Today I'll mainly be moaning about ...

[Phil xxkr]

4 hours ago, Thackeray said:

Macron bans UK over-65s from French restaurants

I didn't notice it last week but I've just read that Macron has restricted the validity of covid vaccination certificates to six months and five weeks from the second vaccination. This can be extended by having a booster. (Most countries allow a year's validity from the date of the second vaccination.)

No problem then, you might think, just get a booster. Except that in the UK the booster is not recorded on the NHS app so there's no way to prove you've had one.

So from 15 December, if you can't prove you've had a booster (you won't be able to prove it if you're British) you're not allowed in restaurants, bars, clubs, long distance trains etc in France.

Sounds like a result 😎

[dutchie01]

39 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

Sounds like a result 😎

Exactly! no French waiters ignoring you, no pretending they dont speek franglais, no pretentious sigh after you placed your order and no discussion with the frenchies next to you why you dont spend all you holidays in France as they have everything and are the best in all and everything ever.

Agreed, slight over generalisation and i like  most of the French and their food although they eat literally everything from an animal..

French cars are crap though.

[First_Lexus]

43 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

French cars are crap though.

^^ I rather like most French cars. The design and comfort are usually different, and I appreciate the boldness. Granted the reliability and build quality is questionable, but who could resist a Renault 30, or a Vel Satis, or a Peugeot 604? As for the Alpine A110…😍

Anybody?? Just me then…

Anyway, having driven up and down the M4 today I have a new moan. Drivers who pootle along in the middle lane at 65mph (usually with the inside lane empty!) but then speed up as soon as you go to overtake them. Grrr…😬

And I must add those morons who get road rage with each other and risk the safety of every other road user. There were a couple this evening who were clearly having a fight about something, but on a busy M4 in the dark, brake testing each other on the outside lane and then both slowing right down next to each other in the middle wasn’t smart. Idiots. And to think these people are free to procreate…

[-Error-]

Funny we should mention our downstairs neighbours...

I'm currently accommodating a few French engineers at work, my gosh don't they complain about the quality of our food!
Granted they are normally presented with whatever nonsense the local M&S stacks their sandwich aisle with, but you'd think they're being rationed canned meat and potatoes!! They were given a choice between that and best local Staffordshire pies and they couldn't run away quick enough!

I don't think they were too pleased with their hotel and the dinner menu, lack of cheese selection I heard... Apparently cheddar is no camembert...

[ALAW]

On 11/15/2021 at 6:01 PM, paulrnx said:

Yes, agreed, it’s bad

shocking

[DBIZO]

12 hours ago, runsgrateasanut said:

State of the Roads must have been mentioned. M20, M25, A12 diabolical. Pot holes galore. Real bone crunchers in some places. At night can't see far enough ahead on dipped beam to avoid. Thought they were going to do something about these roads?

Forget the potholes, there is no money for paint for road marks.

[First_Lexus]

8 hours ago, -Error- said:

I'm currently accommodating a few French engineers at work, my gosh don't they complain about the quality of our food!

^^ They need to complain to Citizen Camembert. Apparently he’s the big cheese…

[Phil xxkr]

10 hours ago, -Error- said:

Funny we should mention our downstairs neighbours...

I'm currently accommodating a few French engineers at work, my gosh don't they complain about the quality of our food!
Granted they are normally presented with whatever nonsense the local M&S stacks their sandwich aisle with, but you'd think they're being rationed canned meat and potatoes!! They were given a choice between that and best local Staffordshire pies and they couldn't run away quick enough!

I don't think they were too pleased with their hotel and the dinner menu, lack of cheese selection I heard... Apparently cheddar is no camembert...

