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LAiffricaine

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Everything posted by LAiffricaine

  1. Whilst Pads worries about the dogs and no shoes, I worry for the horses. When I saw the mounted police riding  into a crowd of thugs throwing about molotov cocktails, broken bottles, sharp objects etc ..., I felt sad for the poor horses. Their faces were protected but their neck and hind quarters weren't. Now with kevlar or other such modern fabric surely someone would have thought to design/provide some kind of cape for the horses. They did have some kind of armour once upon a time if you look at medieval pictures/paintings. Why can't it be done in modern times....   PS : I don't subscribe to the RSPCA, RSPB, SPA etc ... Being a farmer's wife, I have seen some do-gooders of the animal kingdom do more damage than is warranted to protect animals... and I haven't read the link.
  2. [quote user="Théière"] [quote user="LAiffricaine"] I don't care the builder is Polish or from Mars or Neptune. I just care that the local unemployed is not hungry enough to get up, find a builder and be on that payroll. The dole cheque is far too easy to obtain. [/quote] As you are neither resident in the UK or have been out of work recently you are as usual talking from years previous, times have changed  ....[/quote] Théière  [:D] ... A word of warning  [:(] I am sensing a certain assumption reading between the lines from your reply. I am French but I have lived in the UK since 1976. I have always worked since leaving school aged 16, except when taking a voluntary 10 yearbreak to raise my 2 children. Even then I still worked, be it unpaid and receiving no benefits, helping my husband run his farm. I am back in full time employment for a good 15 years now and have also the misfortune of having to work more years beyond 60 to get my full pension since the reworking of pensions as per the bill of 2011. I would love to give my job to a local person so I can get on with more personal projects. Unfortunately my job requires to speak French and learning another language is not something that Brits are reknowned for. Most of my colleagues don't want to entertain the idea of learning even the basics. My experience IS that in the very many places I have worked, whenever there was  a vacancy to fill in, 3 out of 5 applicants were foreigners. These foreigners were always presentable with a clean shirt on their back, on time at their interviews and on time at work. They were willing to do anything for a roof over their heads and a full stomach. Any local applicants once they'd managed to get to an interview quite often late, in a somewhat dubious attire, then heard of the work to do, in some cases of the unsociable hours and the wages, would just go away saying it's much easier on the dole.  Do not get me going on the welfare state. I do sympathise on very few cases where the benefits are due to the individuals in genuine hardship. BUT I have also witnessed the system being blatently abused over and over again. It is far too easy to obtain with no accountability or responsability on the part of the receiver.   I definitely do not read the Daily Wail, which IMO is on par to defunct N.O.t.W.  I do know that times have changed. My children, nephews and nieces are forever telling me so. A few things remain timeless though : The individual's pride, decency and responsibility towards society at large. Rant over and genuinely no rancour [:D]                                                                      As usual [;-)]      
  3. [quote user="pachapapa"] A snippet from BBC Live Text, whilst watching the debate live on line.[:)] Radek in London emails: On behalf of all the Polish builders working in London I would like to thank the rioters for creating so much work for restoration of the damages. Thanks to you, the children in Poland will have amazing Christmas! [/quote] Exactly my point in my post about stealing jobs ! I don't care the builder is Polish or from Mars or Neptune. I just care that the local unemployed is not hungry enough to get up, find a builder and be on that payroll. The dole cheque is far too easy to obtain.  
  4. [quote user="nomoss"]   .. "stealing" jobs.[/quote] Stealing jobs [:-))] If for the majority of those that feel so hard done by for not having a job, that they feel the need for looting, as seen these last few days, I'd say to them : "Get off your fat derrière, get on yer bike and get a job! Whilst you were in bed, moaning that society definitely owes you som'it, an immigrant (most probably an illegal one at that) has come to do the job you now think he has stolen of you !!  "  
  5. Quoting Russethouse I think  : .... The unemployed in these areas do not have a lot of money to spend on luxury items.  ..... these riots have been partially organised by using some sort of Blackberry messaging system - seems they have the money for expensive phones..... Unquote   WHO  has paid for that smart technology which allowed the rapid copycat rioting accross UK ? ... NOT these unemployed wantonely going about the high street in search of a shop to loot. The person who has paid for that blackberry is YOU and I and EVERYONE who works jolly hard and duly pays their taxes to finance all that myriad of social benefits that these thugs and their families are enjoying and see fit to abuse to finance their own materialistic lifestyle ...    
