Things I love about Bilal

I am writing this article because some of my readers have expressed skepticism about how enthusiastic I really am to be getting married to Bilal, given what I say about him, primarily regarding his use of hip-hop French.

Granted, there are many strengths that Bilal does not possess.  He does not speak very good French.  Yes, he has native-level competency, but his vocabulary is hip-hop French, rather than the French equivalent of Queen's English.  He is no gentleman: - he refers to me as a "meuf" or "femeu" (French for "bird", as in slang for "woman"), saying I am his "pineco" (verlan for "copine" or "girlfriend") and quite openly says in front of his "homies" that I am "bien faite" ("well fit") as if these were completely normal words that one would use in a job interview.  His tastes in fashion are very different to mine: - unless he is wearing his chèche, he wears sweatsuits with baseball caps on backwards.  He is not very outgoing; in fact, he is painfully shy with unfamiliar people.

However, there are plenty of strengths that he does have and this article is intended to inform my readers about them.  Firstly, he is an extremely attractive man.  He is 195cm in height and has a very large build because he works out so much (for this reason, he doesn't tend to say, "la moitié, s'il vous plaît" at mealtimes).  There are only two occasions on which I have seen him bare-chested: - the first time was when he was rescuing someone from church who was getting into difficulty while swimming (referred to in an earlier post) and in a recording made on a mobile camera (which I will refer to later in this post).  I have never seen someone as heavily-built as him (he is more heavily built than the man in the picture below), even in the silly girlie magazines I used to read before I became born again.  He has these absolutely gorgeous curls that result from his genetic makeup being somewhere between the Arabs of North Africa ("Rebeus", as Bilal calls them, who tend to have straight hair) and the blacks of Sub-Saharan Africa ("renois", as Bilal calls them, who tend to have curly and knotty hair).  Bilal is seldom seen smiling, but when he does, it is an absolutely beautiful sight: - he has the most perfect teeth and he has the most adorable dimples (that are visible on the rare occasions when he is seen smiling).  He is a very heavily-built man, but has a really cute baby face.

Secondly, he is an extremely tough and brave man.  He runs a boxing club in La Savine to keep the restless and angry youths there out of trouble: - this is something I found out very recently.  He took up boxing competitively and did very well, but he was only willing to go so far because competing at a higher level would have taken up too much time and compromised his work at church.  La Savine has a terrible reputation that would be even more terrible if there weren't peacemakers like him around.  He has very strict rules and youngsters join on the explicit understanding that they will be subject to his discipline if he finds out they are involved in things like drugs, carrying illegal weapons and other gangland activity.  There is a poverty of expectation and he has inspired several youngsters to make something of themselves with both the fact that the boxing club gives the youngsters something to do and the fact that he gets to witness (i.e. evangelise) to the attendees of the club.  He refuses to allow any acts of Islam or any other religion (e.g. prayer facing Mecca) to be carried out on the premises and there is openly evangelistic literature on the walls and pamphlets everywhere.  Someone posted on Youtube a video of when a group of about 20 Muslims burst into a session of the boxing club and delivered threats of violence and death regarding his evangelistic activities.  Bilal politely, but firmly stood up to them and they backed down.  There was another video someone put up of Bilal on the street standing up to a group of about 10 thugs carrying knifes who threatened one of the children who was a regular attendee.  They had apparently travelled from Savigny in Paris (an area with lots of gangs) to cause trouble and didn't know who he was.  A few of them tried to attack him with their knives and Bilal deflected the strikes; the rest of them decided not to bother and fist-bumped him out of respect, seeing how tough he was.  I once travelled to Mali with Bilal and I saw the rugged terrain in which he carries out his activities as a herdsman: - the terrain is often mountainous and extremely hot for most of the year.  Mali has been a very unstable part of the world for a long time and I found out from some of his relatives that Bilal has regularly stood up to raiders armed with machine guns trying to steal his family's livestock.  Of course, nobody would ever deduce that Bilal was capable of any of these things just through a normal interaction with him.  As I have said before, I would much rather have a genuinely tough man like Bilal than a heavily-built, but pseudo-tough man who has never faced any hazards worse than defective gym equipment.

Thirdly, he is a very hard worker.  It is not easy arranging dates with him because he is always so busy.  He works the standard 35-hour week in his day job with "Le Trom de Marseille" (as he calls it).  However, I have heard from a colleague that he is always working extremely fast and productively.  Though he never got involved in student life at university, he was always very diligent in his studies, even though this wasn't widely seen, as most of his non-timetabled work was done in his room at home behind closed doors.  He was never one to make a song and dance about how hard he works, but I know he is a very hard worker.  When we were in Mali, if something needed to be done with his family's livestock, he would do it, irrespective of the time of day or how difficult the task.  Bilal is always active in church right the way through the day.  Our church has four services on Sundays: - early morning, midday, afternoon and evening and Bilal attends every one of them, operating the audiovisual equipment and does not desire to lie in on Sundays.  Even between the services, he is active.  Before the early morning service, he is busy setting up the audiovisual equipment.  Between the early morning and midday services, he is busy making preparations for the Sunday School class.  Between the midday and afternoon services, he is busy delivering his Sunday school class (except when he is eating his normal goats meat and jollof rice lunch).  Between the afternoon and evening services, he is busy evangelising at major interchanges in the city (bus stops, "Trom" stations, Marseille St. Charles station, Marseille Blancarde station etc).  After the evening service, he is busy counting the collection money and doing the church's accounting work.  The church has several meetings during the week.  There is a prayer meeting on Tuesdays, a children's meeting on Wednesdays (which children in good standing with the Sunday School may attend) and a Bible study on Thursdays: - Bilal is involved in all three of these meetings.  Also, Bilal's boxing club meets on Mondays and Fridays.  Bilal normally keeps Saturdays free of pre-arranged appointments (though he attends things if needed).  Occasionally, he will rest if he is extremely tired, but most Saturdays, he is engages in theological study.  He loves to read the works of theologians John Calvin (French of course: - his book "The Institutes of the Christian Religion is Bilal's favourite book with the exception of the Bible itself), John Wesley etc, as well as biographies of the great men of faith of the reformation and beyond, such as Hudson Taylor, Adoniram Judson, George Whitfield, John Wycliffe etc.  Biblical commentaries are a favourite of his as well: - off the top of my head, I know he has the commentaries of theologians including John Gill, Matthew Henry and John Calvin at home.  Also, one project he is working on at the moment on Saturdays is the translation of the Bible into his local Touareg language.

