Of course.
Although I am investing in machinery and merchandise to sell.
By the way, if by pure investing you want to earn more than the bottom of the bottom of the barrel, you must also work, BIG TIME.
Just name one big investor, a rich guy, millionaire, etc.who does NOT work to multiply his money.
Although I am investing in machinery and merchandise to sell.
By the way, if by pure investing you want to earn more than the bottom of the bottom of the barrel, you must also work, BIG TIME.
Just name one big investor, a rich guy, millionaire, etc.who does NOT work to multiply his money.
Or to see it from another point of view: to merely duplicate investment, let alone become rich, with a 5% annual profit/increase, above considered a "good" rate, it will take fifteen years.
just sayin´
just sayin´
A long time since I posted on this thread. Some very interesting, factual and historical reality posts from Americans and useless even ludicrous posts from Naresh that should stick to Indian food recipes.
What really worries me is that we have only one asset - cash and that's in Sterling. I have over the years switched to other currencies. I once switched to the US$ at the wrong time, lost 5% in two days, recognised my mistake and switched to another currency, at year's end I had ended up making 15%. My biggest mistake was not switching into the Yen when so many had borrowed Yen @ 0.5% to make easy profits investing in US$/£ to make 5% +. It was called 'the carry trade'. When the excrement hit the fan in 2008 they had to get out fast and settle their Yen account. It went from Yen210 to Yen 120 to the £, same kind of % to the US$ in a few months, to miss out on that was really stupid as it was such an easy thing to do.
This year I pondered whether it was a good idea to get out of Sterling when it was £1= US$1.40, that was February. It bottomed out at US$1.03.
In the Cold War it simply wasn't in the interests of either the USA or Red Fascist Russia (only idiots refer to Russia as a Communist State) to start a nuclear war but this all changed when instead of helping Russia to democratise the West helped the drunken Yeltsin and his would be oligarchs to loot the old USSR - enter another 'little man' Putin. This little man and his cronies have everything to lose if it all goes wrong in Ukraine. The Russian people will turn on him. It won't be a bullet in the back of the neck in the Lubyanka, it will be in the streets and on TV. When someone has nothing to lose anything is possible
The USA and the UK are both deeply divided countries for different reasons. The UK military is totally controlled by the Public Schoolboy Class who are in effect one and the same with big business, they will act ruthlessly if the general public get 'restless' in the face of horrendous social problems. The only bank that I feel safe to shift our capital to is Wise (what was once Transferwise) it has no loan book and covers money kept in multi-currency accounts in government bonds. If it gets really bad there are only two currencies that will be left standing - US$ and the Swiss Franc. If Sterling collapses so will the housing market which is completely irrational. I can buy land in a beautiful setting and build an energy efficient house with proper food storage systems for the same price here in SW France as a crappy old garage back in my home town in SE England. With a back-up diesel generator (diesel is a safe fuel source with long long life unlike gas or petrol) I can maintain a modern way of life without relying on Big Brother.
My family had a friend who in the late 1920s used to buy furniture in Germany. He knew enough to know that you only changed currencies enough to last a morning or an afternoon and he used a suitcase to carry currency. There was a story that someone queuing to buy food once left the shopping basket carrying the currency to see what food was left for her to buy. When she returned someone had stolen the shopping bag first dumping the Deutschmarks because the shopping bag was an 'item of stable value' and the currency had no value. Al fiat currencies in reality have no value, they are just pieces of paper. Silver is vital in so many industries, unlike gold. If all the cars in the world become electric there will be no where near enough energy to meet demand. Lithium is a finite resource. If you can make a reliable graphene battery and register the patent surrounded by ring patents your a multi-billionaire over night.
