fromage

for a reason i haven't yet manage to fathom, the whole of paris goes on holiday for the month of august. the pharmacist goes on holiday and closes his shop. the cafe owner goes on holiday and closes the cafe. having nowhere to get the coffee in the morning the boutique owner closes shop and buggers off as well. the boulangerie, seeing its clientele reduced drastically exchanges the patisserie flour for beachside sand, on holiday..... the market stalls stop. the metro is reduced. even my knitting lady at the local wool shop has bought the ticket. the city goes on holiday.
for the 3 remaining parisians i imagine that life is a bit of a misery dealing with tourists and the city heat. so the mayor of paris makes little gifts available to soften the edges of this hardship. like paris plage. importing thousands of tonnes of sand and dumping it on the seine banks, putting in potted palms and little umbrellas, the beach comes to paris.
and, like free parking. yes, for the month of august residential street car parking in our district is free.
but, this is august. not july. and for some reason the cheese vendors seem to have packed up shop and gone to the hills early. we're lucky enough to have 2 markets nearby that alternate days where we do a lot of our shopping. the markets are lively, with the vendors competing for the euro in your pocket yelling "un euro, un euro, un euro" and then something else that's probably enticing you to buy from them. but not the cheeseman. oh no. monsieur le fromager is noticibly absent. no wafty cheese smells invading tender nostrils at these markets. so what's the alternative: the supermarket? oh, i hear you saying: what's a pregnant woman doing taking such an interest in cheese... we're in france!!! there's no such thing as 'tasty cheese'!!!! (all cheese here is tasty) but, ventures into the supermarket to search the alternative expose that really, there aren't any. what am i supposed to limit myself to la vache qui rit? (little plastic cheese triangles, and anyway, i have a firend who worked at the factory who says its made from camembert that fell on the floor). seriously. if there really was such an issue with cheese the french nation would cease to exist. obviously, i'm avoiding all super manky, stinky, mouldy cheeses. and some cheeses do smell a bit 'ripe'.
so, august looms, next week its curious arrival has us all on the edge of our seat. the museums are already filling up while the little 'local' cafes close down. apart from the supermarket i don't know where else to shop. it will be a little strange to have parked up in a city that has gone on holiday and to be overwhelmed by loud tourists when they're nearly my least-favourite creatures. especially being as i'm neither parisien nor french.