Rant - French

Figaro

Figaro

Joined
Feb 22, 2011
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Hymer B544 A Class
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Since 2015
On a campsite in Portugal and just had a french motorhome reverse into the front of my Hymer.
Fortunately only a small area of damaged paint to bumper, but the cheeky swine never got out to apologize or check for damage. He just swung it round and headed for the service area.
I thought, ah well, he'll stop on his way back to apologize.
No such thing, he sped past as fast as he could 🤬🤬🤬

I would have gone and had a go, but my french isn't up to arguing with him so for a peaceful life I let it pass.

Very annoyed he didn't get out and apologise though 😕
 
Hopefully karma means there will be more damage to his motorhome than to yours. How very rude of him not to get out and check though!

In a similar vein we were with a group of fellow classic car owners at Classic Le Mans a few years ago, all parked up as part of a display, when a Jaguar from the stand opposite ours backed into one of our ladies cars, causing damage. He was about to just drive off when he got surrounded by some of the men from our group, fortunately some of whom spoke French and the man was forced to hand over his insurance and contact details. Cheeky blighter would have just driven off otherwise.
 
Jeepers ! We once saw someone slightly graze past the front bumper of a German van in a VERY tight parking space in an overnight parking place which was also an Aire -; and the owner ran after the offending Moho and the resultant hoo ha had us all goggling . The roads were narrow and curvy between the van spaces- we had a 200 point reverse to go into our space...my German is nil but it was obvious the injured party was demanding insurance details and the offending driver not happy about giving them out. No visible mark on either van [binocular moment ]
 
Same happened to me in Vannes last week but I managed to stop him driving away. Driver refused to give me his insurance details so I took his keys out of the ignition and asked my wife to call police.

He was on a rally, so I as surrounded by 14 French men and women shouting the odds. Told them collectively and individually to Foxtrot Oscar. When one came to the van and started rubbing the paint residue from the other van off mine, he was shoved away forcefully. Had a couple of other idiots in my face too, was good fun!

Anyway after about 30 mins and 2 calls, 5 police arrived, one spoke great English, told him what happened. The French driver said that he only caused damage to the wiper blade with his vehicle! I disputed this and showed them the damage and paint residue, but lead Policeman told me to sign the accident form with just wiper damage shown. I said no. He then forcefully told me to sign, I forcefully told him NO and it did not matter how loud he shouted I would not sign.

Two other police came forward and calmed the lead copper down. I demonstrated to them how the other van caused the damage. They agreed and translated to the lead policeman.

In the end, 1 hour and 20 minutes later, I had a signed confession from the other driver.

Not the best first encounter with the French police, but we got there in the end
 
Figaro I could teach you a few things.... I will try 2 different ways: one with some old French making things "little finger up" so no rude words but some good kick in the a*** . And second one with rude words but thing is , I will have to give you a whole dictionnary for what you could hear in return! Except if I teach you a one sentence going for anything that no one will be expecting coming out of a foreigner's mouth.... I'll have a good thinking. I might ask the footy boys here, their dictionnary might be .... much thicker than mine!

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yodeli said:
Figaro I could teach you a few things.... I will try 2 different ways: one with some old French making things "little finger up" so no rude words but some good kick in the a*** . And second one with rude words but thing is , I will have to give you a whole dictionnary for what you could hear in return! Except if I teach you a one sentence going for anything that no one will be expecting coming out of a foreigner's mouth.... I'll have a good thinking. I might ask the footy boys here, their dictionnary might be .... much thicker than mine!
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I was just annoyed he didn't even acknowledge what he'd done.
But life's too short to go getting into arguments I can't win because of a language barrier.
The damage is slight and on a (well cared for and good nick) 20 years old Hymer it's not the end of the world.
So for a stress free life I let it go.

Only to be scammed by a Portuguese taxi driver who took the long way round to a destination to increase his takings 🤬🤬🤬

Ah, such is life on the road, whatever, I'm not going to let it spoil my holiday or get too stressed.

More important things to worry about 😊

yodeli I'm sure you know a few choice swear words dealing with the travellers who bother you 😀
 
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yodeli said:
Figaro I could teach you a few things.... I will try 2 different ways: one with some old French making things "little finger up" so no rude words but some good kick in the a*** . And second one with rude words but thing is , I will have to give you a whole dictionnary for what you could hear in return! Except if I teach you a one sentence going for anything that no one will be expecting coming out of a foreigner's mouth.... I'll have a good thinking. I might ask the footy boys here, their dictionnary might be .... much thicker than mine!
Click to expand...
So let's learn the little sentence :
"Et la marmote, elle met le chocolat dans le papier d'alu !!!".... it comes from an old advert , and somehow means
... but of course, whatever you say Dear...(But I don't believe you).
Broken Link Removed
 
Figaro said:
I was just annoyed he didn't even acknowledge what he'd done.
But life's too short to go getting into arguments I can't win because of a language barrier.
The damage is slight and on a (well cared for and good nick) 20 years old Hymer it's not the end of the world.
So for a stress free life I let it go.

Only to be scammed by a Portuguese taxi driver who took the long way round to a destination to increase his takings 🤬🤬🤬

Ah, such is life on the road, whatever, I'm not going to let it spoil my holiday or get too stressed.

More important things to worry about 😊

yodeli I'm sure you know a few choice swear words dealing with the travellers who bother you 😀
Click to expand...
Love your life mantra
Takes a bigger man to walk away and not rise to it
 
yodeli - quite a famous groundhog, that one, it appears!!

Basically translates (politely) as 'Pull the other one - do I really look anything like I was born yesterday?'

