The two-hour lunchbreak by NiceLife
Twelve-ish to two-ish can be a difficult time for those accustomed to 24/7 shopping. The French take their lunch very very seriously, and you are just going to have to lump it - they are out to lunch. Every local restaurant is packed - not a seat in the house - for this daily social ritual. Salad and conversation are the main ingredients: commerce can wait.
After a while you begin to think - have they got it right or us? No brown-bagging at your hot-desk and "lunch is for wimps". For these folk it's called "quality of life". It's economically inefficient, its expensive ( but then they don't spend money on mortgages - in the main they rent) so they can afford it.
So how come they aren't all the size of a house? There is not many calories in a lettuce leaf.