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As regards a trafic stopper, Arromanche 1995, 50th anniversary 'd ' day, towing a caravan 90 degree turn , narrow, a most helpful gendarme helped me unhitch, drive car away, pull manually caravan after, and wished me bon voyage.Better than a brit who took his tank over and churned up the newly tarmacced road along Arromanche sea front, they were not pleased.
tony
______________________________________________________________ WARNING.!!... The above post may contain an opinion
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”
Hi Bluie
I would assume you had an older house in the Eure. Many of our Brit friends also have problems with older and converted barns that are poorly insulated. We have been invited to dinner several times and sat in our coats with the central heating and a log fire going.
I guess La Manche Dept. 50 being virtually surrounded by the sea is kept warmer than inland departments.
As to the Normans you have to try and integrate. We now dine and socialise with 40% French to 60% English, plus we join various local groups like 'walkers' and 'history'. Of course we grovel on a regular basis to the Mayor and this has many benifits.
Hi TM,
Yes we did consider further south but my wife is an avid gardener and too far south is too barren and brown. We did try Bergerac with a holiday home but sold after 4 years as too far from family and too cold in Winter at -13c and too hot in summer at 40+c.
Oh Gazzer,
I have brought a few French villages to a standstill with our RVs. Panic at the time but hilarious after.
Dear Editor,
Many times now I have written about my observations of the French and their habits. Some quite pleasant and some not so pleasant.
I have even been taken to task for criticising their old fashioned charms like smoking between courses and having their pets up at the dining table.
But one of the things that the whole world is aware of in France, are the primitive public toilets. Their "pissoirs" are the subject or ridicule and revulsion to all.
Forty years ago I was amazed to see these small walls on islands in the middle of the road being used by gentlemen to relieve themselves. They are still in use today.
Completely lacking in any form of privacy they are just one step up from gentlemen relieving themselves in the gutter. It's quite common even today to see men urinating against anything that does not move. Gates, hedges, walls and even vehicles, not always their own.
Recently while travelling south on a modern motorway toll road, we stopped at a nice new rest area for lunch. And while my wife was clearing the kitchen, I went to attend to the call of nature at the new facilities.
Imagine my surprise at the same old primitive toilet facilities that confronted me.
The standard wall with drain, no door. The toilet was the hole in the ground arrangement with no pan or seat and the ubiquitous stench.
Little had improved in the four decades that I had been visiting France as you can see.
Another incident that I recall when visiting an enormous Leclerc supermarket in The Dordogne.
While my wife was spending the required three hours picking up a litre of milk, I asked the information desk if there was a toilet available for clients. I need not have bothered.
With some huffing and puffing I was ceremonially handed a small key on an enormous horseshoe and told to go and open the small building round back.
This building was like a German concrete "bunker". The door faced with steel and protected by a welded hasp and staple was padlocked. The crown jewels could not have been safer.
On opening the bunker I was confronted by a toilet pan in a puddle. No seat, no flush, no basin, soap or drier. There was no switch or light. If you did close the door you were in total darkness.
I did wonder why the security of this porcelain throne was so tight. A little later I did witness a man with a toilet seat under his arm and realised just how valuable these items are.
Ray.
______________________________________________________________ The FSA licensed a twice convicted fraudster to handle our life´s savings. Guess what? He robbed us. http://raynipper.com
We love France, always felt at home in Cavaliere in the south. But as most of us know, for anything of a decent size in a decent neighbourhood, you need to be a Film Star (or Banker!). But Cavaliere is a place I feel I could live in.
But I also like Normandy. As well as Pas Des Calais (Good ferry links and close to Beneluxe and Germany). We did consider it some time ago. But as usual, other fish to fry at the time and the Mother-In-Law talked Mrs. TM out of it.
But Speaking with Mrs. TM Recently, we did discuss the idea of Javea, Spain (Again). If we could afford it in the future, she said she might like a holiday home there, but not sure she could live there due to Family ties.
Thanks TM.
At present in UK till next weekend. After 5 weeks visiting family and friends, sleeping in ten different beds and bathrooms, I am good and ready to return to our home in Normandy.
The UK now horrifies me with all the foreign voices and food shops. Not that I am against integration I just feel the Uk is being swamped with not always the most desirable immigrants.
