Félicie

Presently on what might be the third or fourth read of the Maigret yarn 'Félicie est là', also the subject of a television adaptation with Michael Gambon. And while I remember the story well enough, I had forgotten a good deal of the way it was originally told.

The provincial end of the story is set in what was then a shiny new, far from complete, housing estate between Poissy and Orgeval, within taxi range - for those on expenses - of Paris. Simenon has some sport with the pretentions of both the developers of such places and the inhabitants, while hinting that it is just the sort of place that Maigret himself might wind up at when he retires.

This morning, curious about whether this place actually exists, I check with gmaps, to find that both Poissy and Orgeval exist, on the meandering Seine a little to the north east of Paris, on the way to Normandy. But the shiny new estate, in the story called Jeanneville, probably after the name of the wife or mistress of the speculator who developed it, does not seem to exist. 

The main characters are from Fécamp, on the coast of Normandy, and I have learned that one Norman speaking of another, known to be mean, might say that he was 'regardant'. Presumably an abbreviated form of saying that he kept an eye on his money.

Furthermore, in the France of, say, the late 1930's, one still had flypapers - 'attrape-mouches' - hanging from ceilings and it would be the job of the maid on summer mornings to change them. I associate to the rolls of brown paper which one still licks or otherwise wets on one side for use on parcels - but suppose, without knowing, that one did not have to lick flypapers. More like Sellotape© in that way.

I was able to find a road which looked like it had been the sort of thing that Simenon had in mind with his non-existent estate, with just a scattering of older houses, in among much newer houses and small blocks of flats. With the snap above being one of the older ones, complete with what looks like our very own leylandii right. Plus a style of fence which is unusual in this country. From where I associate to their custom of having houses with very dilapidated exteriors but dining rooms with very fancy furniture and fittings, of spending a great deal on the accessories needed for proper eating and drinking.

PS: along the way I discover that while Windows search is both case and accent blind (Félicie is the same as félicie is the same as felicie), Word search is not accent blind (félicie gives different results from felicie). Furthermore, Word returns part word matches, so a search for 'felici' returns an occurrence of 'felicitous'. All very untidy. And I doubt whether Microsoft have cared or bothered to write all this down, anywhere where a member of the public might find it.

Reference 1: Félicie est là - Simenon - 1941. Volume XI of the collected works.