Perhaps you might mention the UK has more varieties of cheese than France 👍. Also they believe that the French language is best that's because they invented the concept of a diplomatic language to fulfil a deep inner desire to communicate to their peers the overwhelming need not to be happy but to complain. 😎

[First_Lexus]

29 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

Perhaps you might mention the UK has more varieties of cheese than France 👍. Also they believe that the French language is best that's because they invented the concept of a diplomatic language to fulfil a deep inner desire to communicate to their peers the overwhelming need not to be happy but to complain. 😎

^^ Looks like we’re adding ‘the French’ to the list 😆

My Father’s family are of French heritage, arriving in the UK after the Revolution (although there was already a branch that had been here since c12th Century).

Anyway, he had conversational French, and his Grandfather was fluent. I speak virtually none. He always used to describe the French people as happy when complaining about France, but happiest when complaining about Britain…

I remember a French holiday when I was about 6 or 7. We’d stopped at a small hotel in the country south of Caen, on the way to Brittany. My Father spoke to the receptionist in English and received a fairly typically frosty response. She then spoke to her colleague (probably Husband) in French. My Father said nothing while they continued their discussion and completed the book to register and pay. As they pushed the key over the desk he spoke to them in French - I can still see the reaction in their eyes. I’m pretty sure we ate for free that night…

[LenT]

14 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

Anyway, he had conversational French, and his Grandfather was fluent. I speak virtually none. 

As a lad I had what was known as ‘schoolboy French’.

 

But eventually I tired of only speaking to French schoolboys.

[Phil xxkr]

12 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

^^ Looks like we’re adding ‘the French’ to the list 😆

My Father’s family are of French heritage, arriving in the UK after the Revolution (although there was already a branch that had been here since c12th Century).

Anyway, he had conversational French, and his Grandfather was fluent. I speak virtually none. He always used to describe the French people as happy when complaining about France, but happiest when complaining about Britain…

I remember a French holiday when I was about 6 or 7. We’d stopped at a small hotel in the country south of Caen, on the way to Brittany. My Father spoke to the receptionist in English and received a fairly typically frosty response. She then spoke to her colleague (probably Husband) in French. My Father said nothing while they continued their discussion and completed the book to register and pay. As they pushed the key over the desk he spoke to them in French - I can still see the reaction in their eyes. I’m pretty sure we ate for free that night…

What a great post Ed, particularly like middle para 🤣 as to the last para, how can I put this delicately, there are some people in shops who live to the west of the English border who use  indigenous talk when you speak English. However, when I speak Greek by some non technology based miracle their proficiency in English is to a Henry Higgins standard 🤣

[DanD]

On 11/16/2021 at 1:49 PM, VFR said:

Most will have by now seen the video ...........

Car drives into the hospital grounds at speed.

Car brakes hard and at that very moment it stops an explosion takes place.

Driver exits the car a few moments later and runs.

Driver is hailed a hero by most with calls for Knighthood / Medals etc etc

 

Have I missed something ?

Ah. It's not just me then.

[DanD]

Funniest thread I have read in a while, but I think it should be renamed to Grumpy Old Men.

Has the average age of Lexus owners gone up... or just that of this forum's participants?

[Las Palmas]

On 11/16/2021 at 5:57 PM, dutchie01 said:

French cars are crap though.

Disagree!

 

None of these are crap.

[Las Palmas]

On 11/16/2021 at 10:30 PM, -Error- said:

Apparently cheddar is no camembert...

Cheddar is no camembert.

French cheese is mostly great. They do not serve French cheese cold as French cheese generally taste good so it is not needed or it to be cold in order for you not tasting that it tastes of nothing.

They also have a red wrap-cheese, meant for children and those who do not like the taste of cheese.

[Thackeray]

1 hour ago, Las Palmas said:

Disagree!

 

None of these are crap.

The DS (third one down) was certainly revolutionary. So was Citroën's Traction Avant of the 1930s.

 

And one of the most stylish cars of the 1960s was the Paris based Facel Vega.

 

But as this thread is not meant to be a catalogue of compliments, I'll just add that's it's a pity that the company went downhill after it decided to build an engine with only two camshaft bearings instead of four. Apparently the engines didn't last very long.

