Lehaut

I don't know if they rule the world or just think they do. We try to avoid watching US TV series as they (police, armed forces, politicians) portray themselves, and often call themselves, "the best of the best" whereas in real life they appear to anything but. That said, the UK seem to have their fair share of halfwits in positions of responsibility who have no problem in proving their idiocy.

I have no problem with the main supermarkets as we have their loyalty cards and see the receipts just as we leave the till on the phone. The only problem is with the smaller stores where we have no such card.

I wonder if they have thought the no automatic issue of receipts through? Not my original thought but, if the security guard stops you coming out of a shop and confronts you with "I think you have stolen that item" and you reply "no" and show them the receipt all is well. Under the new rules, no receipt so no easy proof you have, or have not, paid for the goods. I don't see them taking you back to a till and have the cashier scroll through all the electronic receipts to find yours (if you can even remember which till you used). Certainly in the self scans in Ikea we have been challenged by the security staff who have looked at the paper receipt (in the old days) and then looked at the chariot.

I got caught in a mountain storm on the Route. Its the only time I have had to stop whilst on a motorbike because of the rain. The roads turned into rivers. I arrived at the camp site to find it half flooded and no electricity for most of the night - still charged me the full amount though. Very like Scotland 🙂

I have no idea. Dozens of fires are started deliberately, occasionally by volunteer fire fighters themselves: https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20220729-who-is-setting-fire-to-france-s-forests-and-why-arson-pyromania This punishment quoted in the article seems, regrettably to have fallen out of favour "Making the distinction was important, he says, since arsonists were often sentenced to death." And then you have those who throw their fag ends out of car windows, or just by the side of the road without a thought of the potential risks (if they cannot figure out the danger to themselves, then other effects will not enter their heads) Those who put out their BBQs by throwing the embers on the ground, or throw glass bottles away which can start fires. Before we moved to our house in Normandy the orchard grass grew long and dry in the summer. My aunt (an ex head teacher in Manchester) on a holiday there thought the most expeditious way to "cut it" was to set fire to it! Luckily the other people with her got it under control. My faith in humanity decreases day after day.

Indeed Menthe. We did a 26km cycle ride from the flat last week, Mostly on cycle paths, past the lock and fish ladder at Vertou, along the Sévre under the trees, up a steep hill and into the vines. Coasted down tracks and through a forest, dived down some tiny lanes, through a disused quarry to the locks. Back along a different stretch of the Sévre and home. You can do a different route alongside a river 6 days a week here. Have done the Route Napoléon on a motor bike - one of the best in France, if you ignore the wreckage of motor bikes along the way and stories of them coming off and ending up in a tree etc. Did not like "Die" being one of the points on the route though, sounded like bad omen. France really does have it all, if you are one of the ones fortunate to make the most of it. And you do not have to be rich.

Yes, and Amsterdam in June this year. Pedestrians are at the bottom of the safety chain there!

Watched something about this and rip currents on French TV. For me, the saddest thing was the lifeguards having to tell/remind parents not to let their small children going into the sea alone. And then there are the inflatable floats in an off shore wind 🙂

The nudity was to highlight the vulnerability to car drivers For this very reason I installed a video recorder in our car yesterday. I had to brake on a roundabout as a mother in a child carrying bike drove straight out in front of me as I was going round and indicating. She was as speed, no hand signals and as you say, defence it difficult.

I think it is very hard if not impossible to have a "debate" on a forum. You need two sides to put up opposing views and an audience to vote. Not going to happen here. We lived all over the UK including 3 years living on a narrow boat at Rickmansworth whilst we worked at the HQ at Northwood. We were going to buy a Dutch sailing barge to sail through Europe when a friend talked about a lock keepers cottage recently bought in France. We came across and realised that we could have a far better quality of life here than we could reasonably expect in the UK. Drew up a 5 year plan which included getting pregnant (twice) and stuck to it. 27 years later and we have no doubt that we made the right decision for the right reason. Yes the UK has some amazing scenery (we have done the Wild Atlantic Way, the centre of Ireland, End to Enders, NC 500 Pennines, lake etc in recent years). You share all this with thousands of others! We have done trips of up to 10,000km in Europe through different countries with no difficulties or passport. Both boys have done/are doing university with a freedom and quality of instruction we could not have hoped for in the UK (Our eldest doing his double Masters at Imperial College taught there and was not impressed by level of the UK students). Yes the French and their systems have challenges, we will never speak French like the French and they still treat us a immigrants in some cases, but its all been well worth it. There is little adventure in moving from Scotland to Portsmouth by comparison (have done it). Same language, far worse traffic and schools not as good. If you have done the M27 commute at 0730 you know how not an adventure that is!

