BISES

One of the difficulties I encounter on an almost daily basis is all the kissing which goes on here. Whenever you meet your friends (and sometimes even your friends’ friends) you are supposed to kiss each other on the cheek. It’s not the ‘mwaar-mwaar’ sort of air kissing of the drama lovies, oh no, it’s much more sophisticated than that and my French friends seem to do it so effortlessly. They lean forward so elegantly without touching and just ever so slightly nudging cheeks so as to give the impression of a kiss. Whereas, I, coming from England where that sort of thing is just NOT done, am completely at sea. I have to hold on to the other person’s shoulders to balance myself and I never know which cheek to start with and then get confused about whether it should be two or three or four kisses. Believe me, there have been many painful clashes of cheek bones. Maybe I should retreat to a natural English reserve and just nod politely or, at a push, shake hands.