14 July

Today is 14 July and it's a public holiday in France. Called Bastille Day outside of France, it's an arbitrary date picked decades after the revolution to mark the founding of the French Republic. The actual Bastille at the time of the revolution was mostly empty and just a run down arms dump. Though the governor surrendered to avoid blood-loss the mob killed the guards and set free a handful of petty criminals - there were no political prisoners in the fort at the time.

France has been many things since, including republics, monarchies, empires, occupied nation... Currently we're on the 5th republic setup in 1958, replacing the 4th republic. You would think they would have managed to get it right by now, but there are clear problems with the current system and Madame Le Stylo is a clear and present danger.

Traditionally there is a big fireworks display every year. In the past years Saint-Malo has had a pretty good display, with music and lots of bangs and wooshes. This year because of the Olympics and emergency service staff being sent to the capital, many towns have cancelled their public displays or scaled them back considerably.

We thought Saint-Malo had cancelled the display this year, but in fact at the last minute we discovered there would be a mini light and sound display outside the town hall, so we got on our bikes and cycled down. In fact it was quite busy and the lights which we had expected to be lasers etc were in fact fireworks. The sound was a bit dull and repetitive, but overall the result was fun.

The extra is Le Fort National.

Back blip.

Vive la République ! Vive la France !

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité !