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Post by kerouac2 on May 16, 2019 19:44:21 GMT
He should just call Donald Trump to find out the many ways to defy the law as though it does not exist.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 22, 2019 23:13:05 GMT
You have a good wife! And you did fix the light, after all.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 23, 2019 6:11:50 GMT
Well I'm impressed Whatagain...
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Post by bjd on May 23, 2019 9:15:09 GMT
Today is another religious holiday, Ascension, in this very secular country. This is ludicrous but I imagine the left-wing trade unions would go nuts if it was abolished. However, I did see that in this town where we live now, schools are open, the local municipal workers were cutting grass and all the stores are open. Even the post office is working. This is not the case where we used to live in the Toulouse suburbs, even though both municipalities have socialist-majority administrations.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 23, 2019 10:15:52 GMT
You have jumped the gun, bjd. Ascension is next Thursday.
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Post by bjd on May 23, 2019 15:08:01 GMT
Oops.No wonder everything is open today.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 23, 2019 15:36:11 GMT
Well, the shops should be open anyway. Just don't try to go to the bank or the post office.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 31, 2019 7:31:13 GMT
Did you almost write spend instead of save?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 2, 2019 17:19:14 GMT
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Post by whatagain on Jun 3, 2019 15:45:22 GMT
Yellow vests are proving people drive correctly only in fear of the police. They have burned most of the radars on the highways and people drive like crazy.
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Post by bjd on Jun 3, 2019 17:03:06 GMT
We noticed too that many of the radars along the highways between Toulouse and the Atlantic coast had been wrecked, splashed with paint or covered with plastic bags. Three weeks ago I had the impression that some of them had been cleaned up.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 3, 2019 17:15:34 GMT
I have never understood all of the people who claim that the speed controls exist only to suck money out of the drivers. This implies that people are incapable of respecting the speed limit. Frankly, it has never been a problem for me (even though I have received a radar speeding ticket about once every two or three years).
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Post by whatagain on Jun 3, 2019 18:05:21 GMT
I don't claim that radars are there for sucking money but I cannot respect the limits. So for me radarsare life saving. Of course I can say I drive better or my car is better and thus is safer at 160 than a twingo at 130. But even I know this is bullshit. Speed kills. Period. For people like the fear of persecution live with a the right motivation.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 3, 2019 18:28:48 GMT
I knew someone who claimed that he had to drive fast or else it was too boring and he could fall asleep at a normal speed. He is dead now.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 4, 2019 13:00:31 GMT
It was not me. 😂
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2019 14:38:21 GMT
Oh my god, Theresa May's hat!
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Post by lagatta on Jun 5, 2019 21:11:14 GMT
I have a friend with a little motorbike who is pissed off about everything these days. Like the city reducing speed limits on most streets to 30kmh. This greatly improves safety, especially for the very young and very old among pedestrians. He lives perhaps 100m from a métro station, if that, just round the corner. I think he is being deliberately provocative, but I'm afraid he might act this out. Although he is being pissy, we most certainly don't want him to die.
Kerouac, I also had friends from Paris and other towns in Ile-de-France (around Pontoise, don't know if that counts as the suburbs) who crashed a car after drinking copious amounts of hard spirits such as vodka, as well as the usual wine and beer. One was hospitalised for a long time and had to pretty much learn to walk again. My closest friend among them had a collar around her neck. They were very lucky that nobody was killed or permanently gravely disabled. Nowadays this is taken far more seriously.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 11, 2019 18:53:01 GMT
Earlier this evening, I used my new remote control to open the attic windows. I have still not adjusted to the idea that I need a remote control for such things. Anyway, I touched the screen to set things in motion and then went downstairs to fix dinner. Didn't pay attention to anything until a few minutes ago. I knew it was raining now, but had completely forgotten that I had wanted to open the windows.
So I looked at the remote control, and the screen said something along the lines of "you wanted to open the windows but we detected that it was raining so we cancelled the operation."
I found that pretty scary if I no longer have control over my windows.
So even though it is raining quite vigorously at the moment, I pushed the button to open the windows again and was not met with opposition. Of course I closed them immediately but I was at least relieved to discover that I have the final say.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 11, 2019 20:58:36 GMT
For now.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 20, 2019 5:52:56 GMT
I just discovered "mukbank" videos on YouTube. I think I'm going to be sick.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 25, 2019 15:02:09 GMT
Well congratulations to your daughter on passing her year....I agree with you though, keep going. It's easier to maintain momentum than to go back into studying after a long break.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 25, 2019 15:08:37 GMT
I sometimes wished that I had taken a sabbatical year, but I'm not sure if it really solves the combined problem of "sick of school" and "don't really know what I want to do with my life." If your daughter has any sort of travel passion, I would say to encourage it. The daughter of one of my colleagues went to Australia for six months on a WHV (PVT en français) and it transformed her into an exceptional person because she really really needed to get away from her parents. Belgium doesn't appear to have as many national agreements as France, but the possibilities are still interesting: www.visavacancestravail.be/Naturally, if your daughter were to choose such a programme, it would be important for her to be fully dedicated and to not count on her parents every time there was a minor difficulty. Yes, I know that it is pretty much impossible in the 21st century with mobile phones and email.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 25, 2019 15:14:12 GMT
well I'm probably a bit jaded....my sons both dropped out...Matt before A levels and Russ half way through his degree course. It may have coloured my response (especially as we still have Russ living at home...at 38)
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Post by bjd on Jun 25, 2019 15:22:15 GMT
I didn't go to university right after high school. I couldn't afford it and hated school so much. I was also 17 and didn't know what I wanted to do. But after a couple of years of working at really crappy jobs and travelling to Europe twice for longer periods (paid for by the crappy jobs), I realized that the more interesting people I was meeting were students. So I spent 2 years working by day and going to night school in the evenings. It was tough but then I started university in second year and did really well.
But there are systems and societies where it's easier to do this, and it was also probably easier back in the Jurassic Age. I don't think anything like night school even exists in France (or Belgium), does it?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 25, 2019 15:38:35 GMT
Night courses exist in Paris, both in university and a huge variety of free courses offered by the city of Paris. One of my friends did a course in bookbinding offered by the city. At the end of the course he gave me and another friend tattered old books that he had rebound, and it was impressive work. But most people I know took language courses (and dropped out about 3 weeks later).
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 25, 2019 16:26:39 GMT
It is the age of "don't try to reason with them." And you can't trick them into taking the "right" decision either. All you can do is keep multiplying the options.
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Post by mossie on Jun 25, 2019 18:35:28 GMT
Difficult. I was headstrong and went my own way to the displeasure of my mother, luckily it all worked out.
My advice, which I tried to follow with my own children, was to gently steer them in what you think is the right direction. But the final choice and decision must be theirs.
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Post by questa on Jun 26, 2019 0:18:08 GMT
Has she thought about doing a 6-12 month placement as a volunteer in some organisation. Not the front line ones but I think there are places where she would be housed and fed and look after a bunch of kids with schooling, eating, hygiene etc. "Save the Children" would be a good place to start. Well organised and rewarding for her.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 1, 2019 18:41:26 GMT
My sister has bought us tickets for Tatton Garden show.....July 20th WOO HOO!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 4, 2019 8:09:29 GMT
Happy Independence Day to our lovely chums from the United States xxx
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