The "cultured" people of France are fanatically
proud of their traditions -- If you were a tourist asking a local in
Paris in Parias: Where do I find the best cake shop in town? You may get
a nonchalant look, and the coy Parisan may not answer you in English
though he/she knows how to speakIT. He/she will say the equivalent in
French, gesturing with his/her dainty and: THAT way!
For this Sundae's RUMINATION, I borrow an article from MI, focusing on why the French ENJOY the month of May; Desi likes IT for different reasons, BUT WE - French and Malaysian -- ARE PROUD OF OUR DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS, Yes?
ENJOY "the petite wickedends" -- les ponts --the gay Pareesians have inenuously carved out to ENJOY life:~~~~~
Better still, two fall midweek making rich pickings for the “pont” aficionados who have the chance of engineering a five-day “not-so-p’tit weekend”, and I suspect causing havoc on the work front.
To
be fair, France’s President François Hollande has been busy. He should
be commended for staying on task, not on holiday, and passing the
same-sex marriage “Bill 344” this month, joining 13 other enlightened
countries who have done the same.
According to a
recent study by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic
Studies “Insee”, getting rid of bank holidays would allow France to
save more money. The study showed that the reduction of total workdays
in 2013 (two fewer than in 2012) claimed a 0.1 per cent loss in yearly
Gross Domestic Product.
For this Sundae's RUMINATION, I borrow an article from MI, focusing on why the French ENJOY the month of May; Desi likes IT for different reasons, BUT WE - French and Malaysian -- ARE PROUD OF OUR DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS, Yes?
ENJOY "the petite wickedends" -- les ponts --the gay Pareesians have inenuously carved out to ENJOY life:~~~~~
Parisians adore May, the month of ‘les ponts’
PARIS, May 26 — Off
with the beret hats, hello dark sunglasses and spiffy sandals. Parisians
are smiling (it’s official): spring is in full swing and their much
beloved month of May est arrivé!
This dreamy month is
truly blessed with bank holidays offering the winter and desk weary a
chance to escape for an extended weekend away, or “le petit weekend” as the French have so daintily named them.
Not much can stop
Parisians in their vigorous pursuit of one; not even a recession, which
France quietly slipped into in mid-May. This is because they are not
considered a luxury, but a necessity, a series of rehearsals in
preparation for the biggie — August’s month-long summer vacation just
around the corner.
May holds the dubious crown of the month of “les ponts” (“bridges”
in French). It alludes to the artful way French workers take days off
between a given bank holiday and the preceding or following weekends,
resulting in rather handsome “p’tit weekends” without impacting too much on their annual holiday allowance.
There are four
public holidays in May: La Fête du Travail, May 1, Labour Day, workers’
day off; Armistice Day WWII, celebrating the end of World War II in
Europe, May 8; L’Ascension, May 9 and La Pentecôte, May 20. The latter
two are connected with France’s Catholic heritage.
Even by Malaysian
standards — having witnessed the birth of Malaysia Day and Thaipusam as
public holidays during our posting there — that’s a pretty impressive
number.
My husband bucked
the trend and worked for all four. Sweet. If it hadn’t been for the
birdsong and my children’s chatter among the gently bobbing boughs of
our garden’s horse-chestnut trees, now heavily laden with their
lantern-shaped blossoms, it would have been very lonesome on our ghostly
street of houses, sealed with their imposing window shutters.
“It’s not quite as
bad as August” my French doctor offered on a recent visit, when
apparently Paris truly empties. “But don’t expect your children to be
doing much work in May.” What I had taken to be a mischievous comment
has proven correct: there’s more lethargy than learning in the lessons
and the kids are becoming more fractious by the day.
Pulling off such a
feat in this deeply traditional and predominantly Catholic country was
both courageous and astonishing. There’s been mass rightwing street
protests over the past months, and in very macabre turn of events, a
well-known French historian shot himself at the altar of the Notre Dame
Cathedral in a desperate bid to summon up opposition to same-sex
marriage in France.
There’s been some
whingeing in the press recently about these heavyweight bank holidays:
should they be scrapped given France’s economic woes?
Perhaps it’s not
such a bad idea, particularly given France’s return to the dark doldrums
of recession for the third time in four years. The Portuguese
government has just cancelled four national bank holidays for the next
five years, claiming the country cannot afford to take time off while it
wrestles with its austerity programme.
France currently
ranks fifth on the scale of European countries in terms of the number of
annual bank holidays along with Spain, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
But given President Hollande’s haemorrhaging approval ratings —
currently the lowest of any modern French leader with more than
two-thirds of the population giving Hollande the thumbs down — he’ll be
in no rush to rock those p’tit weekends, so interwoven into the fabric of the French way of life.
