I’ve just been reminiscing about Paris and Fireman’s balls. One summer I had three in one night. On Bastille Day/ night before all the firestations in Paris (and possibly elsewhere?) open up their courtyards and put on big parties or Bals des pompiers. They open up bars to sell beer but I think we brought our own vin rouge in plastic bags.
Anyway, I’ve always wondered what would happen if the city went up in flames. I mean what with all those fireworks going off it’s quite likely that there would be a few small fires. Would the firemen put down their drinks, slide down their poles and run off to attend to the fires?
The Storming of the Bastille, 1789
14-Jul-05 at 4:02 pm | Permalink
My grandpops is away to some sort of Bastille Day thing today, I think. He is a saucy Frenchman called Jean. Mad props to him and his moustache, and his fighter pilot haircut.
I like the image of lots of drunken firemen rushing to put out a fire, all running into each other, landing on each other as they slide down the poles and stuff, shouting ‘merde!’, and accidentally making the fires worse, throwing water on chip pans and things.
14-Jul-05 at 11:07 pm | Permalink
I’m listening to La Marseillaise and drinking plenty of vino but I still feel like an internet loser.