 |
| Ed holding the flag at the village memorial service 8th May 2017 |
Every year on the 8th
May a small ceremony is held in our village to commemorate Victory in Europe
Day; a public holiday in France.
 |
| Flowers laid at a grave in the village cemetery |
This year, just before the
official ceremony at the memorial a moment of silent reflection was observed at
a simple grave in the village cemetery; the resting place of Fernand Prevost,
aged 18, who was shot dead by the SS troops just outside the village in July
1944.
Now we have sadly lost our old
soldiers, the holding of the flag has been passed on to the younger generation
and Ed did us proud once more. I think he is hoping that photos like the one
above will help him with his French nationalisation request in a few years.
 |
| The vin d'honneur |
As usual, after the ceremony
we gathered in the Salle des Fêtes for a vin d’honneur (wine of honour) and
aperitifs. It seemed only a few hours since we had been drinking aperitifs with
some of the villagers, which if I’m honest it was, in celebration of another
victory for Europe, the defeat of Marine Le Pen.
 |
| Bureau de vote |
I had helped man the bureau de
vote on Sunday afternoon, where strict controls and counts are kept on who
arrives to vote. I checked their voting cards and date stamped them, initialled
a register and sent them off to the voting cubicle. Upon their return I got to
open the slot in the ballot box and then we all cried out “A Voté” (voted) as
the envelope slipped in. My colleague then requested their signature on another
copy of the register and handed their cards back. Despite the seriousness of
the event, all this was done with the usual kisses, handshakes and conversation
that is normal in a French village and made me feel included even if I had no
right to vote.
 |
| Awaiting the national results |
Our village had a turnout of
190 voters and Macron won with 56% of votes, slightly less than the national
average and it was a very close count at one point. With the hope other towns
and villages would follow our trend I began to relax a little about our future
for the first time in a few weeks. Once the official voting documents had been
deposited at the local Gendarmarie, the aperos were served and we all gathered
around to await the eight o’clock announcement on French TV as to who was
likely to be our president. An hour of light hearted political banter followed
before we all made our way home, relieved and happy.
It certainly has been an
action-packed couple of days in our quiet village.
You might also like to read my previous VE Day posts from 2013 (here) and 2016 (here).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please don't be shy, I love to hear from you.