Fourthly, Bilal is an extremely kind person.  He is a very wealthy man on account of his online share trading activities, but I know that he does a large number of compassionate acts.  People at church give him their used food containers, primarily plastic pots.  He doesn't normally tell people what he uses them for, but I am aware that he uses them to distribute food.  Every day, cooks a large amount of jollof rice and goat's meat, puts it in the donated plastic pots and distributes it to residents of La Savine who are struggling to afford enough food to eat and local homeless people.  Given that many of them cannot afford to heat their homes in winter (La Savine is in a high-up and exposed part of Marseille), many women need the extra energy and aren't in a position to say, "La moitié, s'il vous plaît"!  Facetious I know, but MDR!  The flat Bilal lives in with his parents is not big enough for guests to stay, except on the sofa or the living room floor, so he has a spreadsheet that he uses to manage the details of people at church willing to offer temporary accommodation to people who find themselves homeless through no fault of their own.  He organises laundry runs on weekdays so that the host families don't need to bother with bedlinen.  He also collects used clothing and household appliances to distribute to people in need.  He regularly visits the older residents of La Savine who don't have anyone to keep them company.  Even on Sundays, he is not too busy to chat with someone who has a burden on their mind: - he will always arrange a time during the day to chat with such people if they wish.  If he sees a beggar on the street, he will always offer some food, even if the only food he happens to be carrying is something posh for a party.

Fifthly, Bilal is very fond of children.  Pslam 127:4 talks about the value of children to a man.  If a man is even considering using contraception, it would suggest that he has some values that are at odds with God's standards when it comes to children.  Bilal wants a large family for both cultural and religious reasons.  I refer back to the aforementioned religious reason.  When it comes to cultural reasons, he is extremely fond of his native Touareg culture and does not want to give it up by westernising and having a small family or being part of a childless couple.  He has openly said he would rather father five children and die a very young man than live to 100 and have one or possibly none.  I have told him I will cooperate wholeheartedly with his attempts to have a large family, which is natural, given how incredibly handsome he is.  Some lezzie feminists would accuse me of betraying feminism by saying this to him, but I would say that apart from the fact that I want a large family too irrespective of anything Bilal wants, he is a man who has spent many years diligently labouring to bring good to so many people and glory to God's name that he thoroughly deserves a helpmeet in his labours and if a large family is his main earthly aim, he deserves a woman who will give it to him.  I have no doubt that he has a special love for children.  When he is not diligently labouring away at another task associated with the church or his workplace, he can often be seen cradling a small baby or playing with toddlers or small children.  As mentioned earlier, he is very diligent in his evangelistic efforts via the Sunday School.  He is motivated to deliver his Sunday School class no matter how unwell he is (though the truth be told, he is a very fit, strong and healthy man and is therefore very rarely ill, save for complications that used to result from him not knowing he had coeliac disease).  His love of God and children and the desire to see their souls saved is what drives him to come all the way from La Savine on Sunday mornings come rain or shine (mostly shine in the case of Marseille, MDR).  As mentioned, he was completely willing to stand up to thugs threatening a child from his boxing club even when he was badly outnumbered.

Sixthly, all these things would be in vain if Bilal were not a converted man.  As the famous hymn verse (from "Rock of ages cleft for me") goes: -
"Not the labours of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law's demands
Could my zeal no respite know
Could my tears forever flow
All for sin could not atone
Thou must save and Thou alone
Believers are completely forbidden from marrying non-believers and if Bilal could not demonstrate that he is a born again man, I would never have entertained his advances, nor would my father have given his consent.  Anyone who is reading this post who is under some delusion that they are heaven-bound because they grew up in a Christian home, you are delusional, a blessing though it is: - you have been warned!  Bilal has presented both a credible testimony and conduct that is befitting of a believer.  Nobody should ever be under the illusion that one can enter heaven by means of good deeds: - salvation is by God's grace alone.  However, as the Bible points out, we must look out for the fruit of the spirit and James 2 makes it explicitly clear that unless good works result from a person's conversion, that person's faith is dead.  God gives us the rule about not being unequally yoked for a reason: - if I were married to a man who fulfils the definition of a suave Frenchman, but who is not a believer, we will be at cross purposes throughout our marriage, as we will both be pulling in different directions.  A believing husband is a tremendous gift from the Lord.  Being the Impossibly Dainty French Woman, I have been approached by enormous numbers of men, but I don't believe many of them were believers and I am delighted that God has chosen to bless me with a believing husband.

So there you have it.  A few key reasons why I am delighted to have Bilal as my future husband and why I am not hankering after any supposedly better prospects.

A fabulous new collection of glasses!

One thing I have made clear in previous posts is that being a dainty and stylish Frenchwoman does not mean it is necessary to have attention to detail or even consistency.  Dear old Mireille Guiliano said on her website "French women adore fashion", but immediately afterwards said "French women are stubborn individuals and don't follow mass movements".

I was recently asked to give my expert opinion on an absolutely fabulous new line of glasses that is being released today by Warby Parker.  The line is known as the Concentric Collection, the word "concentric" being applied fairly loosely, given that the shape it refers to is not entirely circular.  However, there is no doubt that the designers showed how it is possible to have both an enormous amount of attention to detail, but not fall into the trap of failing to see the forest for the trees.  All six pairs of glasses within the glasses are beautifully individual, but have that rare gift of being able to combine attention to detail with making a product that is pleasing to the eye when considered as a whole.  Below I will go into the details of what I just adore about each pair, what I think it might go well with and who I believe it will be most suited to.

