Lanky dialect from the 50s does good for those "numéro privé", "inconnu", or those 017xxxxx numbers too : "Tha what? Wha da thee wunt?" :)
David I KNOW the young architect.
He worked on our property here in 33890 and he has expressed an interest
in my idea....
Don't know about a young architect! I did stay at the Chateau de Montreuil once for a 60th birthday party where the host (lovely man now no longer with us) chose superb wines although he was a teetotaller, and afterwards put on a superb Son et Lumiere on the Remparts at his own expense- he was a well know theatrical lighting designer- a magical evening! It certainly had a rosette at some time. The building had been designed by an Englishman.
The concept is aimed at reaching for the the pennies with tiny jobs and I know
that for a young architect every project helps...
Freehand sketches are very useful within this project.
Very happy to explain it to you David and you will know instantly why I
feel it is good to commence in my region.
Grasse ....not my fav place but I like Montreuil ....We stayed at 2
places there....both with a Michelin star.
I should emphasise that my qualifications are British and that I do not practice as an architect in France. However on a couple of occasions I have had English friends struggling with French architects (I couldn't possible comment) so whilst emphasising that I did not wish to supplant the local man I simply did some freehand sketches which pointed a different way forward. The local man then worked it up, made all the applications etc. Much of my work in the UK involved alterations to houses, many being listed, or in a Conservation Area, and I did literally many hundreds over the years, sometimes for well known people. If it's a question of "freeing" a log jam send me some details- I can give you my email, and maybe I can suggest something appealing. No obligation on your behalf. I do not want to start a practice! The houses I did help with were very far apart, one being in Grasse and the other in Montreuil sur Mer.
My project concept is rather different to what the French architects would normally entertain
David. Come up with the usual and it can not work....
Everyone can do usual.
The architect is fairly young....in his thirties, perhaps and he is open minded....but, of
course a perfectionist.
I am delighted to see Gypsy caravans to rent, Yurts and tree houses...I hope that they
do well....
My idea is not only to achieve more work for the architect, artisans but to stimulate more
commercial trading in the area...and bring with it a warm waves of artistic inclusions.
It is initially aimed at my region but it could move on as idea of other architects who
are able to visualise that these smaller, more frequent projects are a new direction.
French architects at the moment have a built in and protected monopoly on any projects over a certain and quite small size. with pretty well stipulated fee levels. Mandatory fee levels in the UK went out decades ago, and there's no obligation to use an architect on any project. On larger projects banks and lenders usually stipulate that an architect must be used but even then later work stages are often done by contractors on a so called design and build basis. The old project gets shaved down to the bare necessities, with scant attention to detailing and materials to the extent that project quality is abbreviated and that building lives are often shortened. The result in the UK over the last period is that there are mostly now only very large firms or very small firms of architects, and the firms are often very specialised. Too specialised in my opinion. Some do only supermarkets, or school or hospitals. You can see the results everywhere especially once it's been "cost engineered". I had a medium sized firm and it became progressively more difficult. To start up in the UK was very easy. I would dread to start a firm in France as you end up working essentially for the state not for yourself or your clients. It's going a bit like that in the UK but less so. Fee levels in the UK are often about one third to one half of what they were thirty years ago (in percentage terms of the project value). The average architect practitoner in the UK earns about the middle £30 thousand per annum, but takes responsibility for the project for up to fifteen years.
Those were 2 ideas which arrived at that moment......
I would have many more including the one I had for my architect...
My French architect.
I think we have begun the process by joining SF....the process of stimulating the
economy in France,
Helping others with small financial confusions is a good start.
Airing ideas for new business is another.
Many of the SF members have began a business or thought of starting one and
wanted to discuss it with people who may understand. Family and close friends are not always
the answer.
Projects can and do involve the French ....without the intention of draining their fear of change...
which is possibly not there at all...merely lack of confidence.
Even those of you who have enough money may be tempted, perhaps to stimulate their lives
with a new business project....a small museum of guitars and their sounds, highlighting the
greatest. Or build your own pizza oven trailer and tour the fetes in summer making real Pizza.
No fortune to be made but a few pennies at least and a diversion from the screen.
Jacques, ich sage 'Guten Morgen/Tag. Wie bitte?'... Klick-klack...
My OH speaks Italian with them. It is often twice a day. If they are from Indian call centres then they are finished. The moment we see 'number withheld', foreign numbers we do not know or 08... we are ready to switch language. Just two words from them and... ;-)
I will tell you a secret..You like most people must have uncalled for marketing telephone calls offering everything from environmental friendly solar panels to the next best thing that you can't miss.
