Tricolor in windows

[Loiseau]

Well, anyone seen any in the windows today - as requested by the President?

I have driven - well, not exactly the length and breadth of France today, but 4 hours from the hinterland of Lorient to the wilds of north-west Vendée - and not seen a single one. During my drive, I listened to a variety of French radio stations and their interviews with people who claimed to have put, or not put, flags in their windows or on their cars.

Some said they wanted to do it from solidarity, or because they remembered ww2 and felt that the liberty thus won should be evoked.

Others had not done it because:

they could not find a shop that had any flags left (I did think at that point that if a similar situation had arisen in the UK, The Sun newspaper would have printed a flag in full colour on a double-page spread for its readers to display!);

they worried what the neighbours would think, if they lived in an area with many Muslims;

they felt the tricolour had been hijacked by the FN;

they felt that the tricolor itself made too much of a statement, and that maybe something else more neutral could have been chosen.

So did you see many tricolors on show today where you live?

Angela

[Chancer]

None.

 

I can see the point about the FN, a real shame but I have to admit that most of the time I see a St Georges cross it is being displayed what looks to be the sort of person I would not want to associate with.

 

But then one of the nicest, kindest, gentlest and most generous persons that I know had exactly the same effect on me when I first met him at a party some 25 years ago, I thought he was a Hells Angel.

 

I have found a flagpole holder quite cheap in Toolstation France but forgot to add it to my order today.

 

It will be un projet for me as they say, maybe a tricoleur, an EU flag and a Commonwealth one. 

[Gardian]

Yes - saw 3 today.

[Loiseau]

I think you had better lay in a stock of flagpole holders, Chancer! Come 1 July 2016 in your area there will be quite a need for flag- flying!

Angela

[Cendrillon]

I have only seen the pictures of them on the internet as am not in France today.

There was a rather saucy photo (from Marseille I think) someone had hung 3 bras from their balcony,

 colours, bleu , blanc et rouge! [;-)]

A French friend of mine said she was not going to display a flag as she is very anti Hollande and did not want to support his ideas. Instead she said she would like a candle in memory of those that lost their lives..

[mogs]

We have a flag pole and 2 weeks ago flew the tricolour at half mast.

We also have a St Georges flag and a union jack. Each is put out as a mark of respect depending on the occasion.

[andyh4]

Good question Angela.

Having driven 2 hours to hospital today and 2 hours back by a different route, I doubt if I saw a dozen flags including those outside of public buildings.

Admittedly a lot of the route is through countryside, but I did traverse several towns.

[EuroTrash]

I suppose if you live in the Elysées palace and only have to snap your fingers for someone to produce a flag of whatever size you want, you forget that the great unwashed don't generally have flags in their drawers, as it were.

[Lehaut]

And judging them by their habits in public toilets, I dread to think of the state of the unwashed parts in their drawers!

About 2 dozen in a 15 minute drive, one half mast at a lorry factory.