BBQ en France

I went to a barbecue in France the other day. It was organised by the church for people who were old, like me. It started at noon, but I decided to be fashionably late and headed there for just after 1pm.

The location was a private house in the north of Paris. Since I live in the south, it was not difficult to be late. Here is a photo I took from the train during my journey on the "A" line, one I have not used before.

High Rise

 In Paris, most people live in flats. Big, usually rectangular, blocks of concrete. Here some Chinese people appear to have emulated the living conditions but with much more style! Notice also the clouds. This is barbecue day!

But to my arrival, I was over 1 hour late and I was the 4th guest there. All men, and drinking beer in the garden. No sign of a fire anywhere. I had brought a soft drink and I was not up on the world cup. "You're British?" was the comment, "but no beer and no footie?" They declared me a 'sub-standard Brit' and I was welcomed in (sub-standard Brit is probably an advantage in France).

Slowly over the next 2 hours, others arrived.

Helpers, more chiefs than Indians as usual

With the clouds in mind, our host decided to find his canopy, old and with one bit missing (not to mention the instructions) but no-one appeared to care. We got the thing up, and just in time before the rain. In time lots more people arrived so we had to decamp indoors where there was more room.

The barbecue is on the back corner of the photo, behind the swing. It was soon going and it produce loads of meat, as usual, but this is France, so there were loads of nibbles too. 2 ladies in the kitchen had been working hard and different sorts of food kept coming.

There was wine too. The gentleman on the left of the photo knew which were the best ones. And he placed some aromatic twigs on the barbecue to subtly add to the burnt taste.

This is church, so we had some inspirational time before the desert - then loads of sweet lovely stuff appeared. More wine and coffee or hot chocolate. And then the cheese! Which for France is unthinkable because it was after the desert. But our host had forgotten so we had the cheese English style.

Not forgetting that this is World Cup season, we vegetated round the TV for the Brazil match. Football is much better with a crowd of enthusiasts! Brazil won, just, on the very last penalty after extra time. So it was late when I set off for home in the rain.

So there it is, my first French barbecue. Rather like an English one (especially the weather) but with fancy bits.