Hollande - Sarkozy, Le Débat - where were Ferrari and Pujadas?

How was your Wednesday evening?

Did you spend it as reportedly more than 17 million others did in France, in front of the box watching Le Débat, the long-awaited televised duel between François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy four days before the country goes to the polls?

Well did you?

And what about those loo breaks - did you manage them? Because there were no commercials and the two kept going and going and going for almost three hours.

If you did manage to stick with it, the chances are that you'll have found something to confirm your opinions on both candidates - be that positive or negative - and their relative claims to be the country's choice when the French vote on Sunday.

It probably also depends on where you stand - politically speaking.

But surely everyone must be agreed on one thing.

What the heck happened to the two journalists who were supposedly moderating the debate?

Laurence Ferrari, TF1's nightly news anchor, and her counterpart from France 2, David Pujadas, were there.

You could see them on the screen and occasionally hear them try to get the two "political pugilists" either side of them back on the agreed track in terms of subjects to be discussed.

Somehow though they just seemed to get lost in the crossfire; a fact that didn't go unnoticed by political commentators and viewers alike.

The magical kingdom of the Net of course provided a playground for those not only wishing to parody what Hollande and Sarkozy had to say but also what Ferrari and Pujadas didn't manage to do.

There's a great selection of them on Tumblr for you to peruse at your leisure - it's worth looking through and will certainly raise a smile or two.

But perhaps the best was the one depicting Ferrari and Pujadas as the subjects of an Alerte enlèvement  or Amber Alert with the cruelly accurate, "We're currently looking for two journalists who should be chairing the debate between Sarkozy and Hollande. One is wearing a wig and the other makes eyes at Sarkozy. The last time they were seen was playing Scrabble on
 TV."

(tweeted by Jalal@Djal4real)

Sarkozy's May Day Paris rally attracts 200,000 - really?

A mighty 200,000 crowded on to Place du Trocadéro in Paris on Monday for the May Day rally organised by the current French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

You know the one - for "real workers" aimed as an alternative ones traditionally held in the French capital and throughout the country by the Unions.

You need proof?

Well, Sarkozy told the throng during the meeting and tweeted it to his followers afterwards.

There was even a photo on his Twitter account to accompany it.

You can count if you really, really want to.

Place du Trocadéro rally (screenshot Le Petit Journal)

But wait.

Surely those numbers are just a tad inflated.

After all, Place du Trocadéro can't possibly hold that many people can it?

It's simply not large enough.

Well it is thanks to the trusty Le Petit Journal on Canal + which, rather tongue-in-cheek, helpfully reproduced in the studio exactly how the figure could have been reached.

Because given the space available and the number of people claimed, it would have allowed just one square metre of space for every nine people.

Entirely feasible?

Well not quite given the demonstration on Le Petit Journal which showed just how impossible it would have been for that many people to have stood still in such cramped conditions let alone wave flags and applaud as could be seen on television footage of the event.

Oh well, what's the odd 100,000 plus between friends.

It was possibly only a slight exaggeration and an event, after all.

Something, which along with hyperbole, seems to have become a trademark of the 2012 French presidential election campaign.

And that's the most important thing isn't it?

Le Petit Journal 01/05/12 - Combien de militants au Trocadéro ?

Nicolas Sarkozy's tribute to "Stéphane" Camus

Ah the French president (but for how much longer?) Nicolas Sarkozy makes himself such an easy target for opponents when it comes to a slip of the tongue in an effort to show how well read he is and how much he appreciates and understands culture.

Le lapsus de Nicolas Sarkozy qui enflamme le net Vidéo jeanmarcmorandini sélectionnée dans Replay TV

On Monday he appeared at a rally in the French city of Avignon and in front of thousands of supporters came up with a reference that, for a moment at least, seemed to puzzle and confuse those attending.

A smiling Sarkozy wanted to tell the assembled throng how happy he was to be there in a region which was also the burial place of one of the country's greatest 20th century writers,  the late Albert Camus.

The winner of the 1957 Nobel prize for literature lived and is buried in Lourmarin, a village at the foot of the Luberon Massif just over 60 kilometres away from Avignon.

So perhaps it wasn't unexpected that Sarkozy would want to make reference to such a monumental figure of French culture to show how in touch he was with the area.

Except it didn't quite come out the way Sarkozy intended as he expressed how happy he was to be there.

"It's always a pleasure for me to come here," he said.

"I feel - how can I say - really Mediterranean," he continued.

"I don't know why. It's perhaps (wait for it) STÉPHANE Camus."

Er.

Of course it didn't take long for the blunder to be picked up by those with a malicious sense of humour, and in particular on Twitter, as comments came thick and fast.

The references to one of Camus' most famous work L’Étranger (The Stranger or The Outsider, which also translates from French to English as the foreigner) were among the most frequent with, "Stéphane Camus, isn't he the one who wanted to give foreigners the right to vote?" and "I've re-read the Immigrant by Stéphane Camus. It's really good."

Oh well. Let's hope there aren't too many other cultural references from Sarkozy during the televised debate with his Socialist party rival François Hollande on Wednesday evening.