Saturday – rain, rain but at least its warm.
Must be the first day since we’ve been here when it has seriously rained and kept us hunkered down.
Never mind a great opportunity to poke fun and tweak the censor on the Times who get quite uppity about my comments on the Burka. Well the college in Birmingham who had the guts to ban it and then dimmed out and withdrew their ban. My comments that they objected to were:
Wake up, smell the coffee before it’s too dam late. This religion of peace has only one end game and no wish to integrate. The dhimmi PC and multiculturalists are selling this country and this culture down the drain
I personally find it objectionable that anyone who wants to live and share the benefits of our society should want to wander around like an inverted black bin bag. Have they never heard of “when in Rome”? Do they not realise the antagonism it breads? However in the streets and open places I think it should be allowed, but in doors, just like smoking, it should be banned. As for being allowed to drive whilst looking through a post box slit, well that beggars belief.
Perhaps one day the NatWest and other banks might grow some balls and ban them, just like crash helmets. People should boycott any building or institution that does not have a policy that enforces being able to see a persons face. Or perhaps we should all invest in a bin bag and a pair of scissors and have a National Bin Bag day in protest.
I really have had enough of this multicultural pandering it’s almost enough to make you join the EDL!
Quite reasonable in my opinion.
More French Arrogance Survival Techniques (FAST)
HEALTH SERVICE – is rated the best in the world by the WHO. However, during a 2003 heat wave, the French health services failed to prevent the deaths of 16,300 elderly people. But can they really afford it? Employers have to pay social security taxes equal to 48 per cent of each employee’s salary, so they take on fewer people, and France’s unemployment rate has hovered around 10 per cent for a decade. Their country doesn’t work, milks the EU for all it can get and is another Greece in the making. Despite their excessive social infra-structure it’s taken them a thousand years to admit we’re better than them. “The standard of life of the British is higher than that of the French,” said M. le President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his 2006 autobiography.
SMOKING – yes it may well be banned inside but the French just see any ban as an open invitation to flagrantly abuse it. Getting into any building needs a grade 3 biological suite and breathing apparatus to avoid the smog issuing from those white satanic chimneys, hanging from their gobs and billowing enough smoke to hide a battle ship. The women are worse with their hairy armpits and fags hanging from under their moustaches.
LOSERS – They’re aggressive but when it comes to wars fought against France since 1066: 35. We’ve won 23; they’ve won 11. Mutual defeats: 1 (American War of Independence). Rugby 
matches played by England against France since 1906: 89. We’ve won 47; they’ve won 35. Draws: 7. All useful statistics if in an argument.
Sunday – sun and cloud.
After a day of rain it’s back to normal.
Now I’ve been mocking the Burka and the PC brigade but whilst sat pondering the meaning of life and the meaning of the French sign on the back of the toilet door I had a sudden blinding flash of inspiration. You’re probably aware by now that the majority of caravanners are a sociable lot but there is always a few miserable clods who want to avoid any form of eye contact; can’t say hello; can’t smile; can’t give a friendly acknowledgement. Well the Burka would be ideal for them. Give them a black bin bag with a small slit in for the eyes and they could easily avoid any form of social contact and what’s more the rest of us could instantly recognise them as miserable clods and not waste time on them. Simples.
Dinner is Boeuf Burgenone down in Sangat and a smattering of wine (3 bottles I think) to help wash it all down. A pleasant evening had by all.
More French Arrogance Survival Techniques (FAST)
LOVE MAKING – Another area they brag about. Everyone believes they’re great lovers. But when asked about Napoleon’s love-making, French good-time girl Marguerite Josephine Weimer remarked that the Duke of Wellington was “beaucoup le plus fort”. Their legendary “Va Va Voom” is a lie. They only spend an average 19.2 minutes on foreplay. The British take 22.5 minutes. Today, just 23 per cent of French people are happy with their sex lives compared to 25 per cent of Brits. 23 per cent say they would be “relieved” not to have sex for several months. They make love on average 137 times a year; we only manage 119 times. So next time you indulge just think you’re dong your bit to redress the balance and stuff one to them.
DOGS – they love yappy dogs. More than nine per cent of French dog owners have a poodle. But they won’t clean up after them. French dog owners refuse to pick up the 5,840 tonnes of dog-doo dropped on their streets each year. Visit Thouars, dog shit capital of the Western World, but make sure you have some good climbing boots and crampons on to climb the mountains of dog shit on the streets.
In Egypt Two Coptic Christian government employees have been shot dead for refusing to pay Jizya, the Muslim tax on Christians. Rev. Youannas Shawky, pastor of the Monastery of Our Lady and Saint Ebram in Delga, which was completely destroyed on July 3 by pro-Morsi supporters said the practice of collecting Jizya from Copts started after Morsi’s departure.
He said it continues to be levied on all Copts in the village without exception, pointing out that the value of the tribute and methods of payment vary from one place to another within the village.
The amount varies from 200-500 Egyptian pounds daily, which are exorbitant amounts to many villagers. Shawky estimated 50 families have left the village so far.
Yet another tax that could be coming to a town near you in the UK anytime soon.
Monday – sun and cloud.
The burka lunacy still trundles on back home. Just drives me to despair to read it. What lunacy has befall our green and pleasant land. Thankfully we’re not there most of the time so perhaps I should just stop reading the Times and definitely not read the Daily Mail. Perhaps theres a market for an innocuous newspaper, with no news likely to make blood boil.
