I saw a couple days ago on the news on French TV that a new brand of condoms is available in France under the name of "Make Love", at the low low price of 1 Euro for five, which translated into dollars, brings copulation down to a quarter American, a throw. To get that bargain, you have to go to the only places where it is available, the bureau de tabac. For those who have never been in France, know that the french state retains control of all tobacco products, and has done so since time immemorial. To sell cigarettes, cigars, tobaccos, there are the aforementioned bureau de tabac, usually part of a cafe. The owner of the bureau, called the buraliste has a franchise from the government. In my days, the franchises were reserved mostly for veterans, usually amputees of WW I, the Great War, the Last of the Last....
In the village of Northern France were I was born, the buraliste was a Mr. Delepine (I believe his first name was Georges), who had lost half of one of his arms in the trenches and always had a cap on his head and always chewed on a small twig of buis (boxtree). I wonder what Mr. Delepine would think of this new development if he were alive today? I wonder what ALL the Mr. Delepine in all the bureaus of French cities and villages are thinking of it, today?. I well imagine the local priest in a village somewhere, coming to the bureau for his weekly pack of cigarettes, being asked by the buraliste "anything else for you today, Monsieur le Cure?".
Now, I'm not going to speculate under what french name "Make Love" condoms would be sold in the good old USA . There are too many great translations available. I'll let the reader decide. But, I'll have to say, the price is right.
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From le losange, le portail des buralistes: A l'occasion du lancement de l'opération Make Love (vente des préservatifs à 20 centimes d'euros), le ministre de la Santé, Xavier Bertrand, a envoyé une lettre aux diffuseurs de presse, incitant à la vente de ces produits.
Ladite lettre suscite des réactions contrastées dans notre réseau. Ainsi, Frédéric Alliaume du tabac presse le Gifard à Domloup (35) nous écrit : "je réagis fortement à cette vente imposée. (...). Lorsque l'on sait ce que veut faire Monsieur Xavier Bertrand de notre avenir (...), ceci est tout à fait scandaleux !".
De son côté, Romain Casas, président de la Chambre syndicale de la Côte d'Or, inititiateur du test de la vente des préservatifs à 1 euro chez les buralistes explique : "Pour nous c'est une opération d'image qui a aussi permis de tirer le prix des préservatifs vers le bas au bénéfice du plus grand nombre et notamment des jeunes. Il faut savoir qu'il y a deux marques de préservatifs à 20 centimes l'unité disponibles dans le réseau. L'une plus particulièrement destinée au réseau Presse (Make Love), l'autre que nous avons contribué à lancer en Côte d''Or (Love Condom). Pour ma part, je conseille plutôt à mes collègues de capitaliser sur cette dernière marque."
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