Monday 10 January 2011

The French, soap and how to fall over.


The nearby town is home to a Savonnerie – a soap maker’s.

The picture above shows the shop and the sign that is currently stuck to the front door and basically explains to the client, me, that I will be unable to buy any soap until well into the spring as they are currently hard at work in soap production and therefore have no time for soap selling.

Apart from a feeling of sceptism - fuelled as it by the absence of gurgly bubbling sounds emanating from behind the yellow shop front and the distinct lack of perfumed smoke rising from chimney or suds from drainpipe – I am consumed with anxiety as to how I can honour my New Year’s resolution to be clean.

In England on January 1st – anyone you meet will say “Happy New year, what are your resolutions?” In France they will say “Happy New Year, best wishes and the best of health”.

They don’t do resolutions.

Maybe they believe they have already attained perfection, but I think it’s partly because, somewhere at the start of the year, the President goes live with his list of “wishes” and with republican fervour the nation collectively decides that that is enough.

(Being clean is not really my New year Resolution, I was using as a link between soap sign and resolution).

At the start of 2009 I decided to write my resolutions in the broad daylight of this blog, you can see them here.

Last year, realizing, that I had failed to fulfil even this timid list I decided to adopt a different approach – I would decide them, not articulate them, just do them.

Success was mixed.

This year I have an even better idea. I work out something that needs doing, do it and then say hey – that was one of my New Year Resolutions.

There is only one resolution that I am committing to print in the true spirit of resolutions (by which I mean, resolve to do something that you don’t know if you are able to do it and then commit to doing it).

It is this.

I realised on the morning of January the first, whilst dressing, that I always put my right leg into my trousers before the left.
For 2011 I resolve always to dress with my left leg first, pyjamas included.

So far I have only fallen over six times.

What are yours?

5 comments:

anne said...

I resolve to open my mind. The hinges squeak, the shutters are flapping.

anne said...

with all the dust showing in the sunlight, I could use some of that soap.

popps said...

you could win a bar in an end of the year quiz.... but then you would have to enter.... and it would have to be the year after next as next year it's a jar of honey up for
grabs!

Anne said...

I'm better at pub quizzes - there you get to talk it over in hushed tones. My house team won first prize out of 30 teams recently - ha! - and all because our ages and backgrounds are wonderfully diverse... But a collaborative Bits and Bobs quiz, can't be done. Unless perhaps teams of two...

popps said...

Can't be done?!
We scoff at the idea!!! - the editors.