So do you rub up French farmers the wrong way?

[Kitty]

A thought provoking article from today's Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/2027579/Feuds-between-French-farmers-and-incomers-force-talks.html

Are you in crisis talks to bridge the 'cultural divide'?  Is this 'news'? Or this just hot air?

 

[cooperlola]

Well, Cathy, this bit:

"a British family were [sic] taken to court by their French neighbour, who claimed the croaking frogs in their pond made life intolerable for his sick wife."

is very true to life, isn't it?  Does it remind you of a recent thread on here or not?

[Kitty]

Oh yes.  It was this one:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1215064/ShowPost.aspx

So perhaps there is some truth in the article.  But is it any different in the UK, where people complain about cockerels crowing and cattle being moved for milking etc?

[cooperlola]

Not in my experience, Cathy, having been a country gal for most of my life.  I well remember being recommended a boarding kennels for my dog, in Kent.  When I phoned up to book, I was told by the lady that she had been forced to close down because new people had moved in next door and complained to the council about the noise - really!

Although I do admit that cockerels can be very irritating at 3am.  The people who owned the fields around us in the UK, took care to keep theirs in the paddock which was behind our house, and well away from their own dwelling.  Funny that.

It's a myth that the countryside is quiet, it's just that the noises are different.  In mine opinion, they are generally soothing, but they can irritate others.  The trick is to know this in advance, though, isn't it?  As for crops, yes, they do block our view for about two months every couple of years when maize is planted but so what?  You wonder what these people who moan so much eat, for goodness sake - where would they prefer that the farmers produce their food?  In underground tunnels?

[Gluestick]

Personally, I love the local churches ringing their bells to call the faithful to mass, morning and evening.

I love to hear the cocks crowing: and the geese further down gaggling. The local donkeys braying; the cows sounding off at each other, on both sides.

Our garden is simply full of birds singing their little hearts out from morn till sunset. Wonderful. In the evening when BBQing on the terrace, we hear the wols calling all around us.

We live in a small lane and yes we do have tractors early in the morning sometimes during the day and going back in the evening.

However we elected to buy in la Campagne; purposively.

For me it beats hands down, wall-to-wall hover mowers and the insane sound of cheap electric strimmers: hammer drills building the latest bargain wooden decking monstrosity: loud thudding banging sub-base noises from passing cars, neighbour's houses; DIY mechnics who seem to insist on revving their car engines when stationary as if this might improve something; or prove something else.

OK one downside is flies! We are surrounded this time of year by cows. But, as I said one day to a French friend, "Nous habitons dans la campagne; nous avons les vache: nous avons des vache; nous avons la merde du vache! Nous avons la merde du vache, nous avons les mouches !

C'est la vie !

As many of you know, one of my loves was motor racing. Over the years I have become increasingly insensed how spec builders threw up zillions of houses and subsequently, the circuits were restricted in use and competition cars were forced to use silencers!

Brands and Thruxton amongst many were so ruined by Johnny come Latelys!

Buy a house near an airport, what do you honestly expect?

Yet from these 'orrible 'ouses, eminates foul, thudding rap.....................and (Please see above for list!).

Some of our nice neighbours.

[IMG]http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/Michaeleff/PicsMay08020.jpg[/IMG]

 

[KathyF]

[quote user="Gluestick"]

Personally, I love the local churches ringing their bells to call the faithful to mass, morning and evening. [/quote]

The daily bells aren't actually calling the faithful to church, Gluey, but reminding them to stop in the middle of their daily work to pray. The morning and evening bells are to mark the Angelus, when people traditionally said the Hail Mary and other prayers.

[Val_2]

Start moaning round here about any farmer and you might as well pack up and move,they run this region and stick together like the proverbial sh** to a blanket. However, non-farmer types tend to get at each other regarding noisy dogs,chickens,cockerels etc which is no different all over the world. I have always said,if you don't like noise,smells,mud or strange locals don't live in the french countryside but rather in a concrete jungle in a large town.  Anyway, get pally with a farmer and you get free veg for life practically.

[Judith]

[quote user="KathyF"]The daily bells aren't actually calling the faithful to church, Gluey, but reminding them to stop in the middle of their daily work to pray. The morning and evening bells are to mark the Angelus, when people traditionally said the Hail Mary and other prayers.[/quote]

And I thought they were so we'd know what time of day it was (!), nothing to do with religious services etc (though I totally agree they would have been for that purpose originally.)

Whilst we are on the subject of bells ringing - does anyone know why (as in our village) we have two sets of "bongs", two and half minutes apart???

[Hoddy]

I think everybody has two sets of 'bongs' in France.

No idea why. Perhaps it's in case you don't hear the first ?

Hoddy

[lorna]

[quote user="Judith"]
Whilst we are on the subject of bells ringing - does anyone know why (as in our village) we have two sets of "bongs", two and half minutes apart???
[/quote]

Apparently this was so that workers in the field were able to know what time it was. When the first set was sounding they weren't quite tuned in but stopped work and listened for the second set. Not sure who told me this, might have been my French language teacher back in the UK who owned a house in France.

