Out with the old, on with the new

 

Already confused by the hour changing and the remains of my toxic virus l nevertheless determined to do the civic thang and see the new mayor in. Never seen it done in France. Was fondly remembering the mayoring in London where Bob and I became an item, which was a lot more fun:) - here there was speechifying.

Then there was voting. Its all alarmingly open. The entire team votes for their choice of leader, in a booth, one by one. The results are opened and read, one by one. Little OOhs of surprise as Georges was elected by all except four votes who named Bernard, see below.

Now, be aware that the elected team also consists of Jean Torrent, retired mayor, Francine his adjunte, Jean Fournier, town scholar and good egg, and Phillippe Rivano, head of the third liste. So this accounts for the four rogue votes - fair 'nuff.

Now you should also be aware that the same Bernard was elected six years ago on the ex-mayors' Jean Torrent's team as his adjunct.

He quit in the Torrent administrations early days, left town and has returned to re-run with George. So the people he junked have named him as prefered to George! Quite elegant, I thought.


More voting later for the adjunct. Again into the booth, the envelope, the box, the count. All for Bernard but the four, three tokenistic and one spoilt. Maybe this aint so dull after all...

The bloke from the Council General gave out the sashes and George addressed us.

He thanked everyone - everyone - but the outgoing mayor. Then he said that he had to get to work straightaway, there was lots to do - he wouldn't leave it until the start of the next election. Yes, it was a dig.
We wait with interest to find how easy he finds it to get things done hereabouts:) He thanked his wife for moving here, leaving her country to be with him and rather bigging up the fact that he himself hasn't lived here for years. Lets hope he dosen't get the same sort of shock that we Brits get when first coming here, the snails pace of daily commerce. If you're lucky.

I missed the next event, alas - the commemoration of the war dead and the visit to General Lafites grave - since my coughing and wheezing were getting worse. Also missed the town photo and the apero afterwards which shows how ill I feel. Did suggest to Georges that it would be a Good Thing to name a space after Micheal Lafite and that the banks of the Aude behind his house and the war memorial were a perfect spot; he said he'd see.