Félibrées, music evenings, summer meals on the Chateau Lalinde terrace, ducklings nestling into their mother's back, Godfrey the Goose adopted by swan parents, book launches, flowers in windows, art exhibitions under the stars, traditional music and dance in the streets, flower markets in the square, heritage and history, sunshine and blue skies ... once again summer in the Dordogne-Perigord is magic.
In France, everyone goes on holiday in July-August. Even the government is in recess. The result is a an abandon of music festivals, flower festivals, cultural festivals, traditional festivals -- and of course, in true French August fashion, a few political 'festivals' to add a little extra spice to events -- and to have something to print in the papers!
This year the scandal of the August Break was the Bettencourt/Woerth scandal: French President Nicolas Sarkozy had his time cut out to defend his beleaguered minister for labour and social affairs - and also the treasurer of Sarkozy's UMP party, who was accused by a former accountant of L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt of accepting an illegal contribution from Bettencourt of 150,000 euros (189,000 dollars) for Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. To add insult to injury -- and again almost to be expected from the modern French Court machinations, Woerth was also accused of conflict of interest because his wife, Florence, worked until recently for a company that managed Bettencourt's wealth. I defending Woerth, Sarkozy cited a report by a finance ministry investigating body that cleared Woerth of having intervened in the tax affairs of Europe's richest woman, and he advised Woerth to resign from his position as treasurer of the UMP.
Every Frenchman knew that the whole scandal was stirred up to give them something to read in the papers -- and what better to read than scandals involving beautiful heiresses, butlers' gossip, government ministers, money, sex and unpaid taxes? But, every Frenchman was also aware that the whole scandal was raked up to keep their attention away from the new reforms of the pension system. Sarkozy's government seeks to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 by 2018 - and the man in the street was not going to be happy about that. At all.A French prosecutor conducted three separate investigations into various aspects of the scandal, including one focusing on the allegations of illegal party financing and one on tax evasion and money laundering by the Bettencourts or their advisers - while the rest of France bronzed on the beaches or walked in the mountains during the long hot summer days - and debated about the culpability or innocence of their rich and famous and of the efficacy or incompetence of their president during the long, balmy summer's evenings.