And as I listen to
my friend’s alluring accounts of their adventures north in “La Bretagne”
(Brittany), arguably the top destination for “les ponts” month — the sailing, the invigorating salt air on breezy coastal walks or grazing on dejeunersof a crisp vin blanc and fresh moules (mussels) — I say: “Vive le p’tit weekend!”
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
DESIDERATA: will tell WHY May is so specail
to him/her/it when I do come back (Godwilling, insyaAllah,
remember?)from his Kapitalistik CONtinental brunch lusting from2.00PM
till 5!, then linger for an early dinner sizzling Steak or grilled
lambchop at 5**** lunge in Furong if vv can find one, if knot, settle
for 3*** can du! --if one of my bourgeosie (check sperring OK!) pardners
is paying!
Meanw'ile, be a gOog boi/gal, click hear! ~~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvr2n9q8t3I
CHOW!
which can mean:
Seeya later OR Come, let's makan!
****************************************************
Keeping my promise to continue poetic recalls, here's somthing sombre @7.11PM:
#wan>: Knot too AP a post BUT still, it's as good as it cometh, Life's a rollercoaster of The GOoD, the Bad and the Ugly! Try to ENJOY, OK!
From page 36, MIDNIGHT VOICES and Other Poems, first published about se7en years ago, and &7"th heaven is Desi's ;lucky number!
A Reluctant Lament in May
May 13, 1969 -- do we remember?
Life's fabric isoft strong, yet tender
Can withstand the elements even in a flood
But man's foul mood, tearing all asunder
I want to make this my motherland
Many of fellow Malaysians chorus in similar trend
But ill mouths and ill minds
They can't see our love
Sight closeted within their racial blinds
Some slog to get by with two jobs
Others born into privilege behave like mobs
Ninety percent of us shed
Blood, sweat and tears
So that the other 10 percent
Gallivant in wine, women and bed
They then question our loyalty
Meanwhile they reap the oil royalty
We dutifully pay our taxes
Meanwhile they squander in madness
Monuments are built to meet the sky
Thye see gods and goddesses on high
Wrapped around karaoke lasses' bosoms
Behold, lo and hi
With our blood, sweat and tears
At the slightest sign of trouble
To safer havens they and lovers flee
Meanwhile they "yum seng!" in glee
Thy ask: Why art thou overseas?
Come back to serve your Motherland
****Meanwhile, they who stay, they smother
Oh Mum's the Word
The majority lament
Why bother?
PS on May 27, 2013, See how heART I laboureth for Ye?
It's just days after GE13
Nue minSTER/MONSter of Home Affairs declare:
If thou no like our electoral system
MIGRATE!
So my dear fellow Malaysians -- some 47% of you Voted BN/UMNO eh?
You think the leopard of evil regime will change its spots?
My poem writ se7en years ago (see highlighted last stanza...****coloured thus)
"HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?"
NOTE: I'm copying tis in LONG hand, can I come back to cuntinue? NOW DONE in the early hours The Day After ~~ See how heART Desi worketh for THee? Bye me endless rounds of tehtarik by the Parisian cafe, cun, anywan? Bring Audrey Hepburn along OK! Will try to serenade her wit' Moon River, may even reprise Andy Willy's Voiz K!:):)
*************************************************************************************#2>> Sumthin' Nostalgic from about FIVE YEARS BACKm boleh?
AND to top IT up, something more endearing and enduring from The Bard, via: shakespeares.sonnets.com XX:):):):):):):):):) EIgHTeen s-miles for the number XX8th: (XX according to my Ipohlang BUD aweOfHelen stands for KiSsEs innumerable times IF thou have the dimes!:you kixxeth till the face turns blue!)
Meanw'ile, be a gOog boi/gal, click hear! ~~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvr2n9q8t3I
CHOW!
which can mean:
Seeya later OR Come, let's makan!
****************************************************
Keeping my promise to continue poetic recalls, here's somthing sombre @7.11PM:
#wan>: Knot too AP a post BUT still, it's as good as it cometh, Life's a rollercoaster of The GOoD, the Bad and the Ugly! Try to ENJOY, OK!
From page 36, MIDNIGHT VOICES and Other Poems, first published about se7en years ago, and &7"th heaven is Desi's ;lucky number!
A Reluctant Lament in May
May 13, 1969 -- do we remember?