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Seems a little over the top to rant at a whole nation because one person behaved badly.

On that basis I think most of the world could say 'English!!!'
 
You only have to stand in a french street , Italy and Spain also available, to see that's how they drive over there , they just back up till they hit something then forward a bit, that's it parked.
They just don't seem to look at vehicles like we do over here, just something to get you about not something to look at and I must say I'm all for it.
 
chaser said:
You only have to stand in a french street , Italy and Spain also available, to see that's how they drive over there , they just back up till they hit something then forward a bit, that's it parked.
They just don't seem to look at vehicles like we do over here, just something to get you about not something to look at and I must say I'm all for it.
Click to expand...

On the Amalfi coast you notice how almost every car has multiple dents and scrapes. Italians seem to have a casual attitude towards such trivia.

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chaser said:
You only have to stand in a french street , Italy and Spain also available, to see that's how they drive over there , they just back up till they hit something then forward a bit, that's it parked.
They just don't seem to look at vehicles like we do over here, just something to get you about not something to look at and I must say I'm all for it.
Click to expand...
SpeedyDux said:
On the Amalfi coast you notice how almost every car has multiple dents and scrapes. Italians seem to have a casual attitute towards such trivia.
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Maybe they have a more relaxed second hand market than we do.

Personally I don't care how old or beat up my vehicle is ,if someone else damages it I expect them to compensate me for it.
 
Northernraider said:
Maybe they have a more relaxed second hand market than we do.

Personally I don't care how old or beat up my vehicle is ,if someone else damages it I expect them to compensate me for it.
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Or you set the dogs on them :giggle:
 
Reminds me of many many years ago when a truck overtook a workmate of mine and as he cut in he broke his os front mirror, a bit further down the road he pulled in to go in a cafe.My mate followed him in and told him. He just laughed ,Brian my mate went back to his cab,slid the jack handle out and actually broke both of his mirrors and said laugh that off,, Justice
BUSBY.
 
busby said:
Reminds me of many many years ago when a truck overtook a workmate of mine and as he cut in he broke his os front mirror, a bit further down the road he pulled in to go in a cafe.My mate followed him in and told him. He just laughed ,Brian my mate went back to his cab,slid the jack handle out and actually broke both of his mirrors and said laugh that off,, Justice
BUSBY.
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Several years ago I was cycling down the main road to Dover in London, in the cycle lane.

A German coach (driver on left side, so can see far better where his left side is than a right hand drive coach) passed me so close he brushed my jacket.
2mm closer and I'd have been under the wheels

As this was London I of course caught him up at the next lights, despite me banging on the side, he blanked me.
I caught up with him at the next set of lights, and the set after that, and the set after that.
As he would not deal with the issue, I removed his drivers side wing mirror, permanently.

A google of the coach company website gave me the name of the driver, so I also tipped off Dover Customs that a German coach, due to arrive in about 2 hours belonging to a named company with a reg number of ... might possibly have illicit goods on board.
 
chaser said:
You only have to stand in a french street , Italy and Spain also available, to see that's how they drive over there , they just back up till they hit something then forward a bit, that's it parked.
They just don't seem to look at vehicles like we do over here, just something to get you about not something to look at and I must say I'm all for it.
Click to expand...

You obviously haven’t driven round inner Birmingham chaser. 😂

Last week saw a bumper ripped off on an island and the offending driver carried on without a cafe in the world.

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Figaro said:
On a campsite in Portugal and just had a french motorhome reverse into the front of my Hymer.
Fortunately only a small area of damaged paint to bumper, but the cheeky swine never got out to apologize or check for damage. He just swung it round and headed for the service area.
I thought, ah well, he'll stop on his way back to apologize.
No such thing, he sped past as fast as he could 🤬🤬🤬

I would have gone and had a go, but my french isn't up to arguing with him so for a peaceful life I let it pass.

Very annoyed he didn't get out and apologise though 😕
Click to expand...
Do you think he knew he had dome it, if the damage to yours was slight he may not have done
 
Googlebot said:
You obviously haven’t driven round inner Birmingham chaser. 😂

Last week saw a bumper ripped off on an island and the offending driver carried on without a cafe in the world.
Click to expand...
Matter of fact mate when I was driving a van for an electrical wholesalers, I drove all over Birmingham every day,for ten years and never had the slightest bump.
I did have a few people of a different race spitting up my windscreen when they couldn't open my locked doors when stopped at lights.
 
chaser said:
Matter of fact mate when I was driving a van for an electrical wholesalers, I drove all over Birmingham every day,for ten years and never had the slightest bump.
I did have a few people of a different race spitting up my windscreen when they couldn't open my locked doors when stopped at lights.
Click to expand...
Things must have changed, never been spat on, but plenty of people driving like they have a force field on their car. Happy days. 👍

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When we first got here in France 🇫🇷 the weather was really hot and sunny so we stayed put on Camping aire in Brittany. Just close to us an elderly Frenchman reversed into a nice Hymer even though the owner was shouting stop, arret, etc. Crunch ! The old boy could hardly turn his neck let alone drive, a big argument ensued and I thought I’m glad it wasn’t my van. His wife was seeing him back as well 🤔
 
bilM said:
Best place for cyclists :giggle:
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Remember Cyclists (and pedestrians and horses) have a 'right' to use the road.
Vehicle drivers need an annually renewable licence for temporary permission to use the road.

25 years from now the cyclists (and the pedestrians and the horses) will still be on the road.
However I suspect privately owned vehicles will not.
At least not urban roads.
 

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