When I received an e-mail from the English Osteopath in the south of France asking me to vote for her in the regional round of the Prix des Femmes, I naturally did so. I looked at the other three candidates sponsored by Nice-Matin and was convinced a Brit would have no chance against French opposition, especially since one of them seemed to be a politically correct, human rights type.
Today I received this e-mail.
Well with your help… we did it!!
Rachael, our osteopath who was nominated by the Nice Matin, to be this regions candidate for the Prix des Femmes, to find the woman who has contributed most to her community, WON the public vote…
Rachael has not only set up two osteopathic practices, runs a community pilates class for those with back pain, but she also set up and is the current President of a charity whereby she and other osteopaths give their time for free to treat disabled children, children from low income families and young african children brought to France to undergo life saving heart operations.
So in 3 weeks time the Nice Matin is flying her to Paris to meet the other 14 regional finalists and to have a (non competitive), (yeah right) lunch to meet with the jury to decide the top 3 with a prize of 10,000 euro.
As the only British woman to have ever got this far we are understandably really proud, and would like to thank those of you for reading the previous email and acting on it or by reposting it to your friends and putting it on your social networking sites, which we heard that some did.
Apparently Rachael won the most votes out of the entire nationwide candidates, which says a lot for our lovely international/expat community and the power of a mass marketing emai!!
Thank you again.
Rachel is a delightful lady, full of energy, and treats the injuries of those who work on the boats along the Riviera as well as all her charitable work. I am delighted she has won this round and wish to apologise to the French for my unworthy thoughts. They are not, thankfully, all like Sarkozy.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Sheona – Never apologise to the French for anything.
OZ
I do occasionally feel sorry for them, OZ. They have a lot to put up with, naming no names!
Take France as it comes.
One of my friends is French. Well, she was born in France and raised in Pape’ete.
She speaks French, English, Hawai’ian, and Tahitian. We always have a good time when we
get to chat or, even more rarely since I foolishly left Hawai’i, meet in person. We can tease each other
mercilessly with good humour and no offence taken by either side. I also had a classmate from France who was a lot of fun. Good natured, easy-going, and similarly unperturbed by my constant teasing — especially since I can actually take it, not just give it.
Then there is the little wench who went off on me for now being PC about France and glorifying the French Resistance and daring not to be burdened by war guilt. I told her to shut up and get me a cappuccino with a piece of apple tart before I order an invasion of Paris.
Christopher, this war guilt thing is something the French have been using against the Germans for fifty-odd years.
http://www.euractiv.com/enlargement/jouyet-german-reunification-easy-accept-paris/article-187174
To my mind this is on a par with the French parading their “grands mutilés de guerre” in front of the participants at the Versailles treaty negotiations. Did they think their troops were the only ones who suffered?
Sheona: yes, that is very true. The article was greatly amusing. It’s very telling about the state of the EU.
The UK and the rest are largely irrelevant.. It’s set up to be a marriage of France and Germany
with the others being the “friends” pitted against the other when one side isn’t happy about how
things are going in the relationship. As with many marriages of the incompatible, no amount of counselling will get two partners with truly irreconcilable differences to live with each other. The longer it lasts, the more the “friends” are pitted against the other, the nastier the inevitable failure will be.
France seems to have a way of getting away with everything. The French were as guilty of starting the First World War and just as guilty of crimes, as everyone else. They simply blamed Germany. At long last, however, it seems that their “wot, it wosn’t me, gov” attitude isn’t working as well any more — especially those with long memories of being at the weaker end of relations with France, such as the Vietnamese and West Africans, are growing more able to get their own stories heard.
The Americans haven’t always been that great about it, either.
Things are a lot better than they used to be, but there is still a sense among many that German history began in 1933 and ended in 1945. I still remember people throwing rocks at me while asking me about Hitler when I was younger.
I’m not actually very sure that people ought to compete for charitable works.
Strikes me as offensive that she should allow herself to be put forward.
Sorry, but the whole thing sounds a total lip wrinkler in my book.
I have to admit that I dodge the expat community here like the plague, they are all English anyway!
The expat community on the Riviera is actually very international, Christina. All the young people who crew the yachts are from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, the USA – the anglophone world. There are some Brits too, as well as Scandinavians. There is a certain “set” of older Brits, but I don’t bother with them.
I think if there is a “competition” to reward contributions to the community, there is no reason why anyone should refuse to let their name be put forward. I’ve tried to wrinkle my lips, but am not sure of the technique.