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Many small firms and self-employed in France soon obliged to issue digital invoices
One small business group has called for more support for the extra costs
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Letters: French authorities do nothing about dangerous dogs
Connexion reader says the response by gendarmes was disappointing
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Letters: France should ban harmful oils to curb obesity
Connexion reader says working people do not have the time to cook healthy food
Needing closure
France, it has been said, shuts up shop for the month of August to take a holiday en masse .
The remainder of the year it (mainly) closes every Sunday for a rest, and for two solid hours on weekdays from 12 noon to 14.00 (the mandatory ‘entre midi et deux’) so that everyone can have a proper sit-down lunch. It can be infuriating when you want to buy a loaf at any of these times but the best advice is to go with local flow; have a holiday, day off or long lunch and enjoy a siesta yourself.
The workaholic modern world is steadily eating into this pattern but long may the French teach more hyperactive nations that life is a rhythm not a rush. There is a time for everything, even doing nothing. No one should be a slave to work or the timetabled whims of everyone else.
When one shopkeeper in a local town was asked, “Why don’t you open over lunchtime, you’d take all the customers from your competitor?” she replied, “If I do that, my competitor will open her shop too and neither of us will get to eat lunch.” Business is business but everyone needs a break.