Pastis is certainly the image of a French drink "par excellence" with over 140 million litres of pastis drunk each year in France. But though one might think that vaste quantities are drunk in Provence, it's actually in the North where consumption is the highest !

When ever I see pétanque players or “jouers de boules” I'm reminded of childhood memories of watching my parents playing this game with our Belgian uncles and aunts - all very dedicated and ardent players especially as the losers had to pay for the “apéritive” at a local café afterwards. My brother and I learnt to play with wooden boules, each marked by a brightly coloured band around each ball; red, yellow, light blue, orange, green and navy blue. These were much lighter than the steel boules used by adults, but still made a nice "crack!" sound when hit one against the other.