One of the aims of Martine Aubry, architect of France's 35-hour week in 2000, was to enhance the quality of life of ordinary people by giving them more personal time.
She was undoubtedly more successful in that ambition than with the primary objective of persuading employers to take on more staff, which manifestly has not happened.
As one side-effect of the measure, people so inclined definitely found they had more "personal time" for one activity: romance within or without their established relationships.
I wondered at first whether Christian Boeuf and Ludovic Cosnier, owner and chef respectively at La Bastide des Magnans, a restaurant at Vidauban in the Var, had such matters - I nearly wrote affairs - in mind when stressing the attractions of their establishment.
To quote a highly positive review taken from Le Figaro's weekend magazine, mentioning the special weekday menu at €20 (rather cheaper than at weekends or for dinner), guests are advised: "To extend your stay, five charming bedrooms await you upstairs."
Had La Bastide devised a useful little extra for their lunchtime service? Cosnier is a Parisian and can be taken to be a man of the world. But I now think they had nothing naughtier in mind - necessarily - than to point out that accommodation was offered as well as fine cuisine.
My photograph, however, is from another restaurant that has been featured in the magazine. It was taken from our terrace table at Les Arcades, 59km to the east along the hinterland of the Riviera in the pretty village of Biot, known for its historic pottery and glassware production.
Les Arcades is located in the quiet square after which it is named. Beware: if your GPS takes you to the door, as ours did, you will almost certainly need to perform a perilous three, four or five-point turn and return along the exceedingly narrow approach to find a parking space 300 metres or more away.
Oh, and Les Arcades also doubles as a hotel so you can extend your stay there too, however long you want that prolongation to be.
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