France 2016

[Torchwatch]

France is warmer than England and the further South you go the warmer it gets. The green snake a 6 foot long but harmless reptile has a northern limit around the centre of Brittany and once you pass inside this limit you will find other reptiles like the tiny lizards that blend in with the road surface until they suddenly get up and run as you walk or cycle along. This line also represents a kind of shorts line. South of the line nearly everyone (male) wears shorts when "off duty" throughout the summer.
Although there are indoor swimming pools in big towns and cities many of the smaller towns and some campsites have outdoor pools that are popular during the summer. As everyone is already wearing shorts the French swimming pools have banned shorts in their pools for hygiene reasons. The French male who swims in pools therefore owns speedos, square cuts or jammers. If they plan to swim while on holiday they pack their Lycra swimwear with the swim shorts they intend to wear on the beach and around the campsite.
This year military style cargo shorts are worn while driving, shopping or around town. They have lots of pockets are around knee length.
Around the campsites shorter, more colourful shorts with elastic waists are popular this year and they are also worn to the beach.
What happens on the beach depends on the weather, if it is cloudy or has been cloudy most of the French will stay in the shorts they were wearing on the campsite even if they go swimming. A few older men and a few boys will wear their speedos and square cuts to swim in or wear under shortie wetsuits.
Each day the sky is sunny and bright the number of men and boys in speedos and square cuts increases. Seeing other people in Lycra swimwear makes people unpack their own the next day. At first it is older men in speedos and young boys in square cuts but as the sunny days go on more speedos and square cuts appear on all ages.
In an area of beach that men and boys are wearing speedos the women and girls start going topless and a few women start wearing thongs. When boys in speedos and girls in just bikini bottoms are playing together in the sea it is hard to tell which is which at first glance, and it doesn't matter.
Back on the campsite boys and men coming from the beach don't bother putting shorts back on and are walking , running and cycling about in square cuts and even speedos.
The after several good sunny days the clouds returned, everyone is back in their longer shorts and there is a queue of campervans waiting to leave the site in an exodus for the sun.