What really worries me is that we have only one asset - cash and that's in Sterling. I have over the years switched to other currencies. I once switched to the US$ at the wrong time, lost 5% in two days, recognised my mistake and switched to another currency, at year's end I had ended up making 15%. My biggest mistake was not switching into the Yen when so many had borrowed Yen @ 0.5% to make easy profits investing in US$/£ to make 5% +. It was called 'the carry trade'. When the excrement hit the fan in 2008 they had to get out fast and settle their Yen account. It went from Yen210 to Yen 120 to the £, same kind of % to the US$ in a few months, to miss out on that was really stupid as it was such an easy thing to do.
This year I pondered whether it was a good idea to get out of Sterling when it was £1= US$1.40, that was February. It bottomed out at US$1.03.
In the Cold War it simply wasn't in the interests of either the USA or Red Fascist Russia (only idiots refer to Russia as a Communist State) to start a nuclear war but this all changed when instead of helping Russia to democratise the West helped the drunken Yeltsin and his would be oligarchs to loot the old USSR - enter another 'little man' Putin. This little man and his cronies have everything to lose if it all goes wrong in Ukraine. The Russian people will turn on him. It won't be a bullet in the back of the neck in the Lubyanka, it will be in the streets and on TV. When someone has nothing to lose anything is possible
The USA and the UK are both deeply divided countries for different reasons. The UK military is totally controlled by the Public Schoolboy Class who are in effect one and the same with big business, they will act ruthlessly if the general public get 'restless' in the face of horrendous social problems. The only bank that I feel safe to shift our capital to is Wise (what was once Transferwise) it has no loan book and covers money kept in multi-currency accounts in government bonds. If it gets really bad there are only two currencies that will be left standing - US$ and the Swiss Franc. If Sterling collapses so will the housing market which is completely irrational. I can buy land in a beautiful setting and build an energy efficient house with proper food storage systems for the same price here in SW France as a crappy old garage back in my home town in SE England. With a back-up diesel generator (diesel is a safe fuel source with long long life unlike gas or petrol) I can maintain a modern way of life without relying on Big Brother.
My family had a friend who in the late 1920s used to buy furniture in Germany. He knew enough to know that you only changed currencies enough to last a morning or an afternoon and he used a suitcase to carry currency. There was a story that someone queuing to buy food once left the shopping basket carrying the currency to see what food was left for her to buy. When she returned someone had stolen the shopping bag first dumping the Deutschmarks because the shopping bag was an 'item of stable value' and the currency had no value. Al fiat currencies in reality have no value, they are just pieces of paper. Silver is vital in so many industries, unlike gold. If all the cars in the world become electric there will be no where near enough energy to meet demand. Lithium is a finite resource. If you can make a reliable graphene battery and register the patent surrounded by ring patents your a multi-billionaire over night.
Last year I got a bid on my 2017 Ford Expedition from Carvana $47,000. Last week same car a year later $17,300. Carvana was part of the virus bubble. UK Spectator wrote an article on Peloton with the author commenting that her Peloton was now just for hanging sweaters...and McD pulled the Vegan burger. For your edification:
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Might be able to sell my Ioniq 5 for slightly more than cost, if I get lucky and score a limited edition Ioniq 6 it is possible to break even or profit.
How often does that happen?
Those graphs tell a compelling story.
Vegan burgers are not the future, better to have some vegan indian or moroccan food, even something really basic like the trusty 'ole pea soup is better tasting, and significantly cheaper, than those fake meat products.
How often does that happen?
Those graphs tell a compelling story.
Vegan burgers are not the future, better to have some vegan indian or moroccan food, even something really basic like the trusty 'ole pea soup is better tasting, and significantly cheaper, than those fake meat products.
What has Indian food to do with environment activists in California?
The green lobby needs power with responsibility.
Look at Greenpeace, they were voted to power (in Germany?) and messed up.
It is one thing to make noise, and quite another to act responsibly, keeping everybody happy.
That should make them put up or shut up.
In any case, not my problem, I can only watch the antics of the people there.
Also in the UK, with a king who should be retired by now, and with a musical chairs game of prime minister...and a failed economy, I can only watch with my tongue firmly in cheek, clamped between my teeth to stop laughing.
