Fiddling while Paris Burns

Houston, we have contact. Connaissances has been down for the last two weeks due to a hard disk meltdown. So I've been endlessly rebooting with different CDs, calling friends to ask advice and seeking out experts. All to no avail. Luckily a friend had now loaned us an ibook they never learnt how to use, and after a bit of help from the friendly Jamel at Noos, we're up and running again (although I do now have to visit Tunisia on my next available holiday...)

I'm sorry I haven't been able to leave any explanatory notes on the site for regular visitors. I haven't any other internet access. Juliana, you have been awaiting a response to your comment for two weeks, so sorry to you. However, I can't possibly tell you what that thing is in the photo below. Suffice to say, it does not bite.

Meanwhile Paris has been burning and I've missed the opportunity to comment on one of the most significant events in recent French history. Perhaps it's just as well, I read in the paper the other day that 3 French bloggers have been arrested for fanning the flames in their local towns.

What I can say is: on the 5th November, Guy Fawkes night, just after the rioting broke out, we attended the annual British bonfire evening in a churchyard in Maisons Lafitte. Halfway through, just as the flames were starting to leap high, a fire engine stopped outside and a load of firemen came rushing in. I didn't hear the altercations, but it seems they decided not to upset 500 or so Brits by trying to put the fire out. I think if they had done, there might have been a riot...

Others were not so lucky, another Guy Fawkes party nearby at Orgeval had a similar visit from the police and fire brigade. The crowd there was somewhat smaller and they were forced to dowse the flames with their own garden hose.