  6. [quote user="fandango"] .... that I will only lend but never give away![/quote] I find that lending a book, to some people it is as good as if you are giving them the book away, certainly in this family I married into, it's the norm... I just don't lend them my favorite books as I know I will never see them again.    
  7. [quote user="Alan Zoff"] ....  I can hear his voice .... [/quote]  I used to religiously listen to his Radio4 Sunday morning at 8.45 'Letters from America'.  In the very many years I've lived in the UK, I have only missed listening to just one of his letters, the one broadcasted on the Sunday my daughter was born. She came in to this world at 9.30 [:)] 
  8. You learn som'it everyday ... Last night we had a serious downpour and some poor walker, drowned as a rat, knocked on the door wanting B&B. Told him : 'Sorry wrong door next one accross the lane' ... So took him there and the lady sorted him out etc ... As I walked by home, she rushed in a panick after me and ask if I had any spare loo rolls [8-)] We are sort of isolated here so we need to help each other as it were. Yes I had, so gave her some and she said : 'So glad it's white ! because the coloured ones make a mess of my sceptic tank. You know they add clay, ink and nasty stuff to the fibres in the making of it and that gunk slows down the disintegrating of the paper, so it keeps blocking the drainpipes to the septic tank ' [:-))] I made a quick mental note [I] : Pink toilet paper thread [:D]  
  9. 'Sa Majesté des Mouches' or to you all anglophones : Lord of the Flies. Having read it in French first then a few years later in English, I noticed that a lot of the 'savagery' somewhat got lost in translation. I say this as where the French would use 10 words, the English only use 1, so making any feeling/description quite terse and brutal at times.  It also showed me that my upbringing was very sheltered indeed as then I never remotely conceived the idea that children could be so cruel to each other and be pushed to cowardice by following the strongest willed in the group if only to have a quiet and falsely protected life.   'Anne Frank' was another book that made me see the world quite differently. I visited her hiding place later in life and remember standing in her bedroom quietly weeping, looking at the poster picture of a very young Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) on the wall. You just can't visit that place (and the museum next door) and be impervious to any feelings at all.         
  10. [quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]  ... a tatty half-oil drum affair ...  [/quote]   Ever walked around Brixton market any of you ? I visited my youngest (who lives and works in London) a couple of weekends ago. What a treat !  Every 50 yards or so, there was a oil drum BBQ doing very brisk business indeed selling jerk chicken and grilled corn on the cob.  These oil drums were somewhat quite sophiticated compared to their 'ancestors' we had seen in Zimbabwe. These Brixton ones were purposely fabricated, with a proper hinged lid, a couple of sorts of 'shelves' inside and little chimneys poking out of the side for surplus smoke to escape. None of that recycling an actual oil drum malarky of Africa ...  
  11. Not truly a petrol head, as to me cars are boxes on 4 wheels helping me to get from one place to the next,  but here goes for my life in cars : When I was about 5 I think, my father bought his first ever car : a second hand Citroën 2CV in a sort of dirty dull green colour. By 'eck we were grand people on the estate! In those days not many living in a Z.U.P. could afford a 2nd hand car, never mind a new one. We could now go on Sunday outings and go for picnics. I remember my parents taking all the seats out and us the kids using that empty hull of a car as our den. Fantastic memories ! That car stayed with us for a good 10 years. Then he bought a Citroën Ami 8. I was all grown up by then and I thought that car was the most uncool car ever ... He then put that to the big car heaven somewhere and got a Citroën Pallas, then a Citroën Saxo and now I think he has a newer version of that Citroën Saxo. The bloke should be used as advertising material for Citroën. A car was not a car if it was not a Citroën ! Anyhow I left home and came over to UK, the home of the Mini! I had a fascination with them Minis. The only car I truly yearned for. Criteria number ONE for selecting boyfriends. Indeed I ended up marrying one of them. He had a Mini Clubman. The room in the back [;-)] Sadly that Mini had a sorry end and because I was in the puddin' club we needed a roomier car so arrives a Renault 12, which didn't last very long as it was a sieve for all the rust on the body. That got replace by an airportable ex-army Land Rover. Gawd !! if there ever was a tank to drive, that was one. I did like it at the beginning but when I got int'puddin' club again, I refused to drive it.  So various cars followed : A Volvo hatchback, a Montego estate (what a piece of carp that was !!), a Mercedes Station wagon,  a Peugeot 505-7 seater estate, a Volvo Estate, a Ford Ranger pick-up. The kids shared a Nissan Micra which ended up being stolen and taken for a joy ride in Manchester. All these cars were 2nd hand (one was 4th) and truly driven until they expired and went to the scrap yard. That Nissan got replaced by a Renault Clio. I sold that and got a Peugeot 308 which duly I wrote off thinking I was Sonja Henie [:$] during that very bad snowy winter in UK some 18 month or so ago. Now got a Peugeot 207 and it takes me anywhere I want and will have to suffice to the end. Still dreaming about getting a Mini. The new ones seem quite some fun... Maybe one day when I win the lottery.
