Thursday, March 22, 2007

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco...

(Click on photo to enlarge)

...at least it was fooling around, in a way. The French Foreign Legion was in Rodez last week, carrying out a military exercise entitled "Etex 2007." Their highly visible presence caused consternation to some, and intrigued many.

The scenario was to liberate Rodez from a possible takeover by "rebel forces." I'm not quite sure who those rebel forces might be in Aveyron, but obviously someone somewhere believes you can never be too careful.

Life during wartime...???

(Photos courtesy of photographer par excellence Thomas Smith-Vaniz. Check out his Postcards from the Aveyron.)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm just appreciating the Talking Heads reference...

Betty Carlson said...

I'm glad someone is! Others will think I'm babbling, but I couldn't resist...

Jennifer said...

Hmmmm, that looks interesting!

Tinsie said...

Awww that must have brightened a dull day - all these men in uniform running round your town phoarrrrrrr (Tinsie fans herself)

Great photos by Thomas Smith-Vaniz!

The Duchess said...

How surreal, I bet it gave some of the older locals a bit of a fright!
Was it just business as usual around the town whilst this was going on?

Betty Carlson said...

Not really business as usual -- a lot of people were taking pictures, and just hanging around watching. What was surprising was that they actually used sound effects, so when they pretended to shoot, people heard the sound. It does seem that it would frighten some older -- or younger -- residents.

angela said...

Actually that looks just a bit scary.

Yes I got the talking heads refence. You don't babble, Betty.
Angela

Betty Carlson said...

It's also a song that always reminds me of Bush's presidency, even though it predates it...