I spent a summer in Normandy back in college and for three weeks lived in a local home. It was a relatively large, detached house in the "suburbs" of Caen and I honestly can't remember how many bedrooms and baths it had, but I think 3 and 2. I remember the kitchen, where my hostess Monique (a divorcee with two sons) made everything from tripe (ugh!) to chocolate mousse (yum!) and frites (OMG! in a cast iron skillet with *butter*), and the whole downstairs being an open plan - kitchen, dining area, lounge. There may have been a half bath down there.
The upstairs bedroom I stayed in had belonged to the younger son, who had just left school for the merchant marine. It was a small room, just big enough for a chest of drawers, a twin bed, and a small writing desk; there was a tiny closet. It was incredibly neat and uncluttered, especially given that until very recently its inhabitant was a 15 yr old boy. Of course I'm sure Monique had tidied it up! But there was no storage unit out back, no big basement, no place to keep things that weren't in active use. Whatever he had that he wanted, he obviously either took with him or it was all in that tiny closet.
The overall impression I received in France - though mine was a limited experience, I was only in one home - was of a certain relaxed attitude. Just-in-time grocery shopping at the local farmer's market, rather than stockpiling at a supermarket, for example. There didn't seem to be the same anxiety Americans have about "what if I run out??" or "what if the restaurant is crowded??" or "what if there's no place to park??" Everyone was willing to let things take as long as they took, to come back the next day if the shop had just closed, to walk in the rain. It was just no big deal.
If that's accurate, maybe it's because of all the wars so many Europeans have lived through? Less attachment, because so many can still so vividly recall their own or their neighbors' homes being obliterated in a moment? We haven't truly experienced that, here in the U.S.
Whereas Americans are constantly being warned of all the threats we're supposedly under, and told to prepare, prepare, prepare, as if in a true emergency most of that preparation would do any good at all.
I mean, Monique would have been fortysomething when I stayed with her in the early 80s. Her parents would certainly have directly experienced WWII. Even now, Europeans still live in the same towns where hideous battles were fought. I think that just about HAS to influence how they live. Or am I really overthinking all this? :-)