  12. [quote user="Frederick"] ... About 100 floppy's mostly setup for Windows 95 and Lotus Remember that ? . .... [/quote] That's going back a bit [;-)] I sat one long winter evening a couple of years back, with all of them floppies I had about the office (after making sure that any info still needed was properly saved elsewhere!) and went on a plastic recycling exercise. Took the sliding bit off at the top, then the little spring falls off, then prized apart the plastic casing containing the 'disk'. Finally with scissors I cut daintly little patterns in the round ever so thin floppy bit. I just let rip with my imagination. Sprayed them with goldy, silvery car paint and lots of glitter bits on them, and strung them up like a chain and hung that about my apple tree in the garden. That was my Xmas outside decorations sorted . And that was the end of my floppies and a good productive evening was had by yours truly [:)]
  13. I have a cottage in UK I rent too to 'vacanciers'   Once a jewish family came to rent it. They were a pest through out the whole booking process, endless phone calls and negociations. Having worked long ago in a hotel not far from North London where there is a sizeable jewish community, I knew how difficult they can be, so took it on the chin. Other than that I expected a normal family of mum/dad and 2 kids ... So I clean the place up to the moment my knuckles are bleeding and my nails are none existant and await their arrival. Normally it is a Saturday change over but negociated they could come on the Thursday to stay 'til the next one. See ... No disturbance on the Sabbath ... [:-))] Turns out that they were the strict jewish ones with the big long dark coats and wide hats, the women with wigs AND hats etc ... They were at a seminar at the university in the nearby town from here. Not one family but 2 arrived in 2 ubiquitous Volvo Estates !! The adults had the bedrooms and the kids slept on the floor of the sitting room. And nevermind my thorough cleaning : they CLING FILM-ed all the counters in the kitchen, covered the cooker, the microwave, brought in their own mini cooker, their own fridge, the entire kitchen but the proverbial kitchen sink, their own bedding as in the duvets, pillows etc ...  I went ever so diplomatically bezerk [:@] with them as for 1/ I got short changed [:@] and 2/ Should there have been a fire in that cottage with their own appliances and all that plastic/cling film, my insurance would have said 'sorry, you have contravened the terms !' They stayed their week because of that seminar they had to attend and I prayed every night to my God that nothing else bad would happen... but Oh Dear! NEVER again ...
  14. [quote user="Clair"]    ... a Weber charcoal BBQ ....  [/quote] Now that's a barbie ! I was in Harare around Xmas time last year and the people I visited organised the usual 'braai' (short for braaivleiss which is the africaan for grilled (burnt[;-)]) meat!) The lady of the house detailed the man of the house (who detailed the houseboy) to get the 2 Webbers out to cook the Boxing Day lunch : 1 huge ham and 1 huge piece of beef rump. It was delicious !! Those 2 huge pieces of meat cooked in no time, they were very tender and had a lovely subtle smokey flavour. No salt, no pepper, no nothing else to disguise the meat. The kids at the party were treated to BBQ-ed bananas and these were just delicious. Just plonk the nana on the grill and let it cook until the skin is well black, turn occasionally, transfer to a plate and slit the skin to open up the melted nana, sprinkle some lime juice and demerara/dark brown sugar.... Heaven !! I had never seen these contraptions before but I think a wise investment for a good BBQ in a rainy UK. At least you can pretend you have had a BBQ this weekend when back in the office [:D]
  15. [:D][:D] Absolutely HILARIOUS !! I am sure Michael O'Leary will use it for advertising, it won't cost him anything out of his balance sheet, tight dugger he is.  Hearing him sometime defending himself and his policy of cheap flights : 'What d'you expect if you buy som't'ing dat cost next to not'ing, not'ing's free in diss world, got to get me costs back som'how, don'I ?'      
