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A world without colour


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I know a few babies now, and they're surrounded by pastel shades.  Cuddly toys are white with pale blue stripes, or, even worse, a selection of shades of beige (Billy Connolly moment here).  Pictures are pastel, with pale grey frames.   Must be dull being a French baby, no contrasts to feast your little alien eyes on.

Then they go to school.  There's no school uniform, so you'd think they'd go wild and wear what they want.   But I regularly see 800 of them spilling out of my son's collège, and it's just a sea of black and grey and dark blue.  Now and again maybe a splash of red, or a girl in a white jacket, but that's it.  No interesting haircuts or discernible fashions or anything.

And we've all seen the brown interior decor. 

Where does the fear of colour come from?   How I long to see a yellow-and-red Mohican, or anything that showed individuality and joy.  Shocking pink, shiny lime green, anything would do, I'd be soooooo happy!  

Tell me, do bright colours and exciting fashions still exist in the non-France world?  It's so long since I've been there.......    

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SB you should come to our house for lunch. Our living room is orange on one wall and lime green on the other! but wait till the girls come home I`m convinced they are colourblind, I have just put the clothes back in the wardrobe that the youngest wanted to put on this morning: sky blue t shirt denimskirt with flowers on it and pink stripy tights(bought at ethel austin uk), and have instead put her on  a lilac and purple striped polo neck pull ,denims with studs on and a pink zip fleece.....both these outfits would have had the same red/maroon patent leather boots(hence the no no to the tights!)

I hadn`t realy thought about it but now you mention it ,yes all the kids in the primare do look the same, must take more notice when I next go to the clothes shops, but my 2 always go for gaudy/Bright especialy the youngest who would look like Barbie everyday!

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Interesting observations.

I used to teach in a HE college which was "twinned" with an institution in France and with which we had an exchange programme. The French students were frequently dressed in brightly coloured clothes which contrasted with the British grunge clothing.

Incidentally, during a visit of our students to France, one girl complained to her host family of feeling ill and then gave birth!

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[quote]SB you should come to our house for lunch. Our living room is orange on one wall and lime green on the other! but wait till the girls come home I`m convinced they are colourblind, I have just put the...[/quote]

I was told that Brits dress in the dark and have no mirrors. That's why they are so easy to spot here.

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<<the trend is obviously not to look like their mammies dressed them....>>

But that's exactly what they do look like!   It's very rare to see a French person who dresses in anything remotely eye-catching or noticeable.   I'm not a great fan of the grunge look, but at least it is a statement of some sort. 

Ah well.  I guess I'm just a fan of novelty and bright shiny things. 

Spent a whole euro today on a big fat magazine called Citizen K, full of designer ads by Luis Vuitton et al.   Absolutely gorgeous, a feast for the eyes.  My faith in the world is restored, it was worth a euro to know that colour still exists out there.    Lots of pics of the lovely Monica Bellucci too, I taught her everything she knows about beauty ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

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[quote]She must have been pregnant?[/quote]

So one would have thought. But she was a rather large girl and no-one noticed. She, reportedly, was unaware of her condition as were her fellow students. She was (to nod in the direction of the thread title) blessed with a mass of curly red hair.
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This thread is terrible, it's forced me to think back to today's classes to see if I can remember any bright (as in colour) pupils. Well, I was wearing bright red, does that count? Then I've got one who has a selection of shocking pink tops and another who has great glittery pink trainers, but I think it stops there.

I often feel that the french desperately want to avoid standing out, even more than the Brits. Being different isn't easy here.

A good memory of today's lessons was a 3ieme we haven't seen for a while bringing her month old baby in to show us. Now I think about it, she (the baby) was dressed in tasteful beige.

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[quote]I know a few babies now, and they're surrounded by pastel shades. Cuddly toys are white with pale blue stripes, or, even worse, a selection of shades of beige (Billy Connolly moment here). Pictures ...[/quote]

Come, come SB. You well know that if you live in an area of 300+ sunny days per year, you need an escappe from the endless burning golden sun, brilliant blue sky and sparkling azur sea.

BTW are your daffs out yet ?

Peter

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yes my daffs have been nodding their heads for a couple of weeks too. Youngest got her way with the striped tights flowery denim skirt sky blue coat on top of pink/purple jumper  with the red/burgundy boots today! passed a baby wear shop on our outing.....colour co-ordinated baby clothes /toys/cot linnen etc all in varying shades of beige. I had a work friend about 20 years ago,who at the time must have been aproching 60. who said she had told her husband that if she got old and senile he had better not dress her in a beige overcoat as she would haunt him in years to come  this thought has stayed with me ...and I hate beige/cream Mrs O
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<<BTW are your daffs out yet ?>>

Are my daffs out?   What kind of question is that to ask me?   I don't know if my daffs are out or not, but my plastic rose bush is still in full flower.

Come and see it sometime, turn right at the vet.....

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[quote]<<BTW are your daffs out yet ?>> Are my daffs out? What kind of question is that to ask me? I don't know if my daffs are out or not, but my plastic rose bush is still in full flower...[/quote]

We're talking in riddles here : Do you live in the quarry ?

Ho ho

Peter

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It's probably permissable outcast.

After all, the BNP would like a world without colour, wouldn't they? In fact, beige would probably be at the limit of acceptable depth of colour.

Joke, joke, joke, everyone, before I get told i'm  bickering/ranting.

tresco

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