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The happy face

Taken on 21 May at the weir on the Rhône south of Beauclaire/Tarascon. If you zoom in you can see his little boat anchored just in front of the turbulent water.

Our eldest did his UK MSc at ICL, South Ken. He taught maths (or rather tried as the kids were not too keen on the subject) to French families in the "French Quarter". His French education came in handy for that.

That.s been our impression during the days we have been here so far. Just wanted to make sure we were not the only ones.

I have lived where I live now for 12 years…and the area is totally unrecognizable from when we moved here. 6 years of that is Macronism. Bless him. It is interesting to watch from a sociological point of view mind you. Terrible to have kids in France. I don’t see any future for them here. Thankfully they have duel nationality.

It sure as heck isn't what it used to be. While we were living in Ste Cécile (Vaucluse) from 2021 to end of 2022, we were frequently in Avignon (doctors, etc.). I could hardly recognize it from when we lived in Bédoin for so many years and did the majority of our shopping, doctor visits, restaurants, etc. in Avignon. It is now very run down looking, dirty, trash all over the place, SDF's all around and massive traffic problems. We vowed we would never buy a property there and avoided visiting when at all possible. Sad really, very sad. Funny thing though, real estate prices are still through the roof in and around Avignon. And, for homes that, in most cases, need serious renovations and are surrounded by what some might say looks like slums.

Never been to Avignon…drven passed it. Has a sweet name that makes you just want to visit. Guessing outside the walls…it aint very pretty or safe. So might give it a miss. Like most places in France. Its funny you spoke about London. You don’t realise how such a fantastic a place London is until you live in France. We were in South Kensington late last year, and everyone was speaking French. Lol…not everyone but you kinda felt like you were in France. Maybe South Kensington is the real Avignon. Yeah…London is coool. It shows the world how intigration can work. It is not perfect…but not far off. That really pisses off French politicians….although they probably all own a pad in London. Who are the biggest investors of property in the UK…well apparently it is the French. Go figure.

Widening the thread, would be interested in ALBF"s take on We drove down last week to tour the area on our bikes. The picture shows the historical bit, but were are outside the walls in the main town Quite an eyeopener! Last year we stayed in London for a week and rented a flat from AirBnB in Battersea, two minutes walk from the park, then the Thames. We loved it.

For the year ending June 2022, the proportion of adults reporting any drug use in the last year was highest among those aged 20 to 24 years (23.3%). ( UK result) Despite these decreases, the proportion of older age groups using illicit drugs remained considerably lower than younger age groups (Figure 4). file:///C:/Users/barns/Downloads/Drug%20misuse%20in%20England%20and%20Wales%20year%20ending%20June%202022.pdf

I am no expert of drug addiction…but I rekon it is the middle and upper classes that make up the majority of drug demand in France, the Uk or whatever Kids fighting, stabbing, shooting each other to fuel that demand and just pawns. legalise drugs is the only way forward.

Statistiques…drug crime kids killing drug crime kids. Or is it drug addicts stabbing people when robbing them to pay for their drugs? You choose!

Statistiques…drug crime kids killing drug crime kids. The most dangerous places in Europe are not in the Uk. Marseille is most far more dangerous place than London….with a far less population. I would not let my teenage kids go out in France at night. I would not let them travel to Paris for example. London…no problem. Tours at night…..not in a million years. Like most parents here. And Tours is considered a safe area.

While I couldn’t find a specific printing company that offers grammar checking as part of their service, there are several online grammar checking tools that can help you with the translation before you send it off for printing. Services like Grammarly and QuillBot are well-known for their grammar checking capabilities. They can be quite useful in ensuring your translated content is grammatically correct and contextually accurate.

