EuroTr@sh

deleted, double post

I read an article somewhere, can't remember where but I had no reason to doubt it, that each state has its own rules on election procedures. Some states don't allow any voting to start until election day itself. I guess those are the ones that are still counting. No idea why they would have this rule but if they do, they do, and I suppose there is a reason. Maybe everything has to be sealed and untouched until the electoral officers are sworn in on voting day? It's probably one of those rules that seems bonkers until you know the reason. Although some still seem bonkers even when you do know the reason.

An0ther wrote: "Still not figured out exactly what DDL stands for but it seems to be a reference to the end of the transition period on Dec 31st." See posts above. DDL normally stands for DeaDLine. Pomme had a different answer but I still think it means deadline here..

Schengen rules are the same for everybody except those with freedom of movement. AFAIK the rules have been the same for ages, if not since Schengen was invented, although advances in border technology has made the rules easier to enforce.

Sprogster wrote: "So if you visit any EU country except Ireland, you are going to have to be careful you do not exceed 90 out of 180 days on a rolling basis." Or, apply for a visa to allow you to visit for longer.

I've quite liked Polly Toynbee's pieces in the past but I think she's way off the mark with this one. Surely the point is that a lot of folk in the UK feel that the result of the US election will have big repercussions in the UK. Trump is Johnson's bestie. If Trump wins, the way will be clear for Johnson and Trump to press ahead with their unholy alliance where lies and fake news and corruption, chipping away at democracy, avoiding scrutiny carry on unchecked. If Polly thinks Johnson will ever see the light and become a wise compassionate leader while his alter ego across the Atlantic is egging him on, she is deluded. Hopefully a Biden victory will take the wind out of Johnson's sails and ultimately, lead to him losing power. So what is Toynbee's point? She just seems to be saying "let's cosy up to Europe again because it's nicer than America". Well yes Polly, you're not the first person to say that but nobody is listening right now, and for as long as Trump and Johnson stay in power they never will.

DDL = deadline, quite common in bizspeak I think? SBC = Schengen Borders Code, not common parlance but to be fair it is to these guys. Now don't be crabby, nomoss. It's a routine summary of an EU internal meeting. It's not an official document published for public consumption. They put records of all their meetings on their website for anybody who is interested to look, because the EU has a policy of transparency. Whether HMG uses "shorthand" in its summaries of its own internal meetings,is anybody's guess because HMG doesn't believe in transparency. Folk have to make freedom of information requests if they want to read a report of a meeting and even then it blocks them if it can.

Not even if the club needs you more than you need it?

I didn't see any inexplicable abbreviations? (OK go on - call my bluff and make me wish I hadn't set myself up as Clever Clogs !)

Thank YOU. Isn't it lovely to read a bit of good news.

What a lot of vehicles to keep in a country you don't live in!

I think everyone finds it hard to accept that there are fewer and fewer things they are still capable of doing. In a lucid moment my mum once said with real despair, "I feel so useless, I'm no good to anyone, I can't do anything, what's the point of going on living.". We tried to convince her it didn't matter, we understood and we still loved her, but we couldn't stop her from getting distressed and frustrated with herself. The trigger for your man may be the same, he hates not being the man he used to be and he doesn't want to admit it, and seeing someone else doing the things desperately wants to be still be able to do is hard for him to bear. Nobody wants to feel they belong on the scrap heap. I hope you enjoy the gin !

I totally agree with you Catalpa. What is wrong with people. Having listened to Macron's announcements in France, and Johnson's announcements in England, and Drakeford's announcements in Wales where I currently am, I think Johnson's messaging is dreadful and Macron's and Drakeford's messaging is pretty good. But people still turn a deaf ear and decide it doesn't apply to them. Liverpool is the worst place for infection in the UK, the hospitals are overwhelmed, and a group of businesses including a hairdresser and a gym have proudly announced that they will disobey lockdown and open as usual. The hairdresser thinks that coronovirus is fake news and the gym claims that his premises are cleaner than an operating theatre. How do you fix stupid?

My mum was never the world's most patient person but she was very transparent and forgiving. If she wasn't pleased about something she would tell you so in no uncertain terms, and as soon as she'd said her bit it was forgiven and forgotten. She sadly developed Alzheimers and in the early days my brother was her carer and she stayed at his house. One day I went round to see them and Our Kid had obviously done something to upset her and she was hurling the contents of the fruit bowl at him - apples, oranges, bananas and the lot flying across the kitchen when I opened the door. Things like that you have to try to see a funny side of, but it was a very long time before I could get Our Kid to laugh about that. Laughing about it doesn't make it any less sad of course but it's a kind of way of coping. I think it turned out on that occasion that he was being pelted with fruit because she'd decided she didn't like what he'd prepared for lunch. You have to laugh or you would cry.