EVERLY: - Whistler Grey (with Fjord Blue)

Whistler Grey is the brand new colour available in this range.  It gives a sleek futuristic look with a beautiful contrast of silver and blue against each other.  I could easily see glasses such as these appearing in a movie set several centuries in the future.  I believe glasses such as these will work best against a bright white outfit, as the whistler grey will look a bit too understated if used against bright clothing, whereas a bright white outfit will allow the glasses to shine.  I just love the contrast of the horizontal lines of the whistler grey part and the plain fjord blue pattern.  These glasses will best suit someone with a very pale skin shade, which will combine with the bright clothes and the sleek look of these glasses to give the intended look.

EVERLY: - Windswept (with Hazelnut)

I just love the look of these glasses, the light brown blending in nicely with the dark lenses.  I am not sure this term is still politically correct, but these glasses are great for constructing an ethnic look.  There are a large number of different ethnic looks that will work with these glasses, most notably the Touareg look.  I therefore intend to buy a pair of these for Bilal for him to wear with his tagelmust and burnous.  Bilal takes little interest in fashion (save for hip-hop fashion), but he does wear some absolutely beautiful indigo garmets when he desires to be in Touareg attire and these glasses will complment them perfectly.  However, it is not just Touareg attire that this will successfully complement: - these glasses will work well for both men and women with more or less any type of veil, perhaps the dark veil often worn by Gulf Arab women.  The variety of horizontal brown lines affords the glasses a nice rugged look.  The hazelnut inner ring means that there is a pleasant gradual build-up to the dark shades, rather than a sharp transition.  These glasses are also great for leisure wear and are just the sort of thing someone would opt for if seeking a casual look whilst on holiday in a warm and sunny country.

MURPHY: - Crystal (with Hazelnut)

What I love about this pair of glasses is that it allows someone to have a "geek chic" look, but without being overly conspicuous.  Me personally, I disliked the dark horn-rimmed glasses look that was sometimes seen on people such as Justin Timberlake a few years ago and I am glad that this fad has since passed.  However, the fact that the hazelnut inner rim is thin (almost as thin as a Frenchwoman's waistline, MDR) means that it exercises a powerful moderating influence that stops the overall feel of the glasses being conspicuous, overbearing and as though the wearer is trying too hard with the "geek chic" look.  The hazelnut inner ring has a subtle pattern that fits well with the shining, clean and bright crystal frame and gives these glasses just enough informality to avoid appearing too formal if necessary.  The overall chic design will make the wearer look sophisticated and intelligent, but will not convey the impression that he/she is trying too hard.  These glasses are great for work wear, particularly in professions where it is necessary to convey the appearance of being knowledgeable, but are also great for creating a "power dressing" image.  They offer the best of both worlds.

MURPHY: - Cognac Tortoise (with Vulcanite)

The first thing that came into my head when I saw this variant was the film Thelma and Louise.  When I go to Mali (my fiancé's homeland) apart from the need to avoid offence with immodest dress, it is necessary to wear dark glasses and some sort of head covering, given the sand that exists everywhere.  After all, a Frenchwoman would not like to see her hair messed up or her eye makeup sanded away by a fierce desert wind.  This is definitely the sort of thing I could see myself wearing on future trips to Mali!  As in the film Thelma and Louise, a pair of glasses such as this will go very likely with a babushka-style headscarf for women of several different age groups.  There is a famous photo of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II riding a horse alongside Ronald Reagan and wearing a bubushka-style headscarf: - glasses such as these would complete the look.  The cognac tortoise pattern is just enough to stop the glasses looking too plain, but is simultaneously understated and elegant.  These glasses are great for general leisure wear, irrespective of whether the weather is sunny or not.

BENCHLEY: - Oak Barrel (with Flint)

The Oak Barrel variant reminds me vaguely of the cat eye glasses that women in the 1960s wore, though thankfully with more moderate top corners!  This is not intended as a criticism, as I regularly insert images from fashions of the past in my blog posts.  A Frenchwoman does not disdain the past, but she just loves to pick out the choicest examples of fashion from each era and look different each day: - a Frenchwoman will use her shrewd eyes to choose timeless elegance over fads any day.  These glasses are fabulous for a 1960s retro look.Glasses such as these will work very well as part of a 1960s-esque outfit consisting of these glasses, a plain top (a polo neck jumper in particular) and a plain skirt/pair of trousers, each of the three constituent parts in a different colour, say red/yellow/green or red/yellow/blue.  If a smarter or a slightly less bold look is desired, I believe this would work well with a matching pill box hat, jacket and skirt.  I don't think Jacqueline Kennedy was short-sighted, but if she had been, I could just see a fashion icon such as her wearing a pair of glasses such as this alongside a pill box hat.  Generally, I believe this will best suit someone with a fair shade of skin, so as to bring out the bright colours.

BENCHLEY: - Crystal (with hazelnut)

This variant will be a great choice for someone with a darker shade of skin, as the bright white of the main frame will stand in contrast to the skin shade, with the hazelnut inner rim giving an edgy, sophisticated look.  This variant is very useful for upper-end leisure wear.  It will look classy against many items of clothing.  As I have often mentioned, Bilal likes to wear hip-hop clothing when he is not wearing a traditional Touareg costume and I believe this will be a great accessory for a sweatsuit.  I could just see famous rappers such as Rohff wearing this on stage.    This is not a backhanded compliment though: - anyone hoping to make big sales in the fashion will do well if they can be all things to all men (and women, MDR).  This variant is the perfect complement to others in the range that allows the already fabulous Concentric Collection to appeal to an even wider audience.

So there you have it: - my take on this fabulous collection.  Each of the designs are individual, but absolutely wonderful in their own way.  It is clear that a large amount of thought has gone into making the designs individual, so careful thought should be expended regarding what it will match with, but a small amount of forethought about which pair of glasses will match the chosen outfit will yield enormous dividends when it comes to creating a look to die for.

