I suppose that one of the biggest news events of the year occurred in Peru, South America, when in October a 1960s icon died at the hands of a firing squad. Che Guevara was born in 1928 in Argentina and as a medical student in the 1940s became a committed Marxist revolutionary when he became convinced that capitalism created the poverty that he witnessed as he travelled on his motorbike on a journey through South America.
And the French are still precious about their language even today but their reluctance to communicate in or even simply acknowledge English gives me the opportunity to demonstrate my fluency in everyday essentials and I have to use all of that knowledge on my occasional visits there:
‘Vin blanc sil vous plait’
‘Vin rouge sil vous plait’
‘bier grande sil vous plait’
‘bier grande vite’. And so on. As Ricky Gervais advises if they don’t understand you, talk louder, if they still don’t understand you, then trash the place!
Posted in Childhood, Europe, France, History, Hotels, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Alcatraz, Charles de Gaulle, Great Train Robbery, John F Kennedy, Nuclear Testing, Rolling Stones, The Beatles
As a teenager I used to read American superhero comics like DC and Marvel and I was always tempted to respond to the full page advertisements for such things as a complete two hundred piece civil war army for $1.49, a miniature secret camera for only $1.00 or a free Charles Atlas body building course.
What prevented me filling in the order form and sending off the cash was not the rather critical fact that I had no idea how to exchange my paper round money into dollars but rather the fact that I didn’t know what a ZIP code was.
“You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said – ‘Parking Fine’.”
Tommy Cooper (English comedian)
Another thing about the French is that air of haughty superiority that they do nothing to try and disguise and which practically borders on contempt. I don’t mind them being proud of their country and their heritage but when patriotism tips over into nationalism that can be unpleasant. There is the language thing of course which I don’t really have a complaint about because why should I expect them to speak to me in English if I haven’t had the good manners to learn a few simple words of French to return but beyond that there is always the suspicion that for them we are unwelcome in their country and only just tolerated through gritted teeth.
Have Bag, Will Travel 