elfman

How accurate is Mr/Ms McClure's post?

Myself and my English friends have been to France to experience French culture, walked into the family-run hotel to find the owners were Brits, walked into a bar, said bonjour, only to be greeted with an "awight mate" by the Brit owners. The canoe reservation assistant was British. In every restaurant and cafe the sound of loud English voices drowned out the polite French chit chat. All over France,even in Lourdes, a quiet religious site, British drunks chant football songs, loiter in the street, jump on cars, harrass the locals, and require the services of police and ambulances that could be used elsewhere.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...9&postcount=17

I suspect the tales of Lourdes overrun with British yobs something of a stretch at the very least

dmu

I'm not a Mod, but would suggest that this discussion remain in the Take It Outside section!

G-J-B

I'd say so. I was in Lourdes last summer when all that pope visit mumbo-jumbo was kicking off (bad timing on my part), and there were thousands upon thousands of people, but I didn't hear a single Brit. The place was anything but quiet though.
I've never been anywhere in France where I've seen drunked Brits staggering about making a pain of themselves. Saw 3 annoying and loud French chavs today, but that was it.

Collioure_Bee

The only really loud people I have experienced in Collioure have been the American tourisists. Talking loudly as if they expect people to be impressed with the fact they are Americans.
They remind me of the ones we met on a train in Sorrento. Complaining that nobody understood them, then moaning that everyone in Paris just spoke French. My wife leant across and said to them "er it is in France you know"
Most, if not all, the Brits (and yanks come to that) I have met over here have come because they want to integrate with the French in the French lifestyle.
Yes you get the odd loud tourist, as I say mainly from America, but the odd Brit or German or even Norwegian in one case.
I would say from my experiences mr elfman reads to much crap in the Daily Mail and wants to get a job with them so jumps on the exageration bandwagon. Even during the World Cup the English were relatively well behaved and nowhere near as bad as most newspapers made them out to be, and I would agree with GJB I've never seen any drunken brits making a nuisance of themselves rolling around the streets. Perhaps the op was in Falaraki and got it confused with France lol.
In my job I deliver to a lot of Brits/Aussies/Canadians/Americans and once I've surprised them with a "hello mate" we talk about the benefits of being here.

elfman

And you need to read the posts you're replying to a bit more carefully.
I was quoting someone else's exaggerated claims in the hope that people in this forum would debunk them (and thank you for doing so). If anybody's reading the Daily Mail too much and jumping on the bandwagon it would be the poster I quoted.

your apology is accepted.

Collioure_Bee

LOL I happily stand corrected mr elfman!

Can I use all the lagers I have (quietly) been drinking with my French and English friends today as an excuse?

treskillard

There are actually a whole series of English actors who play Bernadette Soubirous at Lady Lourdes Themepark (pay for six rides and get the seventh free). The actors are all over 18 of course because of stringent French employment regulations which is why they are known as the Garland Girls. They have been known to cause trouble and were recently accused of public affray due to the disruption caused by their ongoing industrial action in opposition to President Sarkozy's use of imported "American Judys". If their behaviour is anything to go by I say Mr/Ms McClure's post is spot on.

Andrea50

Hired drunks! Yahoo, now that would be a good way to put off the tourists and keep your sleepy village to yourself.

I have just discovered Peter Mayle - A Year in Provence - never read it before, picked it up at the charity shop yesterday for 10p and it's really funny, he tells wonderful tales of local Old French who are quite innovative at keeping their little bit of France safe from the Swedes, English, Norwegians and mostly by the sound of it, the Germans.

Suspect one gets loud types everywhere, best just avoid them really, and I have no beef with folk enjoying themselves although I personally would distance myself from such stuff mainly because I'm a lover of peace and quiet.

Maybe the McClures have a somewhat selective memory? That can happen, one can have a great time for a whole week then, on the last day, a bad experience can be THE one experience that one remembers and change the impression of the whole place.

Who knows? Have to say we have never encountered anything like that but then we didn't go anywhere where it would be likely folk wanting to have a loud, good, drunken time would want to go.

Happy Sunday to all.
Andy

Collioure_Bee

Et bonne Dmanche to you Andrea. I can recommend a good read to you about moving to France, A Piano in the Pyrenees by Tony Hawks. How his failed skiing trip turned into him buying a place there and the problems he encountered as well as the brilliant locals. Some very funny bits in it too.

G-J-B

I loved that book and some of his others - definitely an easy and entertaining read. I passed through his home town, but found it wasn't quite as I'd imagined it from reading his book though.

Collioure_Bee

How did you imagine Balham then GJB?

Have read all his books and loved them all, because of the subject matter probably this one more than the others.

G-J-B

As far as I know he's just on the edge of Bagneres de Bigorre - I'm sure he has a nice spot, but when I passed through it wasn't this little remote mountain village I'd imagined, and was a fairly built up town. The mountains were only visible if you found a higher road, and they seemed too far away to be accesible. Just wasn't quite as I'd imagined it, and I preferred some of the other parts of the Pyrenees I'd come from.

Le Chant

Never heard such a crock!

Ka Ora!

What was the Question?

Why prey tell? The OP was just after a more localized opinion, Only yobs there are chucking holy water about.

Le Chant

No idea. Just remember it being a crock. Must be the paint fumes.

Water is for life, not just for Christmas....