Normally, as I said to my friend Katt, when it comes to nightlife, bugger all goes on round here.
Where I live, there are no bars within walking distance, marathon running distance maybe, but I am not a marathon runner and neither is Katt.
So, when we saw that Mathilde Paris, the proprietor of the Bulot Gourmande restaurant in the village of Fruges was holding a party to celebrate the restaurant’s first very successful year we jumped at the chance to have a girls night out. Not only was it a chance to get out and have fun but it was also being held at the Domaine de la Traxène, the local “castle farm” which I’ve passed umpteen times and have been itching to get in and have a look as its gone from a total wreck to a restored beauty in the last couple of years.
The evening was due to start at 8.00 pm and we arrived on time. It was a Mexican themed night and there was a band and dancers; Mathilde (dressed as a cactus!) and her family of helpers were handing out big strong glasses of punch. French people tend to eat dinner much later than Brits or Americans so we sat for the first course around 10.00 pm and by then we were pretty happy!
I must tell you, French people really know how to let their hair down! I don’t know if its because as I said bugger all happens, so when it does they make the most of it or if they really just like to party. Put on a dancing tune though and it seems you can’t keep a Frenchman or woman down. We had Mexican dancing, line dancing, disco dancing, ball room dancing and cha chas!
We had singing too and I was utterly amazed that so many people knew the words to Irish folk songs. It seems that they’re very popular in this area of France and actually even the lovely lady from the Netherlands on our table knew the words.
I have no idea what time they stopped dancing. Katt and I being the lightweights that we are left in the early hours of the morning and they were all still going strong.
We left them boogying on down to Mambo No. 5 as we drove through the quiet and deserted country lanes…
A bientôt Janine
