Sex a la francaise - extracted from 'Pensioners in Paradis'

Part 3. ...Now I came to think of it, no woman would have leaped astride a seat in quite such an inelegant way. We women have learned from years of experience what to do with our legs when we sit. This woman, man or whatever he was, certainly hadn't yet learned that vauable art, his legs all akimbo either side of the rounded, almost womanly, curves of the cello. Now that I knew, I almost expected the musician to shout out 'Whatcha mate' in recollection of Danny la Rue.
Later, having got used to the idea but having enjoyed immensely the lilting strains of the music for the last hour, we walked over to the bar and chattered to her - sorry, him. It appeared that he was English. His name was Marie, nee Mark, and he had led a very interesting life. Marie, formerly known as Mark, came to France being fed up with work as a builder in England. His brother was building in France and needed help so Mark said he would come for a couple of weeks; eleven years later he is still here.
In recent years work as a builder became impossible as fairly serious hormonal changes made Mark feel that he was a woman. In fact the hormone imbalance had a physical as well as a mental impact on his life. Impossible to work on a building site in a dress but Mark, now Marie, knew he still had to earn a living.
A lucky chance brought him to this bar at the same time as the owners were thinking of selling. (Of all the bars in all the world, you had to come to this one...) Mark jumped at the chance to step in and has worked hard for the last six months to make the bar and restaurant a success. Marie admits that she made a few mistakes at first but now with a new chef planning an exciting international menu, she feels very positive. Marie still has many problems to face including the prospect of a full sex change operation which her doctors are advising. We had to admit that listening to her story certainly changed our previous view on transvestites. Having listened carefully to her whole courageous story, we told her that whatever she decides to do in the future, we sincerely wished her well.
That night, lying in bed unable to sleep, I mulled long and hard on that emotive word 'sex'. If we're ever to get to grips with what it's like to be a Frenchman or woman, it's time we got to grips with French social customs, and not before time. Let's start with kissing......
To be continued.......................