Sacre Fromage Bleu, Homme de Chauve-Souris!
Été avec hors des vacances est comme Paris sans fois gras!*
With unemployment hovering at 10 percent, a growing number of French can no longer afford a traditional August getaway — a summer ritual that symbolizes the good life a la francaise.
“Holidays have gotten very expensive, and more and more employed people who used to go find that they can’t anymore,” said Jean Froidure, a tourism expert at the University of Toulouse. He called the trend “very worrisome.”
“The vacation is a potent symbol in French society, a visible sign of a certain social standing,” Froidure said. “Not going on vacation can cause people to lose confidence not only in their own future, but also in French society in general.”
The French don’t start to navel gaze until plans for their seven weeks off a year get impacted? That could explain a lot.
* “Holy blue cheese, Batman! Summer without vacation is like Paris without fatty distended goose liver!”
World Stuff | Mr. Bingley | 
August 18, 2005 10:26 am
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Look at the bright side. If there’s another heat wave in France, fewer elderly French citizens will die because there’s someone around to help them.
Always Mr. Sunny, aren’t you!
Yes, well, this particular subject really brings the cynic in me out into the open. Not that it’s hard to do that in the first place, mind you.