Wine Drinking in France - decline of

Wine drinking at the evening meal in France has been rapidly declining over the last few decades. This depresses me for many reasons, but one of them is expressed very well by this French commentator quoted on the BBC website today.

"Just look at the figures. In the 1960s, we were drinking 160 litres each a year and weren't taking any pills. Today we consume 80 million packets of anti-depressants, and wine sales are collapsing. Wine is the subtlest, most civilised, most noble of anti-depressants. But look at our villages. The village bar has gone, replaced by a pharmacy."

That final sentence is very telling and very true.

Another well expressed point is this one:

"The traditional family meal is withering away. Instead we have a purely technical form of nourishment, whose aim is to make sure we fuel up as effectively and as quickly as possible."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last night's evening meal:

At Gatwick Airport earlier in day and had an utterly dismal meal at Jamie Oliver's restaurant. Had one here before which was equally non-descript - should have learned lesson.

However, last night in Lisbon, could have eaten in a hundred nearby small restaurants. The one we chose was so packed you had to squeeze between other diners to get to your seat.

Pork

French fries and rice!!!

Washed down with above

Cost per head - believe it or not: £4.00

*********************************************************************************
Currently in hotel  listening to:

Glasgow's Alex Smoke: Don't See the Point

#################################################################################
Some views of Lisbon:

A tram and three sections of typical pavements.