MOB rants - Page 27

You are right, dmball. That sort of thing puts all our moans and groans in perspective. 

However, a really good rant, as you nicely put it, is cathartic and can be a lot of fun.

Fortunately for me, my OH just loves going to the tip with the rubbish. He seems to regard it as an adventure and comes back and tells me all about what the other people were dumping, how long he had to queue and what the men working there said. It is his bit of excitement, poor old thing!

Charging to colllect rubbish is counterproductive, it seems to me, because it will increase illegal tipping and the council will then have to spend money clearing up what they should have taken away free of extra charge in the first place.

Lovely, dmball! We don't use the council recycling bins, either, because everything goes to the tip in bags and into the recycling there - except the compostable things. I don't attempt to compost larger stuff like thicker shrub prunings, though - they take too long to break down. They are handy for gardening tasks like collecting up composting materials.

Talking of rhubarb - I have a rant.... about ants! Last year they built a nest in my huge rhubarb plant and completely destroyed it. Now I have to start again with a new little rhubarb and it's rarely sold in France, so no rhubarb crumble this year.The ants here make enourmous nests about 1 foot tall.

Golly, Lizzie. One more reason to be grateful for good old Blighty,( as Prince Charles called Britain in that recent Countryfile programme from Highgrove.)

I saw that Countryfile. I like Prince Charles, he likes gardening and horses and seems full of common sense. (That will probably cause some comments!)

Well, Lizzie, I agree, anyway. He is sensitive and kind, and like his mother, he's a lover of the countryside.

Thanks guys, I just put that countryfile on iplayer to watch.. 

Enjoy!

Not a rant but a very enjoyable programe. I have to say that I have always had a fondness for Prince Charles, he is very likeable and a pleasure to watch. 

I think the poor bloke has spent his life trying to please - and often failing. Diana had a lot going for her (not least the way she looked!) but she was too young and too neurotic for him. Two sad lives, in a way, despite their position. I'm not in a position to comment on Camilla because she's had less publicity, and I don't know what I think of her divorcing her husband to marry Charles, but she does seem to have given him a measure of peace and happiness. He just seems like a nice man and one who cares about nature and the countryside.

Lizzie, tell us something of what it is like to be British and live in France. To justify doing so on this thread,  I'll introduce it with a rant. Here it is.

Why is it that some of us have to stay in Britain and endure rain, cold, endless grey skies and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, while others can spend their lives in sunshine and warmth and eat French sausages and cheese and the most delicious supermarket couscous I have ever tasted? It is not fair and I would like this wrong redressed immediately! I have spent time at my brother-in-law's gite in the Western Loire and - apart from the fact that the natives inconsiderately spoke a foreign language - loved it and longed to get my hands on the huge, fertile garden left to moulder under tussocky grass. If only they would have the good sense to learn English and speak it all the time, I'd move there tomorrow!!!

GG, I'm really going to enjoy reading the responses to your last rant!

 O.M.G!

GG I cant belive it!

Do you actually mean all of  that?

But GG, I love England. Why do you think I do this forum, apart from love of gardening? Homesickness. We moved here in 1985 against my will. My husband had a stressful job and had always loved France and wanted to live here. We had 4 young children, then he started waking at night with chest pains, so I agreed to move. He loved it here and the chest pains disappeared for years. Then he died of a heart attack in 1998. I was 47, 3 children at university in Bordeaux the 4th still at school. The French have been friendly, but although I speak French fluently there is always a sort of hold back. English people are easier tomake friends with - more open and welcoming. This country is beautiful, but not as pretty as England. I'm really lucky as I live in a lovely old farmhouse in the countryside, but somehow, it's not home.

In winter it can be just as wet and grey as England, even colder. In summer it is often in the early 30s, but I'm an English rose and I find it uncomfortable. We get years of summer drought and the grass goes brown and the garden suffers. At the moment it's waterlogged.

As for food, I way prefer English sausages and cheddar cheese. French restaurants hardly serve vegetables. English food is much better than the English give themselves credit for. I like nearly everthing (except egg whites!) so long as it's correctly cooked.

I am stuck here (but it is a lovely place to be stuck in) as the children and grandchildren live here and , under French law, my husband's share of the house belongs to them too and they don't want to sell it. But my heart is in England.

The Irish Government turned over control of land fill to the county councils who in turn sold them off to privet contractors all land fill sites are closed to the public and you must have a licence to move rubbish be it scrap or white goods,we have a general waste bin which is collected every week and a green bin every other week they don't take glass that goes to the bottle bank, I compost all my kitchen waste and the cooked food that's not eaten will go to feed the dogs and cats in some ways I envy the French when Brussels says we have to do this or that the Irish and the British roll over  but the French give two fingers to the bureaucrats for example when Mrs thatcher was told to sell off the Railways and the water and power companies she did so but claimed it was her idea ,maybe it was but the fact is they are owned by private companies and the British tax payer is still funding them ,the Irish Gov' followed in the wake of Britain , when S,N,C,F was mentioned in Brussels to be sold  the French said NO NO NO it is still a state owned railway ,in Ireland the motor industry were told to modernise their forecourts at their own expense  but this did not apply to the rest of Europe which is one reason why cars are more expensive here +vat +vrt+excise duty+delivery .

Derek

ps since when is HRH Charles ,. Common

Derek, 2nd hand cars are much more expensive here! (France)