Tricia

You should definitely go - nothing to be scared of. When I went they were very quick and efficient. You get the results straight away too - I think you have to wait for a letter in the UK.  That was my experience anyway.

They're being promoted in french gardening magazines too - revival of an ancient and forgotten vegetable . [:)] It's one of the few foods that I hate, not sure why, I just find them a bit slimey.

Message deleted in view of Debra's 2nd post.

Dance to your Daddy...............You shall have a fishy on a little dishy you shall have a fishy when the boat comes in. But the geordie words might confuse arab children [:)] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkMQJeiK50

I wonder why their family hasn't come up with an offer? You would think they could raise a sum from loans etc. Just before we moved here husband wanted to buy a boat and set sail around the world, but I said defintitely no - you go on your own! I'm so glad I did - sea sailing is b.....y frightening, even without pirates. So we came to France instead .I've just found this info - so it seems the govt. blocked an offer raising a sum for the ransome: .http://www.bwsailing.com/BWS_newsandnotes_Ransom-deal-blocked-for-Somali-hostages-Paul-and-Rachel-Chandler.html

That's interestin, Nick; So is choucroute a french or a german dish?

The same reason as these japanese douching with freezing water? http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=I1ituJVD-0E

or sauerkraut. I saw it in an article on Alsacian cooking and wondered how it's made. Sort of a pickled cabbage, but pickled in salt not vinegar. I was thinking of trying to make it, perhaps with red cabbage. Has anyone ever tried it, or made it?

When is a tablespoon not a tablespoon? When it's a french soup spoon. French spoon measures are different from english, the coffee spoon is different too. I've spent some time trying to work out what spoon is what [:)]

There's a retirement village at Castelnau d'Auzan, in NE Gers. Perhaps a bit far from you. I saw some houses for sale at 500.000€ so not cheap!

[quote user="lucylastic"]We have seen it all before and this enquiry will serve no useful purpose except to cost a lot of money, where the only people to come out of this the better for it will be, the consultants and lawyers. So what if Blair is shown to have fudged the reasons for going to war - then what?  Will he be prosecuted, I guess not. So where is the benefit of this enquiry?  So that everybody can feel justified in saying he lied? I cannot imagine that the Iraqi's who have seen their wives and children blown to pieces will gain much from it.     [/quote] I was going to post the same opinion - all of this came out in the Hutton enquiry. Two points I can't understand: 1)Blair's unquestioning support of Bush - was it simply as a result of 9/11? 2)How important was the fear that oil supply would be curtailed by Saddam Hussein? At the time many people thought this was the real reason for the invasion.

There could be other debts too that the seller has left behind eg taxes Hab.et Fonc. Outstanding amounts on the various checks of the house that the seller has to have done. Just guessing here.

A friend of mine was asked to act as a tax rep; by someone who had sold up and gone back to the UK.  It's a sort of guarantor for any tax owing, after all the accounting has been done, as BJSLIV says; She was a bit fed up as she had to pay out some money to the notaire, and the seller, now in the UK didn't reimburse her for ages..

This must be very upsetting for all concerned, so hard for your son. And he has given it a good try. I haven't had children at school here, but if it had happened to mine I would make an appt. to see the head of the the other school, and go to see her without your son first to see what they can offer. A trial sounds a good idea. Does he have any friends out of school? By the way I think children change schools here more than in the UK. Just a thought - does he have any learning or health difficulties?

You've picked my favourites too (Bach, Albinoni) I've got the Bach Toccata and Fugue in Dmi transcribed for "easy piano". This is another dramatic one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzd-AdxqNn4 My Dad used to play the organ. edit :don't seem to be able to get the link to work - it's the Widor Toccata.

Just had another example of the g/j confusion - a parcel was to be delivered by courier to us in Aujan, and instead was taken to Agen [:@]  The man rang up to ask me to spell the name and I thought I'd got it right!

It's all very well saying that chidren at risk should be "taken into care" but then where do they go? As RH says, families often have to be split because of lack of suitable places. When children are removed from their parents they are extremely disturbed by the move, and it takes very special foster parents to cope. There used to be family group homes, not sure if they still exist. As for the two brothers, I was listening to a phone in on the radio yesterday, and a woman in charge of a therapy centre was quite positive about the chances of reversing the habit of hating and destruction in this kind of child, but it all takes time. I used to work indirectly with this type of family too, and came across similar situations several times - the cycle of deprivation (of love.)   

We were in the same position and went to the bank to ask ( Credit Agricole.)  There were 2 types of loan which could apply, and they lent us the money. It does depend on your income, but you can always ask. Pat.

You can buy sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) in France. There's a section in all the supermarkets with various unbranded cleaning products. In white plastic bottles. But use it diluted, wear gloves and have windows and doors open. I've used it to scrub brown stain off old lambris.

Are the regulations on an overdraft  with CA the same as with a UK bank? I  ask because at one time I thought transfer of funds from the UK to our CA account would be late and we would be overdrawn for a few days. I asked for this to be "forgiven" and all they could offer was areduction in the overdraft charges for a limited time.

[quote user="Cendrillon"]Tricia Margaret wants to fly to Heathrow not Gatwick [/quote] Yes I know. It was just that she mentioned a flight that was one way Gatwick and the other Heathrow, which she now finds is not with BA. Sorry , I didn't express clearly!

What makes you think the land might be built on if you don't buy it? Some agricultural land can't be used for building. Are there a lot of newbuilds near your house? Is it near a busy town , and so desirable as a building plot? Another point you say someone in the UK said it was a bargain, but there's no comparison between agricultural land inthe UK and in France. Just look on some of the immo. websites - there are loads of building plots for sale, and very cheap. Depends where you live mind - near big towns it's dearer.

It depends whether you want them to dissolve and thicken the soup, or stay firm, in chunks. Those for purée go mushy, and I find that the pink skinned ones stay firm. (Don't know the proper names.)

Margaret - are you sure BA fly Toulouse to Gatwick? I thought they stopped using Gatwick last year. I need to go to Gatwick, and used to fly with BA, but since they stopped now have to go with Easyjet, which is ok too.

I read it a while ago, before we came to France, and again last year. I enjoyed it [:)] Perhaps I am easy to please.