Life's fabric isoft strong, yet tender
Can withstand the elements even in a flood
But man's foul mood, tearing all asunder
I want to make this my motherland
Many of fellow Malaysians chorus in similar trend
But ill mouths and ill minds
They can't see our love
Sight closeted within their racial blinds
Some slog to get by with two jobs
Others born into privilege behave like mobs
Ninety percent of us shed
Blood, sweat and tears
So that the other 10 percent
Gallivant in wine, women and bed
They then question our loyalty
Meanwhile they reap the oil royalty
We dutifully pay our taxes
Meanwhile they squander in madness
Monuments are built to meet the sky
Thye see gods and goddesses on high
Wrapped around karaoke lasses' bosoms
Behold, lo and hi
With our blood, sweat and tears
At the slightest sign of trouble
To safer havens they and lovers flee
Meanwhile they "yum seng!" in glee
Thy ask: Why art thou overseas?
Come back to serve your Motherland
****Meanwhile, they who stay, they smother
Oh Mum's the Word
The majority lament
Why bother?
PS on May 27, 2013, See how heART I laboureth for Ye?
It's just days after GE13
Nue minSTER/MONSter of Home Affairs declare:
If thou no like our electoral system
MIGRATE!
So my dear fellow Malaysians -- some 47% of you Voted BN/UMNO eh?
You think the leopard of evil regime will change its spots?
My poem writ se7en years ago (see highlighted last stanza...****coloured thus)
"HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?"
NOTE: I'm copying tis in LONG hand, can I come back to cuntinue? NOW DONE in the early hours The Day After ~~ See how heART Desi worketh for THee? Bye me endless rounds of tehtarik by the Parisian cafe, cun, anywan? Bring Audrey Hepburn along OK! Will try to serenade her wit' Moon River, may even reprise Andy Willy's Voiz K!:):)
*************************************************************************************#2>> Sumthin' Nostalgic from about FIVE YEARS BACKm boleh?
AND to top IT up, something more endearing and enduring from The Bard, via: shakespeares.sonnets.com XX:):):):):):):):):) EIgHTeen s-miles for the number XX8th: (XX according to my Ipohlang BUD aweOfHelen stands for KiSsEs innumerable times IF thou have the dimes!:you kixxeth till the face turns blue!)
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
This is one of the most famous of all the
sonnets, justifiably so. But it would be a mistake to take it entirely
in isolation, for it links in with so many of the other sonnets through
the themes of the descriptive power of verse; the ability of the poet to
depict the fair youth adequately, or not; and the immortality conveyed
through being hymned in these 'eternal lines'. It is noticeable that
here the poet is full of confidence that his verse will live as long as
there are people drawing breath upon the earth, whereas later he
apologises for his poor wit and his humble lines which are inadequate to
encompass all the youth's excellence. Now, perhaps in the early days of
his love, there is no such self-doubt and the eternal summer of the
youth is preserved forever in the poet's lines. The poem also works at a
rather curious level of achieving its objective through dispraise. The
summer's day is found to be lacking in so many respects (too short, too
hot, too rough, sometimes too dingy), but curiously enough one is left
with the abiding impression that 'the lovely boy' is in fact like a
summer's day at its best, fair, warm, sunny, temperate, one of the
darling buds of May, and that all his beauty has been wonderfully
highlighted by the comparison.
FOR THY EDUCATION, aMORE from phrases.org.uk~~~~~~~~~
FOR THY EDUCATION, aMORE from phrases.org.uk~~~~~~~~~
The darling buds of May
Meaning
An appreciation of what is fresh and new.
Origin
The
phrase refers to the opening buds that point toward the warm summer
season ahead and to the freshness and exuberance of youth as it turns
toward adult maturity. It probably refers not to the month of May
directly but to the May tree (the Common Hawthorn) that flowers in
England at that time of year. The hawthorn is important in the mythology
of old England and there's a rich symbolism wrought from its standing
as an early flowering common tree. Global warming has now given the UK a
climate that causes May to begin flowering earlier, but I doubt that
the 'darling buds of April' will ever catch on.
The
legend of the Glastonbury Thorn is also related to the flowering time
of the hawthorn. The story has it that when Joseph of Arimathea arrived
in England from the Holy Land he stuck his thorn walking stick into the
ground and it began to flower, and continues to flower each year at
Christmas to mark Christ's birth. That's a myth but there are some facts
that give it a little credence. The Glastonbury Thorn is unusual in
that it does flower during the winter. There is a middle eastern form of
the tree that flowers at that time and some would have it that this is
what Joseph brought with him.
Not
all the symbolism relating to the hawthorn is warm and inviting. The
tree also has negative associations. In Ireland a hawthorn standing
alone in open ground is known as a fairy tree and there is a strong
superstition that to cut one is unlucky. Even in recent years roads in
Ireland have been rerouted to avoid uprooting hawthorns. It is also
considered unlucky and an omen of death to cut the blooms and bring them
into a house. This may well have come about from the unpleasant aroma,
which is like decaying flesh.
