Paris:- Saturday, 28. December 1996:- On a couple of days last week, my wife came in and said she was told by 'expert' freelance forecasters it was going to be 10 degrees below zero. It was not that cold then, but by the week's end, the thermometre has been heading for minus five or less overnight in the Paris area.

Anarchy On French Roads

Despite what many visitors and residents think, there are actually rules that govern traffic in France. In fact, the 'Code de la Route' as they are collectively known, together fill up a 'booklet' of 1,600 pages - in the Editions Lamer version.

The present 'code,' which has been in effect since 1958, is in for a major revision to slim it down. Last week, it was decided to confide this little chore to the magistrate Pierre Pélissier, and he expects, hopes that is, to get it finished by the end of 1998.

The trouble apparently stems from its 30 new laws and hundreds of regulations that have been added willy-nilly since it first came out. It contains, in fact, no definition of 'autoroute' for example - and I suppose that explains some of the curious behaviour you occasionally see while on one.

Apparently, it is illegal to use turn-signals because they could 'perturb' the driver following behind. There are also rules for vehicles no longer in existence. The most basic rule, that of right-of-way - which in France gives absolute priority to everything coming from the right - is no longer 'absolute,' but the rule itself has not been changed.

Once the basic text has been given the diet treatment, then road signs will be addressed, as they are counted as the cause of ten percent of accidents today. Et alors! Bonne route!

The Rue Daguerre Lights Up

So many papers and magazines pass through my hands that my memory pogos in time. Last Tuesday's Le Parisien had a photo of the rue Daguerre - see 'In the Rue Daguerre Because of No Sales' in this issue - and the caption said this street had won the Paris-wide competition for holiday street lighting, beating out the rue de Courcelles. This item, I had forgotten.

Yesterday when I was there, this lighting was operating and the synchronized lights swept on and off for a two-block length. I had the camera framed on this effect and was counting the back-and-forth, and when I thought I had lots of them, I shot.

However, I had not reckoned on the fairly clear sky behind and the camera measuring most of its light from the closer, darker, buildings - so in the photo the lights have completely merged with the sky and disappeared. I got good and cold holding for that shot too.

In Paris, a total of 268 streets, avenues, boulevards and squares have been illuminated this year for the fêtes, costing somebody 23 million francs - probably the homeless. The rue Daguerre's commercial association won 30,000 francs though, and their lights, while fairly traditional, have a very zoomy animation.

Kids Get Too Many Toys

This is what Le Parisien has on its front page the day after Christmas; which probably explains why toy shops are not heavy advertisers in the paper. The average spent per kid is supposed to be 1,500 francs.

A neighbor told my astounded wife she spends about 250 francs on average on her two kids. The neighbor's logic was not too bad because she added that the kid's aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins and hordes of grand-parents all contributed, and like Le Parisien says, this adds up to 1,500 francs with no problem.

The French toy industry spent 664 million francs on ads, but mainly on TV commercials in four months during 1995, and a lot of these appear on TV when the people who pay for it all, are not watching it. Not only d the kids watch TV, they also avidly read all the toy brochures flooding the mail boxes at this time of year.