This was written some time ago as you can see. But it's still valid.
Dear Editor,
The Economic European Community or EEC could have many advantages for all people living and working in these 15 member states. Not least the benefit of being able to understand the information given out by manufacturers printed on foods, household products, garments and the like.
When you purchase most things now, the label consists mainly of contents, warnings, usage instructions and assembly information in as many as twelve different languages.
All garments now have their washing and drying instructions in an international washing machine code complete with temperature guide.
Recently my wife commented on the instruction leaflet enclosed inside a chair cushion. It gave details in eight languages on how to tie the cushion to the back of the chair to prevent slippage.
Another purchase of a pair of child’s blow up armbands gave the instructions on how to inflate by blowing, in eight languages.
Obvious you might think, but then we are dealing with a multitude of differing intellects and ethnic backgrounds.
Consider my dilemma recently when purchasing here in France a television capable to be used in almost any country in the world that had Pal, Secam or NTSC transmission systems. The complex instruction book was only in French.
Likewise the purchase of two Epson computer products only came with French instructions and software.
I did enquire from both the supplier and manufacturers about the possibility of getting other language instruction books for such complex equipment. This was met with a typical Gallic shrug and an emphatic NON.
Is it that the French assume that all foreigners are able to read French? Or is it an underground movement to change the written word in the EEC to French.
The French language is declining in its usage around the world. So much so that the French government have passed laws that limit the intrusion of Anglo American music and phrases on French TV and radio.
I for one feel that we have given sufficient concessions to joining the EEC in the way of money, metrification, shape of bananas, taste of hedgehog crisps etc. That the next concession should come from the other members of the community in taking English as their first language.
Ray
______________________________________________________________ The FSA licensed a twice convicted fraudster to handle our life´s savings. Guess what? He robbed us. http://raynipper.com
hi ray, no my house was a log cabin imported from montana usa, trouble was all the pipes ran underneath and i had about 6 inches of insulation but it made no differance, they still froze. i got ok with my neighbours, it was the trouble with the shops in bernay, as soon as they heard me speak english , 3 of them would not serve me. bluie
Anyone who lives in one of those quaint villages in the UK (Usually in the South of England). The ones who are very often the first to shout that Racism Card, think Britain is Still Great, that benefit fraud is exaggerated by the media and think life is still wonderful and Rosey.
Have a walk around ASDA in Hulme. You don't have to buy anything, just come for the experience.
That is a surprise Bluie.
I assumed Canadian Log Cabins would be the best at winter living.
This is another of my French observations and again a few years ago before the smoking ban.
Dear Editor,
Visiting a delightful French restaurant the other day, we were soaking up the ambience of this converted windmill.
The main building had been totally renovated including the beautiful thatched roof topped with irises and woven into intricate patens.
The purpose of the Irises I am informed is to take out the moisture from the thatch. But this reason does not hold water as far as I'm concerned.
Inside were all new timbers and windows. A gallery and staircase wound round the gable end. A log fire burned brightly in an imposing stone fireplace at the other end.
The view from the dining room through the double glazed deep windows was equally impressive over rolling green fields and out to sea, with the island of Jersey in the distance.
Outside the completely restored windmill was turning slowly and actually grinding the corn into flour. This could be bought to compliment the visit. A donkey was kept in an adjacent pasture to please the dinner guests and make short deliveries.
The menu was so extensive that we opted for the economic "Plat du jour", which composed of four courses for under £8.00. Even this gave us three options at each course.
Just as we were being served our starter of a delicious selection of pate's, the occupants of the next table who had just lit cigarettes, were served with a dozen SNAILS each.
Undoubtedly they were French. The self-proclaimed gastronomic experts of the world. Who not only anethstatised their palettes with nicotine and polluted the air around us. But at the same time extricated these mollusc’s from their homes with miniature forks and ATE them.
When our French neighbours enquire as to why we have chosen to live in France, there is always the suggestion that it is because of our poor English quisine. I attempt to explain that English cooking is better and more diverse than the average French restaurant but this is just shrugged off as a British joke. And hysterical laughter follows.
Ray
______________________________________________________________ The FSA licensed a twice convicted fraudster to handle our life´s savings. Guess what? He robbed us. http://raynipper.com
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