In France, Everything Shuts at Twelve- (Part One)

 One thing the guidebooks never bother to tell you about France is also one of the most important of all that you should know. In fact this piece of information is so important that my imparting it to you, as I am about to do, is worth the price of the book of all this. So perhaps, if you’ve borrowed this from a friend, you should skip to the next chapter right now. (I jest.)   So what is this invaluable knowledge that no-one should travel in France without first having assimilated? Just this:  Everything Shuts At Twelve. For Two Hours. At Least.  That’s it. Outside of the major metropolitan cities like Paris and Lyon, and maybe even Marseilles these days, if you ain’t got whatever it is you were looking for by the time the midi rings, you can forget getting it until two o’clock at the earliest.  Believe me, you will not be in France long before you realise how much this immutable chronology affects life.     All those thoughts of a nice long