French Target Foreign Property Owners
I’m so glad that C and I sold our house in Antibes in the South of France some fifteen years ago. I think I’d be paying a very large sum of French taxes now, if Francois Hollande gets his plans to tax foreign property owners implemented. It’s all here on the BBC.
Aurevoir Minitel
The French are pulling the plug on Minitel. Read about it here.
I’ve met people, who liked it, so it wasn’t that much of a disaster, but obviously, it’s been killed by the World Wide Web.
Those Sneaky Frenchies
They nearly got Black Caviar, which appeared to be caught out by the stiff six furlongs and perhaps a bit of not-quite-up-to-standard jockeyship. Every good trainer, I’ve ever met, has always said, that you always use the best local jockey available outside of the UK. Unless of course the normal jockey is one of the top class or has experience of the track. In this race, Thierry Jarnet brought Moonlight Cloud right through or behind the field to get to the rail. That isn’t a tactic on a round course, but is quite common on a straight one. How many races are run on straight courses in Australia? I’ve looked it up and think it’s only one straight course at Flemington. Here, most tracks have a six furlong straight course.
My Worries About Black Caviar
They are not major worries, but the confidence behind Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes is unprecedented and when that happens, things tend occasionally to go wrong.
I once had a runner, Debach Delight, start at odds of 22-1 odds-on in a race at Ayr. Everybody was confident and she did win by over a dozen lengths, but you always worry about something. After all, she might have stumbled out of the stalls and dropped the pilot.
They have shown pictures of Black Caviar and they all showed her running on a round course. Now Ascot is straight. So I have to ask, if she has ever run in a race on a straight course with fifteen runners? It can tend to unsettle a horse, the first time they do it.
The last worry, is that the two horses after her in the betting are French-trained. They always seem to get the odd surprise winner in England. This week so far we’ve had a few Irish winners, one from Hong Kong and one for Germany, but none from the French.
The Ramadan Rush
It would appear from The Times, that rich shoppers from the Middle East are getting their shopping in before Ramadan starts on July 20th. They also claim that France’s burqa ban, means that shoppers now prefer London.
The French really know how to create laws that help their business sector, especially as they are bringing in a financial transaction tax.
Are The Frogs Floundering?
Let’s face it the French haven’t the best record as fighters when it gets wet; Trafalgar, Copenhagen, Quiberon Bay. And they don’t seem to be doing too well on a rain-effected pitch in Donetsk.
Could Hodsgon’s luck be thinking about turning as France need to beat the Ukraine.
The French Are Coming
Ever since 1066, the French have always been invading these isles. In some ways the only time they have been successful was in that historic first attempt, which put William the Conqueror on the throne.
But now is this, the first of another wave of invaders? I took these pictures by Chapel Market in Islington.
As after all, London is now the city with the sixth largest population of French nationals in the world.
It’s just that I’ve never found any gluten-free crepes in a trailer like this.
Why Do The French Like the Queen So Much?
According to this article on the BBC web site, the Diamond Jubilee has gone down well with the French.
So why is this? Could it be that she’s probably the only English-speaking leader, who speaks reasonable French in public?
The Torch Relay Gets a Health Warning
Apparently, they’re fainting in Haverfordwest as they awat the torch and BBC Wales has issued a health warning, in that they’re telling everybody to bring suntan and a drink.
I would assume that some of the locals will be in traditional Welsh dress a short time later in Fishguard, as if the yeomanry and especially the ladies of the town hadn’t defended so stoutly against the French in 1797, the Olympics would now be taking place this year in Paris. The story is told in this article on the Battle of Fishguard. The part the ladies played is summarised in this paragraph.
The heroine of the hour was Jemima Nicholas, who, with her pitchfork, went out single-handedly into the fields around Fishguard and rounded up 12 French soldiers and ‘persuaded’ them to return with her to town where she locked them inside St. Mary’s Church.
It is thought the French troops may have mistaken local women like her, in their traditional tall black hats and red cloaks, for British Grenadiers when they stood on the cliffs above the British force lined up on Goodwick Sands at the surrender.
Certainly the Royal Oak pub has lived on the tale for more than two hundred years.Although today, the weather may be too hot for a black hat and a heavy red cloak.
The Headmistress Lays Down the Rules
The headmistress or is it the Chief Warder, has put on her sternest East German face to lay down the law to the naughty Greeks, who have said they won’t take her medicine.
I’m afraid I think they will have to otherwise the financial police of New York, London, Frankfurt and the Far East, will make it so expensive for them to get the money they need to spend on expensive cars and the other imports they need.
The state of the Greek parties are outlined here. Just look at the face on the Chief Warder’s picture.
As if the Chief Watrder hasn’t got enough on her plate with the Greeks, and the French decide to play by their own rules. I suppose they have to, as reportedly, it’s the French banks, who are up to their necks in Greek debt.
The Anonymous Widower 