When I first moved to France years ago, I lived in Fontainebleau, which is located about an hour from Paris. It’s a city with an established aristocracy and known for its hôtels particulars, or private mansions.
I often walked from the downtown area or the chateau along Rue St. Honoré to the woods. Three houses with massive stone walls and iron gates seemed to compete with their dog warning signs. The first sign said: Chien mechant, the next, chien mechant et peu nourri (mean and undernourished dog), and the final, chien mechant, peu nourri, et perspicace (this dog had the added quality of perspicuity). Those photos are somewhere in my boxes of 35 mm slides.
The South of France didn’t seem to have this fierce neighborhood competition, or maybe the dogs did not exhibit the traits of being undernourished and perspicacious. Sometimes, instead of warnings about dogs (real or otherwise), I found constellations of small signs carrying the names of villas.
No dogs here from the looks of these signs (Vallauris).
Other examples from Châteauneuf-de-Grasse and Juan-les-Pins provided humorous warnings about the resident dog or his master. For example, one sign at a house on the Traverse St. Jeaume read, “The dog welcomes you, but watch out for his master.”
Back here in the States, fences and yards only carry warnings, “Beware of Dog.” Couldn’t the owners do better?
Delightful!
ReplyDelete--H.E.