The Riff-Raff Element
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Posts posted by The Riff-Raff Element
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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]I think it's relatively rare to find large numbers of Mahgrebins in rural France, but a trip to any of the major cities should turn up some excellent Maghrebin cuisine.[/quote]Logically you should be correct, but the one really good place I went to was in a tiny little place near Cholet. Our local ones are adequate at best, and the ones I've been to in Paris and Nantes decidedly so-so. I did look around when I was in Toulouse the other week but didn't find even one, which is what I mean about not being able to find the right streets [:(]
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[quote user="jon"]I will reminde you that the area where I live is not rural France it is probably the wine capitol of the world which attracts not only tourists but residents with sophistacted palats and an interest in fine cuisine.[/quote]Alas! I am unworthy to even breath the air that these people burp up after eating, pointless philistine that I am. [:D]Leaving the Good Curry Guide to France aside for a mo, one thing that does perplex me is this: given that there are so many people living in France who are of North African extraction (around six miilion, I believe), why are there not more high quality restaurants serving Morrocan or Tunisian food? OK, it is fairly easy to get a mediocre couscous, but a trip to North Africa reveals that there is an extensive and subtle cuisine to be had from these regions.All the time I've lived here I've come across only one such restaurant that was halfway decent. Perhaps I've been unlucky and have missed the right streets? [8-)]
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[quote user="Sprogster"]
The price of property in France is not the main issue reducing British interest in the French housing market currently, it is the fact that it is very difficult to sell your house in the UK at the moment, or obtain a mortgage to buy a second home.
It does not matter how cheap that house is in France if you cannot raise the finance to buy it.
[/quote]Is very good point, jefe.I found myself deep in discussion about just this point over tinctures last night. It was meant to a dinner dance, but there was much doom, gloom and despondecy. And that was just the food. I was told by someone who has an interest in these matters on a professional basis that, officially (whatever that means) the price of houses in France has declined by around 5% over the past 12 months. But this rather masks the fact that pretty much nothing is moving even if prices are being offered down by the order of 25% since no-one has the wherewithal to buy anything, French, British or anyone else for that matter. -
And I can recommend the "New Dehli" in Toulouse if anyone is passing. Except the popadoms.
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[quote user="Frederick"]I note you are planning to fly to La Rochelle .......if its the South Vendee you are looking to buy in then in the past few months I have seen more for sale signs go up than in the past 4 years.....prices have dropped a lot check out what Notaires have on offer as well as the agents ...Now is the time you could just find what you want at a lower price then at you expected . [/quote]Seconded. And some people are even making the extraordinary move of reducing prices! A place near us has been on the market for about 18 months for €175k and has just been cut to €150k. It is still overpriced 'cos he is convinced that un anglais will buy it and he can't grasp the notion that the exchange rate shift suggests a price of €120k might be more sensible, but then Rome wasn't built in a day.
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Have you tried Keith Floyds Indian cookery books Katie? I cannot recommend them highly enough. I think he's great! If I were in charge he'd get a knighthood. I did try and start an online campaign to get him drapped with ermine, but only six people signed it.
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[quote user="jon"]
However on another note the French economy has risen and most...if not all of eauropean countries have dived in the other direiction.I am not always wrong!!!!!
[/quote]Yes, that is quite interesting: growth of 0.1% after a contraction of 0.3%. Which means - technically - that France (and Spain) are not in recession yet, though all the rest of the Eurozone is.I can't quite see it staying like that, though if it does it is not necessarily all good news because any signs of a recovery here will underpin the value of the euro (which is, as we have observed as strong as goats' breath) against the flailing pound. Ho Hum. -
[quote user="Cerise"]Easy then, although I chose to live here as an adult, if I had children I wouldn't even contemplate it. I am not at all impressed with the French education system and although I know the English one is far from perfect I'd prefer it any day. So if I had children to consider I think I'd head for a part of the UK I liked.[/quote]Conversely, I think it is a fine place to raise young children. My own view of the education system (both as a parent and as a pretend teacher) is that it is perfectly adequate for teaching most children to read, write & add up. And as a side benefit more children (you'll notice I don't either say or imply all - no rose colour spectacles in this ménage) appear to be capable of holding both a knife & fork and a moderately coherent conversation, often at the same time, than is the norm in certain other parts of the world.
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[quote user="Quillan"]
As I said before I'm no expert but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck its normally a duck.