I have an accent when I speak French..it is that of those who have lived in Switzerland for years...slow and deliberate, we shall say..
When marketers call, they often say that I have an accent..."Vous etes anglaaais" (are you English), they ask? No, I reply...je suis allemand...vous n'entrendez pas mon accent? No, I am German, don't you hear my accent?
That usually works. Mit hoch deutsch, kein probleme.
Tell me about it. I had my earliest years in Köln and have lived in Berlin since. I have spoken German all of my life. I was in Hinterrhein a few years ago and was told that my German was terrible at the place we stayed. I asked why and it was because, I was told, I was using a dialect. Of habit 'icke berlinerer' and say things like 'jut' instead of 'gut' which many years of Berlin taught me to do habitually. Anyway, I switched back to Hochdeutsch and was accused of showing off! It is hard to believe that Bellinzona is minutes away from Graubünden although down that way they speak Italian (but not Ticinesi).
Well…well…your wife and my former must have common roots. I for one am from Tell’s canton…yes am aware, Schwyzerdeutsch tries to cut out the Ticinese, the Romantsch and the French…languages…fortunately for these “minority” languages, LOL, there is such a difference between German spoken in Bern, Basel, Schwyz, Saint Gall…thar keeps the German speakers in check…
My wife is Ticinese and will say that Switzerland is not as organised as it seems. Each of the three principal languages is at odds with the other and despite federal protection the biggest language group is still doing its best to get rid of the minority one. The inter-cantonal fights over federal budgets are really silly. Last year one canton refused to lower speed limits because its inter-cantonal road repair budget had been cut! Italy is several countries in one. Lombardy is very organised and efficient, also rich, most of the rest is none of those things except for a small area around Rome and a few other places. Spain is in a mess right now but it is the most organised part wanting to leave the rest. Portugal is Portugal.
I agree though, France is still a psychological and social monarchy but there is an older undercurrent of what was centuries ago. I live in Aquitaine where people talk as though the Carolingian kingdom or Angevin empire until 1337, when Philip VI made Aquitaine part of France, still had power. Nearly 800 years ago they were not even French as now, Franks in fact, but still the difference matters. So why not give them statehood? However, the centralising bureaucrats want one country, one language, one culture, one identity. That might work for Six Nations Rugby or football internationals but the rest of each year the rest of France is a foreign land.
So there we are a teacher can only see a final result which ends in a powerful
or wealthy situation.....
Why? Because they are there to cram in information which leads to exam
passes and hopefully another teacher is born.
Happiness is about finding out the answers for yourself and ....and, at
some point finding yourself.
Not as easy as you think.
Back to France.
Brian,
We must not forget that countries such as Germany, Austria and even Switzerland have cultures where "organisation" is important. These countries have histories that are extremely different from countries such as Italy, France, Spain, and even Portugal. Perhaps these last countries live on chaos so that they make laws in accordance while the first organise in a rational and military way.
France, Spain, Italy and Portugal have all wanted to concentrate power in the capital cities. All four countries still have problems with their regions who want to separate from the nation state and capital. Perhaps one reason for these regional problems is the essential wish for capital bureaucrats to erase regionalisms and amalgamate everything under one roof. Germany, Austria and certainly Switzerland with its four languages have loose central governments with much power in the regional councils, cantons or Landes.
France is still a psychological and social monarchy.
Thought provoking statement...well done to you.
The fundamental problem even if we "started again" is that some of us are "greedier" than others. I don't know if that is nurture or nature but it certainly true and has been since time immemorial from what I can gather. The utopian state cannot exist with the very different personalities we all enjoy in many other facets of life. Art, music, invention etc.
No idea what the answer is, all that said????
Wish there was a like box.
On the wish, I have given my answer to that many times. Someone else said it once, I shall quote it here: "When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."
That was John Lennon. I have no idea when he said/wrote that but I was saying it before I ever heard/read it. The other thing I say is that we are ultimately all the same since we all end up wearing a wooden suit.
I am not saying that Germany is better, simply that the German states are able to do things at their own pace, thus the more conservative (by nature, not dominant political party) are able to do things in their own time whilst other develop faster. Different rules where they are more appropriate and a core set of laws from the federation. Because people see the 'local' coming from their people in the state parliament they find it easier to empathise. The core legislation covers such areas as criminal law, defence, health provision, educational standards or taxation. However, laws and regulations that apply within a state can cover local budgets for education and health, environment, road building, housing and so on. If not always as it seems, it appears to be more bottom up than as it is, applied from the top thus gradually distorted, ignored or laughed at as it trickles down to grass roots. People feel more in control of their bit of the world, that is all. Is it better? Germany, the USA, Switzerland, Australia, India and various other countries say it is, they may be right. Local/regional definitely carriers far more clout than what comes out of le Palais de L'Élysée to be thrown into the illegal (??) bonfire.
