Maddie Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Feeling depressed, struggling with language, struggling with French red tape, struggling with UK red tape (Bloody DWP), feezing cold, Mr MDW back in London.You know what? I think I'd rather be in the UK! Why does anyone bother? Please can someone cheer me up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcazar Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Dunno about cheering you up, but I'll show your post to my wife when she gets home from work at about 8pm tonite, having set off at 7.30 this morning.She dreams of going to our property.........in fact she was at a relaxation class last week and told me she was "practically there".And that's to a property with no proper bathing facilities, one wood burning stove, hardly any furniture.............Ah well, each to his or her own, I suppose.Alcazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I'm in the UK. The sky is totally grey for the 83rd day in a row; it's cold (but in a damp way); I can hear the traffic clogged up on the road, punctuated by sirens; all the trees are bare and lifeless; the food in my fridge tastes like coloured water; I can't get planning permission for my wall because all 'officials' seem to have been turned into unthinking automatons; I can't look forward to my Monday night sauna because my expensive health club's efforts to "swiftly resolve the situation to a satisfactory conclusion as soon as is possible at this time to be perfectly honest with you" do not extend to buying a new heating element in the two months since the last one broke; my children would rather be gambolling in fields this afternoon than being dragged through the hell of shops that is a British town; and it's Monday morning.So shoulders back and chin up - it won't be Monday morning forever!Paolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddie Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]I'm in the UK. The sky is totally grey for the 83rd day in a row; it's cold (but in a damp way); I can hear the traffic clogged up on the road, punctuated by sirens; all the trees are bare and lifeles...[/quote]Bless you, Paulo! I've just looked out of the window and the beautiful, snow capped mountains have appeared out of the clouds and I've lit a fire in addition to the central heating (which does not seem to be making a blind bit of difference despite the rads being boiling hot). Mr MDW is miserable in London too - feeling better already!Nicola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Where on earth are you Paolo, we were back in the UK from the beginning of Dec to the 19th, so certainly within your 83 days and we had just one completely grey day during that couple or so weeks. All the rest of the time we had sunshine everyday, sometimes it was all morning or all afternoon, there were clouds that passed over, and sometimes they were grey but they did blow over and we had some rain but very little really, changeable they say don't they, as it all came and went, etc etc. I love constantly changing skies, here or there. But if sunshine is what counts, well we most certainly had that......That was up in the south of the North East of England.ps I was also back at the beginning of November and I had all the wrong clothes with me, we did have some rain, but it was far too warm for the clothes I had taken back, I was sweltering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leray Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Hi Mrs MDWI too am in France while Mr JHW is in UK, and its his birthday today!! I think there are a few of us wives 'separated by distance' as they call it in Newcastle (DHSS)I remember when I was changing over my car it cost an arm and leg for the lights to be done and I had a tiny chip in the rear light not enough to go thru to the second layer of glass under the red and Mr Jobsworth at controle technique said he wouldnt pass it. I got back into the dissolved into tears and said 'I want to go home...', but the rear light was only 50 odd euros to replace and we have stuck it out.Though I have to say my daughter has a bad day 6 out of 7 at lycee and I find it very difficult to keep her morale up alone but like you ive lit a fire and am sitting doing my embroidery listening to Radio 4 over the internet thinking of Mr JHW on his own in London on his birthday (on his own?)bon Courageelaine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Teamedup,Poetic licence!I'm in sunny Kingston by the way. It has felt like a very grey winter, and every time we go to France it is blazing sunshine - coincidence or selective memory?Paolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Causette Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Hi Mrs MDW - I went back to London for the VLF exhibition at Olympia. Crossing London was a nightmare - traffic jams everywhere, underground filthy and crowded, restaurants expensive... and I am certain I could taste the pollution in the air To think I worked there for 8 years without noticing it! I was glad to get back home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Paolo, thanks for cheering me up. Selective memory I think. I had a friend sit and tell me a couple of years ago that the weather had been lousy for weeks. I had been back for weeks and for the time of year, it had been OK. She swore we had had no sun, we had. She said it had done nothing but rain, it had rained a bit, but not that much. She said it was cold..... some days it was chilly and others it wasn't, others were rather warm. And I get that here in some ways too. I got back at the end of July a few summers ago and everyone told me that we had missed nothing, it had been cold wet and miserable all the time we were away. Maybe it was, I had no way of telling. However, it changed we got back and I ended up living in my darkened rooms and in the deepest of shaded places outside, my usual summer thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]Teamedup, Poetic licence! I'm in sunny Kingston by the way. It has felt like a very grey winter, and every time we go to France it is blazing sunshine - coincidence or selective memory? Paolo[/quote]Paolo,If you mean Kingston upon Thames, then you have made the Mrs very unhappy.She would love to be there, sales time at John Lewis, Bentalls and all the small fashion shops rather than being here in the dark, cold, wet and gloom of a typical Breton winter Kempton just up the road, some