[/quote]Clearly you haven't met my sister in law: get a couple of drinks inside her and she'd pass for a mallard any time.I can no longer worry about the rates. In fact, now that I've stopped worrying I've just developed a horrid fascination with the whole thing. Perhaps we should hold a sweepstake on what the low point will be between now and midnight December 31st. All stake money in euros though, not in funny money from the Consolidated Bank of Toytown. -
Another thing to bear in mind is that we could be approacing thebottom; ie, it can't get much worse. I think it will get worse, butnot a lot worse.I seem to recall that at some point in the 1980's the pound touched 7,20 Francs - did I dream that? Anyway, at the 0.844 £ to the € quoted on the Beeb at the moment, the equivalent is something like 7.8 Francs. Perhaps there's a long term support trend at €0.91 (ie 7.2 F) to the £? Sobering thought, particularly as I'll have to stop buying booze at that rate.Did anyone ever make a living out of trading technicals? Other than writing books to tell other people how to do it? [Www]
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I wouldn't want to return to live in the UK. There's nothing wrong with it as such, just that even with the huge charges we have to pay as a self employed people here, and the far lower income, I still reckon we've come out ahead on the deal. I spent all my time when I worked for someone else travelling to the extent that I hardly ever saw my young children; here I spend loads of time with them every day. Plus I like the village life, the quiet and the extent to which we are both closely involved with community life here. I've long liked France - my father was a great francophile and we spent a lot of holidays here and I always had a vague idea of living here and finally learning the language properly so when it came to downshifting this seemed like a logical place to go. We ended up with far more property and land in a far prettier village than we could have afforded in the UK, which I will admit did influence things a little.These are not the only reasons why we came, but they are the easiest to explain. We've been here for almost six years. Our eldest daughter (9) has some hazy memories of London, the middle one remembers nothing and the youngest was born here. I wouldn't want to move them, or, rather, the elder two, to a completely different culture and education system at their age. They think they're French, for heavens sake.
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I'm very pleased that the moose-murdering woman and the old bloke didn't get in and all that ('cos they'd have been even more rubbish I suspect) but we have to face a couple of facts:1. He is president of only one nation, not the planet, and his loyalty will be first & foremost to that country. We cannot and should not expect too much from him for our own sakes;2. He is a politico. Whatever he may have said or promised will be replaced with real politik toute-bleedin'-suite.Same old p**s, different shaped bottle. Still, got to smile.
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[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]
I suppose it doesn't really matter as both burn with a cool flame and is pretty useless as a heating device, it looks good though.
[/quote]No. Ethanol (according to my well-thumbed copy of Kuo's "Priciples of Combustion") has practically the same flame temperature as LPG or natural gas. And alcohol is easier to transport in some situations, which is why spirit stoves are so popular with some sections of the hiking community and yachting types.Any appliance designed for burning inside without a flue (paraffin heaters for example, or a humble gas stove stove for that matter) will have a NF accreditation and should be perfectly safe provided the instructions are followed, including those apertaining to what kinds of fuel should be used. As for " If you look at the overall carbonfootprint (including fertiliser, manufacturing and distilling) it is atbest equal and probably worse than sourcing from oil," I'd love to see some sober figures on this 'cos frankly I doubt that it's correct, but in any case I agree with you that taking land out of food production to make fuel is not a good thing. Forestry and taking advantage of byproducts from agriculture is one thing, but I don't see taking grain for large-scale production of fuel ethanol as being sensible at the moment. But that's a personal view. -
We just this year looked into this on behalf of some friends with a second home. I was astounded by the prices quoted for a piece of flat, hard ground with a net slung across it and a spot of chain link thrown up around it: three companies came up with costs ranging from €38k to €50k. A lot seems to depend on the surface - the cheapest was for "new" type with a porous concrete / polymer surface. Clay - I believe - is more costly.We made an arrangement with a local tennis club for our gite guests that seems to work rather well: the club are pleased to get a little extra revenue and it is something we can offer at no cost to us.
