What's for Lunch?

The time difference between Europe and the U.S. has been reduced for one week only so get your communication while the getting is good. I wonder if this disturbs the business world. Is this another thing we can thank the Bush-man for? Is he still speaking in clicks, not to insult the Kalahari, they are far less primitive and primitive isn't a bad thing so long as you're not trying to run a corporation, oh I mean a country.
I can laugh from afar, living under Sarkozy I hear is not much better, but the people here are not in a frenzy with code orange and Al-Quaeda breathing down their TV sets. They have different worries like, "How am I going to get to dejeuner (lunch) at precisely twelve so there will be a table left in the restaurant for me and they will be serving food. You may laugh, but this is a very real concern, maybe not for the Natives, but we find it quite challenging as foreigners. Things are quite different. I hear the unemployed are paid. I imagine taxes are very high though there is no noticeable sales tax added on at the time of purchase. Servers are paid, one does not tip, I have been told by three or four people. I keep asking to make sure this is widely believed.
I don't know how the restaurants stay in business. They serve lunch filling all their tables once. The people sit for a full two hours at lunch time. And lunch is served, then the restaurant does not serve anything for a spell. The customers clear out, the staff will sit down at a table and smoke and send you away if you say anything about eating (mange). Then some restaurants will serve ham and cheese sandwiches or waffles until 7 pm when dinner begins.
We have not been so daring as to attempt dinner yet. I'm sure we will give it a shot in Paris, if not before. Most of the businesses in Cluny are closed Saturday afternoon through Tuesday morning. Though the Inter Marche is open most of the time, even during dejeuner which is a particularly quiet time to shop. Now that we are card carrying members, we could tour all of France by InterMarche, though being loyalists the card is good for only one.