Safest long term investments have been suburban property, and shares in companies that make essential items.
Gold and silver too. Up multiple times in a quarter century.
I prefer to ignore builder's mates who advocate bits of mattress foam in concrete as earthquake proof material, without proof or testing reports.
Moderators, if you find this is against the rules, please act as you feel fit.
The green lobby needs power with responsibility.
Look at Greenpeace, they were voted to power (in Germany?) and messed up.
It is one thing to make noise, and quite another to act responsibly, keeping everybody happy.
That should make them put up or shut up.
In any case, not my problem, I can only watch the antics of the people there.
Also in the UK, with a king who should be retired by now, and with a musical chairs game of prime minister...and a failed economy, I can only watch with my tongue firmly in cheek, clamped between my teeth to stop laughing.
Safest long term investments have been suburban property, and shares in companies that make essential items.
Gold and silver too. Up multiple times in a quarter century.
I prefer to ignore builder's mates who advocate bits of mattress foam in concrete as earthquake proof material, without proof or testing reports.
Moderators, if you find this is against the rules, please act as you feel fit.
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There are some reasons why we are still in California
(1) Weather, the best I've ever experienced in my life.
(2) Reasonable real estate taxes ( Prop 13, 30+ years in the same house - we couldn't afford our house today ).
(3) Some family still lives here.
(4) It's our home, we sort of got used to it. We like the place and county we're in. We can walk from our home, over a wilderness park to the Pacific Ocean. The only place from Goleta to Camp Pendleton where you can still do that. Portuguese Bend in PV doesn't have the parks.
(5) If you can ignore the government up in Sacramentograd you can still enjoy the place.
(6) The place is gorgeous. Geography, geology, multicultural, multiethnic.
(7) We are foodies. So, we love a lot of stuff. There's little I won't eat: beef tripe, natto, some chinese stuff.
(8) We have some awesome Indian cuisine in The OC and southern LA County,
(9) Nelson Pass lives un in the Sierras by Sacramento, that's California.
(10) If you have an actual Pass product and want the factory to look at it, you can just drive up the 5 to the factory. No need to ship it.
(11) Gold is unfortunately being manipulated by the London money changers. Putin has the potential to destroy them. Then gold might go up to its real -physical- value.
(12) The Green Lobby in California long ago gave up on any kind of responsibility. They are just into power, the Party is into power for its own sake.
(13) Read 1984. The book, that is.
I have relatives and friends in San Jose, and Rancho Palos Verdes. San Diego too.
Houston, Dallas Chicago, South Carolina, Urbana, Toronto, Phoenix, some places like Philly as well.
I read George Orwell's book in school, 1979 or so.
Not again, too allegorical.
The Ukraine conflict will destroy the manipulators, and bring a fundamental realistic change in the importance of various countries in the world. But it will be a long drawn out process. To say more will be political.
Which is the reason I advocate caution and domestic investment, some companies will not last long.
Or like the ones above, go south very fast.
Houston, Dallas Chicago, South Carolina, Urbana, Toronto, Phoenix, some places like Philly as well.
I read George Orwell's book in school, 1979 or so.
Not again, too allegorical.
The Ukraine conflict will destroy the manipulators, and bring a fundamental realistic change in the importance of various countries in the world. But it will be a long drawn out process. To say more will be political.
Which is the reason I advocate caution and domestic investment, some companies will not last long.
Or like the ones above, go south very fast.
Sacramentograd... LOL <snort> 🙂
I read that last summer and found it repetitive, dry, and - frankly - a bit boring. In enjoyed Animal Farm, though.
I wonder how OP's investments are doing.
Tom
I wrote that a few posts back, overall for my small portfolio of 4k$ it's at +5% for this year. Will see how it goes, whether we get a reversal before or after Xmas.
