enough for him to be an RAF liaison officer between the British and the Free French forces after D- Day. He loved France, as my wife and I do, and would have been devastated, not only about the current state of French politics, but about the fate of smaller, ancient and historic towns in la France profonde that he showed me back in 1949, when, thanks to the war, you felt you were stepping back at least a hundred years in time, or more.
On March 1st the New York Times carried a story about Albi, one of the oldest and most attractive of these old towns in Southern France. The advent of supermarkets and out-of- town shopping has decimated the economic life of the town. The food shops and the market have gone, the cafes and shops boarded up and deserted. What thrives are the hotels and tourist souvenir shops, and presumably the restaurants savvy enough to supply international food to an international audience. The place is becoming a museum, like Carcassonne or Mont St. Michel. (This, by the way, has happened in Britain, too, only most of the towwns affected are not as picturesque as the French ones)
Of course, young people have been abandoning these towns for decades in favour of Paris or abroad. The French have done a great job, with the help of the EU, keeping the countryside looking like countryside, even if the shepherd and the cowherd have disappeared, and the average age of the “paysans” is, well, rather high. But, alas, the great tide of mass marketing is destroying the towns. How long will it be before tourists conclude that they’ve seen enough museums? I am sure that, were he alive today, Epicurus would mourn with us the loss of the old, relaxed – and at one time the seemingly never-changing – French way of life.
Like you, I love the French way of life. The old towns and markets are beautiful, and the food and wine are sublime. But I’m afraid the French are falling out of love with their own traditions. Fast food is becoming more popular, and long lunches less common. In the Parisian financial services sector, its because the Americans begin tradition roughly around the French lunchtime. But elsewhere, the French are swapping luxury for ease and convenience.
So in the case of the ageing French countryside, I’m afraid the government can’t counter people’s changing preferences. No amount of EU subsidies (which are high enough already) can stop people’s consumer habits from changing. In the age of large refrigerators, going shopping in the market everyday is far more costly and time-consuming than the weekly shop at the supermarché. Of course local councils ought to preserve old buildings and keep the countryside intact. But the French economy is stagnating. Unemployment, while falling, remains stubbornly high. Its very easy to sing the environmental benefits of a zero-growth economy if you are already rich. However, the poor need the economy to grow, which means new buildings and infrastructure projects. Turning France into a museum may be great from a tourist perspective. But for the struggling locals, more dynamism is needed.
Alas, you are , of cpourse, quite correct, Owen, but I mourn nonetheless.