[Gluestick]

[quote user="KathyF"][quote user="Gluestick"]

Personally, I love the local churches ringing their bells to call the faithful to mass, morning and evening. [/quote]

The daily bells aren't actually calling the faithful to church, Gluey, but reminding them to stop in the middle of their daily work to pray. The morning and evening bells are to mark the Angelus, when people traditionally said the Hail Mary and other prayers.

[/quote]

Thanks for that Kathy.

As an Anglican, I am now better informed.

I also always glance at the kitchen clock to check the time when the morning and evening bells sound.

Our little parish church in England, built circa 1200, has a wooden bell tower in poor condition and we have to be very careful about ringing the bell as it could come crashing down!

We have medieval glass and font.

http://www.essexchurches.info/church.asp?p=North%20Shoebury&ty=e&id=001&ts=001

[Kitty]

Well, well, well.  I have been wondering why the bells 'bong' twice in our village.  It's been a mystery and various members of our family and visitors have been speculating why, unsuccessfully.  Now answered.  Thank you.

(I didn't realise that it happened in the whole of France - I had thought that it was just our village.)

[Judith]

[quote user="lorna"]Apparently this was so that workers in the field were able to know what time it was. When the first set was sounding they weren't quite tuned in but stopped work and listened for the second set. Not sure who told me this, might have been my French language teacher back in the UK who owned a house in France.[/quote]

Lorna

Thanks,  I'd wondered that too, as I often need to stop to "hear" the second one, but I just thought it couldn't be quite so simple as that!  Some places I know have buzzers to mark the midday, and I don't think they do that twice, but then, its a bit louder, we can hear it from the town three  miles away (in the family home in 47 as opposed to my own in 11, where it is always just the bells!!!).

[Patf]

We are in the Gers, the dept. mentioned in the article, and are in the heart of the cereal growing area. There is also a pig farm nearby, and cows. Like Val's experience in ?Brittany, the farmers have total control here. They are however very pleasant and helpful if you make the effort to speak to them (in french of course.)

We've had one slight fracas with our close neighbour when our poultry got out into his field where colza seedlings were just emerging. He caught them "red beaked"! Eventually sorted. We had an infestation from the crucifer flea beatle which usually affects colza in its early stages, which our hens could have kept in check.

Even the smell from the pig farm and his muck spreading is only a problem when the wind is in a certain direction. The farmer's wife did apologise for it.

So the report is a bit embarrassing, but at least the Parisians are said to be the fussiest. As others have said, if you come to live in the country you have to expect various noises, smells, creatures which you don't meet in towns.

[Monika]

In the village where my mother and my sister live (Switzerland) the Bells ring at 5 o'clock in the morning, that's when the farmers traditionally got up to milk their cows, and they live next to the church.  In our village in France they ring at 7.00 , 12.00 and 19.00. And Friday at 15.00 (when Jesus died).

I think I committed three faux pas (or "rub up" the wrong way!) with our farmer down the lane:

1) I asked him in front of his friend if we could buy some more wood, I could see that he did not want his friend to know.

2) And I did not shake hands when I left, whoops! But I resisted to ask him, what the dead cow in his yard was doing?

3) And he does not like it when I stroke his dog! But otherwise he is a very nice man.

[Patf]

Yes, the dead beasts take a bit of getting used to. Once there were two very large dead pigs lying in the lane outside the above farm. One was purple. Half covered by a tarp.,I suppose they were awaiting the knacker's visit. Or the vet.

[Pierre ZFP]

No this is Spooky, not only does Gluey live near me in France but we are near neighbours in Essex too.

This church

http://www.essexchurches.info/church.asp?p=Little+Wakering&ty=e

is about 100 metres up the road from me in England, I'm sure Gluey knows it, beautiful little (and old) church but so draughty inside.

Parallel development or what?

[Alan Zoff]

I am always impressed by the consideration shown by Allier tractor drivers to other motorists compared with their Gloucestershire counterparts.

As soon as a local French farmer spots a car approaching from behind, he invariably pulls in to let the car pass. In Gloucestershire, they ignore every layby or other suitable pull-in and seem to take delight in causing as long a queue behind them as possible. (When such a convoy reached a junction a few miles outside Cheltenham last year, with me about 5 cars behind the tractor, the driver stood up in his cab, turned round and could clearly be seen counting the cars he had delayed. So perhaps they have some sort of "who can most upset the townies" contest).

Not sure though that the good manners apply to the whole of France. Pre-autoroute, we were often stuck behind tractors on the approaches to Boulogne and Calais. I rather doubt that the horns and V signs from the drivers of RHD cars helped the situation. Perhaps the farmers would say they were getting their own back for being constantly cut up by reckless foreigners.