"When we go to London we often stay in Stratford ........ Recommend !..... ........Very safe area by my standards" You might want to reconsider your "very safe area" opinion. Stratford is in the London Borough of Newham. Firearm offences 24 - higher incidence along with Tower Hamlets 25 Brent 26 Lambeth 30 Southwark 31 Knife crime offences London Borough Number of offences Crime rate per 1,000 people Barking and Dagenham 69 0.32 Barnet 51 0.13 Bexley 48 0.19 Brent 120 0.36 Bromley 70 0.21 Camden 67 0.2652 City of London 0* 0* Croydon 152 0.39 Ealing 92 0.26 Enfield 85 0.25 Greenwich 100 0.35 Hackney 129 0.46 Hammersmith and Fulham 52 0.28 Haringey 75 0.26 Harrow 51 0.20 Havering 44 0.17 Hillingdon 86 0.27 Hounslow 58 0.21 Islington 83 0.35 Kensington and Chelsea 51 0.32 Kingston upon Thames 34 0.19 Lambeth 177 0.53 Lewisham 121 0.39 Merton 36 0.17 Newham 147 0.42 Redbridge 62 0.2 Richmond upon Thames 25 0.12 Southwark 152 0.47 Sutton 43 0.21 Tower Hamlets 95 0.30 Waltham Forest 73 0.26 Wandsworth 53 0.16 Westminster 130 0.52 https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/london-knife-crime-map-shows-20598724

When we go to London we often stay in Stratford which I think was redeveloped during and after the olympics. It is cool place to visit and stay and you are only 10 mins into central London. Big fantastic shopping centre and a very cheap and vey big cinema. You also have Abba world…..which OH and daughter loved. Recommend ! Very safe area by my standards. Who the hell in their right mind would go anywhere neat St Saint Denis before or after the Olympics ? From what I understand they have redeveloped the area and built new flats but they can’t sell them. Remember that Liverpool match a year back at the Stade de France ! Where local youths gate çrashed the event, robbed people, sexually assaulted women, clashed with the police…..and everything was blamed on Liverpool supporters. Stade de France is in Saint Denis. Yeah…give the French olympics a miss if you have any sense. France has become a very violent country. It is is terrible to see.

But in Paris, they are hiking up the public transport prices, strikes are threatened, student accommodation is being emptied, even the SDFs are being shipped out to the provinces... no way I'd be in Paris this summer.

For the London Olympics in 2012 I heard many people saying they wouldn't dream of staying in London and were making a point of being away from town for the whole period. In fact, it was the most wonderful place to be throughout the event. Everybody seemed to be cheerful; people talked to each other on public transport; there was very little traffic anywhere - in west London, at least. I felt sorry for those who had missed it all.

Well…as you know…we have lived in Paris 3 times over the last twenty five years. Everytime was fantastic. 1990’s Montpansse was one of the best places I have lived in my life. It was magical. That said…I would not waste my time visiting…dare the thought living in Paris again. Paris has become a shìt hole. It really is truly awful place. The olympics…well….we shall see. It could be a blood bath or France might get away with it. I personally would stay well clear of that place during that period. French police are very stretched at the moment. I dunno how it will play out.

Yes, our daughter, who lives in Paris, will be arriving chez nous on 25 july. She will work from our home (employer agreed). She'll be here for 10 days. Sounds an absolute nightmare to me. I wouldn't want to be in Paris during this time.

Good luck with the new one. Seems like, these days, you'd better bury the posts in cement to try to keep the storms from destroying it.

This article seems about right. ALBF, what does your extended tribe say about the Games? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/18/you-think-parisians-grumble-a-lot-dont-get-them-started-on-the-olympic-games

I spent a couple of very frustrating days trying to recover my little greenhouse which was destroyed in a storm a couple of years ago. Whilst I could probably have put it together without the original instruction manual ( definitely put somewhere safe), and having straightened the twisted aluminium bits, I eventually gave up when I realised how many of the plastic linking bits were broken, snapped etc beyond recovery. And have ordered another one!

Well I hope things move towards the better for you and soon. At least we had a touch of sunshine today. Got tons of weeding done. We've had so much rain the huge water butt slid off its bricks !

Big debate in the Daily Mail again… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13432823/french-officials-remove-britains-union-jack-dday-normandy.html Maybe they just ran out of bunting. 🤫 But you do get the feeling that this has Macrons paws all over it. They have plenty of EU bunting for **** sake. How many people in France need, buy or want EU bunting ? Not exactly sort after is it ? Lets be clear…Macron could start a fight in an empty bar, lose the fight…and cost the French tax payer 2 billion euros to clear up the mess. That is basically his legacy. Except it is more 10 billion euros over 6 years so far. Marons paws…no idea. Probably. You get the feeling that history is changing….and that the d-day landings will soon only be celebrated by Russian speaking French and Germans politicians. Well that is my history debate for the day….I wish you all a very happy bank holiday weekend.

I don’t….but now I do. Certainly will visit next time I am there. She lives near the rogate woods….which judging by the pictures is about the same.