busker

Upping the vigil ante

20:00hrs, Marie-Laure drops in and I invite her along to the Carol/Michael Gormley vigil on the Green.

"À quoi ça sert, cette vigile?" she asks - What purpose does it serve, this vigil? she asks.

Do we take money? Candles? Mes expressions les plus sincères? My most devout expressions?

I confess I really don't know *what* practical use these gatherings serve?

I had to smile at that phrasing. Back in the late 1960s, French folkiste Hugues Aufray "owned" the Dylan canon, singing translations of his songs in beguiling French.

Don't Think Twice's opening line, "It ain't no use to sit 'n' wonder why, babe" translated into

"A quoi ça sert chercher à comprendre?"

Literally, "To what does it serve to seek to understand ...?"

How I rolled and gargled my newly acquired gallic 'airrs'.