The folly of crash diets

Apologies to all my eager readers who have been eagerly lapping up everything I have written about how to be an impossibly perfect Frenchwoman: - I am aware that I have not written a post for a long time.  As was said in my previous post, Bilal and I are now engaged.  I have been a woman in high demand for a long time, but so far, only Bilal has been able to win my father's approval to court me.  He is a very handsome Touareg man with an extremely muscular physique and lovely curly hair: - the muscular physique is a consequence both of his tough desert upbringing and his desire to continue to work out when his family moved to Marseille.  He speaks hip-hop French, but hey, as was said at the end of "Some like it hot", "Well, nobody's perfect".

I am hoping to work on Bilal's French.  Although it is his native language alongside his local Touareg language, his accent is a mix of Mali and La Savine, with his vocabulary being hip-hop, e.g. saying "tu voit ce que je veux dire?" at the end of sentences, inverting words (verlan) etc.  Although I am somewhat bemused by his use of French, I would much rather have a big, muscular and tough man from the ghetto toughened by living through years and years of gang warfare with real muscles than an upper middle-class man who has lived a cushy lifestyle, doesn't like the great outdoors and whose only way of looking nice is to stay under a gym sunbed and occasionally work out on sweaty gym apparatus (not to a Frenchwoman's liking, as Mireille Guiliano explains).  If one wants to see some of Bilal's acquaintances without actually visiting La Savine, many of them can be seen in 1.D.3's video Marseille Paname: -

Even though Bilal has grown up surrounded by such people, he is actually a very gentle character who has always resisted the pressure to get involved in a life of crime and who has presented an extremely convincing testimony of his new birth in accordance with what the Bible describes as the signs thereof, even if he is not so good at resisting the creeping influence of the language.  Anyway, I digress.  Bilal and I are in the midst of wedding plans.  We are spending ages obsessing about what we will have for each meal.  A croquembouche will unfortunately be out the question unless we can find a gluten-free version.

Bilal would probably just have jollof rice, taguella, goat's meat and Eghajira if I left the whole thing up to him, but since most of those present will be of European origin, we want something much more sophisticated.  With the exception of Bilal, we are planning to serve some extremely dainty portions, so as to show how sophisticated we are: - they will be so dainty that even the daintiest Frenchwoman will feel no need to say, "La moitié, s'il vous plaît".  Some people will be shocked (e.g. my English relatives on my mother's side), but I will respond that they are entirely normal portions for me.

Already, some people are asking me if I am worried about how I will fit into my dress.  I respond by telling them about how I already have an absolutely perfect figure.  I am aware of an unpleasant story about a crash diet called the LighterLife diet: - a British woman followed this diet on account of a desire to look good on her wedding day and died.  I am not inclined to make extremely inappropriate, insensitive and tasteless jokes about the deceased woman, but the article I have linked to really does indicate how French women really do know best when it comes to diets (or the lack thereof).  As Mireille Guiliano explained, French women never diet: - they simply make permanent changes to their lifestyle to shed the weight, whether this means walking further each day, buying a flat further from the ground floor, cutting out sweet foods, saying "la moitié, s'il vous plaît" more often etc.  Granted, Mireille Guiliano does not have any children as far as I know, but Bilal and I want a large family and I hope in creating our large family, I will demonstrate to the world how a Frenchwoman maintains her dainty figure even during and after pregnancy.

Samantha Clowe, the lady who unfortunately lost her life to a crash diet, did not understand the rule of the harvest.  The rule of the harvest says that if you wait till two weeks before the harvest to plant your seeds, spray them with hydroponic solution, cover them with bright lamps etc, you will not reap a harvest.  There are too many people who simply do not understand the value of setting good habits early on so that they can be kept with little effort.  Non-French women think they can buy the skimpiest bridal dress and then do a crash diet to fit inside it.  If such women had read the words of Proverbs 24:27 ("Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house"), they would realise that their order of working was wrong.  Occasionally, some Anglo-Saxon women manage to fit into skimpy wedding dresses (the photo below is of Patricia Nixon-Cox), but this is the exception rather than the norm.

I have no doubt that I will look absolutely divine (in the non-religious sense of the word) in my wedding dress.  Bilal is not exactly a perfect gentleman, as he uses the term "bien faite" to refer to my physical appearance, but I know he means well.  He has done very well to restrain his desires for me all this time.  I have no doubt that he will look similarly ravishing in a morning suit.  He refuses to wear suits at work and insists upon wearing a tagelmust and his colleagues have gotten used to this.  Don't get me wrong, he looks gorgeous in that, even though one cannot see much of his face, but I am hopeful that our wedding will persuade him to wear a suit.  Anyway, back to the subject of the baffling situation of Anglo-Saxon women eating like there is no tomorrow, somehow or other finding a husband-to-be (it's beyond me how) and then crash dieting to fit into their wedding dress.  Why won't they just adopt the la-moitié-s'il-vous-plaît diet that Frnech women use?

As a believing woman, I think unnecessarily long engagements are not a good idea on account of the temptation during the engagement, but maybe some Anglo-Saxon women would do well to spend a few months getting their eating habits sorted out before they try sorting out their wedding dresses.

I'm engaged

Today, Bilal made a proposal of marriage!  This is something I have been eagerly awaiting for several months and I can now announce that it has finally happened!  I accepted without hesitation.  Bilal and I are very different people, but I appreciate his exotic nature, with him being a mix of Touareg and hip-hop influences.  This is evident in his language usage and clothing.  He is definitely my tall, dark (and heavily-built) stranger.

Bilal has moved into my parents' home (readers will note that I live in my own flat a short distance from the Vieux Port).  The reason for this is to adapt him to French culture a little bit more, as I have no willingness to live in La Savine, even if a top-floor flat would offer fantastic views of Marseille and the Mediterranean Sea.  Such a rough gangsta area is not appealing to a sophisticated haute couture Frenchwoman such as myself.  I would get tired of people greeting me by saying "Wesh-wesh toubab?" ("Wagwan honky?")  For some reason, Bilal never looks entirely at ease when in some more typically French areas in a way that he did in Mali (I cannot vouch for what he is like in La Savine, having never been there) and often appears homesick.

