Le Puy en valay
Marlene Blanshay
This is kind of off topic but on a lighter note, to maybe take our minds
off all this tragedy momentarily.
The one thing that's noteable about that town, for me anyways is its
notoriety among the inlaws. My inlaws have another son, who is kind of a
moron, and his spouse is french, and she hails from guess-where! Le Puy en
Valay! She's also a dull-witted, pasty-skinned, straggly haired, overbred
french aristocrat, and from what I understand her whole family is like
that. Essentially, she's a dumb hick, but she has a pulse, which is enough
for Dave and so they're together. But my inlaws think she's made of gold
(I think they're just happy that dave found someone who will have sex with
him). They're just fascinated with the fact that she's from FRANCE, which
in their mind makes her superhuman, and they never fail at any opportunity
to bring up LE PUY EN VALAY, and the family's CHATEAU (which they've
visited). Just mention Europe and somehow, LE PUY EN VALAY comes up, and
out come the photos and maps and the entire occasion ends up being about
Miss Le Puy. So with Paris nice, I had a feeling that her family would
tell her about the stage and we'd hear all about YOu know what. But none
of them follow sports much, and dave knows nothing about sports at all- he
didn't even know who Lance Armstrong was. For us, this is something we
follow because we like the sport, not because it has something to do with
LE PUY EN VALAY!
Anyways, with this terrible tragedy, I know now we'll end up hearing about
it anyways, only this will be about the terrible risks of cycling or
something like that. The funny thing about Miss Puy is that she used to
cycle but refused to wear a helmet 'because I have too much hair', her
words exactly, even though we've told her about the dangers, etc. Which
is actually true, she has this straggly mop of hair that she refuses to
cut or style. I'm like, okay, well it's not like there's much up there to
protect, LOL. As for their bikes, they now sit rusting in our garage (we
let them store them there), because since the kids they don't use them
anymore anyways.
So that's my little anecdote about Le Puy en Valay. Actually it sounds
like a nice place, and if I'm not mistaken the tour did a stage there a
few years ago, maybe 1996 or 1995.
Bart
another better. I will do my contribution by explaining differences between
our countries and political systems through the concept of Cow Politics.
feel free to add.
Socialism
You have 2 cows, and give one to your neighbour who has none.
Communism
You have 2 cows, the government takes both and gives you some milk.
Fascism
You have 2 cows, the government shoots you and slaughters the cows for the
army.
Bureaucracy
You have 2 cows, the government takes both, shoots one, milks the other and
pours the milk.
Traditional Capitalism
You have 2 cows, you trade one for a bull, breed a lot of cattle, and live
from rent in the end.
American system
You have 2 cows, you sell one and force the other to produce for 4. When it
drops dead you are surprised.
French system
You have 2 cows, AND THEY ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT COWS IN THE WORLD!!!
Brittish system
You have 2 cows, they are mad.
Italian system
You have 2 cows, but you don't know where exactly.... and now it's time to
have some pasta.
Swiss system
You've got 500 cows but none belongs to you. You earn big money keeping
them for "unknown" foreigners.
Flemish system
You have 2 cows; you sell 3 to your daughter firm in Korea and book in the
money your mother in-law obtained for you from a Brussels bank; you talk an
American firm into buying your 4 cows so you can make 5 cows tax-deductable.
The subsidies Europe gives you for the milk your 6 cows produce are invested
in the Korean arm. In your annual report you bring up 8 cows with a 9th
optional. You sell 3 cows to take over an American breeder. The Americans
find out you know shit about cows and your stalls end up empty.
Wallonian system
You have 2 cows, and go on strike because you want 3 of them.