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Sunday 25 April 2010

Fed up to the back teeth

Of the disrespectful French. At some point this weekend, some retard did this to my poor wee car. And naturally, they didn't leave their insurance details. Because in this forsaken country, it is not the done thing to have the slightest consideration for anyone but oneself. Now, I know probably more than most car-owners that if you have a car, it will get damaged. Yes, that sounds very pessimistic, but it's the truth. People will open their car doors into yours, they'll scrape past with supermarket trolleys or pushchairs or bikes or whatever. If you're really unlucky, other motorists will drive into you. I have owned my car for 10 years now, and every 2 and a half years, on average, somebody has driven into me. It's had 3 new front bumpers, 2 new bonnets, one new rear light cluster...

This means that I, more than many others, know full well that having a car means it will get damaged. Put it doesn't make the pill any easier to swallow. I just cannot get my innocent little mind around the concept that a person has caused damage to another person's property, and they have simply driven off, without a second thought. I wasn't brought up to behave that way. But it would appear to be the national attitude in this cursed country.

Or maybe it's something about this town. Disrespect and conceited, condescending deceitfulness are, after all, practised with skill and finesse by our town council. Local residents have only recently, and quite accidentally discovered plans to build blocks of flats just behind an existing, very small, lotissement (subdivision/estate). Now, if you or I common mortals wished to build a small extension to the kitchen, for example, we would be made to jump through many administrative hoops. Building permit application, declaration to the town hall, public announcement (ie permit application displayed on town hall notices board) followed by 3-month holding period in case any local residents wanted to lodge an objection... And of course you must pay for the privilege. But when it's the town council and their cronies who want to build 90 apartments, they can just approve the programme. No building permit applications for them, no public consultation, no planning procedures. Had this deceit not been uncovered, the first most residents would've know about the whole shambles would've been the morning the bulldozers turned up.

So possibly, the fine example set to inhabitants by the mayor and his cohorts is what leads to the sort of "petty" crime that saw my car door severely bent and nobody to own up to their misdeeds. Or maybe this town just has a higher than usual population of arseholes?

I know, I know. France doesn't have a monopoly on arseholes. But it is indeed strange that I have so many friends and acquaintances in other countries whose cars are never driven into. And even if they did, I am quite sure they would be able to report the crime to their local polis on any day of the week. Whereas, in third world countries, one can only report crimes from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Eh? I wonder if I can ask to only pay my taxes for Monday to Friday, and deduct Saturday and Sunday.

And on top of all this, Doggy has a lump in her abdomen. Operation tomorrow to remove it and the vet has promised a biopsy if it looks remotely iffy. I know this has nothing to do with leaving in French France, but it's not helping maintain healthy, happy serotonin levels in my wee head.

8 comments:

Brennig said...

Wow, that's a bit of a wallop. But it could have happened anywhere in a London supermarket car-park. I choose London because there are more uninsured drivers in London than anywhere else in the UK. I got hit by an uninsured driver last year.

Lis of the North said...

That's very true, you did. Plus he tried to kill you with his ladders. What was the outcome on that?

Brennig said...

He was done by the police for driving without insurance. I lost my no-claims bonus. My insurance company is suing him for the cost of repairs plus three days of my lost income. They won't get the money and will probably take out a CCJ against him.

Anonymous said...

That's very unfortunate, however it can happen anywhere. Really. I'm not taking the French side (hell, I left, didn't I?) but I see this kind of attitude in a lot of countries...

Lis of the North said...

@Brennig And just think of all the money that's costing! Still, things could have been so much worse.
@Zhu it is very true that people all over the world behave this way. I guess yesterday we were already in a cross mood because of the building developments the mairie is (wrongly) trying to get approved without public consultation, then this happened, and to top everything off, I couldn't even report it to the police because they are closed on Sundays (I hope I never get burgled on a weekend). Just one of those days when everything is wrong!

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