Considering what to buy next, per advice from @Medisinmannen I am focusing primarily on Norwegian companies. Though there are some big temptations in the U, S of A right now.
Considering what to buy next, per advice from @Medisinmannen I am focusing primarily on Norwegian companies. Though there are some big temptations in the U, S of A right now.
A savings account with good interest requires more money than I have and even then the interest would not be much, there was a good deal the bank gave me earlier this year where I would get 3% if I locked that money completely from use for a year or two.
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But the point of it is that right now, it's a tough year, and I am not losing money on this so far, when the trend shifts in another direction I stand to potentially gain much more.
Edit:
But the point of it is that right now, it's a tough year, and I am not losing money on this so far, when the trend shifts in another direction I stand to potentially gain much more.
I fail to see how anyone can find 1984 boring. For different reasons it's being played out right now in the USA and the UK. I would have added Russia but the ordinary Russians aren't fooled by Putinspeak but short of all out revolution there's nothing they can do.
tonyEE - great post - it's all about quality of life. I/we have never been happier living in this part of France, great neighbours and a street market every Friday where you always run into friends and neighbours. You build up relationships with stallholders making the whole shopping experience 'human'.Supermarkets are a cold dispassionate non-experience. We live 5 minutes from the GR36. The Grande Randonnees are something that no other country in Europe has. Walkers/cyclists/horse riders have thousands of kilometres to use. What do you want - deciduous or coniferous forests, mountains - the Massive Central/Les Alpes or Pyrenees and for a few years now a route from Spain north along the Atlantic coast.
I'm sure that the same mentality is operating in other countries - many Brits never really personalise their homes for fear of (a) losing value or (b) making it difficult to sell - so when do you start living your own life - what a sad and dysfunctional way to NOT live.
I well remember seeing a programme about MS and it focused on a liberal Jewish family. The man had planned his whole life out as a teenager - he would go to college, get a good degree, marry in his early 20s', have 2 children, work hard, save and invest sensibly and retire at 45. He got to 43 and WHAM - multiple sclerosis. His eyes were permanently red from crying. You can make all the plans you like but the only time you can actually live is right here and now, if you wasted yesterday thinking/planning for the future, tough it's gone for good and all the money in the world cannot bring it back.
Kaffiman is lucky - he was born in a country where they take the long view. Before oil and gas lots of Norwegians had emigrated for generations, basically there was only fish and timber (first growth). Unlike the UK they had the common sense to make sure they controlled and operated their own oil and gas fields. They didn't have an obscenity like Thatcher who squandered this wealth for political reasons, so today they have the biggest sovereign wealth fund in the world. His currency has this wealth fund to back it up as well as continuing oil and gas reserves. I worked briefly on Stavanger Fiord on the DB100, at that time the biggest oil platform in the world. I remember being on shift to see the dawn coming up over the saw toothed mountains, hearing the thin sheet of ice breaking on the water like ice tinkling in a gin and tonic, the air was like champagne. In the evening seeing a car pull up at a truly detached house and the door opening and two children running across the bare granite ground to jump into their father's arms - now that's what I call living the life.
Modern life is totally dependent on electricity, take it away and see what you have left😱First a diesel generator, then after lots of research a wind turbine. Solar panels - max. 22% efficiency, max. sunlight 8/9 hours in summer - the wind can blow 24/7.At the same time as building my home, create a big rain water water holding cistern, in concrete, the alkalinity will neutralise some of the acidity of rainwater. I cannot see a better way to invest some of my capital for a 'real return' - items of stable/nec. value.
tonyEE - great post - it's all about quality of life. I/we have never been happier living in this part of France, great neighbours and a street market every Friday where you always run into friends and neighbours. You build up relationships with stallholders making the whole shopping experience 'human'.Supermarkets are a cold dispassionate non-experience. We live 5 minutes from the GR36. The Grande Randonnees are something that no other country in Europe has. Walkers/cyclists/horse riders have thousands of kilometres to use. What do you want - deciduous or coniferous forests, mountains - the Massive Central/Les Alpes or Pyrenees and for a few years now a route from Spain north along the Atlantic coast.
