There's a place in France

Where the ladies wear no pants
And the men down there
Say they wear no underwear.

Or so I hear.

There are a couple of ambiguities here. First, is the "they" in the last line referring to the ladies or the men? And, second, is "down there" just a loose expression for "at the place where the pantless ladies are to be found" or is it specifically avering that the men are in position to verify the bloomerlessness of the ladies? If it's the men who are drawerless, then the answer to the latter question must be that "down there" is simply a loose expression.

I haven't been to France. My wife has, and I think I asked her what she knew of this vexing matter, but I don't recall that she gave me any satisfactory answers to these questions that so vex my soul.

I know that none of the ladies at the Rendezvoux wear pants, but are nevertheless modestly covered. And I have unfortunately seen evidence that some of the men there wear no underwear.

But then this is America, and my experience doesn't imply anything about what goes on in France.

We are headed out for Rendezvous in Pine City tomorrow. Perhaps some of the better informed reenactors can fill me in.

I'm going to have to squeeze a couple of fairly long runs into the weekend. I don't know how I'm going to deal with all the sweat and sweaty clothes that will generate.