 |
By *otswoldMan
over a year ago
Cheltenham |
Stay out of the dunes,
A couple of hundred yards to the East of the lifeguard station you will see a tightly knit crowd of sun bathers. That is the swingers beach (a.k.a. Bay of Pigs or Plage Libertin or what you will). Go back a few hundred yards back along the beach toward the part that is in front of the built up area and you will find everything you might expect of bona-fide conventional family naturism. The French are pragmatists. Although they show scant respect for authority, they are very hot in regard to personal freedoms and rights. Furthermore, they also seem to understand that the exercising of a right has to be matched and balanced by an appropriate obligation. By congregating into a tight bunch, they are actually avoiding offence and friction with the rest of the beach users. Also the tight packing discourages the worst kind of watchers, the single guys who just wander around cock in hand and leer. However, things are never simple, especially in France; another reason for the tight grouping is that it can be the potential flash point for the uniquely French phenomenon described below.
It was a few years ago that I was on a naturist sailing holiday on the Mediterranean. We called into Agde town and took a cab for a day visit to the Cap. There I witnessed the following episode. There are a number of things that I know now that I did not know then. In France the business of the Mayor is much more to do with commercial interests than politics. Every few years there are voices of public outrage concerning what goes on in the Cap d’Agde complex. But, from the point of view of local commerce, what goes on is pretty good. Nevertheless, the mayor has to be seen to be doing something about it. So, he orders some mounted police patrols of the dunes. The dunes are a conservation area so clearing people from the dunes is a “good thing”. Furthermore, the Mayor can be seen to be doing something without upsetting the commercial interests that voted him into power. In response, the hedonists have no option but to migrate to the open beach. But where do you hide on the open beach? With typical French pragmatism, just as the place to hide a tree is in a forest, the place to hide exhibitionist/voyeur activity is in a crowd of exhibitionists and voyeurs.
Thus it was that, as I wandered along the water’s edge, I became aware that two men in uniform had emerged from the dune area. One was leading a horse and a man and the other leading a horse and a woman. The only possible description of what happened next is that the crowd became an instant mob (a French tradition that goes back to 1789). The animal roar of jeering, and whistling that arose as the naked crowd got to their feet was intimidating (can you imagine a crowd of Brits facing down a mounted policeman?). At this point the man broke free. He ran toward the crowd which just opened up and swallowed him. His captor made a half hearted attempt to pursue, leaving his companion to manage two horses and a woman. Whether this second gendarme released the woman deliberately I have no idea. But clearly both decided that it would be less hassle if they returned to the (now empty?) dunes for some further patrolling. Meanwhile the crowd on the beach settled down as if nothing had happened.
|