More excitement in the afternoon as we drive up to Thouars for the weekly Lidl / Eleclerc jamboree. For me it’s a coffee allonge, some French word tests and a few Sudoku’s.
Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney pie for dinner. Mind you they’re not a patch on what they used to be, all gravy.
More French Arrogance Survival Techniques (FAST)
TOILETS – where to begin. Well thinking you’re in a 3rd World country is usually a good start. These range from a basic hole in the ground, even in posh Parisian restaurants. To automated loos. Toilet seat theft is endemic across the whole country, don’t expect one. Most toilets smell and are dirty. Many French men still prefer the convenience of a trotter (pavement) to the public WC, I suppose at least they smell better. Don’t expect any privacy. As you splash your clogs, some even allow you to look out the window and any roaming perverts to ogle your crown jewels.
FRENCH WOMEN – there’s a belief that French women don’t get fat. Current diet books claim that French women are thin because they eat only fresh produce, and slowly. However, French obesity rates are exploding and one in four French women is on some kind of mood-altering medication. Of course they’re not hungry – they’re stoned.
After my sarcastic EDL comments to The Times I thought it may be appropriate to investigate said EDL further. Started off listening to one of Pat Condells rants in favour of the EDL. One of my 
eroes and a superb ranter, puts old Victor to shame. Had a read of their Mission Statement and nothing there that seemed offensive, in fact all seemed very reasonable. Sadly no mention of the word “peaceful” nor “non-violent”. So lets get a balance view and here the other side of the argument, so watch the results of a Guardian inside investigation of the EDL. They are vile. Just pure vitriol and hatred, fowl language and violence, scrots and mindless football hooligans. Sad that our education system can produce that. Enough to make me join a Muslim march or make a donation to the Taliban preservation society. I want nothing to do with them we can defeat the Islamisation of this country without resorting to that.
Tuesday – cloudy.
Start to clean the caravan for a bit of excitement. Pussy foot is much better but still not up to walks or bike rides. Although I do think the antibiotics are addling her brain as she described me as “capable of using a French washing machine”.
Sorry no pictures again unless I start doing macro shots of pussy foot – disgusting – or soap suds, or before and after caravan cleaning, or perhaps them dam leafs that keep falling on my car and leaving a drown deposit that’s tougher than teflon. Whose idea was it to choose a white car? I don’t notice them cleaning the teflon off.
Looks like the gates are open at Sangat again, as them from there escape for a good bye drink, or two. Another good night and thanks for the can opener, perhaps now we can have a Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney pie without severing arteries trying to open it. Slow cooker is great, her indoors has been mythering about one for years.
More French Arrogance Survival Techniques (FAST)
HYGEINE – they get up our noses in more ways than one. Forty per cent of French men, and 25 per cent of women, do not change their underwear daily – and only 47 per cent bathe every day (compared to 70 per cent of the British).zebra crossings.
GRATITUDE – the French word for gratitude is gratitude. Don’t ever expect to hear it used, you more chance of hearing a Taliban thanking the Americans for invading. They were bailed out in two World wars and yet you’ve more chance of seeing them smile than seeing a Union Jack or Stars and Stripes flying. German flags, no problem; EU flag no problem; skull and crossbones who knows.
WHAT’S TO LIKE – a lot, a lovely country and a lot of historic old buildings. But sadly spoilt by the French.
Well I’m always the first to take a pop at the lunacy of any religion, It offers such fertile opportunities and is an easy target, but I have to say how impressed this new Pope seems. It’s almost a breath of fresh air. Could almost make you believe perhaps there is a god and religion isn’t all bad. Here’s his latest antics
Francis, in what has become his signature phrase, has declared that he wants a “poor church for the poor”. The first Jesuit Pope has said that it makes him feel bad when he sees clerics driving the latest model car. He recently arrived at a service in Rome in a Ford Fiesta, carrying his ceremonial Mitre head-dress in a canvas bag. This week he was given a 20-year-old Renault 4 with 300,000km on the clock as a new “Popemobile” by a priest who had been moved by his words.
The excitement mounts. All the silver surfers will be out in their droves pacing up and down their caravan pitches waiting for the down load to complete. Hmmm perhaps not, I think they’re all still in bed or munching on their low cholesterol croissants. Yes, it’s iOS7 release day. Well we are in France, not an inverted black bin liner to be seen, so apart from driving around with Rule Brittania blasting from the stereo, this is about as exciting as it gets.
Say final goodbyes to Dot and Barry as they depart for home.
“We visit Thouars quite frequently and last year visited the excellent museum commemorating the resistance movement during World War 2. It was interesting to see the co-operation between our two countries during those dark days and the risks, bravery and sacrifices of both your and our countrymen took to defeat the common enemy and help free France. That’s why I was surprised and disappointed, both last year and this year, to note that on the roundabout approaching Thouars there was most European flags flying, including the German one (nothing wrong with the Germans, a lovely people, and thats all behind us), but alas the British Union Jack was conspicuous by it’s absence.
To me it seems very ungrateful and I can only wonder why the Union Jack was not present? It is flown in most towns around here. Perhaps I’m missing something, and there is something that has caused Thouars to have ill feeling towards the British?
I would be interested in your comments on this matter.”
Starting to get into the “Root Into Europe” spirit.