That high pitched noise women make

[Crankarm]

Oh good, nobody's beaten me to it, Are you sure it wasn't a windscreen viper?

No, it was a Dodge Viper.

A pic would have been useful.

 

[Noodley]

Venomous snakes, rabid dogs, frogs legs and wolves. France is definitely foreign .

Ah crankers, good to see you. I'd heard you had flounced like a big gurl but knew it would not be true.

Welcome back

 

[laurence]

poor snakey.

we have lizards and venomous snakeys too.

 

[Globalti]

In 1980 I worked for the summer as a walking leader for Ramblers Holiday in the Alps. On the first day of the first holiday an old boy in the group got bitten by a sand viper, vipera ammodytes, which is more venomous than the common viper found in the UK. He was OK; refused the serum and went to hospital for the night but was back next day shaking saplings and overturning boulders looking for more reptiles - he was an eminent herpatologist and in a lifetime as Government Chief Vet in Kenya he had never been bitten by a snake. He kept the viper and several lizards in his cupboard in the hotel room for 2 weeks; the cleaner refused to set foot in there.

Years later Mrs Gti and I found a dark brown viper coiled up on a tree stump in the same area while on a walking holiday. I waved a stick at it, it moved and we both jumped a foot into the air!

 

[slugonabike]

I'm very glad there wasn't a photo as I loathe sssssssssnakes! I cycled over an adder in the New Forest last year - by the time I had realised that the stick in front of me was moving I was too close to risk putting my feet down . I almost stepped on one once when I was out running on our local heath, that prompted a bit of a melt down ...

 

[661-Pete]

Venomous snakes, rabid dogs, frogs legs and wolves. France is definitely foreign .

Venomous snakes: Britain has those too - remember the adder? I think your chances of being bitten are negligible.

Rabid dogs: ah, you must be thinking of the outbreak in the Agen region a few years ago. We were there at the time, there was little panic but all the locals were queueing up at the vets to have their pooches vaccinated: also dogs were muzzled and kept under close control. Perhaps a good thing?!

Frogs legs? Despite numbers visits to restaurants we've never seen cuisses de grenouilles on the menu yet? Maybe we haven't been to the posh-enough restaurants? But escargots are commonplace. I'm not keen on them, though I like seafood.

Wolves? Never heard of any. Though they do have wild boar. We once stopped to let a whole extended family cross the road ahead of us. The piglets ('boarlets'?) with their stripy coats, were adorable! But adult boars must be treated with respect. Note, there are boars in England now, too...

 

[Panter]

Ah well, at least your cat got to torture some more innocent wildlife to death, eh?

 

[slugonabike]

661-pete, it appears that wolves have re-entered France and inhabit the Alpine regions.

 

[661-Pete]

661-pete, it appears that wolves have re-entered France and inhabit the Alpine regions.

Ah! Seems I was mistaken: see here.

 

[vernon]

Frogs legs? Despite numbers visits to restaurants we've never seen cuisses de grenouilles on the menu yet? Maybe we haven't been to the posh-enough restaurants? But escargots are commonplace. I'm not keen on them, though I like seafood.

Could be regional. I recall when cycling around Macon and Dijon that I had two or three days of seeing grenoulleries and I was unfortunate enough to be either too early, too late or there on the wrong day to get an opportunity to sample frogs legs.

 

[vernon]

Note, there are boars in England now, too...

Always been present especially in bars pontificating to a bored audience.

 

[Globalti]

I've eaten frog legs; they are like very skinny chicken wings, little tiny morsels of meat on long sticks. As with snails the flavour comes from the sauce.

 

[ChrisKH]

People sometimes forget we have a poisonous snake in the UK. A boy in the hospital bed next to me when I was 8 had tried to pick an Adder up and not surprisingly it bit him on the thumb. More recently, closer to home there was a fenced off bit of wasteland with grass growing out the edges. Someone parked their car and dropped their car keys in the grass and just bent down to pick them up and Wam! got bitten on the hand. Both ok after hospital treatment.

 

[661-Pete]

It's sad that so many people have fear of snakes - they are really a delight to watch, especially the elegant way they move along. But alas becoming more and more scarce. I was walking in the heathland of Ashdown Forest a while ago, was about to step over a tussock when I heard a strange hissing sound. I thought to myself, I'll bet I know what that is, so I quickly stepped back and watched. Sure enough a small adder emerged from the tussock, surveyed my intrusion with some signs of annoyance, then retreated in disgust back into the tussock. Whether it could have bitten me, had I trodden on it, is a moot point: I was wearing thick trousers and boots. But I've had other near misses.

 

[slugonabike]

The little blighters still seem common enough down here, Pete! I know they are not slimey, I actually managed to hold a python once - didn't help the phobia one bit though.