In the longer term, we are wondering about what sort of arrangements will be most agreeable to us.  One option we are considering is purchasing a livestock farm that would enable Bilal to feel at home.  Although the Common Agricultural Policy allows French farmers to get away with many backward and inefficient agricultural practices (hey, I suppose some compromises are necessary to produce the pure and natural products that a Frenchwoman desires), they are still a world apart from Touareg practices.  Another possibility is for us to construct a mountain home in the mountains to the north and east of Marseille to allow him to life a hill farmer lifestyle when he is not at work.  If anyone has any suggestions, please e-mail me at mariannegaboriault@gmail.com : - we are looking for countryside that is as rugged as Bilal is, MDR!

Even if we struggle to find somewhere that causes Bilal to feel completely at home, Bilal has told me he is willing to endure feelings of homesickness for the rest of his life in order to be with me, adding that I am "une femeu bien faite" (French for "a well fit bird") even by French standards: - obviously, when he is living with my parents, they will attempt to smooth some of his rough edges.  Bilal was never a macho man, but he has spent so much time around people who speak in this manner that he uses such words as if they were normal words.  He managed to restrain himself for job and university interviews, but found it too tiring to keep up a pretence beyond that.  This is partly why he tends to gravitate towards tasks that involve doing things in the background at work: - he can prove himself by the quality of his outputs and is unlikely to be obstructed by his hip-hop use of language.  At university, he would just turn up for lectures, practical assessments etc and just go home again afterwards to do his study: - he did very well academically and he was very diligent with his studies, but he never had any interest in being involved in the extracurricular life of his university, as he never really felt at home with the white middle-class liberal atheistic students the way he does in da 'hood or at church.  He feels at home at church because he knows that in this world, we are to regard ourselves as merely sojourners and if a church is a sound church, it is the closest experience a believer will have to the world to come.  Obviously, the wedding will take place in our own church (not the one shown below).

Obviously, given my obsession with food and Bilal's coeliac disease, we will need to expend a lot of thought about what food will be served at the wedding.  It will not be nice for me to have to share a marital bed with Bilal if the food served at the wedding has caused him bowel problems, MDR.  Unless a gluten-free croquembouche is available, we may unfortunately have to have an Anglo-Saxon style wedding cake.  Maybe we could have something along the lines of Mireille Guiliano's flourless chocolate cake?  Bilal is awfully fond of this recipe, but given that it is a recipe Mireille Guiliano approves of, presumably I shouldn't worry, MDR.

I think Bilal will look absolutely gorgeous in a morning suit, but he doesn't like suits and as far as I'm aware, the only time he has ever worn one in his life was for his job interview with the "Trom de Marseille" (as he and his homies call it in Verlan, MDR).  He is very fond of his Touareg attire and some of this looks gorgeous upon him though, especially the bright indigo garments.  Because he is such a handsome man, being around him requires a greater amount of self-restraint and I am pleased that with our engagement, the amount of time I will have tocontinue to exercise this self-restraint is getting shorter.

I will be looking for the most beautiful bridal dress I can find.  Apart from the fact that I am the bee's knees and worthy of the best, it would not do for a fashion magazine editor to turn up for her own wedding in an unfashionable bridal gown.  This will be my biggest worry when it comes to wedding preparations (apart from possible legal hiccups obstructing the legal validity, e.g. the registrar being sick on the day of the wedding).  However, as I have always been dainty in my eating, I will certainly not have to worry about how my figure will look in the dress as lesser women do!  All I can say is roll on the wedding day!

London-Marseille trains confirmed!

Recently, I learned that direct London-Marseille trains have finally been confirmed.  Yay!  I am pleased with this, given my unfortunate regular need to visit London on business.  As far as I am concerned, after having spent a few days in London and coming close to death on account of the lack of sophistication, the sooner the train can get me back to Marseille, the better, MDR.  Maybe in the future, Marseille will be the city where everything is happening (or at the least, maybe Paris will regain that title), but until that happens, I will need to keep going to London to ply my trade.

Bilal is also happy on account of the fact that he can visit his "homies" who he met during visits to the Elephant & Castle and Stratford areas of London much more easily.  Both of these areas have direct connections to St. Pancras International via the Thameslink and Southeastern High-Speed services respectively.  He e-mailed his homies in London as soon as he found out the news (his English isn't yet up to phone calls, though he is a regular visitor to http://www.urbandictionary.com for practice) and they were similarly delighted, as they have heard all about La Savine with its rappers from Bilal and can't wait to visit.  He has kept in regular touch with them, sending them occasional gifts, which resulted in them sending him gluten-free products from a local store, plus a cap with "Sorry I'm hip-hop and you're not" written on it, both of which he was delighted to receive.  I wasn't so pleased that they had sent him cake mixes for sickly sweet-looking cakes, but hey, he does not have any flab on account of the enormous amount of exercise he does, so I suppose I shouldn't worry too much about this.

I don't know if they will use the older or the newer rolling stock, but we shall see: - given that the whole route from London to the outskirts of Marseille (bypasses where applicable) uses the TVM (Transmission Voie-Machine) in-cab signalling system, there is no need to use the new rolling stock from a signalling point of view (from what I heard, the lack of space for ERTMS equipment was the main reason they were procured).  There is also no speed advantage, given that the existing rolling stock allows for 300km/h, the maximum speed already allowable on that route (the new rolling stock can do 320km/h).

I am hopeful that the new services will cause ignorant Britons to be cognizant of Marseille's value as a tourist destination.  Obviously, too many tourists is not a good situation: - we certainly don't want drunken British tourists who will just gulp down large quantities of pastis without appreciating the craftsmanship that has gone into the drink and barf up all over the streets.  However, there is a perception that Marseille is a run-down and dangerous city, i.e. that La Savine is a microcosm thereof.  I would welcome the idea of more adventurous and discerning tourists visiting the city to see how wonderfully sophisticated it is and how much it has been regenerated over the years.

