I cut and pasted the below from the blog of a fellow blogger (on this site) and I'm beetroot with shame that I do not remember which one as I was browsing at the time.
I pasted it onto an email and forwarded it to a french colleague of mine who then responded.
This is the intial blog..(and it if it's your please tell me so I can credit you!)
On my little jaunt across France, I couldnt help but notice a few things. I like the French, but there are one or two culture differences that are quite hard to get past sometimes.
I'm about to tar an entire nation with the same brush - this is of course totally unfair and I'm certain there are lots of exceptions to the rule, but hey, this is my blog and I'm sure we Rosbif come if for a fair amount of stick ourselves, so I dont feel too bad..
1. Driving style. This is shared with the Germans as well. It involves either drving up fast behind you on the Autoroute and sitting just a few molecules away from your bumper with the indicator on until you can actually pull over, or, driving fast up behind you with no intention of slowing down, causing drivers to move off the road altogether in some cases in fear of their lives.
I dont think its malicious. I'll discuss this in a minute
2. Manners. This is such an odd one. We brits do have a thing or 9 to learn about manners in the service industry its true, but the French have a unique style all of their own. The French language is flowery and polite, so people cant help being polite when they are being just normal. Bonjour - so formal - "Good Day". In conversation and friendship - they can be warm and expressive, welcoming and wonderful.
But on the other side of Dr Jeckell is the total ambivalance of their fellow human beings. Parking a car. They'll just park it where they see fit. Pushing into a queue. What queue?? Walking down a busy street - barging people out of they way. In a car - just pull onto the road infront of you.
As I mentioned before, I dont think this is done with malice - its a genuine, innate lack of consideration for othes. They just dont see it as a problem and as everyone does it to everyone else, so its accepted. trouble is, for me, who does give a shit, it really pisses me off.
3. Toilets. Oh my god. Someone call the UN. What is it with a supposedly first world, educated, high class society that still hasnt got past shit stained holes in the ground for toilets??
Motorway service stations. - holes in the ground
Town Centre toilets - shit smeared holes in the damn ground
Everywhere else - no flippin public toilets at all.
Why do the French have this fixation with squatting in public??? Whats wrong with Thomas Crapper's flushing system??
4. Road Signs. Can we please have the sign post BEFORE the road it is pointing down. Not hard to guess why this might be helpful really...
I think I'll stop before it spoils the memories of my holiday... :-)
Actually - I dont care half as much as it seems from the above rant - I'd still want to live there, but I would be taking my own toilet.And then we have my esteemed colleagues response.
I say 'colleague'..he actually works for me and obviousely has too much time on his hands, something which I will rectify.
On my little jaunt across England, I could not help but notice a few things. I like the English, but there are one or two culture differences that are quite hard to get past sometimes.
1.Driving Styles. This is shared with no other country. It is a shame but how are you suppose to have a driving style when your average speed won't exceed 40 Mph even on motorways. The fact is the quality of the tarmac itself is appauling and when roadworks are underway on the M1 they usually last for 3 years!!! (FIY it took 21 months to build the Eiffel tower in 1889). Jeremy Clarkson even admitted that 'Britain roads were as good as Bulgaria back in 1955', coming from him that is scary...
2. Manners. If we could compare British manners to another country it will definetely be Germany. Here I am not even mentioning customer service which seems to be england's Atlantis: a myth. I am talking about behaving in public. Just go out at night anywhere and you will see girls half naked flirting with half a dozen of random guys and most of them won't even remember what happened the next day. It is also a rather scary thing to jog on a Sunday morning in a town that looks like Beyrouth with piles of vomits every 10 yards and rests of Kebabs spread out everywhere. How about having a nice dinner in a restaurant? Do not dare to propose to your girl friend as you might be interupted by a romantic burp coming from the table behind.
3. Bathroom. An english bathroom is usually the most interesting room in an english house. First of all how do you feel taking a shower using an electrical shower system???!!! HELLO!!!! Electricity + Water !!!????. How safe is that???? Then you might want to wash your hands. Now you have the choice between burning yourself with the hot water on one side or freezing your fingers on the other ! Why not use a proper mixer like on the continent??? Then how about flushing the toilets??? you might need to do it three times before actually getting rid of something. !
4. Road Signs. Which road signs? England's love for green and small posts make them simply unreadable, and you better have a very good sight if you want to see them. Then you have to know which road you need to take as most of the time you won't have the name of the town where the road leads to, how annoying. Nevermind you think all that is over, but no. Then you have England specialty: roundabouts ! You would assume they are all round. Well then you are wrong. You will find U shaped roundabouts, trapezoidal roundabouts and some have a shape that no geometrical experts would dare to name ! Then you would expect like in every european country to find signs indicating distance in Kilometers, well you would be pleased to know that it is not the case. Therefore no metric conversion is possible so good luck ! You thought middle ages were over ? Well not everywhere !
Actually - I dont care half as much as it seems from the above rant - I'd still want to live there, but I would take my own car, girlfriend and bathroom.
I thought it was funny.
24/06/06 @ 13:21