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Provence By: Peter Mayle A Year in How can moving to a new country influence one's lifestyle? Can one truly escape their past? "Any friend of the grape was a friend of ours" (182). "Time in Provence is a very elastic commodity" (45). Peter learns to decipher French menus, and tries his hand at producing French wine with his neighbor Faustin. Peter Mayle and his wife move to Provence, France and become engulfed in French society where neighbors know each other and greetings require a minimum of three kisses to the cheek. Peter and his wife learn to judge time not by the passing of days, but by the passing of seasons. They also learn to make adjustments to their lives as time in Provence is dictated by the weather. "The French are as passionate about food as other nationalities are about sports and politics" (16). Peter and his wife are hounded as acquaintances they barely knew back in England bombard them with phone calls asking if they may come to visit Provence and their home. The couple tries to avoid these people and to distance themselves from their past English lifestyle, but in the end these efforts are fruitless as English guests arrive unannounced and Peter and his wife struggle to fit in with the Provencal lifestyle. Cultural Comparisons COM. Digital image. The Twenty Ten Theme. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015. Dawson, Akira. Turning Grape Juice into Wine. Digital image. Share the Joy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015. General News French Kiss Campaign Defies the Pecking Order in Bid to Keep a Brest of the Situation. Digital image. Brunch News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015. Mayle, Peter. A Year in Provence. London: Pan, 1990. Print. Melting Clock. Digital image. Ebay. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015. Works Cited