[dutchie01]

Heres another one. Talking Elevators In Hotels. Walk in push the button with number four and after a while the doors close. You then hear.. DOORS CLOSING. I know that. Lift goes up and again talks to me GOING UP. Stops at fourth floor and you guessed it .. FOURTH FLOOR. Then a mega warning ! DOORS OPENING after which the doors open. Why oh dear me Why?? 

[First_Lexus]

40 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Heres another one. Talking Elevators In Hotels. Walk in push the button with number four and after a while the doors close. You then hear.. DOORS CLOSING. I know that. Lift goes up and again talks to me GOING UP. Stops at fourth floor and you guessed it .. FOURTH FLOOR. Then a mega warning ! DOORS OPENING after which the doors open. Why oh dear me Why?? 

When I was growing up, visiting a department store (usually either Clements in Watford or one of the big ones in London) meant trips in lifts with an attendant who would pull the door across manually and announce each floor a la ‘Are you being served.’ Good times.

 

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, dutchie01 said:

Heres another one. Talking Elevators In Hotels. Walk in push the button with number four and after a while the doors close. You then hear.. DOORS CLOSING. I know that. Lift goes up and again talks to me GOING UP. Stops at fourth floor and you guessed it .. FOURTH FLOOR. Then a mega warning ! DOORS OPENING after which the doors open. Why oh dear me Why?? 

Useful if one is blind or even partially sighted ?

[VFR]

In the Olympic Park the official language is French and the "only" people who speak it there are the French (always amuses me)

In fact if you are not an English speaker you will not even be there & that really pisses them off.

Have to say though that some of my favourite vehicles have been French.

[VFR]

7 hours ago, DanD said:

Ah. It's not just me then.

You know if they had said that the car was driven by a Sheepdog by the so called media & social media and then repeated it over & over & over again those same people would now be calling for the dog to be given a honour even after the video had shown it was a shark behind the wheel.

 

No mention by anyone of course just why he drove into a hospital if he was suspicious ? 

[Phil xxkr]

17 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

Cheddar is no camembert.

French cheese is mostly great. They do not serve French cheese cold as French cheese generally taste good so it is not needed or it to be cold in order for you not tasting that it tastes of nothing.

They also have a red wrap-cheese, meant for children and those who do not like the taste of cheese.

Of course Cheddar isn't camembert otherwise it would be called camembert 🤔. Try enjoying a Ploughman's in the English countryside without Cheddar and ale, can't be done 🍻

[Las Palmas]

1 hour ago, Phil xxkr said:

Of course Cheddar isn't camembert otherwise it would be called camembert 🤔. Try enjoying a Ploughman's in the English countryside without Cheddar and ale, can't be done 🍻

Do not know what a Ploughman is and ale and cheddar are not for me.

Did a Google and found that there is a traditional and a modern. Most of it looks OK. Meat is no longer among the food I eat, but cheese is so delicious that I'd rather not go all vegan.

You can moan about that.

[Mincey]

16 hours ago, dutchie01 said:

Heres another one. Talking Elevators In Hotels. Walk in push the button with number four and after a while the doors close. You then hear.. DOORS CLOSING. I know that. Lift goes up and again talks to me GOING UP. Stops at fourth floor and you guessed it .. FOURTH FLOOR. Then a mega warning ! DOORS OPENING after which the doors open. Why oh dear me Why?? 

Or loud elevators. The lift in our local Next has a very aggressive lady doing the voice overs. When the ground floor is reached, she shouts out at full volume "GROUND FLOOR!". Even though I'm braced for it, she always scares the bejeesus out of me.

[Mincey]

2 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

Do not know what a Ploughman is and ale and cheddar are not for me.

Did a Google and found that there is a traditional and a modern. Most of it looks OK. Meat is no longer among the food I eat, but cheese is so delicious that I'd rather not go all vegan.

You can moan about that.

Vegan = taste free. Look at what M&S have done to Percy Pigs. Absolutely ruined them in an attempt to pander to a vast minority of the population.