Chaos in France

[OneHungLow]

Let’s hope those perfidious Brits don’t lose their collective cool as the climate warms up...

It is never hot enough, for long enough for the true "folie de la chaleur" to overcome the British.

The British experience seems to go something like this.

First hot day - Everybody looks happier, the girls come out like colourful flowers in the spring, men start taking their shirts and some their shorts off, looking more like white sea slugs or aged tattooed barnacles, none of which is a good look but everybody starts talking to each other.

Second hot day - Everybody starts drinking publicly to excess, the girls look less flowers now and more like wilted but very sore red roses. The blokes have raw red necks. They are all drunk and the initial happy mood is giving way to something uglier in the presiding spirit.

Third hot day - the girls vomit in the street and swear, the blokes are fighting and some people are stabbing each other. A and E is full.

Fourth day, the rain and cold has returned - All is monochrome again. Everybody has that sullen "silent desperation is the English way look", even the Scots and the Welsh. United in silent misery everything and everybody returns to the unhappy status ante quo. Thank God!

[barkingmad]

O H L + 100 ! !

[Boac]

First hot day - Everybody looks happier, the girls come out like colourful flowers in the spring, men start taking their shorts off,

Egad, Sir, in what sort of place do you live? Noting that this behaviour appears to chime with BM also, I should advise you both that I think Admin2 will look at this in a bad light should it spread across our refined community.... .

[OneHungLow]

First hot day - Everybody looks happier, the girls come out like colourful flowers in the spring, men start taking their shorts off,

Egad, Sir, in what sort of place do you live?

I kid you not, I saw a bloke walking up the high street in his Speedo yesterday. Twas horrid to behold, like that film "Revenge of the Budgie Smugglers!"

[Boac]

Let's hope it was 'Speedo Mick' and not one of ours!

[OneHungLow]

Let's hope it was 'Speedo Mick' and not one of ours!

[OFSO]

Once again, the French are revolting (and not for the first time).

[OneHungLow]

Talking of the chaotic French and the heat, there can be no more beguiling hobby for the aspirant British boulevardier abroad in Paris than to perch, comfortably at a table at a street Café in the sun, Pernod, or even a glass of le vin rouge to hand, watching the chic, but mostly disdainful French women, and listening to sound of motor vehicles having minor accidents.

Each accident followed by the same pantomime as the two drivers get out, point at the new damage, on the already damaged cars, shout and gesticulate at each other, midst the hooting of the delayed and irritated drivers in the traffic jam they have caused. Each accident ending abruptly as it started with a Gallic shrug, one final deadly insult thrown between the drivers, who then depart, with nary a detail taken or insurance claim noted between the participants in the charade!

[barkingmad]

[quote=Boac post_id=370518 time=<a href="tel:1688029459">1688029459</a> user_id=149]

First hot day - Everybody looks happier, the girls come out like colourful flowers in the spring, men start taking their shorts off,

Egad, Sir, in what sort of place do you live?

I kid you not, I saw a bloke walking up the high street in his Speedo yesterday. Twas horrid to behold, like that film "Revenge of the Budgie Smugglers!"
[/quote]

Thread drift alert !

What is the problem with adult males wearing Speedos?

Admittedly it might be questionable at the chiller racks in the supermarket, but in the street…?

We don’t complain about the rig sported by the adult female of the species whose apparel leaves no guessing as to what lurks under the material, nipples & cameltoes being frequently evident, but gawd forbid that the male might be content to indulge in the same mild exhibitionism!?

This unhealthy onsession with the unashamed display of the male form suggests a mental cindition which would keep a conference of psychologists occupied for werks followed by peer-reviewed oublications on the syndrome.

Or it might simply be a form of uncomfortable envy at the mental comparison ‘twixt the observers’ equipment and that of the observed…

Meanwhile, back en France…..

[OneHungLow]

bm says

Or it might simply be a form of uncomfortable envy at the mental comparison ‘twixt the observers’ equipment and that of the observed…

A gentleman knows that one can never be too well one hung low!