decent restaurants around Kingston, Hampton, Twickenham and Richmond, some lovely boozers, what more do you want ? Or have I got the wrong town ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcazar Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I thought Kingston was full of chavs?Or is that just Britain in general?Alcazar***There is but one Kingston, and it's on the River Hull*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0BRIAN WOODHEADI,m here in franceddMMyyyy0Falseen-USI,m here in franceTrue Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Not for miki the young marxist,what is wrong with the sales in france.Now miki you are making more sense I have spent more time in thoses towns your` on about than I wanted to,twenty years on the road my friend,you know as much about the rest of the UK than martian who just landed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swissbarry Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Dear MDW,No wonder you're fed up. You have to contend with learning a language and dealing with red tape, and yet you appear to be a dog! Can't you get your owners to deal with these chores for you? My advice is: whenever you're feeling fed up, go out and chase a cat, or urinate on a car wheel. You'll soon feel better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penny29 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 MDW, I've had a bad weel here too, but whenever feeling down I think of the M25, the smell of pollution and the daily grind of office politics - it cheers me up every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]Not for miki the young marxist,what is wrong with the sales in france.Now miki you are making more sense I have spent more time in thoses towns your` on about than I wanted to,twenty years on the road...[/quote]What, you mean that the M1 goes further than Watford Gap, well blige me, no one told me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Miki,Kingston upon Thames, the very same. Alright so I was laying it on with a heavy trowel to cheer up MadDogWoman, it's not all bad.But what I forgot to mention, and what is really getting me down, is that Chelsea are going to win the league. Get me out of here!Paolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]Not for miki the young marxist,what is wrong with the sales in france.Now miki you are making more sense I have spent more time in thoses towns your` on about than I wanted to,twenty years on the road...[/quote]That is true, shamefully I have to admit I do know more about France and its regions than I do about the UK. Then again, we have a French friend who can lecture me about British history and its people and would probably leave most of us on here in dismay at his knowledge.Twenty years on the road, now that's bloody uncomfortable. Richmond etc, lovely towns, they probably didn't understand you that's all, can't imagine why though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]Miki, Kingston upon Thames, the very same. Alright so I was laying it on with a heavy trowel to cheer up MadDogWoman, it's not all bad. But what I forgot to mention, and what is really getting me do...[/quote]Whoa Paolo,Please don't put the mockers on us, no talk of titles, until it becomes mathematically unchallenged !Do Kingstonians still play on that newish place they moved to on the A3 ? Chris (The lip) Kelly was in charge when I last watched then and Micky Droy was also there. Last I heard was that Geoff Chappell had gone there from managing Woking but I am probably donkeys years out of touch by now. Is the one way still a bundle of fun I never felt I was finally out of Kingston until I had crossed the bridge and was heading alongside the park on the way to Hampton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 And I'll have to add, the Sweet Lass is from the yorkshire Richmond not the surrey one, still I admit, both Richmond's are very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Yep, I'll drink to that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo53 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]Teamedup, Poetic licence! I'm in sunny Kingston by the way. It has felt like a very grey winter, and every time we go to France it is blazing sunshine - coincidence or selective memory? Paolo[/quote]Well, where in France do you go? Not up here in Mayenne, obviously. The weather here has been bloody awful all winter, and the summer was terrible too. This is the wettest, foggiest place I have ever lived. It's a real LOL when French friends (who are from NORMANDY!!!) take the piss out of the English weather.Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Miki,My ignorance of Kingstonians couldn't be much deeper. I think they sold their ground to the new Wimbledon(?) and were relegated. Micky Droy I remember from the days when Chelsea really were Chelsea - pretty useless on the pitch and not too welcoming in the Shed. Were those the good old days, or is that now?Kingston one-way is still a thing of beauty. Certainly convinces me not to bother driving in. Bushey Park though, just over the bridge, now you're talking...(Is this off-topic, or what?)Paolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 [quote]Well, where in France do you go? Not up here in Mayenne, obviously. The weather here has been bloody awful all winter, and the summer was terrible too. This is the wettest, foggiest place I have ever ...[/quote]Ah no, I go way down south, where it's always sunny. Paolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paolo Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Incidentally, I heard on the radio the other day (Radio 4 so it must be true) that London is technically a desert. Although Britain gets lots of rainfall, London is in the 'rain-shadow' of the hills to the west. London gets less rain than Madrid and other cities I have forgotten. Who'd have thought it?Paolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Yes, I believe it, my bit of the NE is classed as semi dessert too. And the first time I went to Manchester when I was 20, I understood why where I was from was classed as such. I had no idea that rain could fall like that, I was amazed. I've seen worse rain here though. It falls in what looks like cords, it is ferocious and those mid summer storms are incredible. The sun, well not my thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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