Firstly, my thanks for your sympathy, Jacques. I'm due to go over to Manchester to help my brother with the funeral arrangements ASAP.
Just lately I've found it hard not to see past the doom and gloom of what sort of world, in general, is being craftily crafted by a tragic mix of greedy, shortsighted big business bosses and the dishonest politicians of no integrity whom they've got in their pockets; those plus the likes of the 'blonde lady' you mentioned. And, sadly, she's not just unique to France.
My daughter is constantly telling me off for being negative but, despite her optimism and all her campaigning, I don't see enough people actually listening to the warnings that are being screamed out, or doing enough to save the human race. I expect to see the four horsemen gallop past any day now.
Anyway, Armageddon aside, I think that, when everything has become far too complicated and what is effectively happening is that people/politicians/whoever are trying to solve old problems that are entwined with older problems by adding another layer upon those problems; like sticking a new bandage on top of an old one to dress a wound we’re not really looking at properly or disinfecting - then it would make more sense to scrap the lot back to zero and start from scratch by asking the questions of “what do we really need to make a world work?” Just as though we had all just been created and plopped onto this planet, with fresh eyes and unselfishness but not naïveté - to say to ourselves and to each other “What is the right thing to do?” in all of our given circumstances.
I started out by being somewhat annoyed by Andy Street’s disparaging comments about France and the French - even if there was some truth in there. And, as with the tax system holding back start-up businesses, but with a wider angle of view I think that, globally and as a species, we need to have a serious re-think; to take our minds and our consciences back to re-creating a new start for the Earth - before we’re all screwed.
Nationally, Europe-wide and globally, what we’ve got ourselves into is just not working and it will not be long before we pay for that.
One social evening, someone asked the question, “If you had one wish, what would if be for?” A woman answered “comfort!” Someone else said, “Security!” I thought, “Well, how do you ultimately achieve these things?”
To really answer a question of this sort you need to examine the extremes; I had the mental picture of old ladies I had met who sat in front of their fires in their comfiest arm chair all wrapped up - and they were neither happy, warm nor comfortable; then I remembered back in ’77, sleeping on stony ground in Morocco - the first two nights I tossed and turned but the third night I was so tired I could sleep anywhere - and so I did. Then there’s ‘security’; you can have the most solid dwelling, the most guaranteed job, the best insurance policy, whatever - and you can lose it all in a flash. Foot loose and fancy free in Morocco with very little security but an openness of heart - magic happened all the time. So, I’d say that the best way to have comfort is to be able to cope with discomfort, and the best way to have security is to throw the concept out-the-window. What I gleaned from that evening is that with most of the big questions to life, the opposite of the obvious is usually true.
I am not saying chuck it all away and hit the road, I am saying that a question isn’t properly answered until you’ve looked at its extreme cases. The old Zen thing about ‘giving up attachment’ is not about giving away all your possessions - but giving up your attachment to them.
Those big questions? Who does this country or this WORLD really belong to? I’m not a big God-botherer but, lets say for the sake of argument that God was here - wouldn’t it be fair to say that the world belonged to Him/Her? And who is this God person anyway? Your neighbour, your politician, that lost and lonely girl sleeping in a cardboard box? Who is to say that this world belongs to this person, that person, or the other? It would seem fair to reason that you have as much right to it as anyone - aren’t we all supposed to be born equal? (Yeah, right!) Including that African making the dodgy trip across the Med’ to France in the dead of night, hoping for a better life.
Well, I’ve had a little flurry of rantingness here and, like some the rest of you, skidded off the road a few times but, swerving back to it, I’d like to see my fellow Earthlings stop for a long moment and really ask themselves just what is truly important in life: to get their priorities straight.
One thing that attracted me to France was that, in general, I found the people to be honest and to put people and the family before riches. I think that people like that, if they were living in a village and using the barter system, they would each appreciate what the others had to offer. One can extrapolate from that as a basis upon which to build.
I am aware that to change the world, I need to start with myself: the only thing I can do for you is to work upon me - the only thing you can do for me is to work upon yourself.
OK, just how can we start from scratch…? I’m looking for answers; not road-blocks, svp.