Back to the French...

[Boac]

a form of uncomfortable envy at the mental comparison ‘twixt the observers’ equipment and that of the observed…

Make a habit of being a voyeur, do we? Memories of the school showers?

(Note the inclusion of relevant geographical lingo to prevent excessive complaints of 'thread diversion')

(PS I didn't start it......... )

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I note the "teenage delivery driver" was driving a Mercedes AMG, cost well over 100,000 Euros.
When I was a teenage delivery driver, I used my mum's shopper bicycle.
One does have to wonder what he was delivering, and how he paid for the car.
That's not an attempt to justify the Police actions as reported, but it does, I think, mean the Police may have made a not unreasonable assumption that someone in the vehicle was armed.
I note one of the two passengers did a runner and, last I heard, had not been found.

[OFSO]

One can classify youths at a glance:
- not to be shot under any circumstances
- if shot there may be consequences
- feel free to shoot if you see the need

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

875 arrests last night
249 police injured, none seriously
Interesting that a protest against the Police needs to loot a Lidl and burn down the Marseilles public library.
The amount of general rioting and looting far exceeds any attempt at legitimate protests.
Macron came home early from the Brussels EU summit. "All options are being considered"
The Right want a state of emergency declared.

Anyone know what would the likelihood be of a 17 year old getting insurance in France for a Mercedes AMG?

[k3k3]

...or a driving licence, I think the minimum age is 18.

[barkingmad]

Latest allegations are that AK47s and/or similar being fired skywards in the middle of pyrothechnics being let off, presumably to make the gunfire more intensive sounding...

Is this the same President Macron as the current incumbent?

https://www.france24.com/en/france/2022 ... vaccinated

Not a happy place at all as apparently the police SOPs for opening fire, in response to traffic incidents, were relaxed not so long ago...

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

They weren't relaxed, but the scope was widened.
The rules were changed to add public protection to the existing reason of self-defence for opening fire on a motorist.
This was to enable them to be able to shoot suicide truck bombers, which was previously not a valid reason.
Police shootings of motorists have increased from around 2 per year to 13 last year.
No one knows why, but a lot of people think they know why.

About the only valid reason for shooting this kid would be that he was driving so dangerously prior to being stopped that they considered a lethal accident almost inevitable.
Can't see them proving that in court, although a 17 year old driving a vehicle with 350-odd HP, 0-100 km/h in under 5 seconds, top speed of 268 kph, is pretty dangerous.
The other possibility is that the officer firing was an accidental consequence of the kid starting to drive off without warning - I couldn't tell one way or the other from the video.
That the Police initially lied about the risk of being run down could be because that minimises the paperwork and chances of a trial.

And if none of that applies, then the rioters are likely right about the reason.

Personally, I think the officer with the gun mentally had the instruction "If he moves, shoot him", which was the last thing according to the video that was likely said to him, as the only thing in his short term memory, probably because of the stress of the moment. And he moved.
The officer has been charged, I believe, with voluntary homicide rather than murder, which would fit the above scenario.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Welcome to the Third World. Burnt-out vehicles littering the streets and rioters with assault rifles are not bugs, they are features.

[Boac]

The BBC's take on the shooting https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe ... =editorial

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Hypothesis:
The drug runners are using high performance vehicles on a daily use basis.
One of their front companies is the importation/daily hire business (the vehicles are registered in Poland, in this case).
I would presume this gets round seizure regulations.
They use underage locals as drivers and mules because the justice system treats them very lightly.
I know the latter happens in the UK and US because police officers have told me so.
It's the importation/daily hire bit that's new to me.
There were 3 people in the vehicle when the cops stopped it.
One was the underage driver.
It wouldn't surprise me if the other young passenger was there to hold the drugs and/or firearms if needed, and the actual drug dealer was the one who bailed and hasn't been found.
And I'm sure the cops know this, which is probably why they'd already tried to stop it once.
It also explains why the French Police are so upset, because the politicians want them to stop the drugs but won't even admit publicly this kind of thing happens, or change the laws to counter it.