Carnaval au Plateau

by HilltopperIt ws a sweet day atop the hill, 150 meters above sea

level. I’d managed to nab one of the tables outside the cafeand now I sat enjoying a coffee under a temperate sun.

The only snag was that, once again, I was trying tocompose a letter to the Council’s planning departmentabout a proposal to build too much, too close, in arestricted space, with subterranean basementsthreatening the water table. How many times do I haveto write the same letter to the same cloth-earedauthorities? But this one presented a new, morechallenging difficulty: it had to be in French.

For I was in Poitiers, and it was Carnaval. The crowdencircling me was quite unable to keep still because ofthe throb of insistent African drumbeats across thesquare. Both the blue-clad drummers and the onlookersbecame covered in confetti (on sale in large bags at everycorner), and then stilt walkers swirling blue streamersfrom pods on their backs finished the job.

Finally, the growing tumult heralded the approach ofthis year’s Giant, the three-story high willow and ironfigure of Madame Carnaval. That evening, after enjoyinga lamb stew for 2,000 prepared by a stockpot of localcooks, the revellers followed Madame Carnaval to themain square where a fiery end normally awaits theCarnaval giant. But no, perhaps because this was asoInternational Women’s Day, she was spared; instead agiant mock birthday was steered into the fire pit.

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