In this particular case it was to highlight the fragility of cyclists. they hoped to bring to peoples attention by their nudity that cyclists are not well protected and that motorists and other road users should take more care. Those of us who cycle are well aware of this, this stunt was aimed at those who drive blind to such things. About 6 did turn up, but there were more police so they did not get far

Sorry, my bad, I clicked on the Declare mes Achats, that took me to the fill in page

Got passed the Ignore bit, entered I was over 18, next page wanted all my details, name address etc so stopped there.

Lidl own make. 200gms wholemeal flour, 40gms Sarrazin, 300gm francine seed flour, plus 60 gms seeds plus wheatgerm.

Back to the bread, Sunday's was not too bad, crisp crust and butter when still warm.

Not a budding criminal master mind in the making😁

Blimey that was indeed quick. Having eaten shell fish in the USA, I much prefer cold water shell fish as, to me, they have more taste. That goes for the fish too.

Menthe I have often wondered if you could eat all the shell, thanks for clearing that up. No problem with the dead mans fingers?

Nearly every time I have a check up the Dr makes me lie on her couch for 5 mins to calm the "white coat" syndrome. My wife has no blood pressure probs at all - until she has a hospital check up then it soars up. I had a "stress test" in Avranches hospital in 2014. In the waiting room there were a lot of glum faces. After a while one of the other patients asked if I had seen this heart Dr before. When I said, no, the room came alive with animated people warning me that you had to gauge the mood he was in before speaking as he could be very difficult!! As it turned out, he said to me that he would speak either French, German or Latin, not English. I asked to whom he spoke Latin, a priest patient it appeared. After that we got on like a house on fire. The bike stress test was a waste of time, as there was nothing wrong with me. Menthe when I do my test, I have to average all of them out, not to take any notice of the individual results. I only found out 5 weeks ago that I have a heart murmur (or Souffle in French). I had no idea. It was in my notes. What I think has happened is the Dr, listening to my chest etc said "Souffle" which I took to mean "Breath" when she actually was commenting on the defect. It was only when the Cardio was doing the echograph that he mentioned it. Its only very small, but I was very surprised my my misunderstanding.

That is good to know I am not being too slow. My favourite is to mix a hard boiled egg, mayo , salt and pepper into the mix before putting it back into the shell. And, like you, a couple of slices of home made bread, but without the butter. I am not sure that I could order it in a restaurant. For me, the reward of doing all the prep in the afternoon is to sit down for dinner and eat the whole thing in one go!! Pausing for the occasional sip of white wine a Valancy vielle vine last night.

I am the only one in the family that likes crab, which is not a problem as I eat the whole thing (brown crab). I had one last night, having bought a fresh live one in the morning. It normally takes me about 40 mins to get all the meat out, I have the special French kit for doing it. Despite doing it many times, I still seem to take a long time to do it. Quite fastidious about getting as much meat out from all the small legs and central bony bit, with as few crunchy parts as possible. How long do other people take out of interest?

We have used a Lidl bread maker for several years. The current one was on special offer 3 years ago for 24€, so snapped it up and put the other one away just in case. Like the other posters, my usual bread mix has given mixed results recently. I am currently using extra water, natural yeast activated with a bit of brown sugar and am back to lighter half and half wholemeal seed bread, 2 times a week. I had a wrist blood pressure monitor, which started giving horrendously high results, so that went and I got a German arm one which gives much better results, tested on all family and allies with what the Dr uses for her "classic" cuff and stethoscope method.

Well that's my Sunday cycle ride cancelled 🙂 https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/loire-atlantique/le-prefet-interdit-la-manifestation-des-cyclistes-denudes-a-nantes-c2145d70-3220-11ee-a90d-d926eb9e6656

Have seen the wave lashed coast as a result of storm Patricia on the French Atlantic coast (and people went swimming in it?). Out eldest is doing his post Doc at Oist, a University on the island of Okinawa Japan. They have been hit by tropical storm Dora. It has veered to the North and is expected to return for a second strike. No electricity for 5 days, freezer contents lost and having to sleep on campus to get some respite from the nearly 100% humidity and high temperatures. He sent us this picture which show the force of the wind when these things hit. Not clear what happened to the driver!

Ha, got it in one Menthe. Dived under the ice in frozen Scottish sea lochs for fun, many hours spend on an open submarine bridge in snow storms off the West coast gives me the ability to wear shorts and T shirts until late October. Our neighbours here just shiver looking at me 🙂 Our first winter in Normandy new to the house with two small children the fosse blocked. At -15°C outside the ground was so cold it took two hours to break up the soil with a pick axe, real winters in those days. Knowing it had snowed by the silence outside was a lovely thing to wake up to.