I'm sure that the same mentality is operating in other countries - many Brits never really personalise their homes for fear of (a) losing value or (b) making it difficult to sell - so when do you start living your own life - what a sad and dysfunctional way to NOT live.
I well remember seeing a programme about MS and it focused on a liberal Jewish family. The man had planned his whole life out as a teenager - he would go to college, get a good degree, marry in his early 20s', have 2 children, work hard, save and invest sensibly and retire at 45. He got to 43 and WHAM - multiple sclerosis. His eyes were permanently red from crying. You can make all the plans you like but the only time you can actually live is right here and now, if you wasted yesterday thinking/planning for the future, tough it's gone for good and all the money in the world cannot bring it back.
Kaffiman is lucky - he was born in a country where they take the long view. Before oil and gas lots of Norwegians had emigrated for generations, basically there was only fish and timber (first growth). Unlike the UK they had the common sense to make sure they controlled and operated their own oil and gas fields. They didn't have an obscenity like Thatcher who squandered this wealth for political reasons, so today they have the biggest sovereign wealth fund in the world. His currency has this wealth fund to back it up as well as continuing oil and gas reserves. I worked briefly on Stavanger Fiord on the DB100, at that time the biggest oil platform in the world. I remember being on shift to see the dawn coming up over the saw toothed mountains, hearing the thin sheet of ice breaking on the water like ice tinkling in a gin and tonic, the air was like champagne. In the evening seeing a car pull up at a truly detached house and the door opening and two children running across the bare granite ground to jump into their father's arms - now that's what I call living the life.
Modern life is totally dependent on electricity, take it away and see what you have left😱First a diesel generator, then after lots of research a wind turbine. Solar panels - max. 22% efficiency, max. sunlight 8/9 hours in summer - the wind can blow 24/7.At the same time as building my home, create a big rain water water holding cistern, in concrete, the alkalinity will neutralise some of the acidity of rainwater. I cannot see a better way to invest some of my capital for a 'real return' - items of stable/nec. value.
...
I watch Le Tour de France for two reasons...
(1) I like watching bike racing
(2) The beautiful country side... the mountains, the castles. the chateaux, villages.
La Vuelta De España is also good, but coming later in the season is not as spectacular.
This year though, we dropped Direct TV and no OTA american TV carried it except for three stages, including the last two. Sure. Les Champs Elysees are awesome, but I'd rather watch 900 year old mini chateaux on the Central Mastif, the climbs above the tree line on the Pyrenees or the gorgeous country side along the Western Coast.
Yeah, you gotta enjoy what you got. It's good to want things, that's always an incentive to do better, but you should never ignore your present. I've sacrificed enough "presents" in my life, I'm at the point where I want to enjoy. Heck, I recently did the unthinkable, I quit a job after just five months. I figured I didn't want to stick around when the SHTF. Adios! Au revoir! Arrivederci idiots.
We tried to do a solar panel set up so we could be off the grid in suburbia. The problem is the batteries: the have a nominal rating of 30A. Our electrical panel is 300A. So we'd need ten batteries! That's because they go by maximum current rating, not power usage. Our panel at 300A represents a distributed AC wiring system in the house. Each circuit is very lightly loaded but it is separated from the rest. So, even if a 20Kw battery is sufficient to power us -in the aggregate- through the night, it would only be connected to a very few circuits, hence defeating the purpose. The solar panel grid, at 12Kw, and with plenty of current, would see us through the day, including the ACs.
Maybe when we win the lotto we can afford to put in 10 solar batteries in the garage ( $190K.. ).
Le Sud de France... ehehe.... my old coworker, a Catholic Scott... was working in Switzerland. One weekend, he, his German boss and an English coworker went to Milan. They were driving his boss' Big S Class Benz with German plates.
