France day by day, give me some good news!!!!

[SaligoBay]

Here's a challenge for you all!   Find some hap-hap-happy statistics for France!!  Please????   Searching for "good news" is a bit like the search for "French military victories", it's just not there! 

So far, a brief search for chiffres, statistiques, minute-par-minute etc, which was meant to be for a bit of fun has resulted in this......

- every 40 minutes, there's a suicide attempt

- every 2 hours, there's a new HIV infection

- every day, another woman dies as a result of domestic violence

- every day, 7 people die in road accidents because of alcohol

And that's without the fact that prisons are horrendously overcrowded and that France is cancer-death capital of the civilised world,  etc etc etc.  

So get your searching caps on (5 for a euro if you know where to find them) and find something that's a bit more fun.

I'm off to cheer myself up at work now!      

   

 

 

[Miki]

Mmmm, strange but I don't think any of that has been mentioned in any of the hundreds of Come To France programmes ? Perhaps I wasn't listening properly !

"....So get your searching caps on (5 for a euro if you know where to find them) and find something that's a bit more fun"

Not many left folks, Miki's sizzlers have been selling well, just a few complaints about being rubbery but in general the locals just love'em !

[Chauffour]

here is another:

• every 7 hours one more Brit move to France!!!

[Tresco]

I thought straight away, France still has the most tourists

But no, apparently the figures are skewed by the fact that included in them, are people nipping over borders to get to other countries, and 30 minute airplane stop overs. See, never trust stats.

It's official, i'm afraid there has been no good news in France since the airbus had it's first flight.

I think the way to go is to take it local, or personal.

So my happy/good news story, is that on the bike ride (50K with a 4 hour picnic in the middle) there were 150 people, including 40 children. The day out lasted from 9 in the morning to 10 at night. Throughout the whole day, I did not hear a single child cry, nor any parent raise their voice in anger.

[RayB]

[quote]I thought straight away, France still has the most tourists But no, apparently the figures are skewed by the fact that included in them, are people nipping over borders to get to other countries, an...[/quote]

** Throughout the whole day, I did not hear a single child cry, nor any parent raise their voice in anger**

Great, isn't it?

[letrangere]

there has been no good news in France since the airbus had it's first flight.

And watch for more bad news there.  The Dubai papers are full of talk about hefty compensation now that deliveries of the A380 are going to be delayed by at least 6 months and Emirates's expansion plans impacted.  And one assumes Virgin and SA are the same.  Will be interesting to see what Airbus has to say on the subject at the Paris Airshow next week and if the plane flies.

Good news statistics?  How about French female life expectancy?  Can't recall the precise age but it's the highest in Europe.

M

 

[Val_2]

We actually managed to find all the yellow balises on the trees and EDF posts yesterday that corresponded with the map at long last and NO farmer had blocked any of the routes for a change with a bit of blue nylon string - hurray!

[Tresco]

More good news from the small planet Tresco.

Whole day out with the Rural Elders Society, of which I am a card carrying member.

Again, no tears, , plenty of laughter, much of it at me, but also many compliments for me on my very slowly improving french

Mr Ricardo has definitely got the hots for me.

Got home to find that the big scary owl has moved on (well, building a nest on top of the wine racks wasn't the most sensible thing to do).

[Patf]

Yesterday managed to find a very kind motor repair man who was prepared to try and repair our ancient Express van, our only vehicle at the moment. Overheating and leaking water. Having been rejected by three others. Not only that but he has lent us a little car until the work is done. So relieved! Pat.

[Hewitts]

The other day hopelessly lost in an unfamiliar suburb miles from home I asked a young man how to get to ..... I had a map and he started to explain, could see my total panic. First day in new job, and already 20 minutes late to see a student on teaching placement, good impression I think not.

He jumped into his car and said follow me, and then drove to the turning I needed to get to the school, sped off with a toot into the distance.

No time to get his number, I would have sent my story to the paper to publish a thank you, they do that sometimes. However he certainly made my day.

[SaligoBay]

Nice one, Eleanor!      V disappointed you didn't get his number tho, after going to all that effort to lure him off the straight and narrow too!

Tresco, no crying kiddies?  C'est pas normal, ça!  They're probably taking their maman's anti-depressants (France being the world's biggest user and all that, 1 in 4!!!!) 

Miki, what a shame you're so far away, I could do with a nice sizzler. 

My son's good news is that collège is finishing a week earlier than prévu for the 6èmes, yippeee!!   He also has his umpteenth dispense de sport to finish off the term in peace. 

[Deby]

Visited my french friend and we exchanged a big bag of my cherries for a big bag of her mangetout - all organic of course.

Deby

[Lesbatees]

SB,

One of my favourite sayings at the moment,

"In the world of destiny there are no statistics."

If I pay too much attention to stats I get depressed and start writing my will.

My daily life in France is pretty great right now - at least I'm alive to tell the tale, and that makes me very tolerant of the problems.  I've even started being nice to functionnaires

Val

[Tresco]

Here's one.

The French (mostly) welcome us, or at the very least tolerate us. This despite there having been roughly, 31 Anglo-French wars since the Norman invasion

 

http://www.historyguy.com/War_list.html

I couldn't see any other two nations with a list as long as this.

 

[RayB]

[quote]SB, One of my favourite sayings at the moment, "In the world of destiny there are no statistics." If I pay too much attention to stats I get depressed and start writing my will. My daily life in ...[/quote]

**"In the world of destiny there are no statistics."**

We have a saying - 'Stats are for losers . . . the final score is what counts!' (g)

When we first came to 35 in 1995 we had a rather elderly Citroen with an auto transmission. The coupling between the shift lever and trans decided it didn't want to couple anymore. I dropped into the dealer in Dol to see if anything could be done. My French was limited to Hello, Goodbye, Please and Thank You back then. Their Anglais was Zero.

