France: My postman is on fire

LITTLE-known facts about France, from a review of Graham Robb's new book, "The Discovery of France", in the Daily Telegraph:

Until the 1930s, postmen in the area of the south known as les Landes
were still delivering letters on great stilts that gave them a speed
over land of 8mph.

Cheery messages [were] written on lavatory doors by 19th-century peasants
competing for fertiliser from tourists: "'Ici on est bien' ('It's nice
here'), 'Ici on est mieux' ('It's nicer here') or 'Ma questo Ã¨
necessario'."

Mme de Genlis's phrasebook for stagecoach travellers [included]
the lines "The wheels are on fireâ€¦ I am suffering greatly. I am going
to vomit. Give me the vase".