Ah! The French dream. A little way back on this thread was an exploration of how much more attractive the French population are than the British. Possibly true in many cases, but I have to say I certainly don't see all of it that way.

The French dream - the old barn to convert and retire to in a dusty remote hamlet in one of the country's many stunning areas, populated by gentle, calm folk ready with a smile and a tuck on the beret - appeals to me as much as the next fellow. But I suspect it all won't be as reassuring as it might appear. Very evocative:
http://media.onsugar.com/files/ons1/258 ... ld_men.jpg but where are the women folk?

Reminds me of when I travelled around Europe many moons ago with my bro. We stopped with a French family he knew down in the Dordogne region - ohmygod it was stunning. The dad of my bro's friend knew we were coming and was prepared - he was outside in the warm sun, his barrel-chest exposed (he thought he had a muscular body...) idly chiselling away on part of his stone porch with dramatic, exaggerated stone-mason's skills - he was basically an elderly show-off who really should have known better.

Anywys, later that evening I had my first of these French meals - ohmegawd again - it was multiple, multiple courses of the most stunning food; lamb still with a pulse but so tender you could hardly lift it with your fork - I had literally never seen or tasted anything like this endless supply of food. And, I only realised how pi**ed I was getting on the full-bodied red when I got up to go to t'loo and walked into a wall. Anyways, my point is - where was the wife? Me - and the fellow guests - realised we hadn't actually seen her at all since we'd arrived. It dawned on us she'd been ensconced in t'kitchen preparing this feast all day - and she now wasn't even joining us at the table . We insisted she made an appearance so's we could thank her and praise her food - our host (who, of course, was holding court and demanding all the attention in the inimitable Gallic expressive style) shrugged this off as unnecessary and an inconvenience but finally relented, calling her from the kitchen. This wonderful, timid woman finally emerged almost hunched over in embarrassment and insignificance - I still remember her hands wringing her apron in her coyness. She was dismissed back to the kitchen after a few seconds.

Ok, just one pitiful example, but I suspect many of the lovely old folk sitting on the village bench in the pic above would all fit neatly into that sexist bracket. And don't get them talking about blacks or Asians!

The recent riots - suggested by some as being rightful and a wonderful example of how a proud, unchastened race should behave - strikes me as being a thuggish and childish over-reaction by spoilt, belligerent brats. How dare they! They are wrecking their economy and physical infrastructure even further (and wait for the fatalities...) over their retirement age being raised to 62?!!! Take a look at your German neighbours and ask yourselves why their economy is doing so well - and why they're pi**ed off having to bale out lazy b'st'rds like you. I'm afraid the average Frenchie thinks of themselves a tad too highly - they somehow feel they deserve a lot more than the rest of us. I'm afraid arrogance is no substitute for dignity.

The cheese-eating rioters...

With the greatest respect, DA: Long may the bolshy French stay bolshy! Don't speak up for yourself when the govt starts piddling on you and they'll do it again twenty years later... which is exactly what George and Dave and his mates did to most of us yesterday... and will probably do again next year, judging by the noises coming out of the right-leaning Institute for Fiscal Studies this morning.
Just because the French are relatively better off than us (retiring at 62 rather than 66) doesn't mean that we shouldn't support their protests. The principle is the same on both sides of the channel. Divided we fall!
As a nation the French aren't lazy, just as Britain is not full of scroungers and benefit cheats.
And remember: it wasn't until the Poll Tax riot that the Tories changed their plans (to the marginally less rubbish Council Tax, admittedly, but at least it wasn't quite as bad). Collective bargaining by protest/strike/riot is the only thing that people have genuinely got when they're getting a raw deal.

Possibly at home doing woman things. Part of the attraction of the French rural culture is that they still retain traditional roles and values. I find it a pure breath of fresh air that the woman cooks just as naturally as the man chops logs. For the past three decades all we have heard in the UK is equality this and diversity that, so much hand wringing has gone on over whether we should call a Chairman a 'chairperson' instead, and frankly - it's all bollocks.