Back to the phrase itself, best known
these days as the title of H. E. Bates' story of idyllic country life,
which has been made into a successful television series. Bates took the
title from Shakespeare who coined it in his celebrated Sonnet 18:)
0 | 0 |
"Adieu for now, You Taketh CareXX ~~ it's not GOoDbye. Nyet!" --YL, Desi
From
page 36, MIDNIGHT VOICES and Other Poems, first published about se7en
years ago, and &7"th heaven is Desi's ;lucky number!
A Reluctant Lament in May
May 13, 1969 -- do we remember?
Life's fabric is oft strong, yet tender
Can withstand the elements even in a flood
But man's foul mood, tearing all asunder
I want to make this my motherland
Many of fellow Malaysians chorus in similar trend
But ill mouths and ill minds
They can't see our love
Sight closeted within their racial blinds
Some slog to get by with two jobs
Others born into privilege behave like mobs
Ninety percent of us shed
Blood, sweat and tears
So that the other 10 percent
Gallivant in wine, women and bed
They then question our loyalty
Meanwhile they reap the oil royalty
We dutifully pay our taxes
Meanwhile they squander in madness
Monuments are built to meet the sky
Thye see gods and goddesses on high
Wrapped around karaoke lasses' bosoms
Behold, lo and hi
With our blood, sweat and tears
At the slightest sign of trouble
To safer havens they and lovers flee
Meanwhile they "yum seng!" in glee
Thy ask: Why art thou overseas?
Come back to serve your Motherland
****Meanwhile, they who stay, they smother
Oh Mum's the Word
The majority lament
Why bother?
PS on May 27, 2013, See how heART I laboureth for Ye?
It's just days after GE13
Nue minSTER/MONSter of Home Affairs declare:
If thou no like our electoral system
MIGRATE!
So my dear fellow Malaysians -- some 47% of you Voted BN/UMNO eh?
You think the leopard of evil regime will change its spots?
My poem writ se7en years ago (see highlighted last stanza...****coloured thus)
"HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?"
*****************************************************************
AFTER a se7en-year-olde LAMENT, let me share wit' thee a forwaded email-video from a fromer
Judge Datuk who has been peeping at international captures to share laffing vvvvvIT my ER! E N J Y!
*****************************************************************
AFTER a se7en-year-olde LAMENT, let me share wit' thee a forwaded email-video from a fromer
Judge Datuk who has been peeping at international captures to share laffing vvvvvIT my ER! E N J Y!
Don't miss the action at bottom left.......
Some people just should not be allowed to drive anything. But the system will give them one anyway.
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=552155868169549
AsS anT AFTER-THOT@3.30PM steaming hot, so let's take a breezy ride!, thinking aloud, steal allowed hear/here e'en it's not yet MidnighT!:)
I wondered if that BIKER could act as the Bike Piper from Hamelin to Putrajaya, will lead this VVIP convoy, with UMNO Youth Oooucriders! -- "GoAway" Zahid Hamidi, "Let's Unite under the Bloody" Keris-muddin, Top rapists on the Malaysian mindscape, Perkosa cheaps Ibrahim Ah-Lah, and ZOOkiflee UMno-oh-No!DIN, VeeWee Chukiok Kiong, flyBYnightSheNyetFoong, Bollywooders S Nalla, WardyaMoorthi ad nauseum -- go right INTO THAT BLACK HOLE/HOLD and DO NATIONAL SERVICE-lah! DON'T EVER COME OUT! -- YL,Desi, knottyaSsusual
AsS anT AFTER-THOT@3.30PM steaming hot, so let's take a breezy ride!, thinking aloud, steal allowed hear/here e'en it's not yet MidnighT!:)
I wondered if that BIKER could act as the Bike Piper from Hamelin to Putrajaya, will lead this VVIP convoy, with UMNO Youth Oooucriders! -- "GoAway" Zahid Hamidi, "Let's Unite under the Bloody" Keris-muddin, Top rapists on the Malaysian mindscape, Perkosa cheaps Ibrahim Ah-Lah, and ZOOkiflee UMno-oh-No!DIN, VeeWee Chukiok Kiong, flyBYnightSheNyetFoong, Bollywooders S Nalla, WardyaMoorthi ad nauseum -- go right INTO THAT BLACK HOLE/HOLD and DO NATIONAL SERVICE-lah! DON'T EVER COME OUT! -- YL,Desi, knottyaSsusual
2 comments:
hmm sunrise or sunset the wonder
of nature an thoughts :)
sometimes poets just hint of their innermost hopes and challenges;
if readers can feel the vibrations, then it's likely they have had experienced similar times;
it does not really matter if one gets "lost" while traversing the verrses,
just enjoy the flowers that touch your heartbeat once a w'ile!:)