A 3-day wait for a part from Paris faced us. I told them that we couldn't really do without a car that long as it would ruin our visit. We were celebrating my wife's 50th Birthday. One of the mechanics, (Pierre, about 60 with the obligatory fag hanging out of the corner of his mouth) scrounged around the garage and found a box of old parts. He had couplings in every combination other than the one I needed. My heart sank. Off he went to a corner and I saw him with a hacksaw followed by the flashing of an arc welder. He had cut two in half and to my great joy, he had made me one.

The bill for all of this was 150FF or about £15! I would have been happy at £100. The next morning when they opened they found a litre of Famous Grouse with his name on it outside the front door.

Everyone was so pleasant with us wherever we went including the Chef who signed a menu with Birthday Greetings for her special dinner at Duchesse Anne in St Malo.

As a result, it started our love-affair with this area and an exodus from the UK to when we retired here in 2002. The affair continues . . . .

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

First I thought to myself: 'This is a bit of a cretinous thread', particularly as the statistics quoted by saligobay are probably as bad as anywhere else in the Western world, give or take 10%. Then, I remember and that I, too, am constantly longing for good pieces of news, irrespective of where they come from and where I happen to be in Europe. So, not a bad idea after all Saligo, apologies to you. A bril' idea even, mille grovelling apologies to you, yes, I love optimists like yourself (being myself a bit of a pessimist). I do not live in France as you know but last time I was back in my Menilmuche natal, went to my fav' bistroquet around the Marché d'Aligre and they were having this do for an African family from round the corner threatened with deportation back to their native Congo (sorry, from 'La Republique Démocratique du Congo' -emphasis on Démocratique of course). That family had been in France for 8 yrs, etc. (to cut a long story short, they were basically entitled to stay but had not done things by the book admin wise). So we collected a bit of dosh for them, found a nice avocat to fight their case and, 2 months later (3 days ago) I heard that they'd found out that they were allowed to stay in France, permanently, with the right papers this time ! Crikey, that 'm'a mis du baume au coeur' (warmed the cockles of my heart), putain, if every time I visited a Paris bar that could happen, the world would be Heaven !

[Mpprh]

Montpellier claims 300+ sunny days per year

Lunel claims 330+ sunny days per year

And I'm back tomorrow !

 

Peter

 

[RayB]

[quote]Montpellier claims 300+ sunny days per year Lunel claims 330+ sunny days per year And I'm back tomorrow ! Peter[/quote]

**Montpellier claims 300+ sunny days per year

Lunel claims 330+ sunny days per year**

Hmmm . . . . sounds pretty monotonous to me.

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

Yeah Ray, too right ! 20 yrs ago, these places used to boast about their historical sites, their ancient heritage and links to whatever and so on, now all they can say to attract the pensioners is: 'we've got 10 more sunny days than you have', nananère.

Besides, if you unpick the 'stats', these boasts turn out be be totally fallacious, only a few places in Southern Europe (Andalucia, Puglia) would get that amount of sunny days. All they do is divide their total number of hours (say for Lunel, 2 750 hrs/yr MAXIMUM on a very good yr) by, say, 8 hrs to get their 330 days/yr. Other places (more honestly) divide the total by 9 hrs, etc. Pretty much anybody does what they want, whereas Meteo France recommends a division by 10 (considering, not unreasonably, that a sunny day must have 10 hrs of sun in it). By the same liberal token, I could claim that one of my fav' UK towns -Scarborough- could boast 300 sunny days a yr. As it gets 1400/1500 hrs/yr, if I divide that by 5 hrs (considering that 5 hrs of sun a day in Scarborough is, ma foi, not bad at all), hey Presto, Scarborough gets 300 sunny days/year ! Please don't all come here at the same time !

[RayB]

[quote]Yeah Ray, too right ! 20 yrs ago, these places used to boast about their historical sites, their ancient heritage and links to whatever and so on, now all they can say to attract the pensioners is: 'w...[/quote]

** Please don't all come here at the same time !**

Back in the '60's I lived in San Diego, California. The average yearly high was 77F and low 66F. If there was a day without sunshine, the newspapers were free. In total, I lived in Southern Cal for 11 years and it really did get boring.

[SaligoBay]

Lunel claims 330+ sunny days per year

Lunel has its own special charm , but would you want to live there?  It certainly wouldn't be boring, that's pretty certain!   You can be honest, Peter, and anything you say will remain between you and me and the...... ummm..... what was I going to say?   Ah yes, you and me and the rest of the world!

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

But what of those spurious claims by these Soutern towns/cities ? You don't seriously believe that they have 330 days of sun/year, do you ? 250 max ! Let's haggle !

[Miki]

To you Vraititi, this sun retails at 375, to you not 330, not even 300, no not 275, not 225 even, here you are, a real bargain today only, call it 195 for cash

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

"Here's a challenge for you all! Find some hap-hap-happy statistics for France!! Please???? Searching for "good news" is a bit like the search for "French military victories", it's just not there! [Big Grin] "

Florence Aubenas and her interpreter are free today from Irak - now there's good news.

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

Na na na, Miki, Habibi, not 195, you think I'm a gogo or what !  No way habibi, I can have the same sun in Skeggie for 125, why would I give it to you for 195 ! Look sadiq, you want to bankrupt me and my family or what, my friend, look, 140 is my last last offer and I demand a warrantee with that as well: sun must be bright 90% of the time (cloud sunny is no good my friend), continuous (no breaks) between 9 AM to 7 PM (I want 90% continuity rate), no rain between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM, and a refund if no good after 3 months, so ?