Drinking the French way If you want to drink as we do…
The Week has reprinted this letter to The Independent.
I am French and have been living in England for 15 years, and am greatly enjoying the debate on binge drinking and the licensing laws. It is always very exciting to watch the British people comparing themselves to other countries. And also very endearing because it brings up so many insecurities and vulnerabilities.
First, I wonder if there is not something genetic about the way you drink. We have alcoholics in France. In fact, I remember very well the couple in my family about whom I learned the lovely expression ‘l’ethylisme bourgeois’. Discreet, courteous, addicted yet never excessive. But even when it’s not bourgeois, I don’t remember seeing in France the kind of violent behaviour I have seen here. In this country, it’s almost an allergic reaction to alcohol. I know a very well-behaved man who will utter crazed, aggressive nonsense at the dinner table. Quite freaky.
My second point is about heavy-drinking English girls who want to work hard and play hard. Well, there it is, I think, in a nutshell. The Brits should work less hard. The work ethic in this country is the problem. Protestant work ethic has always been a problem. The longest working week in Europe, the most sick absenteeism and not the best-performing workforce either. There is a lot of guilt around work here, and not enough enjoyment.
If you want to learn to drink as we do, you must work less, you must learn to cook, learn to love to cook and to want to spend six hours in your kitchen, and to receive friends. You must enjoy being lazy and taking a long time for lunch breaks away from your office. You must learn to love discussing flavours, tastes, smells. Then, next time you open a bottle of wine in company, you may sit back on your chair instead of rushing for the next bottle. And without embarrassment, without guilt, you may exhale a great sigh, and sip, and take your time. Just take your time.
Pascale Gillet, London SW2
Posted by SJT at January 30, 2005 10:39 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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Must businesse thee from hence remove?
Oh, that’s the worst disease of love,
The poore, the foule, the false, love can
Admit, but not the busied man.
He which hath businesse, and makes love, doth doe
Such wrong, as when a maryed man doth wooe.
John Donne “Breake of Day”
Posted by: SJT ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.5jt.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 30, 2005 11:21 PM
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