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Our differences


idun
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Creme fraiche, ah yes, I remember well my first encounter with that stuff in 1981. I had bought it and put it out with pudding and tasted it and tried to get it off the table before anyone else used it, as it was off.

Apparently, my husband told me, as he stopped me taking the stuff away, it always tastes like that. I eventually found elle et vire boxed cream and cremefix and was happy. It isn't as if I never use creme fraiche, I have the odd recipe where it goes well, but to put with my pud.............. jamais........yuck.... and husband loves it........ how different we all are!

I have been told that creme fraiche in Normandy is more like the fresh cream I am used to, I know that Normandy butter in Normandy is quite exquisite.

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"Driving on the right side of the road"

But I don't think they really want too. We follow numerous people round here and they all drift towards the centre line, across it and often stay nearer the left hand side than the right. Its only oncoming traffic that seems to force them back.
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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Shops opening ten minutes late.[/quote]Blimey, that's prompt.

And everything else being ten minutes late (or more).

And wall-to-wall floral flock wallpaper on the ceiling  -  though I am sorry to see that this seems to be dying out a little. 

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We had the quart d'heure savoyard, which in itself was more than flexible, like 'un instant' which is far from that.

The french apparently are notorious for being late all the time and that in many countries, The Americas and Asia. A good british friend has been on many long haul holidays with her french collegues and said that the tour guides have lectured at the beginning of their hols and every day there after, ressorting to all sorts of methods/tactics to ensure that some punctuality is adhered to. Some have worked and some have not, and many of the associated stories have been hilarious.

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The solution is simple, as I found over long periods dealing with the many different cultural interpretations of time all over the world. If you need people to arrive at a certain time, you just decide on the starting time and tell the French delegates it starts 15-20 minutes before that. In some parts of Africa, it's wise to say something starts at eight if you want them ready for nine. The early ones are so used to hanging around and waiting that it doesn't even bother them.
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But even if everyone is there on time there can be 30 minutes lost on all the kissy kissys before whatever the meeting/event/occasion can take place.

 

The diving club I was with was RDV @ 20.00 for entry to changing rooms at 20.30 meaning you would not be in the water till 20.40 and the training could not start till 20.50 because of stragglers, 30 minutes while 1600 kisses were exchanged and 40 people saying "euuhh" to each other and nothing much else intelligible.  Now all these people will have already wasted at least an hour that day doing the same at work but seemingly I am the only person to resent such a waste of time, I would arrive at the piscine after they had left the foyer go through get changed and be in the water at the same time as everyone else saying a global "bonjour tout le monde"

 

My running club, meet at the lakes or running track for a supposed depart at 19.00, it would always be 30 minutes late with all the euuhhing and kissy kissy, the later we left the later people would arrive making it later still, probably 75% would arrive after the supposed departure time, in winter I would become hypothermic waiting and would have to jog on the spot for 30 minutes.

 

I have now joinen another club, its a 15 minte drive away but people arrive early and the group leaves on time so my 30 minute commute there and back is recouped.

 

People that work in large companies cannot get any work done at all, at the lycée I taught at the proviseur came from Polynésie and she would not kiss anyone or shake the hand of anyone she would just do the global hello, all the staff thought she was so rude but I "got her" completely. 

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