Given all this enforced equality and diversity then where are all the women dustmen? Or Asian sewage workers? And before someone jumps up and down with the now familiar accusations of 'racism' then don't, it has been done to death, shouting out scurrilous accusations is no longer a sufficient tactic to stifle honest debate, not only that, how dare such people mark a man as a racist for using the evidence of his own eyes.



She was perhaps a shy or modest woman. There are folks who avoid the limelight, who find it painful to be the centre of attention, and others who revel in it, usually these types tend to go together well as two show-offs in one family would spell disaster. Your drunken insistence on her appearing before you possibly caused the nervousness that you observed.



Frenchmen will always protest at those things they deem unfair, and quite rightly so. The Brit's tend to whinge and moan but bottle out and conform anyway. In that respect I see the French as a more principled people than the British.

No doubt you won't like me saying this given your comment about the old men on the bench but have you actually watched the news reports concerning those riots? have you noted the demographic of the actual rioters as opposed to the peaceful demonstrators? Mainly young immigrants, there - I said it.

I wasn't going to reply to this post as political debate is best avoided on any forum, but the comments above appear to come from the same genre of thought that has put us where we are today, and where are we today you might ask? Looking to live elsewhere!

France looks nice.

Fair point, smiffy. However, the poll tax was a FAR more worthy and just a cause - but even that was used as an excuse by many pitiful people to wreck, vandalise and steal. There are ways of achieving the same end result - but without the violence. The fuel blockade in the not-too-distant past achieved what it wanted but without violence (mind you, it was wrong...!)

I do not accept - at all -that the extreme rioting in France is justified by the raising of the retirement age by 2 years. Even without the world-wide financial collapse, retirement at 60 is untenable. These rioters deserve a good slap...

I was waiting for Old-Nail's reply

I do actually agree with a lot of what you say - my opening post above was designed to be a tad more contentious than its content justified. (It just sounded wishy-washy otherwise...)

You see one possible explanation for the roles in that traditional French household - I see, and saw, another. I, personally, didn't call for the ol' lady to make an appearance - I was only 18 at the time, and naive even for that age. The ol' cove who ran the show was an arrogant twit who thought far too highly of himself. He was clearly irritated when the calls were made for the cook to make an appearance - and most of these calls were made by other French guests to the meal - neighbours, relatives, etc.

Anyways, do you really think these current French rioters are acting in a 'principled' way? I don't. I simply don't see their case as justified. Protest, by all means; vote out Sarkozy if you wish - that's called democracy. But looting, wrecking, burning and rioting - non.

Your last comment inspired me! I'm going to apply to Dragons Den with my new invention: Riot SlapperTM ! It consists of a giant rubber hand on top of a Land Rover. It'll knock 15 people over at once. I've co-credited you on the patent application, and I'd like you to co-present it with me. Are you in?

No, they aren't. But you must differentiate between the protesters and the rioters, as they are not one and the same. The rioters are parasites on the back of a legitimate protest, just like the guys that stand in Bolton precinct selling the Socialist worker yet studiously avoid anything that even approaches actual work.

Several years ago we had so called race riots in the North west uk, in Bolton and Oldham in particular. Quite why hey were called race riots I have no idea as the only folks rioting were the young Asians, and just as football hooliganism has little or nothing to do with football, those riots had nothing to do with race, nor the rioting in France anything to do with the legitimate French protest.

Old Nail - amen.

Smiffy - I'm in! Your description reminds me of the scene in 'Hitchhiker's Guide to t'Galaxy' when they - Ford (the wonderful Martin Freeman) and co were walking across an alien landscape and were slapped violently in t'face by what appeared to be giant fly-swats coming out of the ground whenever they had a conscious thought... "Don't think!!" SPLAT...

Wonderful.

DA - Ha-ha! Never seen that one. Bought the book once, but never read it. Maybe I should.

Around 4.30 in - but it's worth watching it all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l6w08Vx ... re=related