Going in search of the winter sun

Not surprisingly perhaps school vacations dictate when many of the French are able to take time off work for their holidays.

Right now we're all in the middle of the school winter break, and although it's staggered regionally, a fair chunk of the country (or at least those who can afford it) will at some point this month be taking advantage of the weather here (snow, snow and more snow).

For those who might ordinarily be heading for the sun in the shape of the overseas departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, recent strikes have meant a bit of a rethink, with reportedly more than 10,000 cancelling their travel plans.

All right so it's well known - here in France at least - that the country has the tradition of closing down over the summer. The French even have two words - or categories if you like - for those who take their holidays at certain times.

Les juilletistes - for those slipping away from the rat race for most of the month of July, and les aôutiens for - well you've probably guessed and I probably don't need to spell it out. But just in case - it's for August.

But winter - and February in particular - is another time when much of the country seems to decide to "down tools" - and not necessarily because they're indulging in what might appear to be to the outside observer, as the national pastime of striking.

France has a reasonably-priced (well in comparison to Switzerland and Austria) ski resort "industry" and the infrastructure and organisation to cope with the hordes.

It's also blessed with the Alps, the Pyrenees and even the Massif Central - each offering something suitable to fit most sizes of wallet.

For those who aren't too keen on the white fluffy stuff (me) there are the affordable sun alternatives in the form of the overseas French departments, such as the Caribbean Islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, (or for those with deeper pockets Saint-Barthélemy) and the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion.

They're all "part" of France.

But the Caribbean, or French Antilles, are a bit of a "no-no" for tourists at the moment as there have been a series of strikes in Guadeloupe for the past month and they have spread to Martinique this last week.

Part of the outcome has been that thousands of (French) tourists have cancelled their planned holidays at the last moment and there's now a last-minute scramble to look for alternatives.

Anyway. I'm lucky enough to be able to choose when I take my holiday as there are no children involved - just a dog and house sitter required.

By the same token, I also tend to buck the trend, staying at home during the summer when the capital is at its glorious best, calm and fairly empty (of locals) apart from tourists wondering what all the fuss is about as the Parisians still around seem charmingly chilled.

I work through the summer months and take my "proper" break in the winter avoiding the crowds by heading for destinations they're least likely to choose.

Of course I never seem to get it right.

Last year it was Egypt and I still managed to bump into a fair few French as I dragged my old bones around along the lines of one old ruin visiting several others. Still it was a real eye-opener as I tried to convey in some posts here when I came back.

This year it's - well I ain't saying yet, just in case all my good intentions of taking stunning photos with my state-of-the-art camera come to nothing.

But it's far away from here and there probably won't be a news outlet in sight which makes me wonder how exactly I'll manage.

No news can be good news maybe. I'll get a chance to write (rather than ramble) and READ books rather than surf the Net.

Which brings me nicely to the pick of the best (or perhaps the worst), I've chosen to take with me on my wanderings.

You see I really haven't been able to avoid shoving a recently-bought copy of "Belle-Amie" into my case. It's a "warts and all" sort of read (apparently) by two French journalists, Michaël Darmon and Yves Derai, about this country's justice minister, Rachida Dati.

They've been doing the rounds this past week of television and radio promoting their book in which they trace the rapid rise of Dati from the humblest of beginnings to high political office, "dish the dirt" somewhat on her apparently "manipulative" character and "reveal" the name of the father of her daughter Zhora.

Hmmmmn

While I'll have my nose buried in a book it doesn't of course mean that France is going to come to a standstill. There'll be plenty of news around.

Those ongoing strikes in Guadeloupe and Martinique haven't been resolved yet and could spread to French Guyane and even the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion unless the French government manages to come up with a solution to the protests.

There's another "good read" that has just been released - this time an unauthorised biography on how the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, met the (now) first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, written by the man who brought them together.

So if you fancy seeing how the French react to revelations about the private lives of public figures, that might be worth taking a peek at, especially as once again it rather breaks the mould of how this sort of stuff was "handled" in the past.

On the political front, Sarkozy is due to meet union leaders next week in an effort to avoid another general strike scheduled for March 19.

For now though - catch y'all in a couple of weeks. And I'll be thinking of you as I'm happily knocking back some cocktail in paradise. - NOT.

Pip the toodle!