On the drive back, Sunday morning he was driving, on the West Side of the Alps, in France, towards Switzerland. He was doing about 180 klicks, he said. The English guy was sleeping on the backseat.
Out of nowhere, a Citroen comes up and starts to tailgate, so my friend speeds up, 190, 200, 210, 220, 230.. the damn Citroen glued to his tail.. finally turned on his lights.
Damn! A gendarme. They get pulled over... all done in French... ticket being written... English guy wakes up.... Oh... Oh... "Bloody thing, I figure the frogs would have learned their lesson at Waterloo!".
3.. 2.. 1.. The Gendarme, of course, spoke English, as most French people do, but they won't acknowledge.
More cops were called, car and people were searched, ticket went up a lot...
I love France... but the French people... I don't know.
I watch Le Tour de France for two reasons...
(1) I like watching bike racing
(2) The beautiful country side... the mountains, the castles. the chateaux, villages.
La Vuelta De España is also good, but coming later in the season is not as spectacular.
This year though, we dropped Direct TV and no OTA american TV carried it except for three stages, including the last two. Sure. Les Champs Elysees are awesome, but I'd rather watch 900 year old mini chateaux on the Central Mastif, the climbs above the tree line on the Pyrenees or the gorgeous country side along the Western Coast.
Yeah, you gotta enjoy what you got. It's good to want things, that's always an incentive to do better, but you should never ignore your present. I've sacrificed enough "presents" in my life, I'm at the point where I want to enjoy. Heck, I recently did the unthinkable, I quit a job after just five months. I figured I didn't want to stick around when the SHTF. Adios! Au revoir! Arrivederci idiots.
We tried to do a solar panel set up so we could be off the grid in suburbia. The problem is the batteries: the have a nominal rating of 30A. Our electrical panel is 300A. So we'd need ten batteries! That's because they go by maximum current rating, not power usage. Our panel at 300A represents a distributed AC wiring system in the house. Each circuit is very lightly loaded but it is separated from the rest. So, even if a 20Kw battery is sufficient to power us -in the aggregate- through the night, it would only be connected to a very few circuits, hence defeating the purpose. The solar panel grid, at 12Kw, and with plenty of current, would see us through the day, including the ACs.
Maybe when we win the lotto we can afford to put in 10 solar batteries in the garage ( $190K.. ).
Le Sud de France... ehehe.... my old coworker, a Catholic Scott... was working in Switzerland. One weekend, he, his German boss and an English coworker went to Milan. They were driving his boss' Big S Class Benz with German plates.
On the drive back, Sunday morning he was driving, on the West Side of the Alps, in France, towards Switzerland. He was doing about 180 klicks, he said. The English guy was sleeping on the backseat.
Out of nowhere, a Citroen comes up and starts to tailgate, so my friend speeds up, 190, 200, 210, 220, 230.. the damn Citroen glued to his tail.. finally turned on his lights.
Damn! A gendarme. They get pulled over... all done in French... ticket being written... English guy wakes up.... Oh... Oh... "Bloody thing, I figure the frogs would have learned their lesson at Waterloo!".
3.. 2.. 1.. The Gendarme, of course, spoke English, as most French people do, but they won't acknowledge.
More cops were called, car and people were searched, ticket went up a lot...
I love France... but the French people... I don't know.
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Perhaps because I didn't need 1984 to analyze what's going on in the real world - and has been going on for decades, at least in the US. I mostly read it because politicians and analysts across the political spectrum use it as a frightening example of what "the other side" is doing, so I was curious to see if I'd missed anything obvious. I don't think I have. I found 1984 repetitive, very doom & gloom, and not really all that insightful. I'm certainly concerned about how things will play out, especially in the US, but also in the UK (and to some extent in Canada as well), but I don't perceive the world through Orwell's pitch black, opaque glasses. I would suggest to those who do that they take a deep breath, do an emotional check-in, and perhaps try to view the world through a different lens for a little bit. It's a bit too easy to fall into a rabbit hole these days.
