to be bored fo reading " well in France on every thread

[DanDruff]

not just style, food, alcohol, anything
why the permanent comparisons?
we would be better off comparing outselves to asimilar type of country say,... denmark or Norway

lol fiull of crap i think.
I think a lot of rural french homes smell odd

I saw un homme come out of a toilet cubicle on a French campsite toilet block still carrying his baguette. Presumably he'd been up to the shop to buy it and paused en route back to the tent to have his morning constitutional. I have always worried about where he put the baguette whilst he was occupied.

I still love and adore France though. Wish I could go every year.

French are awful (despite me having excellent French degree and French bil and nieces and nephews.)

My worst anticlimax ever was the Millenium Eve spent in Alps.

OMFG.
They have no idea how to pardy.

and they are not very good in bed either.

and they have NO clue how to make good wine. Or cheese, or anything else that matters in life.

OP you say:

"we would be better off comparing outselves to asimilar type of country say,... denmark or Norway"

Sorry but you cant, YOU might be better off, but the danes or the norwegians would have none of it.

I have noticed a lot of comparisons with France her as well, and I did wonder.

It's probably the cultural differences and similarities - you tend to compare to things that are kind of the same but different.

I like the idea of comparing to the Finns - England does need more vodka, saunas and knives, definitely. And obviously Finland could do with some football hooligans, political scandals and nasty tabloids.

I'm from Denmark and I do see similarities, but as a foreigner I tend to focus on the differences. Living in England certainly makes me realise that I am a European more than anything and that no matter how long England is a memberstate in the EU, it's just not going to become a European country.

Don't get me wrong, I love it here. Not just the literature and the language, I quite like the population. And the shopping of course.

the finns are as gloomy as the Engliash and the food is pretty similar.

finns ahve moomintrolls we can't compete

Miu, did you see that?
A Danish MNer!

Quint, I always wanted to go to Norway, to see the fjords etc, but mainly to stalk Morten Harket.
Oh, and how big is your sample of French men?
I just remembered my crush on Antoine De Caunes (Eurotrash) whilst stirring our soup and was quite overcome with the tripod analogy..............

Yes, and the english are well known for quiet contemplation over their vodka, and the finns are known for their quirky quick wit....

the finns have summer in a cold climate sussed

AND nice glassware

AND how to live when its dark most of the time - loads of floodlit spots and indoor things

lizzylou how big? you mean how many, or are you asking about their sizes?

so agree with you dan druff

the relentlous whining on about how we are all ugly fat scum compared to the women on 17th arondissment or wherever

fuck I was at salisbury waitrose today-sooo elegant !

arf

my FIL buys me these sporadically - the flame turns into the colour

I was once walking through a large open plan office landscape, with my colleagues quietly bent over their work, when a young man suddenly broke the silence:

"Do you scandies just stay in and have sex all the time when it is so dark outside?"

Then he blushed in surprise when he realized he had spoken it out loud.

bless.

Of course

good lord they are dear

are they worth the ££?

Quint, um, both?

well he buys em... and that in itslef is a lovely thing. The navy blue one makes the flame go bright green, I have some green ones too. god some of their design is very nice - Ikea do a cheap version too , the other hting i am after is scrolll down.. one of these deep ones maybe in black i have asmall shallow one that tbh is a watse of time

...
srorry - slight diversion into glassware

I'm with ggirl.... give me waitrose any day rather than negotiating the aisles of Intermarche trying to avoid bumping into fat frumpy women with smelly poodles in their trolleys.

but at least i think in mainland Europe they are more upfront about the purpose of supermakets - they are cheap food stores not a lifetyle choice

yup. here a life style choice is going to the farm and pointing out your lamb, then collecting the whole thing skinned and cut to your preferred chops the next day.
And ordering your fish direct with your fisherman, and he bring straight from the boat on his way home from work.

[wonders if anyone has spotted her lurking here and hunts through all "thread's I'm on" for traces of "in France" smuggery)

I hope this isn't aimed at me DanDruff, I do not live in the 17th or anywhere near it and I spend my time here evangilising about "well in England" and trying in vain to convert the masses to English cooking.

scuttles away from the nid de vipères...

Genuinly not aimed at anyone..

That would be evangelising...

Better not give up the day job eh, whoops, that IS my day job !

I think I would rather this was aimed at someone because I feel I will never be able to use the phrase again.

And yet frequently have to, to explain certain things.

Agree that there is a prevailing climate of "well in France" in the middleclasses UK.

My mum comments on it when she sees the fat wellbuilt Normandy women, she says the myth in the UK is that all French women are thin and chic with terribly well-behaved children.