Allons enfants de la patrie....

In the past on a fourteenth of July I would be watching the Bastille Day parade on television. And in summers past I would have missed few of the highlights of the Tour de France. But it so happens that a year ago my ex and my daughter moved into a new flat and finally had enough space for the big screen 16:9 digital Panasonic which, until then, I had been looking after for them and enjoying.

This, however, left me with only a thirteen-year old, thirteen-inch analogue Sony which I had once used to screen VHS tapes at my desk using the built-in player (very cool at the time, although mine is black, not white).

All of which explains why I could not this year video capture the Paris parade and why I am posting the clip below which is from 2009. For me the Foreign Legion's march past with their measured step is always a high point of the event. When this year's clip turns up on YouTube I shall updated this post.

Update: The clip is now the one from yesterday's parade under stormy skies.

The Chant des Partisans is from 2006... I well remember standing when it came on TV5 in my Abu Dhabi flat.

In the meantime... is it a rumour that when the President drove down the Champs-Elysées, the motorcade passed a ginormous poster for l'Oréal? ("Because we're Woerth it!")