What's the point of living north of the Loire?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="FurryKnickers"]

You can still eat a Cuban Chicken though!

[/quote]

No-one should be forced to eat a Cuban chicken, whatever imaginary

crimes they may or may not have committed in a certain place that may

or may not have existed in an unknown person's fevered imagination. If

you can peel the skin off, they can be filled with air and used as

sports balls. Alternatively they can be nailed to shoes as an emergency

sole replacement. On no account should you attempt to cook and eat one.

I have an imaginary collection of things that I tried to eat and really

shouldn't have. Cuban chicken is one of those things. I had not

developed my recipe for Mauritanian Goat Curry at the time though, so

perhaps I could disguise one as food using that.

What else is Cuba famous for? Sugar and molases. The Catholic Boys. One

of the world's worst airlines. Bacardi (what my late mother used to

describe as "pant stripper" - I never asked why, but she could be a

very coarse woman when the occaision demanded).

[Weedon]

Life is so full of surprises.  Just as I had formed impressions of certain people here,  Furry who I thought was one of those pacific fists, is recommending you beat cuban chickens. I suppose you have to take your anger out on somebody but I personally have nothing against cuban chickens.  If you must beat somebody why not Aled Jones who is much too perfect to be real. 

weedon

[Mpprh]

Hi

Having just come back from a pleasant luncheaten outdoors at the local market, I received a phone call from Blois.

12 cms of snow up there apparently !

Peter

 

 

 

[LaBucherie]

Presumably it was brilliant sunshine on the other (southern) bank of the Loire?

[Coco]

I sometimes wonder if those who bought further south have lived to regret it and it isn't the utopia they expected  - perhaps they feel they paid too much for their houses, perhaps the winters are colder than they expected and the summers are a bit TOO hot and dry.  Whatever it is, I've never noticed anyone from the north having a dig at the south on this forum and yet every few months or so, someone from the south has to have a go at Normandy and Brittany and tell us that we live in a bleak, uninteresting and cold part of the world.  Funny, but both Normandy and Brittany are incredibly popular with French holidaymakers and second home owners, as well as a lot of Italians and Spanish... now that's interesting, all people that live in those glorius warmer climes [;)]

Peter - Is Blois on the north or south bank of the Loire?  Cos right oop north here in Normandy we've had a beautiful sunny afternoon planting all those lovely roses that would wither and die in the hot, sunny southern summer.  Hope you all enjoy your baked, cracked earth, brown grass and forest fires this summer[6]

 

[Furry Knickers]

Well anyway, we have ginger squirells in our garden!

[zeb]

Well, we went for the best of both worlds - the Charente.

We had spent holidays in Normandie, Brittany, the Auvergne, Languedoc, Aude and Provence. The weeks in Normandy and Brittany were spent house-hunting and, after several days of drizzle and mist in Brittany, we ventured south of the Loire and headed for the Marais Poitivon for a couple of days. We had old hand painted VW bus which leaked so needed better weather. On crossing the Loire the sky brightened and the temperature rose just as we were told.

A couple of months later we headed for the same spot, looked at properties around Noirt and the Vendee, then headed across to the Charente and found what we wanted. Lovely weather with seasons, green hilly countryside, pretty villages (and in those days very cheap property). So here we are four years later and still glad we moved here. OK so we have a parched lawn for a couple of months, but I'd rather have that than unpredictable summers.

It's a 7 hour easy drive to Boulogne (can't afford BF from Caen anymore), we have three airports within easy reach and the coast is an hour and a half away. The countryside is fabulous, the people friendly and the slippers awful, but you can't have it all.

We will move someday, but we will probably try city life (renting) for a bit in Languedoc to see if we prefer it. If we don't, it's back to the sticks!!

[crdale]

[quote user="Weedon"]

 

What is Cuba famous for apart from heels?

weedon

[/quote]

 

how about big beards and captain scarlet hats

 

Chris

[Iceni]

[quote user="Weedon"]

What is Cuba famous for apart from heels?

weedon

[/quote]

Is this a reference to the late, great Mr K bashing his shoe on the table at the UN or somewhere like that ?

John

not

[Mpprh]

[quote user="St Amour"]

Peter - Is Blois on the north or south bank of the Loire?  Cos right oop north here in Normandy we've had a beautiful sunny afternoon planting all those lovely roses that would wither and die in the hot, sunny southern summer.  Hope you all enjoy your baked, cracked earth, brown grass and forest fires this summer[6]

 

[/quote]

Hi

The old centre is on the North side, but the city is on both sides. The call came from 2 km South of the river.

A few years ago, I visited for Xmas : lots of snow and -16C !

Photos (not in Blois !) taken -

25 December 2003 : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/photos/languedoc-photo-022.htm

25 December 2003 : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/photos/languedoc-photo-067.htm

5 January 2005 : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/photos/languedoc-photo-115.htm

14 December 2002 : (our last snow, which lasted one day) : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/photos/languedoc-photo-026.htm

Peter

 

Peter

 

 

[Deimos]

Yesterday I drove south towards La Loire. Weather definitely deteriorated as I approached La Loire (better a bit further north !!). Just in the distance between Le Loir and La Loire big difference in the level of snow fall and the amount settling.