So far, so good then. We'll see what it looks like by this time next year.
Tom
You wouldn't be here if it weren't for the French Fleet at the battle of Yorktown.
A friend of mine got the JPMorgan training manual for Americans who were posted to Paris. While lots of us learned French in grade school, high school and college, to the point of near fluency, they don't impart the social niceties and subtleties of the language, demeanor etc. This manual had fascinating instructions for "what to do" if invited to a baptism or wedding.
If you fall down on the sidewalk in front of Macy's on Herald Square, you're gonna get trampled. Fall down on the Blvd Hausmann in front of Printemps and 20 people come over to help.
With all the kids out of the house, out of college etc., etc. we visit FR once or twice a year.
Tony - the Englishman's response was typical 'rosbif' (that's what a lot of the French call the English). I've lived in France now for 13 years and an awful lot of the English simply refuse to learn or speak French. Very few have French friends and as one female hairdresser said "they have a wall around themselves" and don't want to mix with the locals. When I went to Spain in 68 to work as an extra on Patton and Cromwell, the English guy I went with spoke zero Spanish and more than a few times he could have got us thrown into a Spanish prison mouthing off like the stupid Englishman you quoted. When I worked in the Netherlands at the end of the 70s' I only met one English that had bothered or was capable of speaking Dutch. Like frightened little boys they only went out in packs to get pissed at 'English' bars. By contrast all the Scots and Irish learned to speak Dutch, within 3 weeks of working with Dutch speakers only I had a working knowledge of Dutch but then the Celts are an oral people.
The French are very different in mentality depending on where they come from. Don't forget in the north East they are descended from Norsemen and Germans/Alsace/Jura and Vosges ( a Celtic river god). The Bretons are defiantly Celtic and by far are the best pipers in the world. Once virtually all the 'French' were Celts, part of my family, the Celtaech so I feel right at home. We've encountered nothing but friendliness and help from the Tax offices and health system. I've received great treatment for colon cancer and fibrilation, never had to wait for treatment, always my own room and shower and toilet room. No one has to worry about the cost unlike the USA. When my wife had serious health problems all my neighbours and even those I didn't know personally asked with real concern about her. There was a shock 2 years ago when one house got burgled in the next street - the first in 14 years. If your open and outgoing and respect the people and their culture most people in the world will respect you.
Where we lived on the South coast, Brighton and Hove in the last 2 years inside 400 sq m where we lived there were 4 murders. To walk on the promenade at night meant encountering lots of smack dealers and more than a few violent drunks. I don't recognise the town or the country where I grew up. Here you wouldn't dream of not greeting fellow human beings in the street by day or night, eye contact is mandatory, try that in many places in the UK and see the response.
tomchr - I think it is you who needs to take a reality check not me. Almost daily mass shootings, why are so many Americans obsessed with guns. My wife's neice is married to an ex Royal Navy man who had a mariner friend who married an American. They went to visit them where they lived in Arizona. They had a nice big house and were greeted warmly, they were shown to their bedroom, on each side of the double bed was a small cabinet. Lynn opened the top drawer and was shocked by the contents - a bible and a snub nosed 38 revolver. Tony her husband took both weapons and said we don't want these thank you. The wife then opened a big cupboard to display an arsenal of weapons - rifles/shotguns/ machine pistols/45s in all about 40 weapons. Sadly there are lots of weapons in the UK now and the hard drug gangs use them almost daily. The police kill unarmed people with impunity. Because we have been careful and invested sensibly we don't have to live there - money has many uses and one of them is to allow us to live where we are contented and safe - you pays your money and makes your choice - I know we have made a good one.
