Postcards from the Edge: August in France

Life in the no man's land, or what to do when you have nothing to "do."

This is a usually packed street in the 5th (and around the corner from a famous Netflix Parisian apartment). Just moi, today.

August empties out France.

I imagine it like a towel being rung dry after a fresh launder. Parisians, Lyonnais, Avignonnais, Bordelais, etc escape to their country homes or to the seaside and one of the busiest cities in the world becomes what you never thought it would…

Quiet.

And with that, the job opportunities go POOF! As I’m in the early stages of starting my business I have two choices:

1. To live in fear and anxiety and worry myself sick, or…

2. Accept it.  Embrace this time I have, do home improvement things around the apartment, enjoy the final days of my brother’s holiday here, and plan for the wild months ahead.

#2 as an option is a new leaf I’ve turned since relocating to Europe.  So much of my life has become healthier.  I eat cleaner, walk longer, stress less.  But so much of my life has shifted in other ways- I drink wine almost everyday (say bonjour to Sancerre, wildly considered a “Breakfast Wine”), have a cheeky ciggie when the mood strikes (I don’t want to hear it), ride public transport and have a fat-heavy diet, even when I try not to. My face is exposed to more pollution than ever before and I’m consistently wading through bureaucratic barriers that leave one in tears.

Everything is harder, but much sweeter.  There’s not “go sit in your car and think.”  Sometimes you have to scream at tourists to get out of the way (Paul and Linda from Ohio, Je ne regrette rien!). Answers are given out as riddles, and top it off in a different language. And on the subject of starting one’s own business in a foreign nation with zero contacts, well. It can be terrifying.

But why the month long holiday, you may ask? Well my darlings, I have to say it is far and away a more civilized way to live. Not everyone I know takes off the entire month, but at least a two week chunk is normal for all I know. There was a time when French factories closed in August, thereby putting many workers around the country on a similar time table. One assumes that as the years progressed, this became a habitual occurrence in the summers of all citizens, and has stuck to this day. Cafes shut down, the theatres go dark. Markets are paused until the winds of September rouse them from their slumber. There’s not a whole lot to do.

So what’s one to do when the work dries up?

1. We deep clean the apartment. My darling little pied-à-terre had a complete Sorcerer’s Apprentice clean up yesterday after my brother vacated back to the States. All clothes, bedding, towels, blankets, etc went to the Laundromat, the mop was used, the Windex spritzed, the floors vacuumed twice. Even took a lemon to the shower doors. Amazing.

2. We take ourselves on dates to museums around the city. Yesterday it was the Musée Carnavalet, tomorrow, who knows!

   

   From the museum but also how I feel on the inside.

3. We plan cheeky day trips outside of town… more to come on that.

4. We write. Hello.

5. We create new recipes and plan menus for our next catering events.

6. We stay off the hate websites and block those who send us repugnant messages.

7. We wake up at 5:30am trying to update our internal schedule. This isn’t necessarily fun but, we’re becoming an early riser!

8. We remember that everything is Figureoutable.

9. We twiddle our thumbs.

10. We search Leboncoin (French Craigslist but so, so, so much better) for deals on antiques. Look at this Bird’s Eye Maple Wood marble top end table I scored! FYI this would retail for about $500 in the USA. Here? Um… the cost of about 10 tacos.

    

11. We peak at the dating apps and pray for our future partners. It’s a harsh world out here, y’all.

12. We finish books and dream up our Book Club.

13. Looking at our needlepoint canvases but stop ourselves because then we’ll become far too antisocial if we dive back into our favorite hobby.

14. We make lists. What we are enjoying, what we don’t want to continue.

15. We make a creamy Green Goddess salad dressing because sometimes, you can only control what you can control.

Any of my fellow business owners, start up CEOs, those who control their own payroll or those who manage their own calendars have any advice how not to become downtrodden until their season starts up again?

Bisous bisous,

ASF

xx