Whats up with France?

[Revoltingest]

Road safety is paramount is it not?

How on Earth is safety enhanced by having drivers wear yellow vests?

And surrender monkeys is a cartoon putdown based on ignorance.

If I didn't know better, I'd think that sounds like a bad thing.

Throughout history france has had one of the most successful militaries and the most successful in europe.

P.s. french pastries and cake are to die for.

View attachment 25968

I have one more funny.....

Spoiler: French joke

I collect French military rifles.
They're all in great condition.
Never fired, & only dropped once.

And thanx for the pastries.
They'll ruin my figure, but it's worth it.

 

[ChristineM]

How on Earth is safety enhanced by having drivers wear yellow vests?

If I didn't know better, I'd think that sounds like a bad thing.

I have one more funny.....

Spoiler: French joke

I collect French military rifles.
They're all in great condition.
Never fired, & only dropped once.

And thanx for the pastries.
They'll ruin my figure, but it's worth it.

They are stored for use in breakdown (as are other useful safety items, first aid kit, warning triangle, a full set of bulbs and 2 disposable breathalysers)
If your car breaks down the driver should don the vest. On exiting the vehicle to deploy the warning triangle, attempt to fix the car, talk to a mechanic or have a pee, he will be far more visible to other road users.

I must admit, that joke is better than the only war america has won n their own recently was against a bunch of poor hill farmers in grenada.

The trick with eating french pastries and keeping your svelte waistline is either dont eat the following day or dont eat the pastries.

 

[Revoltingest]

They are stored for use in breakdown (as are other useful safety items, first aid kit, warning triangle, a full set of bulbs and 2 disposable breathalysers)
If your car breaks down the driver should don the vest. On exiting the vehicle to deploy the warning triangle, attempt to fix the car, talk to a mechanic or have pee, he will be far more visible to other road users.

I must admit, that joke is better than the only war america has won n their own recently was against a bunch of poor hill farmers in grenada.

The trick with eating french pastries and keeping your svelte waistline is either dont eat the following day or dont eat the pastries.

We kicked those Grenadistanian hill farmers' arsches!
Having the vest stowed makes more sense.
I carry....
- Flashing LED lights (instead of flares)
- Orange pylons
- First aid kit
- 2 spare tires
- 5 jacks
- Spare clothing, food, water & cash
- And I have a lavatory inside Mr Van....no roadside micturating for this Scot!

 

[HonestJoe]

Not true. Think of the French Revolution. That started as a mass protest over many things. Generally protests start for one thing and then others gain confidence from watching it, so they join with their problems and so on.

I don’t disagree but there are still key distinctions. A single protest still needs to have some kind of focused purpose, otherwise it’s just shouting in to the wind. High profile legitimate protests will indeed attract other people with their own purposes and motives, which is why we get undirected rioting and an explosion of different issues and motives. That doesn’t change the initial protest though, they’re just additional things. And yes, that can be further built upon to roll on to coups and revolutions but also rioting, civil war and genocide. This isn’t a good thing by any measure.

Their end game is to have rid of Macron, apparently. With a rating of just 20%, he has almost no support. He had this rating even before he was elected, nevermind afterwards. I'm sure that, if the government said they were willing to negotiate talks, they could pull themselves together and elect someone to talk on their behalf.

The don’t need to negotiate anything to get rid of Macron. As I said, all they need to do is push for an election and put up or support a better candidate. I suspect they don’t have a better candidate or indeed any coherent plan for a better way to run France, they just have a list of things they want for themselves.

It came from the protesters. Whether they actually drew it up is a different story; someone could easily have merely listened to what they were saying and written it.

Unless you have more information about it, how can you know. It also doesn’t seem to be being pushed very hard by the protesters as any kind of focused manifesto. I could write something similar, have it translated in to French and post it all over the internet and it would have equal value.

That's right.

Hence no individual or even small group could represent them all in any kind of negotiation or discussion. I doubt they could agree on all of their issues without directly opposing some of the others. One possibility I missed in my initial assessment is that the protesters end up turning on each other.

They are. They are screaming that they want Macron to stand down. I imagine many of them did not vote for him.

It’s been years since I voted for anyone representing the party that went on the form the government. I’ve never felt the need to torch cars and smash windows as a consequence.

When it's the country's own people, you have to.

Nope. Never negotiate with terrorists. The people of France are perfectly able to express their opinions and engage in the political protest without smashing things up.

