Club Arnage

I am hearing about a lot of rioting, burning of cars and blowing up of buildings, plus rampaging "students" on the trains who are beating up the passengers and robbing them.

Also I have heard that Bird Flu has begun in France.

How safe is it going to be to go to Le Mans in 2006?  (After we get there it will be as safe as ever, I am sure, but how about the actually getting there part?)

There does seem to be a lot of social unrest currently.  Tourists and passers by mugged in daylight in central Paris.
It could look worse than it actually is but not easy to say from the outside.

With regard to bird flu - until it mutates and makes a contagious form in humans then unless you are an ornithologist or keep fowl then thats nothing to worry about.

Bird flu will probably be in Britain before the year is out, lets hope the government don't make a hash of things like they did with foot & mouth!

Well I've been out there when they were burning Sheep and blockading road with tractors and so on.  Fortunately I didn't actualy see any of it.  All of the trouble has been in Paris so far this year.  IMHO it's so far away from Le Mans that it's not worth worrying about.  At the end of the day they are upset with the Govt.  not the ACO. 

As far as Bird Flu goes how many people do you know have been infected.

t

Tom, does that mean it is still okay to actually sit on the bog seat :o

Is it ever???

Del

Well I supose you could if you could find one.  There seems to be a lack of them in France.  Infact  someone seems to goaround nickig the Bogs too.  Most time you just find the hole in ground where it used to be.

t.

I dont think this is strictly true, but it has been mostly in the bigger cities.

F

Police have been investigating this but they have nothing to go on.

Hi Kate  ;D

We went to Lille in December when there was lots of rioting going on in France, we had a fantastic time and the city was wonderful although I believe there were riots in some of Lille.

Unless you're going to the "wrong" parts of cities where there is rioting,  I can't imagine that there will be a problem.  It certainly wouldn't put me off going to Le Mans or to anywhere else in France.

As for bird flu - if it's going to mutate then it's likely to get to Britain anyway and if I'm gonna get it I'd rather have been to Le Mans and had fun!! 

Are you planning to come over this year?  I thought you couldn't make it?

Would be lovely to see you!

Well said. I'm sure a weeks 'retox' keeps it at bay anyway. Either that or Hensip

Stu, how about an evenings exposure to the Gimp and a few large Tropicoma's, that's a mighty powerful concoction.

What about Stella? ;D

Drink Stella and you won't care

You'll be fine Kate

The main airports wont have too many issues with security and then  if youre taking a car straight out it'll have local plates and no one will bat an eye lid.

Kate, this needs to be put into context,  sure there has been some local isolated unrest, and, birds have died through "bird flu", also I believe about 100 people WORLDWIDE have died of the virus.  I'll stand to be corrected; the virus strain has only involved creature to human and no reported instances of the virus mutating thus enabling human to human infection. In those instances where human infection has happened the people have lived in very close proximity to the creatures.

If we Europeans believed 1% of the stories that come out of North America we would never visit, what with the chance of murder, mugging, government conspiracy, alien abduction, religious group suicide etc.

As you know journalists cannot resist the chance of selling a story and will stretch the facts to achieve this.  Use some common sense; its not stopping us from travelling and neither should it stop you.

Hear, hear...

The reports of violence in Paris were, I read, originally in a Ghetto area.

Martini...

Today apparantly over 1 million people "protesting" in Paris and other cities... so thats about normal for France!  Police were pelting em with paintballs.... :)

As for avian flu, you dont have to worry about it unless you are chicken!

 :P

PROBABLY THE PARISIAN EQUIVALENT OF HOUX ANNEXE ;D

Stop it and play nicely with the other children Mr Spider  :)

Well, that is why I asked.  We don't get a 'balanced' viewpoint over here and they make it look as if everything is under seige (because it makes a better story).  My parents say the same thing about Canada; the only time Canada is in the news in Alabama is when something terrible is happening or a politician does something anti-American.  Most of the time Toronto is no more dangerous than Atlanta, except that in Atlanta you can shoot back.   ;D

Piglet, I have had an invitation from a couple of friends to share a motor home if they decide to go, which is pretty nebulous -- so I am not really planning on it but wanted to check on the safety just in case.   8) I would not be working if I did go, just over there for the fun.  (For once!)

Having lived in the US for years, i can say that news is only sensation based and very very onesided. You only hear what the news stations want you to hear, goes for Iraq and Afganistan as wel as it goes for birdflu and riots in France. Thank god we do things differently in Europe.

Don't worry, come over and have fun. You won't see anything having to do with riots, unless of course one of the bogblocks starts running over ;D As for birdflu in humans. It is highly unlikely to start spreading from human to human, because this virus resides deep in the lungs were it does it's damage, making it hard to cough up and form aerosols which can spread trough the air.

I packing some of these.

A bear, a lion and a chicken meet.

The Bear says: "If I roar in the forest, the entire forest is shivering with fear."

The Lion says: "If I roar in the desert, the entire desert is afraid of me."

Then the Chicken says: "Big deal. I only have to cough, and the entire planet sh*t's itself

"Most of the time Toronto is no more dangerous than Atlanta, except that in Atlanta you can shoot back."

When Texas enacted the concealed carry gun law, all the gun opposition including the media (state and national) said there would be carnage in the streets.  No such thing has happened.  In fact, it's my understanding that crime against citizens has actully dropped, as in Florida, because the evil doers don't know who has a gun and for fear that they will get their ass shot if they try to mess around with the wrong guy or gal.  It has been a successful deterent.  I'm glad some things the government does turns out to be the right thing to do, at least so far.  That's pretty rare these days.
Yeee Haaa!!!! 

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH and I thought those things were to wash off muddy shoes, I did think that they were all smelly at the time  :o

Copyright The Two Ronnies. 198n

 ;D

Kate,
You're quite right to worry, and anyone else out there who thinks this is a joke, better think again and get a little more informed.
Uncle Albert (a war veteran - sniper) has been recalled back to his old regiment and has been stationed, along with some of his old comrades-in-arms, at regular intervals along the south coast (the bit that faces the rest of Europe) with orders to shoot anything out of the sky with feathers heading this way. His orders are 'shoot to kill'. He has plenty of ammunition, and so far he has got through several magazines (he had to choke a chicken this morning!!).
I hear that Rouen has been blockaded by mucus covered foie-gras chefs, and it's getting nastier by the hour. Quite what  the repercussions for tourism and the 24 hour race will be, I'm not sure, but I don't think the signs are good - Arnage village had a family of infected storks taken away under guard last night. Personally, I reckon the place is a tinderbox.
H

Very good

Somehow, I get the feeling that anyone related to you would be an expert at choking the chicken.

And Rouen is always blockade by someone.

One dead swan and half of Scotland is paralytic.

Honestly.  Those Scots will find any excuse to have a drink!