French waiters rude? Surely not..

A waiter in a Canadian restaurant is trying to sue his employer for dismissing him for "aggressive and bullying behaviour". His defence was that it ignored his cultural heritage, being French.  A few years ago the mairie of Paris mounted a campaign with the capital's waiters, taxi drivers and other service workers to be more polite to visitors. We think we all have an idea that the French notion of service does not always chime with our Anglo Saxon ideas, but surely it's not a cultural thing?
Taglines's bete noir is the check-out person who continues to chat with his/her friends ignoring the building queue. Any readers' experiences?
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Disappointment in Eurovision

The French entry sung by Alma finished a "disappointing" 12th in the 2017 Eurovision Song contest. This followed a creditable 6th last year. It appears the UK was delighted to finish 15th.
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A look behind the scenes

The Toulouse Theatre du Capitole is open to the public on 6th and 7th May (ie next weekend) from 11h - 19h as part of the "Tous a l'opera" campaign.
As well as watching rehearsals and seeing how the opera house prepares a production there will be discussions and exhibitions. The idea is to bring the opera and ballet to a wider public rather than the elitist image they possess at present.
24 opera houses throughout France will take part and France 3 TV will broadcast a ballet "La Reine Morte" by Kader Belabi, the director of Toulouse Opera, and a documentary showing how children can become involved, recorded at the Montpellier opera.
However, the programmes will be broadcast at midnight on Saturday, not quite so inclusive one might think.
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Asterix still best seller

The best-seller list for French books in 2015 is headed by the latest Asterix "Le Papyrus de Cesar", with 1.6 million copies sold. Second place is taken by the 4th volume of EL James "Shed" saga (the other volumes are 5th, 8th and 15th!). Popular novels occupy several places, with Michel Houellebecq's "Soumission" in 5th place being the best selling "literary" title. Thrillers feature well in the top 50 but no block-busters and literary prizes are no guarantee of high sales. The list is compiled by "Livres Hebdo" magazine but makes no mention of books downloaded for reading on electronic media.
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Malc says "What slip of the mind made me put "Shed saga" for the EL James book - perhaps "50 Sheds" was just that bit better than "50 Shades of Grey".

Tale of two singers

The papers are full this morning of the death of Michel Delpech, who was one of the country's favourite "chanson" practitioners - that style of song that is so typically French. In the 70's Delpech led a "hippy" lifestyle, moving to the country and promoting alternative values through a string of hits. president Hollande today says that Delpech incarnated the spirit of the 70's. He died from cancer aged 69.
In a poll to find France's favourite personality, singer Jean-Jacques Goldman was top for the 6th time in the twice yearly poll. The list is dominated by showbiz personalities, with Simone Veil being the highest politician and woman, at No 2. We sang one of Goldman's songs last year in Becky Brown's Voices choir - I  thought it had a good tune but trite lyrics, typical of so many "chansons".
Sadly, Delpech did not figure in the top 50.
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