trastu

Yes, quite obviously the sensible thing would have been to ask one of the villagers what was expected but since my understanding of french is way behind my spoken french I probably would have been none the wiser and so decided to ask on the forum. The village is quite small but the gathering was held in a huge barn belonging to the son of the local farmer.

Yes, thank you so much for the lexibar link Will - so much easier (and faster) than toggling between the English and French keyboards which is what I've been doing!!

Hi Jan I have just had a peek at your photo album and have to say how amazing they all are. Thank you so much for sharing them with us, you really do have a rare talent. Kind regards Tracey

Thank you everyone for your prompt replies. We have just come back from the gathering and wanted to say how absolutely brilliant it was. Everyone from the village was there. At first we had an apperatif and afterwards we all sat down at two huge tables in the barn and had a meal of cold meat and salad and lots of homemade wine. A really lovely french lady took us under her wing and introduced us to everyone and even though my french isn't too bad she endeavoured to make sure we understood everything that was being said. The atmosphere was fantastic and although everyone had quite a lot of wine there was no rowdiness, everyone was so friendly and made us feel so welcome. The children were so well mannered and their behaviour was impeccable. For us it is this kind of community spirit that makes living in France so wonderful. We ended up taking some wine and food to contribute. All in all an absolutely wonderful afternoon spent with some of the nicest people you could want to meet.

Hi everyone We have been invited to the yearly village gathering at someones home in the village. This will be the first time we have been to such a gathering. Is it likely to be a buffet where everyone contributes something to it - we don't want to offend anyone or embarrass ourselves by doing the wrong thing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Tracey

Hi everyone Please forgive me if this question has been asked before - I have done a search (honestly!) We have registered our car here in France quickly and easily thanks to the advice of Sunday Driver who may be able to help us again. Do we follow the same procedure for a 50cc scooter? (It's a 56 plate) We were under the impression that such scooters do not need number plates in France so if this IS the case do we just take the UK plate off and get it insured and/or CT'd or does it need to be formally registered like the car? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.