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[quote user="Callie"]Perhaps not relevant, but how many English speakers know the difference between "shall" and "will" in the future sense ?Or "may" and "might" ???????Nous avons raté le train. Il aurait fallu que nous nous précipitassions ! (I think...... !)How about this (even worse) :Putain, on a raté le train. Il aurait fallu qu'on se précipitasse.... ![/quote]As in "I shall drown and nobody will save me" and "I will drown and nobody shall save me?" I don't think that anyone is taught that these days, even if there ever really was a difference beyond that suggested by those determined to impose some kind of Latin-style discipline on English.Thanks for the replies and links. Like I said, the chap whole used this can hardly be said to be pretentious and makes no other use of the imperfect subjunctive in speech (who apart from M. & Mme Chirac would?) that I have heard. Most of the time he farms maize. I could have asked him at the time I suppose, but I have found that making enquiries on the finer points of grammer halfway through conversations at the school gate is not condusive to getting to the heart of the local gossip.But I was able to ask a couple of people at a gathering last night who shrugged and (effectively) told me that it was just an idomatic use that some people favour, generally older people.It seems it crops up a fair amount in the "Asterix" books. I checked, and lo & behold on page 18 of my copy of the "Mansions of the Gods" there it is: "Je continuerai! Dussé-je faire mourir les escalves..." I don't why I didn't notice it before....And I get nagged for reading cartoon books in French beacause they are insufficiently educational!
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I came across this yesterday. From the context it was pretty clear it was replacing "quand même" but a quick scout through Collins Roberts and a couple of grammer books threw up nothing beyond "dusse" being the imperfect subjunctive of "devoir," a form not exactly commonly used in conversation.Is this a common usage? Could other forms be used: Dût-il or Dussions-nous for example. The person using it was hardly the most pretentious but is educated. Unfortunately they are not around to ask at the mo.
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Ah - but the euro declined against the dollar, which might offset it. A bit.
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Not the question you asked I realise, but if you can be bothered with wood (stacking it, transporting it, cleaning up the ash, etc) then this can work out an awful lot cheaper than oil. We've just changed to wood burning stoves, partly because of this. Obviously the price and quality of the wood being burned varies, but I worked out that - for us - heating oil would need to drop to around 35 cents again per litre to compete. I can't see this happening myself: even with the economic slump, world old demand is expected to keep rising, albeit a lot more slowley than in recent years.
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So nothing to do with the channel tunnel then? Shame, I thought that I'd found the answer.Stuff isn't getting lost, just taking a long time.Perhaps it's just me.Thanks anyway,
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It seems that post 'twixt France and the UK has slowed down dramatically. How exactly does it make the journey I wonder? Is it via the tunnel these days or by air / sea? It just occured to me that with the reduced services at the moment perhaps this is the source of the delay. Anyone out there know?Thanks,
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We're a bit further East, between Luçon and Fontenay. Although there's not much in the way of unfinished properties, what has changed is that the building of new lottisments seems to have ground to a halt. There was due to be a new one built on the other side of our village - 33 houses that our mayor managed to get approved for one of his mates without drawing too much attention to the process, comme d'hab. The land has been sold on to a developer for about 350,000 euros and he has done absolutely nothing to the site, not even arranged for utility connections. Permission lapses in about six months and the guy shows every sign of writing it off as a bad job, particularly since the land tends to flood and arranging proper drainage to the satisfaction of insurers would run to Lord knows how much.Another site for 11 houses in a nearby village (one touted by Brit agents as being "desirable") has cut the price of the plots with utility connections to 10€ per square metre: up until about a year ago plots were selling for three times that.Private building still seems to be continuing apace, but large scale developements are just not happening.
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[quote user="woolybanana"]Southern Vendée, round the marshes, they line up in formation to bite you, tegwini.[/quote]This is true. Happily not near us because we're on the "dry" marshes, but out in the swamps were people have webbed feet and suchlike they can be truly awful. Giant mosquitos like that wasp in "Sinbad" that can suck all the blood out of a cow in 15 seconds. And, again, thank-you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to engage with you as a fellow member of the human race and to impart infomation that I sincerely hope will be of some small use to you.
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[quote user="Maricopa"]And thank you all for participating in this thread[:-))][/quote]I don't think that I am alone in having gained something spiritual and special from it that will give light to the darker corners of my life.
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[quote user="woolybanana"]
Nice one Jon. How is the Lower Vendée, the part that is full of mossies, likely to be submerged soon and full of empty houses???[6]
(This is a test to see if I get a reply!)
[/quote]In order to avoid going all tangential, please check for a PM/
When did it all start to go wrong in the UK...?
in The Complete France Post Bag
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