Should we be a bit more like the French and revolt?

halfpint1

Yes the French do stick to their own products . How many times have we seen a 'Buy British' slogan start up again .....
and fade away.

Perhaps we do it anyway and don't need reminding. All supermarkets show grown , made etc in uk,with flag emblem. Go for those all the time. Family live in Netherlands and Germany so buy from those if needed. Never anything from France.

Yes the French do stick to their own products . How many times have we seen a 'Buy British' slogan start up again .....
and fade away.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202401/medium-199242-581798.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202401/medium-175701-img-20230827-wa0006.jpg

Ooo I love my Citroën Aircross, but yes my Renault Mégane was a pain in the peachy arse, (remember those ads?). I learnt more car mechanics vocabulary in French during the five years I owned it abroad than I even know now in English.
My French fiancé had a sports car and I learnt to drive using his car. Here I am! I had to undo everything I'd learnt about polite road etiquette when it came to taking my test in the UK. And don't get me started on stroppy French drivers, though their roads are far superior to ours and a pleasure to drive on. The investment in French highways is huge, around 5 or 6 billion euros a year. They appear not to just upgrade their roads, but build spanking new ones.

I will never drive a French car again. The Renault Clio was one of the least reliable cars I ever owned, along with the Fiat Punto. My last two cars have been Hyundai i20s. I just bought a new one because they have been the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned. My husband drives a VW, another pretty reliable car. No more French or Italian cars for me. However I do like French and Italian food.

Chocolatelovinggran

Joseann, I'm going to put my head above the parapet here. My daughter lived in France for a few years.French folk can be a little- ahem- inward looking. They drive French cars, drink French wine, eat French food and can be somewhat dismissive of other tastes.
My taste in wine and food is Italian ( but I'm a bit of a peasant and a vegetarian to boot, which some French restaurants do find perplexing/ irritating still, although things are improving)

I live in France and don't disagree with that. Lidl is a great help for Italian and Spanish ingredients and wine. I cook a lot of Middle Eastern dishes and frequently have to source stuff from Amazon.
Things have changed since we moved here almost twenty years ago. A lot of people travel abroad for holidays now which was not always the case. We have always driven French cars since we got here though!

Joseann, I'm going to put my head above the parapet here. My daughter lived in France for a few years.French folk can be a little- ahem- inward looking. They drive French cars, drink French wine, eat French food and can be somewhat dismissive of other tastes.
My taste in wine and food is Italian ( but I'm a bit of a peasant and a vegetarian to boot, which some French restaurants do find perplexing/ irritating still, although things are improving)

I would also point out that should you have a chimney fire
that causes damage , the insurance won't pay out withour your
inspection certificate. Alot of myths about the French ignoring
stuff which you only find out is not a myth if things go wrong.

Joseann

Yes, Dinahmo, in France you do lots of these things to comply with the regulations, then no one seems remotely interested. Complying just isn't the way the French do things. For example, we know several French vets are telling British people with travelling dogs how to get to understand the expensive paperwork. The average French man doesn't give a monkeys.

That's a little misleading. Try entering a French campsite with a dog if you havent got the up to date paperwork for vaccines.
They wont let you in whether you have paid in advance or not.
Fortunately my daughter was able to ring her vets (4.30 pm on a Friday) who immediately sent a copy of the vaccines to her
phone.

I can’t believe there’s any Uk politician who would be comfortable in place as prime minister. I think the role has become too much for any one individual. Time to think about a job share?

Not Rishi, although I think he's out of his depth, I mean Anthony.

nanna8

Callistemon21

nanna8

The ones here disrupt peoples lives and stop them getting to work. They lose sympathy because of how they are. If they want to rebel about something they should go and chuck themselves over the steps to parliament, not block the roads up. They did this again recently because of ‘invasion day’ 200 plus years ago. That and the pro Palestinian lot.

Your present government is decimating farming, making farming so much more stressful and difficult, nanna8. They have an agenda and it is not to support Australian farmers.

I don't think the population would survive for long without farmers.
It is your government you need to criticise, not the hardworking farmers.

They are truly awful. We thought the last lot were bad but this lot are beyond bad. They sell stuff off to overseas investors at the drop of a hat and don’t support local industry at all. The PM seems to want to be a crowd pleaser, embarrassing. He comes across as a wannabe buffoon as thick as two short planks. I reckon the dreadful Rishi is probably better! Rant over.

He's a complete idiot (that is just my opinion, of course!)

I am fed up with protests and strikes in this country as it is. My operation was put back twice at our hospital! No I do not want a country where people run riot and do just what they want!

Dinahmo

The bureaucracy is getting worse. I noticed recently that we must get our chimneys swept every year by a registered chimney sweep and get a certificate. We used to be able to do it ourselves and take a photo of it being done with a daily paper to prove the date. This is just in case of fire.

Have to say we have always had the chimney sweep plus a certificate. Our house insurers have always insisted on that. It is only 70€ a year.

*understand should read avoid

Yes, Dinahmo, in France you do lots of these things to comply with the regulations, then no one seems remotely interested. Complying just isn't the way the French do things. For example, we know several French vets are telling British people with travelling dogs how to get to understand the expensive paperwork. The average French man doesn't give a monkeys.

Yes, Rioja is pretty iconic too. Its an early cycle grape isn't it, which helps?

The bureaucracy is getting worse. I noticed recently that we must get our chimneys swept every year by a registered chimney sweep and get a certificate. We used to be able to do it ourselves and take a photo of it being done with a daily paper to prove the date. This is just in case of fire.

Joseann

Yes, I wondered that too, Mamie, but I checked my Oxford dictionary which states both. 🇩🇰
I avoid saying the Swedes for obvious reasons!! 🇸🇪

Agreed and I would hesitate between Finns and Finnish. Definitely Norwegians though. 😂

We love Spanish wine and would frequently chose a Ribero del Duero or a Rioja over a French red. I think much of the problem with the French wine industry is the mindset that says nothing matches French wine, when in fact there are better wines from all over the world. There are excellent organic Spanish wines too and I don't agree about the chemicals unless you buy very cheap wine.
We frequently serve Spanish or Italian wine to French guests and they are astonished by the quality.

Yes, I wondered that too, Mamie, but I checked my Oxford dictionary which states both. 🇩🇰
I avoid saying the Swedes for obvious reasons!! 🇸🇪

Have we become more passive now?

Yes!

Joseann

I'm not quite sure what you're asking caknib, but French and Danish are nouns which when preceded by The are treated as plural, meaning the people of that particular country. When the noun stands alone and is singular, it refers to the language spoken.
Of course it can also be an adjective.

I would say the Danes rather than the Danish.

That's how you do it, with such finesse!

I'm not being a snob here, (much), but in the case of the French wine growers, surely they are right to protect their excellent product from cheaper imports. How do you compare a smooth merlot from Bordeaux with a cheap cava from Spain? The Spanish are allowed to put all the chemicals they like on their vines which inevitably impairs the flavours of the drink. The French wine industry is as vital to their economy as is the tourist industry.

The government is pandering to the Environmental lobby, there is a significant cost to the beaurocracy and rule compliance in any farm product. They are there to provide safe, traceable food for the consumer yet the farmer receives no credit for that.

This results in larger and larger units, that can afford a professional administrator to keep all the records together. A great many even large farms are now only keeping going on income from diversified activities.