Some of the less sophisticated tourists who like hip-hop culture could obviously head for the quarter (or "tchéquar", as Bilal would say, given his tendency to use verlan) of La Savine, where Bilal lives: - though he loves hip-hop fashion, being a sophisticated haute couture person is not one of his strengths.  He and other people in the area would be able to give such people tours to show them the other side of the city, perhaps introducing them to the aspiring rappers, as well as show them where the members of Psy 4 De La Rime and Puissance Nord and Soosol grew up.  Some people have contacted me to ask me why Bilal is my boyfriend, given these things I say about him.  I respond by saying that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and Bilal's strengths more than make up for his weaknesses, e.g  what I said in the last post about how he is so attractive that I will give him my full cooperation in whatever attempts he makes to create a large family.  That is before I go into his credentials as a believer.  But that is beside the point.  Even though I don't have any taste for hip-hop culture, I have no doubt that Bilal will be delighted by the influx of tourists who he will be able to introduce to the Marseille hip-hop scene.

The tourists who love great scenery will love Marseille as well.  I have never been to La Savine, though Bilal tells me there are great views of the area from there.  The city is surrounded by mountains and though the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde has no spiritual beauty to speak of (it is part of the Church of Rome), there are great views from the hill it sits upon, both of the city and the Mediterranean Sea.  It doesn't take too long to walk from the Gare de Marseille-St. Charles (or "réga", as Bilal calls it) to the top of the hill: - naturally, a dainty Frenchwoman such as myself would not consider taking the metro (or the "trom", as Bilal calls it).

All in all, Marseille has something for everyone.  It has a huge hip-hop scene for the less discerning tourists and immense sophistication in things such as Pastis de Marseille, Bouillabaise and Frenchwomen saying "la moitié, s'il vous plaît" for the more discerning tourists.  If anyone reading this wants to know more details, or even if they want me to give them a tour of Marseille (I am very happy to do this), they should contact me at mariannegaboriault@gmail.com .

Postpartum dainty figures

Recently, Bilal and I had a discussion about the subject of childbearing.  I asked him what his views were on the subject of how many children to have.  Eventually, after several questions that were essentially identical, but done from different angles, he said he would definitely like to have a "famille nombreuse" (large family).  When I probed why, he cited Psalm 127:4 (which talks about how a large family is a blessing to a man) and his love for the Touareg culture i.e. his desire not to "westernise" and turn his back on his culture by having a smaller family.  The fertility rate for Touareg women in Mali is apparently 6.6 (admittedly using out-of-date statistics).  Also, it is plain for me to see that Bilal is very fond of small children: - he is not as reticent about initiating interactions with them as he is with non-Touareg adults.  The wife of someone he is reasonably friendly with at church gave birth to a son a few weeks ago and I regularly see Bilal cradling the baby, obviously entranced.

Bilal said that he didn't want to push this on me, given that he would not be carrying the children around for 9 months each, but said he would be overjoyed if he did have a large family.  I said that although I don't yet know first-hand what stresses pregnancy puts on a woman's body, once we are married, my plan is to offer no obstruction at all to creating a large family, even if this means no sleep and working at home for a few days each month.  Why?  Because I love him so much.  He has brought me so much happiness and if children and more children will bring him enormous joy, then that's what I plan to give him.  After all, provided we are married at the time, given that he is the most attractive man I have ever seen, why would I ever have any desire resist him?  I would also enjoy a large family myself.  Visiting people from the United Kingdom have told me that they have noticed that in France, having children makes you that much more socially acceptable.  All part of impossible French perfection I suppose.  I know I am always grumbling about taxes in France, but one thing that is great about France is how the income tax brackets favour  couples with lots of children, even if I don't like the way the tax advantages diminsh steeply after the first child.  Then there are various other advantages, including the Carte Famille Nombreuse for discounts when travelling on the trains: - I don't suggest that anyone has children for the sake of financial advantages, but I think it is great that France is doing things to incentivise people to have children.

Some people might call me an enemy of feminism because I plan to give Bilal as many children as he wants and I am always preaching about the importance of having a dainty figure.  How would I respond to such suggestions of betraying feminism?  If I were a Frenchwoman with the characteristics portrayed by Zoë Williams, I would just light up another Gauloise and say, "bof", MDR.

"But aren't you bothered about your figure any more?", Bilal asked me.  I said I didn't think it was a dichotomy.  It is quite possible for a woman to have a wonderful figure very soon after giving birth or even immediately thereafter.  I recall a photo of Catherine Zeta-Jones that appeared around the time after her wedding showing how much baby weight she had lost on account of her desire to look good in her wedding dress: - unusually for a British (in this case, Welsh) woman, she had a fabulous figure in the photo.  I have no expectation of being in this situation, because neither I nor Bilal approve of fornication, so I would argue that Catherine Zeta-Jones could have saved herself the bother of crash-dieting prior to her wedding by not committing fornication, but anyway.  That example aside, I also remember the controversy over the Norwegian WAG Caroline Berg Eriksen's postpartum selfie of her figure.  What would I say in response to this controversy?  I say you go for it girl!

If you've got a lovely figure like that so soon after giving birth, show it to everyone so that women will be willing to aim high!  Why should this woman listen to the grumblings of women who are just jealous that they don't have such a wonderful postpartum figure?  This is what I would call the "crab mentality" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_mentality): - people become jealous at the success of others and try to "pull them back down".  Of course, such wonderful postpartum figures are the norm in France.  There is the perception that a Frenchwoman is so stupid that she doesn't know that heavy drinking and smoking during pregnancy are bad for the unborn child's health, but none of this is well-founded: - in fact, heavy drinking is characteristic of a British ladette, rather than a Frenchwoman.  A pregnant Frenchwoman eats a little bit more than usual (given the need to nourish the unborn child), but her self-discipline when it comes to dainty portions means she has absolutely no weight to lose after she gives birth.  She looks with derision on Anglo-Saxon women who view pregnancy as a time to indulge themselves and then find themselves miserable when they find they have lots of surplus weight after having given birth, possibly suffering post-natal depression as a result of their weight gain, though I admit I would find it hard to avoid post-natal depression if I gained as much weight as Anglo-Saxon women do during pregnancy!  MDR!