 

[ChristineM]

We kicked those Grenadistanian hill farmers' arsches!
Having the vest stowed makes more sense.
I carry....
- Flashing LED lights (instead of flares)
- Orange pylons
- First aid kit
- 2 spare tires
- 5 jacks
- Spare clothing, food, water & cash
- And I have a lavatory inside Mr Van....no roadside micturating for this Scot!

Tip for driving in france at the moment...
The vest comes in handy when negotiating yellow vest protests. Place one in view on your dash panel and they just wave you through.

5 jacks? You driving a semi over steel spikes?

I add to your list spare fuel, jumper leads, tow rope, air compressor, tools and a couple of blankets.

But subtract 4 jacks, pylons, clothing, food and a lavatory. Only cash is small change for car parking, trusty bank card for everything else.

 

[Revoltingest]

I add to your list spare fuel, jumper leads, tow rope, air compressor, tools and a couple of blankets.

Oh, I carry all that too.
3 tow straps, not just one
several 5 gallon cans of gasoline
Wrenches...many wrenches...3/4"drive socket set, 36" pipe wrenches, & many more
Half a dozen different pry bars

But subtract 4 jacks, pylons, clothing, food and a lavatory. Only cash is small change for car parking, trusty bank card for everything else.

I like to always have at least $5K walking driving around money.

 

[ChristineM]

Oh, I carry all that too.
3 tow straps, not just one
several 5 gallon cans of gasoline
Wrenches...many wrenches...3/4"drive socket set, 36" pipe wrenches, & many more
Half a dozen different pry bars

I like to always have at least $5K walking driving around money.

always pays to be prepared even if you don't use it.

 

[Revoltingest]

always pays to be prepared even if you don't use it.

Sounds like a good motto.
Revoltistan might steal it.

Nah, the old one is best....
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed astern!"

 

[Valjean]

Tip for driving in france at the moment...
The vest comes in handy when negotiating yellow vest protests. Place one in view on your dash panel and they just wave you through.

5 jacks? You driving a semi over steel spikes?

I add to your list spare fuel, jumper leads, tow rope, air compressor, tools and a couple of blankets.

But subtract 4 jacks, pylons, clothing, food and a lavatory. Only cash is small change for car parking, trusty bank card for everything else.

Will your bank card hire a farmer to pull your car out of a ditch with his tractor?

 

[ChristineM]

Will your bank card hire a farmer to pull your car out of a ditch with his tractor?

Nope, but my phone will call the recovery company. If my car goes belly up in a ditch i would want it checked out by professionals before i take the kids to school.

 

[ChristineM]

Sounds like a good motto.
Revoltistan might steal it.

Nah, the old one is best....
"Damn the torpedoes, full speed astern!"

How many astern gears have you got?

 

[Revoltingest]

How many astern gears have you got?

Just one....full speed.
(Revoltistan has no heroes.)

 

[ChristineM]

Just one....full speed.
(Revoltistan has no heroes.)

Got more ahead gears and a steering wheel, just turn it round and go faster... You get better gas milage too

 

[Revoltingest]

Got more ahead gears and a steering wheel, just turn it round and go faster... You get better gas milage too

I got around 8 or 9 MPG on my last trip.
But it was a heavy load, & by hauling things for friends, they avoided traveling.

 

[Shad]

You have to keep busy to stay warm!

Hence why Putin does not need a shirt as often as other leaders

 

[YmirGF]

Hence why Putin does not need a shirt as often as other leaders

The theatre of the strange.

 

[Shad]

”What do we want? WE’VE NOT DECIDED YET! When do we want it? NOW!”

We no central leadership (which they irrationally see as a benefit) and no realistic definitive demands, I can’t see it going anywhere and it will probably quietly die down in the run up to Christmas. The only way it could build in to something more significant would be is some charismatic leader rose from it or co-opted it as the basis for a serious political challenge but there don’t seem to be any prospects for that and it’s probably too late for anyone to get on board now.

My only fear would be escalation of the violence, especially if someone dies in the rioting. Anything that could be vaguely spun up as being the fault of the government or police would be used by the violently minded as an excuse to continue.

The leader need not be that charismatic rather a good orator.

 

[Shad]

The theatre of the strange.

Needed a tank parade.

 

[ChristineM]

I got around 8 or 9 MPG on my last trip.
But it was a heavy load, & by hauling things for friends, they avoided traveling.

In reverse?

 

[Revoltingest]

In reverse?

I haven't tried long distance hauling that way yet.
It would be more difficult.