…to be jolly? If suppose so, if you like that kind of thing.

Anyway, in these parts it’s definitely been the season for Christmas markets (marchés de Nõel). Every self-respecting village (as well as some that patently have no shame whatsoever) puts on a Christmas market at some point during the first two weekends of December.

Of course, none of them can compete for scale or duration with those held in the big cities – Paris, obviously, although the one in Strasbourg is particularly highly regarded. We went to the Bordeaux market one year: it was okay. These big ones, however, tend to run throughout December.

Locally, though, the Christmas markets are just one – or, more likely, half-day – affairs. It’s fair to say that they demonstrate varying degrees of success. Regrettably, Faire-Le-Dodo (87)’s offering could be said, in football terms, to occupy a mid-table position: by a long way not the worst, but it’ won’t be qualifying for Europe any time soon.

The biggest local fair, by a country kilometre, is the one at Blond: not just a marché de Noël but a foire aux chapons no less. I actually wrote a piece about this after we went to our first one, all of eleven years ago. It has the most stalls and the greatest variety of items for sale – notably the chapons (capons) themselves. Not to mention the number of people who turn up to it.

(If you’re wondering why the sign is upside down, it’s a protest – repeated in just about every commune around here – that was begun by the national association of young farmers. It signifies their view (no doubt more than justified) that the profits from agriculture are disproportionately skewed towards the big conglomerates, when the farmers,the producers, find themselves at the bottom of the pyramid.)

Of course, there have been some changes over the years. It’s not quite as big as it was a decade ago and the capon races are a thing of the past, brought down by a combination of outbreaks of avian flu, a pandemic and perhaps considerations in relation to animal welfare..

Now also, there seemed to be proportionately fewer non-food outlets, which at least means that there’s less Christmas tat on offer. We bought a barquette of freshly cooked frites for a few Euros and a large chunk of locally-cured ham for rather more Euros than I’d had in mind.

Never mind, I’m sure it will be delicious.