France decides today: 11 candidates, for a real crisscross of choices. I hope the optimism for change I felt this bright morning continues tonight, after 8pm when the result is expected. A high turn-out seems certain, which means it will go to the wire, and may spring a surprise or two. 

The Economist, for all its high brow, does not really consider the African plaintiff either, but trots out the same clichés I've read before. Nor does this piece ask if DSK is innocent or guilty? So very few, if any, articles have probed that question with any objectivity. It's just another bash-France piece from The Pret-à-Manger-ville Tattler. We're used to that here. Read it here if you like.

A FIFA spokesperson who dismisses calls for a replay talks about Law 5, which also includes:

Les visiteurs à Paris remarquent la présence banale des soldats dans les rues de la capitale.

En voilà quelques exemples...

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François-Michel Gonnot, Député UMP de l’Oise, se plaint pour rien.

La soi-disant reconstruction imminente d'une vieille ferme dans le pays de Bray pourrait-elle mener à la dénaturer ? Ce serait une perte.

It's back to work and school in France. Here, they call it la rentrée and treat it as a major event, a news headline even. It is not just about going back to school, you see, but a return to routine for everyone and everything. Families peel themselves away from beaches and close their country gardens, then spend several hours in traffic before plunging into the rough and tumble of early mornings, slog, low pay, long commutes and tired evenings collapsed in front of the telly.

Une grande partie de la France--la << vieille France >>, hélàs, même si une majorité--vient de se prononcer contre la constitution européene. Alors, la France est-elle toujours au coeur de l'Europe ? (Is France still at the heart of Europe after the May referendum? Hardly, in view of the result. English version below)

Le Non, peut-il l'emporter ? C'est amusant et un peu ridicule de voir Mssrs Besencenot, Le Pen et De Villiers ainsi que Mme Buffet tous dans la majorité pour une fois. Même Fabius, qui a des atouts, certes, se trouve pour une fois de bon côté populiste. Celui-ci me décoit, j'espère qu'il changera d'avis juste à temps. Marrant, que ce monsieur de la gauche caviare fait sa crise d'adolescence de sorte qu'il est même prêt à s'associer avec la droite extrême, voire, leur donner la victoire ! Vous, les votants du Non, ce sera pareil.

C’est scandaleux, cette histoire de l’appartement d’Hervé Gaymard, et non seulement pour les raisons dont tout le monde parle. Ce qui me choque c'est la nouvelle régle, surtout ces 20 mètres carrés par enfant que prend en charge l’état, c'est-à-dire, vous et moi, les contribuables, pour que nos chers élus (voire, très chers) puissent vivre en tout confort.

It's a clammy Indian summer again, but the signs of autumn are here. The leaves are turning, the garden yells at me and darkness sets in earlier in the evening and clings on later in the morning as I write. In an hour the kids have to be brought to school. What a great moment in a busy day that is. Shoes on, bags slung, breakfast belched, hair combed, teeth brushed, eyes owl-like, then down the stairs in a clatter, through the courtyard, across the road into a flow of parents, round to the old school house nestling unnoticed in central Paris, and kisses before the boys and girls disappear through the old "Ecole des Filles" entrance. That is an old wooden sign, of course, harking back to a day when girls were girls, and the French teachers were masters like no other at turning cohorts of mômes into talent. They are not so sure of themselves now though. Could this be the autumn of l'Education nationale?

The Louvre wants to expand. Can you believe it? The largest art gallery and museum in the world isn't big enough. I just read this in Saturday's Le Figaro. The worst part is that they plan to rebuild a wing that was burnt down 130 years ago.