A Frozen Molyneux
Well the temperature dropped to -9 overnight here at Molyneux and the cold stiff Siberian wind dropped off causing the lake to freeze up. It is currently -5 outside, although the skies are a gorgeous blue. It really is a beautiful sight!
This is only the second time I have seen it completely frozen, the other being when we arrived in early January last year.
Molyneux in its winter clothes
Well like most of Europe we are feeling the biting Siberian winds over here at Molyneux. Temperature today is -4 with a wind chill it is nearer -11… and after our wander around the lake this I can confirm that it is truly bloody cold.
Thankfully the lake is still liquid, though without the wind I doubt this would be the case. The skies are bright blue, and the lake is looking stunning.
I have taken some photos which I will post up shortly. Helen and I have been busy clearing branches brought down by the winds, and strimming and tidying, doing all the jobs that need doing around any lake at this time of year.
We are looking forward to the spring when anglers start to arrive, although there is a lot to be done between now and then.
No rest for the wicked :-)
Wally & Helen
Morgane gets its final stocking of the year – another 12 carp, 4 commons and 8 mirrors, weights between 23lb and 31lb 12oz (the common)
Steph & Chris Dagg run Notaires & Alder lakes. Through this personal Blog, Steph is going to describe her experiences of moving to France and living the dream of many UK carp anglers.
1st January every year sees new taxes appearing on the scene in France as the ever-ingenious politicians find new ways to wrangle money out of us.
Amongst 2012’s offerings in France is the sugary drinks tax. A tax of €7.16 per hectolitre (= 100 litres) of such drinks, boissons sucrées, has been introduced. This will mean a 1-2 centime rise on the price of a can of drink. The proceeds are going to help fund l’assurance maladie (the public health insurance that the State provides).
Like the ban on tomato ketchup in schools, this is another tax that will Do Us Good and stop us becoming a nation of fatties, apparently. However, well known French economist Pierre Combris has pointed out the flaw in the government’s argument. Governments want to make money so they actually want us to carry on buying vast quantities of fizzy drinks since they’ll raise more tax that way. But if they achieve their avowed public health aim of putting us off these drinks of the devil, then they won’t raise very much revenue after all. Have they really thought this through?
Coca-Cola has already protested by not investing 17 million euros in its Bouches-du-Rhône factory in France. That’s a big financial blow to the country.
And will the small price hike break the habits of a lifetime? Smokers and drinkers resiliently take the annual increase in the cost of their vices on the chin, and carry on consuming. Will sugary drinks drinkers be equally resolute, or will the tax burst their bubble? We’ll see.
This tax won’t have much effect in our household. I don’t buy a lot of fizzy drinks or premixed squash, just the occasional bottle of orangina or coke at party time or for a treat. So it won’t be making a huge hole in my purse. And food prices have been going up so quickly generally lately that I’m not sure heavy consumers of the boissons will even notice the rise anyway. We’ve all got used to paying a different price for the same food item every week.
And will France be full of slim people by the end of the year? Hmmm …
I was hanging the washing on the clothes airer in front of the fire the other morning, which is how I dry the clothes in winter since neither budgetary nor planetary concerns will allow me to invest in a tumble drier. I idly wondered if Carla was doing the same thing chez les Sarkozy and quickly realised that was extremely unlikely. I also imagine it’s equally unlikely that the President of France and his family keep just the one room warm during winter, or buy stuff from the reduced shelf in the supermarket.
Now, don’t get me wrong. We were happy to downsize when we came here since it meant our lives became infinitely more interesting, challenging and meaningful than they had ever been. But there are an awful lot of people in this country who aren’t massively better off than we are. According to INSEE, the average monthly income in France is €2,068 (and 10% of the population are on less than €1,124). That’s an average salary of €24,816 and bear in mind that Paris will be skewing those figures upwards. I’ve also seen reports that give €19,000 as the annual average, and départments such as Creuse are a good bit lower. The net monthly income per household here is given as €1,893 which is €903 per person. Paris, département 75, in comparison is €3,374 per household, €1,769 per person. (Figs from this website.)
I don’t think many politicians, and particularly not presidential candidates, are living on those average levels of salary. So all this got me to wondering how ‘in touch’ those candidates are with real life. Are they affected by any of the austerity measures, or any of these ‘green’ or ‘anti obesity’ taxes that keep whacking up the price of fuel and food items in the shops? Do they even notice them? I think not.
I did a quick dig around and discovered that three out of the four front-runners for presidency are extremely wealthy people. Sarkozy is worth more than 2 million euros. He’s on a salary of €240,000, which he increased from €101,000 when he became President. You can see why people are so keen to get the job if it means you can give yourself a nice pay rise!
Marine le Pen comes from a very wealthy family. Jean-Marie le Pen is a millionaire and his daughter isn’t short of a bob or two either. I’ve come across references to her as ‘la fille riche’ of M le Pen. And François Hollande, when with Ségolene Royal, declared property worth 1.8 m euros alone.
So it seems it’s François Bayrou, the son of a farmer, who is the most connected to the people he hopes to represent because of his humble background and lack of fortune. He’s also the only one of the big four who didn’t have an élite education.
Is it time for another revolution, but maybe without the guillotine this time around? It’s starting to look like wealthy aristocrats are at the country’s helm again. I for one don’t feel they have any real inkling of normal, everyday life in France. But my feelings are irrelevant since, as a non-French national yet tax paying resident, I can’t vote anyway!
Steph & Chris Dagg run Notaires & Alder lakes. Through this personal Blog, Steph is going to describe her experiences of moving to France and living the dream of many UK carp anglers.
follow: RSS
