La rentrée

It's that time of year again, 'La rentrée', this French expression hangs over us like a black cloud.  In essence it refers to the start of the school year, but it symbolises much more than this.  The French live for their long summer break and 'La rentrée' marks the end.  The long, hot days at the beach or pool are over, no more BBQs or picnics.  The days are getting shorter, mornings are colder and everyone knows we'll soon be scrapping ice of our windscreens.  One ritual of 'La rentrée' is the trip to the supermarket to buy the school essentials.  Parents can be seen clutching the lists of stationary demanded by different teachers.  Each subject teacher has there preferences and woe betides the parent who doesn't buy the graph paper required by the maths teacher.  Their child will undoubtedly fail their Baccalaureate.  Another feature of this time of year is the 'Forum d'associations'.  Here parents desperately sign their children up for after school activities, that will see them running a taxi service between clubs the rest of the school year. Meanwhile on the work front, the French return to their offices and factories and compare holidays with colleagues who they haven't seen since July. Now it's heads down until the next holiday at Christmas.