  16. [8-)] I am reading your thread in the hope that the book(s) you are discussing will make me rush out to get it and read it. This particular one seems such a sad and disturbing tale of neglect ... ummm .... I think I'll take a rain cheque on it. Don't mind me  [:)]  Do carry on discussing and I'll see what your next book is ...
  17. Pink, green, blue, white, yellow, peach, lilac, whatever colour ... does it really matter ?   ... once the paperwork is done and over with the colour seems to become a universal brown   [:-))]   [+o(]      
  18. [quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]  ... why should there be a requirement? ....[/quote]  umm [8-)] to learn how to get a nice living by filling up and claiming all kinds of benefits applications ... 
  19. [quote user="Chancer"]  ....   Et je l'ai eu quand même!   ...  [/quote]   Should I hear that, I'd translate it as : 'Well ! I had him' or 'Well! I had her' or 'Well! I had it' ... depending on the context of what was to be had [Www]
  20. [quote user="woolybanana"]Four in the country but not the town, plus a little tweak of affection on the posterior. ... [/quote] [:-))] dya mean I've been short changed all them years I go back to France ?... Only ever get 3 in the back of beyond in Poitou and no tweak of affection on the posterior [Www]    
  21. [quote user="Frecossais"]  ... Large men can look equally bad in trousers, don't you think? Sarongs maybe?   [/quote]   Dya mean a kilt Frecossais ? I must say that walking behind men in trousers, especially those of a certain age and of a certain 'wide' girth, invariably reminds me of walking behind an elephant [:D]  So yes I would prefer them with a more sartorial sarong lest it would be a bit drafty for them in the winter [8-)] ?... All Scots, men on this forum, would say to that 'Join the club' [;-)][:D]        
  22. [quote user="idun"]   My husband had a vasectomy in 1993 in France. ... When he first broached the subject, they said that he needed to see a psychiatrist.  ..... [/quote]   Why is it that when one is absolutely sure in their mind that their family unit is complete and they want to have sterilisation/vasectomy/hysterectomy, then they are refered to a psychiatrist ?... I had a hysterectomy (in UK) just before my 40th. I was adamant that I would not have a 3rd child as I could barely cope with 2. I also suffered with endometriosis so the best solution for me was to have the 'op'. I too was refered to a psychiatrist because I was deemed, at the time, far too young [:-))]  to fully know what I needed. Surely when you reach 40, had 2 children, run a business, look after an elderly parent, you are able to make some kind of sensible decision  [8-)] ...   and to cap it all, my husband had to sign his consent for the 'op' to proceed. Never was I so humiliated in my life  [:@]    
  23. [quote user="Bugsy"]Apparently Rupert Murdock has been deeply touched by the sympathy messages on Amy Winehouses phone. .[/quote]       [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
  24. [quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]Do policewomen in Paris wear pants too?[/quote]     I know that women pompiers in Paris, or anywhere else in the land, do wear trousers  ... Maybe they have special dispensation   [Www]  ...
  25. Not only in Paris. I know that in Deux-Sèvres (79) one had to write to the Préfet his-self, to ask permission on each and every day that one would want to wear such garment and that it still is the case today. Poor bloke, he must be inundated with requests I suspect [:D]        As to other quirks of the law, this one has nowt to do with France but illustrates how dinosauresque the laws of the land(s) are at keeping up with the time. It is prefectly legal to shoot a Welshman walking the street of Chester on a Friday. I avoid Chester on that day [;-)] ...
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