I recall the Little Britain character Marjorie Dawes (one of the few British people with the good sense to realise the benefits of halving portions), who commented to two of the fatties at Fat Fighters who had gotten married and were expecting a baby that their decision to have a child was somewhat selfish, given that the child would be born with an addiction to food and would therefore have to go cold turkey.  As far as I know, an addiction to food is not heritable: - after all, my English-born mother was overweight before she began to spend time in France, yet here we are, both with very dainty figures.  However, if an addiction to food were heritable, I would whole-heartedly agree with Ms. Dawes' assertion that they were selfish.

In conclusion, I have absolutely no apprehension about what pregnancy will do to my impossibly dainty French figure.  I am not doing to do a Scarlett O'Hara and refuse to have any more children on account of such fears, knowing that continuing to eat dainty portions, rather than birth control, will preserve my impossibly perfect and dainty French figure.

The AGV: - a masterpiece of French engineering

As I have been keen to point out, we French are the best at pretty much everything, except perhaps low taxes and sumo wrestling, being fat ladies in circuses and gastric bypass operations (given the low amount of practice our doctors get in such matters, MDR).  Some things we are better at than others.  However, one thing we are notorious for being the best at is railway systems.

To make it clear that I am not misleading people on this point, I am not for one moment suggesting that we French were the first country in the world to have a high-speed network: - that title belongs to Japan (a country also characterised by very thin women, tee hee).  We were not even the first European nation to have a high-speed line: - that title belongs to the Italians, who inaugurate the Direttissima in 1977 (though they were bonkers enough to electrify the line at 3kV DC).  We are, unfortunately, never likely to be the European nation with the longest high-speed network in Europe (thanks to our incompetent pinko-liberal commie socialist president cutting back on high-speed line construction): - this title belongs to Spain, which is planning to open a large number of new routes next year.

However, in spite of not holding such records (though we do hold the record for the fastest speed achieved on a conventional line), we are nevertheless the best at high-speed rail networks.  It is not really about one single factor.  Rather, it is the combination of low prices, good journey times, comfort, extensiveness of destinations covered, airport connections and many other factors.

One of the great things to come out of France's railway industry is the AGV, which stands for "Automotrice à Grande Vitesse", which roughly translates as "Self-Propelled Vehicle at High-speed".

The reason for this name being used is that this is the first super high-speed train to be produced by Alstom that truly uses the EMU (electric multiple unit) configuration.  The trains produced for Eurostar are technically classed as EMUs, given that there is some traction equipment in the front and rear passenger carriages.  This is probably necessary, given the long length of the rolling stock and the small space for equipment on account of the small loading gauge: - the British are so daft when it comes to railway construction that they use loading gauges almost as small as a Frenchwoman's waistline!  Tee hee!  Anyway, up until recently, high-speed rolling stock produced by Alstom has used the locomotive configuration.  This is not to say that this is the first time such technology has been used on high-speed rolling stock: - the Japanese have used EMU configurations with the Shinkansen since they first entered service in 1964.

Another point that is fairly distinctive about France's high-speed rolling stock is its articulated nature.  Granted, France is not the only country to use high-speed articulated rolling stock.  Talgo (a Spanish rolling stock manufacturer) in particular uses articulated rolling stock: - Bilal and I travelled on such a train on the day we travelled to Seville.  That is before I mention that France's Alstom supplied Spain's first high-speed rolling stock for the opening of the Madrid-Seville line in 1992!  MDR!  This rolling stock is articulated and mostly identical in design to a French single-decker TGV, though with a few distinctions, including the white exterior and beefed-up air conditioning: - it is reasonably common for Córdoba and Seville (two cities along the route) to have temperatures exceeding 40 degrees in summer.  South Korea also uses Alstom-derived articulated rolling stock.

As far as I am aware, one of the reasons SNCF has not yet decided to purchase any AGV sets is the fact that more motors means more maintenance.  I cannot confess to having seen the numbers put together, but certainly, low costs are good, as they help reduce reliance on cars and help make the railways a mass-market solution.  Walking to the station is one of the ways in which we impossibly dainty and perfect Frenchwomen build passive exercise into our routines and I must admit, it would be a bit of a hassle to park our cars slightly further away from home, so as to build passive exercise into our routines.  I am therefore glad that we have such a great railway network.  However, there are some routes where I think AGVs could be particularly useful.  For instance, they would be very useful once the LGV Est extension to Strasbourg and the LGV Sud Europe between Tours and Bordeaux have been completed, given that the current route has several stops and most of the new route will have alignments suitable for 350km/h running. With fast services such as these, there will be more of an incentive for people to use Marne La Vallée-Chessy and Massy TGV stations, particularly given that Massy TGV will be along the future Line 18 that comprises part of the Grand Paris Express project.

Though I am a little disappointed by François Hollande's government's decision to slow down high-speed line construction, I still think we French are the best in the world when it comes to high-speed rail systems.  I love the fact that I can be in the cold Northern European climate of Lille and then 4h50m later be back in sunny Marseille.  I will also love the fact that once the link to Bordeaux is completed, I might find myself explaining to some Anglo-Saxon business contacts about how sophisticated French wines are, spontaneously hop on a train to Bordeaux, be there in just over two hours, savour the fine wines and easily get back to Paris that day if we wish.  I will also love being able to show people the proper way to do a Kouglof (not overly sweet), as well as the beautiful mixed architectural styles of Strasbourg after a train ride of just 1h50m when the second phase of the LGV Est opens.  In short, we French are the best at pretty much everything.

Stratford, an area of London that Bilal loved

I enjoy travelling with Bilal and, as can be deduced from my posts, theology is a shared interest of ours.  We were aware of a church conference taking place in London that we knew would be promoting sound theology, so we decided we would visit the conference.  Bilal and I both found the conference edifying, but there is so much to be said about it that it is probably best discussed on a blog about theology, rather than a blog about how wonderfully dainty we Frenchwomen are!  Naturally, I also decided I wanted to do some business: - given that the UK has absolutely no plans to introduce a 75% tax rate, there are far more opportunities for business than in France!  This is just about the only favourable comparison I can make with France!  MDR!One thing I often tend to do is leave Bilal to his own devices to explore while I am doing business trying to promote my fashion magazine and then travel over to where he is if he has found something that interests him.