I feel for you Chessie. It sounds like in actual fact you are both getting angry about the same thing - the Alzy. But it's hard to direct anger at something you can't see, so it is getting directed at each other. Sorry, I know armchair psychology doesn't help. But that is how it appears to an outsider. On a more practical note, have you tried Gordon's Lemon Gin? Proper lovely. Bizarrely, on the amazon.fr website it is called Sicillian Lemon Distilled Whisky so it's not easy to find if you don't know where to look!

I don't have that problem with this man here, Chessie. Whenever a little job needs doing, that's been getting worse and worse for ages without him taking any notice until eventually I can't bear it any longer, and I say "Have you got a screwdriver dear?" you can see him starting to get all stressed, until I make it crystal clear that I am asking him to give me a screwdriver so I can tighten up the hinge on the kitchen cupboard before the door falls right off, rather than asking him to equip himself with a screwdriver in order to perform some technical manly feat. But if you need to know anything about Ancient Greece, he's your man. I guess you just have to take them as they are!

The translation on the Brexit application site is surprisingly poor too. Do you get the feeling that France may be thinking,why should we even bother to provide an English translation. Still, the English info on French government websites is still probably better than the information the French information on UK government websites LOL.

Well blow me down with a feather. ALBF has just put into words exactly what I feel. "Je suis ALBF"

I see the word "appaiser" cropped up in that piece Wooly. I don't think any country should be driven to adopt a policy of appeasement that would mean watering down, on its own soil, its well-established national freedoms that its own people are proud to accept as part of their national identity.

To be fair, websites do seem to be getting updated all over the place. The diplomatie website today has completely different information about EU cross-border and international travel from what it was saying yesterday. (Unless I'm losing the plot and forgetting what I read where, but I don't think so.)

Sorry Teapot. Bit of thread drift there.

I knew it would end up being ET's fault ! @Chessie, I am enjoying watching the Shakespeares. Some I really get into and some not so much but there aren't any that I haven't watched to the end. I won't remember them all of course, I've watched so many now I'm already getting confused which character is in which play, but there are plenty of lines and scenes that will stick in my head. Sorry to hear you are video-less, I don't have TV but I would very much miss DVDs.

"By the way the OP was about Corbyn; how did BJ get in there?" Dunno but since he has got in there, it prompts the thought that the Tories must be enjoying having the pressure taken right off them for a day or so. They're having a bit of fun smearing Kier on social media and nobody asking any awkward questions about lockdowns or Brexit or million pound contracts given to their cronies that aren't delivering value for money.

Chessie wrote: "20 years ago I never thought I'd see a burka style swim-suit for women being worn on the beach , did you ?" No I never did Chessie. And what's more, to this day I never have ! I lead a sheltered life dontcha know... Re learning a foreign language, yes probably but I think it's proximity more than anything, after all why is French taught more than German or Spanish ? (actually I think some schools teach Spanish not French now don't they?) During confinement I have been catching up on things I always said I would do one day but never really thought I would ever get round to, and one of those things is, watching my way through the entire set of BBC Shakespeare DVDs. I'm on the Kings at present, and it does make you think what a cat and dog relationship France and England have had with each other for centuries, they just can't stop squabbling but so closely intertwined..

Chessie wrote "Secondly, I think the common market/ eu has a lot to do with the feeling that 'Well France is the same as the UK'" Absolutely, that is what I was trying to say. But Brits seem to apply this thinking to France more than to anywhere else except maybe Spain. I think most Brits would feel that Germany, the Netherlands, Italy etc are more furrin' that France, and for Eastern Europe even more so. No visas, same road signs pretty much, same cars, same Big Macs, but how many Brits are rushing to move to Germany or Belgium before the end of transition? Yes France has changed tremendously of course, and it is a good point what you say about the Catholic influence and the roadside calvaries everywhere, that was certainly one of the things that impressed itself on me as "French". But I suppose that is also part of my point. A country is what it is today because of its history. Cultures evolve, sometimes things become more firmly rooted over the years and sometimes there is a reaction against them and there is a conscious decision to uproot them. France and the UK will never be the same because their histories are so different. The French Revolution for instance, when Macron says Vive la France, Vive la République I think it has a real resonance with many French people whereas there are probably Brits who think How ridiculous and pompous he sounds, saying that (if they even listen). And since then every leader and every major event and conflict has left its mark on the national collective mindset, right up to the Gilets Jaunes and Je Suis Charlie and now this. I think newcomers to a country need to be a bit aware of and sensitive to a country's history to appreciate why it is as it is today. Living in a country but looking at it from an outsider's viewpoint all the time must be confusing I think, saying that I am not claiming to understand France but I respect the difference and I think that is a start. So now the UK is getting hysterical because Corby has been suspended from the Labour Party, and France is being hit by unspeakable atrocities. What a world.