As you may know if you've been reading this blog for a while, it is very important in France to stay faithful to your local merchants and professionals. So I always buy my flowers from the same fleuriste at the marché.
I had just bought a big bouquet which did not, however, include the flowers I was looking for-- daffodils-- when a tall man in an expensive overcoat, also faithful, started complaining about the same thing.
"There is someone right across the street [i.e. on the sidewalk, not part of the market, where merchants must pay for their stalls] selling bundles of daffodils," he said. "I wish you had them."
The fleuriste's sons, who may be twins, both looked disgusted. "They're thieves robbing the public," one said. "Go on the Périphérique [the Paris ring road] at 3 or 4 a.m. and you'll see them stealing the daffodils."
