if we leave your infantile and stupid 'kicked out' idea where it belongs
and run with am I 'better off since' I left and how is life in France?
yes, yes, yes ----------- far better off
Why is the question. The answer is that all I loved about Australia is here - and it's more valued, better described, more lived up to and better done.
There are differences beyond what the people's do - there are the landscape differences, climate, build environment etc etc -
and some of those are difficult for Oz to do better even if it tried (because it's just different) -------- like in Fr. their can never be a sense of timelessness that one gets in oz when one is alone in a very big desert sitting on rocks that are the oldest on earth -
you don't get that in France. But, you do get a rock solid sense of history - and prehistory - which makes aboriginal habitation look like new kids on the block.
But, when one gets to what both peoples love to do in life --------- Fr for me, beats Oz hands down.
They do mostly the same things. But, it's just plain better in France ------- even the 'barbie' --------- which we as Aussies think it's iconic for Oz - well, yeah - kinda - it is
chuck a shrimp on the barbie - but, understand this ------------ the French invented it
at least - even if one believes that the word is Caribbean Indian, it's also true that the French had barbe à queue ("from beard to tail") and people were barbequing in France way way before any aboriginals even set foot in Australia and certainly before any Caribbeans' came into being - so, the French have a bit of cred there.
To what many consider a 'way of life' in Oz - long weekends, looking forward to knock off time and a drink, to go fishing, to go to the beach, to go walking, to picnic, to go to the footy ---------------- all of that stuff
Ozzies look like beginners in comparison to the French
so, yeah ----------- better off? --------- by a country mile - my only real complaint is that France is changing - and changing too fast
the long long long lunch with wine, that's more unusual than usual now. The finding places to eat that are traditional that were everywhere - well, no - that's not easy - it's a sheer delight when you get it. But, it's not as it used to be.
The food - well machines have taken over a lot from hands of love. You can get what you want - but, without some 'French help' ------- it would not be easy. If one depended on the internet and travel guides - well - that alone is enough to change things.
Trooping around with lots of time and knowing people who have been kids in the 60's or so and even who lived through the WW2 - so they remember special places, they know where is what and what the areas are good for ---------- that's the way to go.
For me - who knows quite a lot of Oz - a lot of places in Oz have just changed beyond recognition and the old - is now gone and can't be experienced.
In France - it's changing too - but, it's not mission impossible to sit and experience something that hasn't changed much in a very long time.
And, so much of it is almost secret. If I'm near where the battle below was - I always divert and stop for a brief while ---------- because it can be argued that it's where Europe was born -
and hardly anyone ever goes there - ie. foreigners (and the vast majority of French don't even know it exists) - and there's almost nothing there - just an obelisque
one has to ask - how is it possible that this is just so overlooked - and yet - here it is, totally accessible
The three-year Carolingian Civil War culminated in the decisive
Battle of Fontenoy, also called the
Battle of Fontenoy-en-Puisaye,
[1] fought at
Fontenoy, near
Auxerre, on 25 June 841. The war was fought to decide the territorial inheritances of
Charlemagne's grandsons—the division of the
Carolingian Empire among the three surviving sons of
Louis the Pious. Despite Louis' provisions for succession, war broke out between his sons and nephews. The battle has been described as a major defeat for the allied forces of
Lothair I of Italy and
Pepin II of Aquitaine, and a victory for
Charles the Bald and
Louis the German. Hostilities dragged on for another two years until the
Treaty of Verdun, which had a major influence on subsequent European history.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Obélisque De La Bataille De Fontenoy en 841/@47.6498801,3.2529413,13z/data=!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x47efc9457e54f161:0x3a61016250832e8d!2s89520 Fontenoy!3b1!8m2!3d47.648884!4d3.30527!16s/m/03qf6dc!3m5!1s0x47efc940173d9f67:0x6bee6fb11f5ebce7!8m2!3d47.6432119!4d3.3124597!16s/g/11ghnqp6g2?entry=ttu
so better off? ---------yeah - being very remote in Oz ------- that's a young persons game, I've done that. Now, sitting in the sun on a beautiful day in some tiny French village where you turn up to a restaurant and you get what they have - there's a choice - eat or not ------------ like it was a long long long long time ago