Being a railway aficionado like my father, Bilal observes the route keenly during train journeys and he has often noticed that on the final approach to St. Pancras International, in between the two long tunnels (named London Tunnel 1 and London Tunnel 2), the Eurostar trains pass by, but never stop at, a station.  Bilal looked up this station and found out that it is called Stratford International.  During one of my business meetings, Bilal decided to Stratford International and watch the trains pass for a little while.  The British high-speed rail line (known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) is unusual in that the trains go very fast through city centres: - in Ashford, this is by means of a flyover and in Stratford (an area of London), this is by means of a box.

When he started to feel hungry, Bilal ventured into the adjacent Stratford Westfield shopping centre.  I had forgotten to make him something for lunch that day, given my desire to make sure he only eats high-quality food!  MDR!  Poor Bilal didn't find things very easy.  He has coeliac disease and although he is learning English, he is not particularly fluent at present.  Almost immediately upon entry to the shopping centre, there is a shop prominently selling artesan bread!  He has a long way to go when it comes to written English as well and so he struggled to understand the labels to see if food contains gluten or not: - this is very different to Spain where gluten-free foods tend to contain a label to this effect!  Eventually, after a lot of fruitless exploring, he overheard some people talking in French and decided to ask them if they could offer him some advice regarding seeking-gluten free food.  Someone then explained that British supermarkets sometimes have a "free from" section and suggested trying Marks and Spencer (middle class, but still low quality in comparison to the worst France can offer).

On the way to Marks and Spencer, he walked passed a shop called New Era that he made a mental note of.  After having bought a few items from the "free from" section of Marks and Spencer (he was feeling rather faint by this point), he walked back to the New Era store.  Surprisingly for a hip-hop person such as him, Bilal was not aware of the existence of the New Era headwear company.  Bilal was delighted to enter the door of the Stratford branch and see a whole shop filled with hip-hop baseball caps.  Bilal had great fun trying them on, but after a while, it was proving difficult to find one for his head size, so he called me on my mobile and asked for me to tell the shop assistant by phone that he wanted to know if there were some caps in his size.  The shop assistant said there were and opened some drawers containing the correct size.  Bilal had a whale of a time trying on the caps and bought several.  Unusually, he was so entranced by the variety of hip-hop baseball caps around that he didn't seem to mind the fact that  his head was uncovered in public between trying different caps on!

After buying several caps from the New Era store, Bilal started exploring the Stratford area and very quickly, he fell in love with it, as everywhere he looked, he saw people of African origin dressed up in hip-hop clothing more often than not wearing baseball caps of the style sold by New Era.  Bilal had no way of identifying who was a French speaker beforehand, so he waited for me to finish my business dealings elsewhere in the city and travel over to Stratford so that I could interpret for him.  He had a great time socialising, even though he had to conduct his conversations through me.

Again, just as with our visit to the Aylesbury estate a few months ago, my interpretation abilities were tested to the max, given the large number of hip-hop slang words used by both Bilal and the locals!  Some people were keen to learn French, but said that it didn't seem a very cool when they were taught it at school.  Bilal suggested that if anyone genuinely thought that, they should seek to learn new vocabulary using a website he is intimately familiar with called Dictionnaire De La Zone.  The locals in turn suggested that Bilal get himself acquainted with Urban Dictionary in order to familiarise himself with English-language hip-hop slang.

Apart from the New Era shop, Bilal also discovered a new chain store that interested him called Arabian Oud, which sells Arab-style perfume.  The scents reminded him of when he visited Saudi Arabia, where the population as a whole is very keen on fragrances.  Unfortunately, Bilal was performing the Hajj when he was in Saudi Arabia, in a way, this trip was part of the old man that needs to be mortified when one becomes a new creature in Christ, but he still thought it was a beautiful country and thought it was a shame that such a beautiful nation is under the yoke of Islam.  Bilal bought some spicy men's perfume and I thought it smelled absolutely divine (in the non-religious sense of the word) on him.  I respect many things Mireille Guiliano writes, but I don't agree with what she wrote about spicy fragrances not smelling good in hot weather!  Bilal was very pleased to learn that there is a branch in Paris.  In fact, I also remember one on Oxford Street that I saw on that occasion when I went to Selfridges to buy some Mariage Frères tea.

Bilal also spoke with a Muslim evangelist outside Stratford station  who happened to be from Algeria.  The Muslim evangelist made some very silly claims.  Firstly, he claimed that there is no place in the Bible where it says Jesus and God are the same person: - Bilal suggested that perhaps he was half asleep when he read John 10:30.  The Muslim evangelist then claimed that the Bible never says that Jesus is the Son of God.  Bilal then pointed to our Lord's baptism and the Transfiguration and suggested that if, as he claimed, he had genuinely read through the entire Bible and reached the conclusion that the Bible never says Jesus is the Son of God, he must have been reading it using glasses with wooden lenses.

As per custom in areas like these, Bilal and the locals parted, friends for life, with a fist bump.  Unfortunately, we hadn't left enough time for Bilal to spend more time with the locals: - we needed to get back to Marseille so that we could discharge our duties at our church in Marseille the following day, as well as doing some set up work for the various activities that take place on Sundays the day before.  I also thought it a shame I didn't have more time to explore the uncountably large number of fashion stores in Westfield Stratford.

However, on the Eurostar to Paris, Bilal announced that he had enjoyed his time in Stratford (and previously the Walworth area) that he was planning to buy properties in both these areas to add to his investment portfolio.  He is not sure if he plans to use them for short-term rentals, staying in them during holidays in London, or whether he will use them for longer-term rentals, but he will look into that in time.

Bilal and I are very different people: - he is what we French refer to as a "zoulou" (a lover of hip-hop culture) and I am obsessed with fashion and eating ever daintier portions!  MDR!  However, I really do love him and I am glad he was willing to persist in asking my father's permission to court me for several years until my father agreed.  No surprise though, given that I'm worth it!  Anyway, jokes aside, I hope he proposes soon, as he is quite rightly keeping distance between the two of us until we get married and I don't want to be in suspense much longer.