N°150 g Octobre 2017 p.39

ÉDUCATION

ET

CULTURE

An Englishman in Vaugneray

A Franco-Englishman in Vaugneray

Well, hopefully I will be by the time you read this. I had an appointment at the Préfecture in September to ask for French nationality. So is it better to be French or better to be English ?

France v. EnglandTelevision: In England we have the BBC. In France you have Patrick Sébastien and ‘Joséphine, ange gardien’. England +1pt

Food: England has fish and chips, English breakfast, and that’s about it. France is world famous for its gastronomy. France +1pt

Sport: France has the Tour de France bicycle race. England has Wimbledon. England has better Football and Rugby records against France, but France has Zinedine Zidane, Alain Prost, Tony Parker and the incredible Teddy Riner. +1pt each

Music: France has and has had some great artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Daniel Balavoine, Téléphone, Daft Punk and David Guetta. However it’s difficult to compete with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Sting and Adele. England +1pt

Weather : To be fair it doesn’t always rain in England. France +1pt

Geography: France is the number one tourist destination in the world. There are beaches for the summer, mountains to ski in the winter and wonderful countryside all year round. France +1pt

Phlegm: Nobody can better the English for phlegm. England +1pt

Motor industry: England had a great motor industry in the past. Some of the names still exist – Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Mini, Lotus, Land Rover, MG – but they are now owned by foreign companies. France has PSA and Renault. It is the third largest producer of cars in Europe. France +1pt

Drinking: The English have pubs and very good beer. The French have Champagne and excellent wines. +1pt each

Priorité à droite: This is supposed to be a simple road rule but the French do everything they can to put them in the most crazy places. It’s also not very logical as a roun-dabout (rond point) is priorité à gauche. France -1pt

Language: English is used in inter-national business, on the internet and is an official language in more than 80 countries. English grammar is also easier than French conjuga-tion. Interestingly thanks to William the Conqueror and his Norman Conquest of England in 1066, 45% of English vocabulary comes from French. England +1pt

Bureaucracy: To become French I had to have two appointments. It

took a year to get the first appoint-ment. The second appointment was one year after the first but I had to renew all my documents for the second appointment because they had to be less than three months old. *UPDATE: My applica-tion is being sent to the ministère – he will answer in one year !France -2pts

Women and fashion : French women are the most beautiful in the world – Brigitte Bardot, Sophie Marceau, Isabelle Adjani, Marion Cotillard and my wife. They are also the best dressed. France +2pts

Revolutions: France is in its fifth republic. England has had two revo-lutions at most. France +1pt

The Chunnel or Channel Tunnel: We did it together ! +1pt each

Final score: France 7 - England 7