The French are very different in mentality depending on where they come from. Don't forget in the north East they are descended from Norsemen and Germans/Alsace/Jura and Vosges ( a Celtic river god). The Bretons are defiantly Celtic and by far are the best pipers in the world. Once virtually all the 'French' were Celts, part of my family, the Celtaech so I feel right at home. We've encountered nothing but friendliness and help from the Tax offices and health system. I've received great treatment for colon cancer and fibrilation, never had to wait for treatment, always my own room and shower and toilet room. No one has to worry about the cost unlike the USA. When my wife had serious health problems all my neighbours and even those I didn't know personally asked with real concern about her. There was a shock 2 years ago when one house got burgled in the next street - the first in 14 years. If your open and outgoing and respect the people and their culture most people in the world will respect you.
Where we lived on the South coast, Brighton and Hove in the last 2 years inside 400 sq m where we lived there were 4 murders. To walk on the promenade at night meant encountering lots of smack dealers and more than a few violent drunks. I don't recognise the town or the country where I grew up. Here you wouldn't dream of not greeting fellow human beings in the street by day or night, eye contact is mandatory, try that in many places in the UK and see the response.
tomchr - I think it is you who needs to take a reality check not me. Almost daily mass shootings, why are so many Americans obsessed with guns. My wife's neice is married to an ex Royal Navy man who had a mariner friend who married an American. They went to visit them where they lived in Arizona. They had a nice big house and were greeted warmly, they were shown to their bedroom, on each side of the double bed was a small cabinet. Lynn opened the top drawer and was shocked by the contents - a bible and a snub nosed 38 revolver. Tony her husband took both weapons and said we don't want these thank you. The wife then opened a big cupboard to display an arsenal of weapons - rifles/shotguns/ machine pistols/45s in all about 40 weapons. Sadly there are lots of weapons in the UK now and the hard drug gangs use them almost daily. The police kill unarmed people with impunity. Because we have been careful and invested sensibly we don't have to live there - money has many uses and one of them is to allow us to live where we are contented and safe - you pays your money and makes your choice - I know we have made a good one.
How cliche. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
I had a neighbor in Chicago that had a gun in every room. He use to snooze in his backyard with a gun clenched in his hand. He borrowed my car once and when I jammed on the brakes a loaded revolver slid out from under the seat.
You could say there's a gun culture here.
Well, yes, I was thinking about that when I was typing and posting, but, I can't be writing books all the time.
But the gendarme could have spoken English or German to my old coworker when he got pulled over on the autoroute. I find the cop more guilty than the English man as the former was doing his formal duty while the latter was just waking up from a nap.
It's true that most French are fine. It's the Isle de France culture that is the most ethnocentric of all, and the locals down in the Roussillon are -IMHO- the perfect French, because they are Catalans, of course! Naturally, in my book, anyone who comes for an Occitan background is a close cousin...
And the Normans are good people too.
Unfortunately, the whole place, being a Nation State, is too culturally controlled by the Isle de France.
I ought to note that in many quarters, the "perfect piper" is a silent piper... ;-D
Nonetheless, if the Brits are guilty of not learning other languages, the French are also guilty of not using it (*). I mean, the nicest "french" guy we've ever (back in '90) met was an old Basque man who moved to the French Pyrenness after the Spanish Civil War and somehow did not get arrested by les boches after the Vichy Gov. folded. The old man spoke Basque, Castilian, Catalan, French and English! And, of course was funny, smoke cigarettes non stop, erudite and wore the biggest Basque beret this side of Guipuzcoa.
BTW, what kind of audio components do you see in France? This being a DIY audio forum, sometimes, after all?
Oh, guns are nice tools. Specially well designed guns. And putting holes on targets is really fun as well... loud, well made.. Like anything else, you have to respect tools, after all, I could take my 20V cordless tools and put holes on people if I wanted... or the awesome chinese cleaver, the German steel 14 inch french knife and our collection of very sharp Japanese knives.
(*) At least, in the Iberian peninsula, the locals will speak your language if only to take your tourist money. Except the gypsies in Sevilla who naturally don't care if you're a mute as they pickpocket their way to your American Express.
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