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 è
necessario'."Mme de Genlis's phrasebook for stagecoach travellers [included]
the lines "The wheels are on fire… I am suffering greatly. I am going
to vomit. Give me the vase".
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quote "Ah, what larks: Rogue Riderhood, Bradley Headstone, Miss Ninetta Crummles (the Infant Phenomenon), Mr Dick, Barkis, Joe the Fat Boy, The Golden Dustman, Mr Wemmick's dad, Mrs Gummidge, Mr William Guppy, Jerry Cruncher, Bullseye, Harold Skimpole..."