ANOTHER SUMMER IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE: THE TOMATOES & MELONS ROUTINE.
Summer of 2010: French people were exceptionally grumpy, more grumpy than usual. There were two reasons for their bad tempers. First, president Sarkozy’s government wanted the French to work longer, extending the retirement age from 60 to 62. It was unpalatable for the French. Although a previous socialist government had established the 35 hour-week to make work less demanding, trade unions still claim that French jobs are more stressful than those done elsewhere in Europe.
Second, the French soccer team, les bleus disgraced itself during the June-July 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The team’s farcical performance took place both on the pitch and off the pitch. Because they play for rich soccer clubs, French players are semi-gods spoiled by their millionaire salaries. In South Africa, the team rebelled against its hapless coach and the unruly players refused to train; it was reported that even French millionaires go on strike! France was shamed.
To lift their spirits, the French always organize mouth-watering meals. They grab their wicker baskets and eagerly go food shopping. The open-air markets of the south of France are gourmet landmarks where fresh sun-kissed fruits and vegetable are sold by local producers and vendors. These markets mostly offer Mediterranean produces; however, in summer melons and tomatoes are the kings and queens of the stalls. French melons are especially tasty and juicy. There are two superior melon varieties, the cavaillon comes from the Provençal city of the same name, and the charentais from the Charente region in western France. Over the years, melon quality has improved so much, that choosing one is no more a lottery. Heavy, round, green outside and orange inside, they are always good. “La France” gobbles about 5 tons of melons per day!
Tomatoes come in many sizes, shapes and colors; some are watery and others are meaty. There are some 177 varieties in France alone! However, the reigning star of Provence markets is the smooth-skinned coeur de boeuf. In English, it is known by the rather incongruous name of beefsteak tomato. Although more pricey than ordinary tomatoes, they are very much in demand for their rich taste and dense flesh. They are eaten raw with a dash of olive oil. In the United States, they are Martha Stewart’s favorites! This is obviously a reference to reckon with. Because beefsteak tomatoes cannot be industrially grown and mechanically harvested, they are regarded as the haute couture of tomatoes.
With such an overdose of vitamins, no wonder the people of the south of France are so hot blooded and hot tempered! Driving to the Provence markets can be a dangerous and exasperating experience as the locals’ short fuse are particularly evident on the road. The guy who charmingly sold you these juicy melons can bully you when sitting behind the steering wheel of his bashed up pick-up truck. The term “road rage” didn’t originate in France but it perfectly applies. Verbal insults, rude gestures and threatening driving manners are common practices. Good food, including melons and tomatoes may not be enough to make one’s stay in the south of France entirely pleasant.
Tired of being bullied on French roads? Visit Portugal and enjoy their peaceful roads and quaint rural markets. Not only are Portugal’s markets well provided with juicy tomatoes and sweet melons, but its people behave courteously on the road. Portuguese drivers in a rush are an unusual sight.
BARBARA, GARMIN AND I: DRIVING IN PORTUGAL
Portuguese people are patient with tourists and always ready to provide correct road directions, which the Global Positioning System (GPS) doesn’t always do. Travelers may find that Portugal is a country where the use of GPS is superfluous, and often counterproductive. Our Garmin GPS was persistently challenged during our trip to the Alentejo region in Portugal.
GPS was not added to tomatoes and melons in the title of this article because the use of GPS is anything but routine for many drivers everywhere and in Portugal more particularly. Portuguese is a language known for its excessive use of accents, all kinds of them. Accents are the worse enemies of GPS geeks frequently handicapped by their spelling deficiency. Misspelling locations equate misleading direction. “No Match found” flashes on the screen of the non cooperating device! This is crunch time for the humbled male drivers (usually) who have to turn to their wives or female companions for directions. Prudent wives tend to pull a life saving map from the glove compartment.
The summer of 2010 was the summer of GPS: cheap, portable, and versatile for everyone’s taste and budget but not for everyone’s spelling capacity! European newspapers were full of stories of marooned drivers ending up in the wrong place, and in the worse case scenario getting stuck in the wrong place. In July, a hapless German truck driver made news in the South of France when he got stuck at a railway crossing. His trailer was hit by a high-speed train, and his smashed cargo of shampoo bottles spilled on the track. It took hours to wipe it up, and traffic was disrupted for half a day. Fortunately there were no casualties. GPS has yet to carry built-in spell checks and dictionaries!
GPS has gone a long way since the 1980s when geologists like yours truly relied on the first non-military devices for direction. GPSs were heavy and clunky and accuracy was an afterthought! Lucky at the time to have one GPS with 200 meters accuracy! Coverage was also spotty; and in many locations, the good old compass was far more reliable.
The modern GPS is well-mannered bully; it wants you to blindly follow its instructions. When the driver doesn’t follow directions, or misses a turn, GPS doesn’t that he or she is an idiot, it says a firm “recalculating” when figuring out an alternative route. After a while, the female voice prompt “recalculating” gets on the driver’s nerves. Experience indicates that two people in a car and a GPS is a recipe for arguments unless the device is quickly switched off.
GPS proved worthless when touring medieval towns. Narrow streets put GPS to test. In the World Heritage city of Evora in Portugal, my friend Barbara and I experienced frustration with the poor performance of our Garmin GPS. One way, pedestrian streets were unsolvable impediments for GPS. We were going in circles around Evora’s main
Marvão Village, Alentejo.
square; the voice prompt kept recalculating. I was ready to throw the little black box out of the window. Barbara was losing patience with me and my infatuation with technology. Garmin was switched off and I stopped the car in front of a café where lads were watching a World Cup game. Concerned by our helplessness, two good looking young men volunteered to take us to the hotel. They didn’t believe we could find it by ourselves. Barbara got nervous until the moment one guy told her in English that he worked as a bartender in New York City. The atmosphere in the car improved tremendously.
Our hotel was located in a pedestrian street, no wonder Garmin could not take us there. From then on, we exclusively relied on two legged GPSs. In the process we made instant friendships, and discovered places we could not even have dreamed of. When travelling through a foreign country, we found that the obsessive use of GPS was anti-social. Drivers cut themselves off from the people and places they drive through. For me, nothing will ever replace a map to plan a trip, choose the roads and detours, and discover the off-the-road spots which will make your visit so enjoyable. Last summer, my one-track-minded Garmin GPS was very much underused. If it proved useful to drive to mundane locations like parking lots and supermarkets (providing I could spell the names properly), it was clueless when asked to take me to a specific opera house.
GPS’s points of interest are not always your points of interest.
Rio de Janeiro, 28 October 2010.
Beatrice Labonne.
1) The pension reform passed Congress in spite of social turmoil and disapproval by 70% of the French population.
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