France in all its glory

Something in the back of my head is telling me this morning's post slammed France a bit too hard, so this post is here to balance things out. The attitude of the French is enormously relaxed compared to the English. A 'Mediterranean' attitude to the world in many ways, France's fellow Latin neighbours also treat their own countries as the best things on Earth. No surprise that most have had fascist governments in the past century; and it is exactly the government that will help my argument: the problem with France is not the people, but the structure within which the people operate.

Take old Chirac for instance. He believed in his country, he put very capable people in top positions to address important issues. On the other hand his personal costs were staggering; Elysée bills reached €90m in 2005 but Mr Chirac had always been notorious for his food bills well before he arrived there. When mayor of Paris, he and his wife spent the equivalent of €251,000 on food in one year. Their personal food bill over eight years at Paris town hall was €2million, which includes €60 a day spent on herbal tea. Nothing was in place to stop him, and when a storm kicked off calling for him to be arrested once his presidency ended, he tried becoming a 'senator for life', also known as 'rich untouchable bureaucrat'.

France is proud to be French, I could slam France all day but they will still be happy being French, and the English will still be miserable! Maybe it's their good weather...

It's a new dawn, it's a new day

Today, Monday 17th of January, is the most miserable and depressing day of the year. How this came about I don't know but I do know it gives us the chance to make today a good one. I've just bought a new coffee table and am enjoying it with, surprise, a coffee and my laptop. Unemployment isn't hitting me as badly as many people in this country; my girlfriend was lucky enough to walk into a job, obviously doing a science at university was a good idea, I instead went for an Arts degree. I learned to write, somewhat well I think, and I learned to think for myself, hence this blog. See, we can think positive today.

It is raining, cloudy, windy. So much so that Radio 1 was commenting on the weather as I drove through it, giving me the impression they were nearby, which is what I like about England. We are all close to each other; this blog post probably doesn't make much sense, and I've probably lost many readers by this stage. A positive way of looking at this ramble of paragraph after paragraph is that I now know I need to work on my writing structure.

Saying I have always written is one thing, but actually writing will help you improve dramatically. Yes I know, maybe my earlier posts are better, but I am trying to find my flair, my muse, my style. Should I write about the news? or myself? does anyone really care? What about wit? or linguistic aptitude? Should I put a capital letter after a question mark? or not?

A bloke on the news said that on this miserable day we should try breaking our routine, baking a cake, reading our favorite book, cleaning the house REALLY well... instead I am going to go about my day as usual, I'm not saying I enjoy unemployment, but I'm practicing my writing skills to one day make a living out of them.

Here's a cheery note from Africa: the South Sudanese leader, Salva Kiir, has urged his people to forgive North Sudan for the war which ruined his people's lives in decades of war. I'm not going to say he's a saint just yet, but I would vote in favor of him getting a Nobel Peace Prize.

Staying positive isn't that difficult.