Gendarmes, Police and Faulty Speedos

 My friend Antoine the potter had a little incident with the Gendarmes from Bligny not long ago. Now before I begin this tale, I feel I should put to rest a belief that has become, apparently (according to my children,) current in the UK in the last few years. This is that the Gendarmes in France are not real police. Well, they are, and this is a classic bit of Anglo-Saxon, er, confusion. I believe it has even been aired on that odious arch-slimeball Stephen Fry’s television show; not that that would make it any more the truth.  So let me explain. Gendarmes are Police, right?     Firstly, the Gendarmes are indeed police, as understood by any Anglo-Saxon. The term literally means ‘men at arms’ and the Gendarmes are descended from the peacekeeping forces that first appeared in the Middle Ages, when local lords and later, t