Ian

[Le Petomane]

Oh dear, Zeb. "Green hilly countryside." We had that in the Limousin next door, and it's a result of endless heavy rain. The other abomination to come out of the Charente is a sickly aperitif called Pineau de Charentes, one glass of which will remove any appetite you may have had. Maybe that's the point if it, like starting a meal with Yorkshire pudding. Charentais slippers are fine, so long as I can wear them in the Langeudoc.

[Teamedup]

Eh! What is wrong with starting a meal with good yorkshire puds and some good beef gravy?

 

I don't mind a Pineau de Charente either, never cuts my apetite but little does.

 

[Viv]

Yorkshire puds shouldn't just be sunday dinners either, I love a big one filled with mince and veggies. My nan used to have them warm just sprinkled with sugar!

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I reckon Zeb is right . The Charente, Charente-Maritime and south

Vendée have just about the perfect climatic balance: sunny, hot summers

and mild, (generally) wet winters. (I would. I'm biased. I live here.)

I will agree that pineau is fairly revolting (this may not be

unconnected to over consumption of home made stuff produced by an

enthusiastic but not entirely competent friend of ours who possibly

once mistook battery acid for TCP and removed all semblence of taste),

but then I feel much the same about pastis and, indeed, pretty much any

sticky drink.

[Tresco]

[quote user="Le Petomane"]Oh dear, Zeb. "Green hilly countryside." We had that in the Limousin next door, and it's a result of endless heavy rain. The other abomination to come out of the Charente is a sickly aperitif called Pineau de Charentes, one glass of which will remove any appetite you may have had. Maybe that's the point if it, like starting a meal with Yorkshire pudding. Charentais slippers are fine, so long as I can wear them in the Langeudoc.[/quote]

I can't see anything wrong with Green Hilly Countrysides, Charente Slippers, or Pineau, surely in the end it is who you mix with/what you do that makes your life what it is. I don't drink Pineau, it took me about eeeerrmm, 1 time to say 'no thanks'.

I get mild winters, but definite seasons here, which is what I wanted;  it's not too different to the west coast of England, a lot warmer in the summer though.  They are a bit obsessed with grapes generally, but there are no shell suits - Cloak of the Devil .  Jond will know what I mean when I say they are the rag trade equivalent of Leylandii.

I can't see that Charente slippers are worse than shell suits, but then the 'count' of shell suits is higher in Merseyside, where I 'lived' before coming here, than that of the mythical slippers in tthe Charentes.

Do you guys ooop north (of the Loire) have shell suits?

 

[SaligoBay]

Where is this Loire place anyway?   Is that where dormouses come from?

[Brilec]

Is it not all just a question of personal preference?

In my opinion, only a fool would try to insist that I was in the wrong place just because I was not in the same area that he/she was.

[Teamedup]

We still have leggings around here, if not shell suits.

 

[Patmobile]

I like it here in the North - but I realise I might feel an irresistible urge to move further south when I become very old - a common symptom of oncoming senile dementia , I'm told .

Anyway, I can keep my holiday gites full from 25 to 30+ weeks a year.  I don't see the point of having assets that only work for 10 - 15 weeks out of 52, but I gather that that's what happens down there in those parts of the country where it's frozen solid in winter and baked to a crisp in the summer.  I understand they get a few weeks of bearable weather down there during March and October.

Also the food is better up north, the golf courses are better, the beaches aren't polluted and, of course, the people we meet still have all their marbles and can get around without zimmer frames.

Patrick

[Turnip]

Report in "Times" ( Weds.8th March 2006 - Page 4 )- well a brief paragraph alluding to falling house prices in Med. area. Report by Royal Institurtion of Chartered Surveyors who had studied 18 countries. They stated that greatest house price rises, last year, were in Estonia and Denmark at 28% and 22% respectively. TV programme effect maybe ?

 

And a reason to be North of the Loire

[Tresco]

Thinking about it, I might have given Iceland a try if I had known about the heated pavements.

Anywhere else north of the Loire (on this side of the world) was discounted due to combinations of climates and kryllic script

[Missy]

I am glad that a British person has come to this conclusion...

As a French person who spent the best part of her childhood and adolescent life SOUTH of the Loire in southwest79, that question often popped in my mind then and has not really left it since!.......

So why on earth did I travel ALL the way to UK and settled in Wales .......

Mad!

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Tresco"]

Thinking about it, I might have given Iceland a try if I had known about the heated pavements.

Anywhere else north of the Loire (on this side of the world) was discounted due to combinations of climates and kryllic script

[/quote]

My friend Baldwin has even got a heated driveway! Mind you, the changes

in day length don't half do funny things to ones bodyclock. And the

beer there is outragously expensive (£5 for 250ml). And you have to

live on top of a bloody great volcano.

[SaligoBay]

But the geology in Icelandic is orgasmic.  And they have one of the most exciting literary traditions in the entire universe.   And a beautiful, singsong language.  I often listen to Icelandic radio just because it sounds so nice.

I'm sure there are worse places!