A French tradition that used to surprise me, is the ritual end-of-year buying of the calendar from ...... the postman, the dustman and the fire brigade!!
We may have come a long way from the delicious Jaques Tati playing a postman in the wonderful film Jour de Fete (an essential part of French culture if ever there were one), but there is still a certain affection for the postman who somehow seems to slip into the intimacy and the efficient running of our everyday lives.
So it is that as from mid November, we can expect a knock at the door, often in the evening, and open to find a familiar face, still in uniform, brandishing a pile of not particularly attractive calendars for sale.
There is no fixed price, it is for the client to give as he or she sees fit, and that's where the subtlety comes in to play..... While I have never heard of rubbish being strewn across the drive, letters being lost, or house fires neglected chez someone who had been miserly with their Christmas tips..... there is always a niggling doubt.....a superstition . As if giving generously may in some way protect us from unpleasant incidents.
The firemen say that the money they collect is handed over to families of firemen lost in service. I don't think the postman or the dustman can offer the same explanation, but still we give.
How about you? Does this happen where you live, or how would you react if it did?
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