The local shop/ bar/ café is the centre of village life.
I watch the greeting rituals. For some its four kisses (very fast precise head movements required to ensure that the cheeks are in precisely the right place), for others two kisses and for some just one kiss, and then of course the more formal handshake.
Just as you think you have mastered who gets four kisses, who gets two etc etc.. the rules change. As you launch the top half of your body towards the left cheek for the kissing marathon, of someone that has been getting four kisses for the last six months, you are presented with a hand, so with a backward stumble you try to return the composed handshake.
A man, an acquaintance, has just arrived, as I am paying for my baguette, for his morning aperitif. I passed him a few moments ago as he was relieving himself by the side of the road. Bonjour Madame, he says as he firmly grasps my hand.. I pick up my baguette in the other hand and politely say, Bonjour Monsieur….
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