Blue Laws, French-style

BLUE LAWS? Most in the U.S.  have either been repealed, declared unconstitutional, or are not enforced, but they haven't all disappeared. They persist, in the U.S. and all over the Western world. Even in post-Revolution guillotinons-les France, where separation of church and state is, in theory, sacrosanct.

Blue laws were created to enforce religious (Christian) standards and ensure the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and to that end, restrict Sunday shopping.

I'm most familiar with the Massachusetts Blue Laws, which place restrictions on business openings on Sundays and holidays. In the past, retailers weren't allowed to open before noon on Sundays, but a 1994 change to the Massachusetts' laws permits retailers to open at any time on Sundays without specific approval by the Department of Labor, and without a special local police permit.

[Amusing aside: click on the link dumb laws in Massachusetts to go to a web site listing laws such as the following, not necessarily Blue Laws, but well deserving of a brief aside: 

At a wake, mourners may eat no more than three sandwiches. 
Snoring is prohibited unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked. 
An old ordinance declares goatees illegal unless you first pay a special license fee for the privilege of wearing one in public. 
Taxi drivers are prohibited from making love in the front seat of their taxi during their shifts. 
All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday. 
It is illegal to go to bed without first having a full bath. 
A woman can not be on top in sexual activities. 
No gorilla is allowed in the back seat of any car. 
Tomatoes may not be used in the production of clam chowder. 
Quakers and witches are banned.

A few comments: 1) even though I love a good Manhattan chowder, if you don't get the tomato-chowder law, you're clearly not a Yankee; 2) the law banning witches probably has no real impact on the activities of those practicing the craft (my brother can verify); 3) the ban on going to bed without a full bath is eco-insensitive; and 4) the law permitting snoring in premises where the doors and windows are locked down tight should in fairness be extended internationally to protect those inside the premises as well. Snoring is not culture-specific...sigh.] End aside, back to France.

A semblance of Blue Laws exists in France, as well as in other European countries. If you've ever visited France, you know that most retailers are closed on Sundays, especially in the tiny towns and villages around the countryside. They close up shop at 7 p.m. on Saturday and don't re-open before Monday or Tuesday morning. Sunday shopping is supposedly a no-no. However (surprise, surprise) there are exceptions in certain zones and municipalities of larger cities like Paris, Marseilles, Lille, Nice, Bordeaux, and in numerous smaller cities that have been declared as tourist sites. And most major stores across France open on the Sunday just before Christmas. Are you noticing a trend here? "Money, money, money...it's a rich man's world"

French supermarkets are allowed to open on Sunday mornings but have to close by 1 p.m. En principe, hypermarkets are not allowed to open. In 2009 French laws were relaxed to allow all stores to open in tourist areas; pre-2009 only sports, toys and cultural shops could open. Now clothing stores open every Sunday in hot spots such as the Champs Elysées and La Défense in Paris, for example...  

So why can supermarkets open Sunday mornings but not hypermarkets? Because French laws governing Sunday shopping are convoluted. Articles L.3132-13 and R.313-8 of the code stipulate that only establishments whose exclusive or principal activity is the sale of retail foodstuffs have the right to open on Sunday mornings.

The French hypermarket Cora, similar in size and style to a Fred Meyer/Walmart store in the U.S., is testing that law in the south of France, and the CGT (Confédération générale du travail = French trade union) is taking legal action. If you read French, check the article in last week's Midi Libre: "Bataille de procédure autour de Cora Alès" 

CGT attorneys are requesting that Cora cough up facts and figures concerning employees and sales affected by the Sunday openings, which continue despite the legal action underway. Cora is countering by arguing that it doesn't need to provide any such information since the request is inadmissible and illegitimate. Their attorney is claiming that the requested data is highly sensitive information.

One figure Cora is willing to share: 53% of its sales are alimentary. Will this suffice to successfully challenge the current selective Blue Law allowing benefits to some establishments while barring others? Apparently the law does not clearly state exactly what percentage of sales must come from foodstuffs to qualify the establishment as one whose primary purpose is alimentary. I warned you: French laws are convoluted. Legalese is legalese; like witchcraft and snoring, it is not culture-specific (mes excuses to all my attorney friends, whom I hold in the highest respect). 

The court date is set for early September. Meanwhile, Cora Alès remains open Sunday mornings and the Alèsiens are shopping. They don't look particularly blue about it either.
_________________________________

BANALITES
je chante le charme fébrile
de tes yeux
qui chassent la lumière ordinaire
et embrassent
d'un geste céleste et invisible
le tendre tourbillon de mes désirs


QUESTION DE GOUT, OU D'IVRESSE
(1)
ta bouche timide, mais fébrile
délice céleste qui hésite
devient
tourbillon tranquille
qui m'avale
j'en rêve,
ivre.

(2)
Ta bouche peu timide qui n'hésite
Tes caresses libérantes qui m'excitent
Ta douceur tranquille qui m'invite
Au voyage


BREATHING
Your impenetrable difference firmly in hand
You erase me
With one undeviating stroke

Towards the unseen
Where barefoot I walk life's surface

The waters play beneath and I wonder
Will they carry
Or entice me into curious depths

For false equilibrium
Does not defy indefinitely

Nor resist
Insistent strokes of restoration

The fragile surface necessarily defeated


PASSE PRESENT
ton regard mécanique et vide
n'est jamais indolore
c'est un serpent invisible
pourtant sonore
qui enfonce dans mon ventre
d'un geste immobile
un désert immense
en mouvement inutile
inerte
et sans amour


AMOUR TROUBLE
fébrile, fragile et nue
je tombe dans l'oublie inerte d'un sommeil
qui me dévore
je délire
dans ce tourbillon étrange
dans ce mouvement immobile
je te cherche
dans la labyrinthe de mes souvenirs
ta beauté tranquille
ton regard peu ordinaire
tes cheveux
ton cou
tes joues
tes lèvres
ta bouche
ta langue
se révèlent dans la vapeur de mon rêve
et m'avalent de loin


NOISE
Rickety snickety
You do spew bile
Wouldn't you rather just 
be
a while?


SAMEDI JUILLET 2004
Une personne fragile
est comme une rose aveugle,
sans épines,
et un peu ridicule

peut-être


REPRISE POUR ISABELLE
comme une fée maléfique
habitée de fantômes
elle s'assit
dans le jardin brumeux

d'où son esprit las
de se regarder sans voir
jaugea le paysage
voilé de son coeur

chuchota miserere
puis se décida, s'en alla
l'espace d'une éternité
dans le silence pernicieux







 
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