Frecossais
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Posts posted by Frecossais
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I too enjoy reading your blogs, Betty. they're like a touch of spring!
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Well he should be able to "speak in tongues". Look at the education he had.
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Chancer, maybe you aren't having enough salt in your diet, that can give you cramp.
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At a quiz evening where all the questions (set by me) were on matters French, I gave the answer to the question " What was the name of Claude Monet's garden?" as Givenchy! Still haven't lived it down.
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No, no, no. give me a satnav every time! Peace now reigns in our car since I discovered I could use ours without voice, visual directions are quite sufficient.Love it.
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Neither do I believe anyone would divorce over one thing.My map reading skills are non-existant, at least when in a car. I suffer from travel sickness, and can't read in a car, but every summer, my OH seemed to think I had turned into a competent navigator somehow. The number of rows we had over the issue was considerable.On one occasion we were running late to put our car on a train at Paris, so he handed me the map, saying there was a short-cut and could I direct him. We missed the train. However one good thing came out of it: he hasn't asked me to navigate since.We laugh about it these days.
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We are some of the second home owners who spend the first three days getting straight when we arrive in France, but that's mostly grass cutting and disposal . I'm not great on housework.We have an elderly neighbour who switches on our fridge and freezer in the morning of the day we arrive bless him. Other than that he just keeps an eye that the roof hasn't blown off or burglars haven't visited. We didn't ask him, he just does it and on the occasions when we have been burgled (two), or that our roof was damaged (once during a storm), he phoned us, and in the case of the roof, arranged a temporary covering until we could get there. We are endlessly grateful to him, and I know he likes it when we are there, because we see each other every day, and that's important to his feeling of security, since we are fairly isolated.Last autumn my OH put up a new porch roof for him when his was damaged by hailstones, and we cut his little bit of grass when we cut our own. We share bonfires too, so I don't feel that the help is all one way. Like others on this forum, we try to find some little thing we think he will like, we've brought him English wine, whisky, ginger beer, cheeses, shortbread etc, but don't get the impression that he is particularly taken with any of them except the shortbread.The garden is a problem, and I think the time is approaching when we will be looking for some little entreprise to cut our grass before we come. We won't be in France until May this year and I dread to think how high it will be.
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Like Sweet 17, I too see Hilary Mantell's description of Kate as being the one presented to us by the media. Remember the Waity Katy tag? That depicted her as characterless and passive. And today's sycophantic and coy references to the swelling tum made in BBC reports thoroughly enraged me.[:@]I thought the whole speech rambled quite a bit, (what was that about the public grief at the death of Diana being a focus for change that never came about?) but the historical content was very interesting.I have not read A Place of Greater Safety, but I will now. I have read both Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies and feel that I have far more insight into the Tudor period written about than I've ever got from any history book.
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I'm not talking about public gardens here, but the French people I know love and aim to emulate English gardens.
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I only have NHS hearing aids, so don't know whether privately bought ones have the same effects. Nor do I know anyone else who wears NHS aids, but I find that I get a lot more ear wax by wearing them and have to frequently have my ears syringed. I also get regular outer ear infections, not painful but itchy, for which I have to get an ear drop prescription. The plastic bit that fits in my ear turns yellow over time, even with regular cleaning, and I quite often get a whistling from my aids that is audible to people sitting near me. That said, I couldn't be without them, except when OH is watching something on TV that I'm not interested in. If I want to read, I just take them out.I'd be interested in knowing how your OH gets on with his in the fullness of time, Clair.
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Jo, I hope the outcome is swift and positive in this case. I'm sure you have so many things to think about following the unexpected death of your husband. I wish you all hassle-free dealings with the authorities, and extend my heartfelt sympathy.
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[quote user="idun"]LOL isn't that the definition of a ghetto/enclave, wanting the comfort of living amongst one's own rather than 'living' amongst the indigenous population???? And then my thought is always, why are they there, why the move? Not on holiday? I do understand holidays. So, do I understand it, I don't suppose that I ever will, because, my mentality is not live in such circumstances, it is quite alien to me. I remember well my embarrassment in having to ask for help when we first arrived in France, because ours was not a planned move, but merely a whim. And my only goal was independence and get on with french life, ASAP.And in some ways I feel for the original expat inhabitants of some areas, as they surely will have had to debrouiller and learn french and the french way. Just how much those moving there later will have 'used'(and maybe abused), good natured folk and their knowledge and to what degree, I really dread to think. I don't think that I have a different outlook to a lot of people. I would hear comments all the time in France about maghreban ghettos....... the cités, many many french people didn't like it, and I hear similar things in the UK about pakistani and indian ghettos, so what is different with 'les anglais' who do this, nothing as far as I am concerned. It is groups of people who want the comfort of being with their own and much of their own culture, when they have chosen to move to another country. [/quote]No Idun, but you have a different outlook from people who do want to live in France and at the same time socialise with other British who live here.That's fine and their views are fine too. It's called freedom of choice.[:)]
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Ghetto/enclave? A bit strong Idun. I think you will never understand that some people can want to live in another country but have the comfort(?) of being in touch with others who speak their own language.You have a very different outlook, that's all.
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I never had a teddy bear , well I can't remember having one anyway, but my girls had soft toys. One of them still has her "Doggy" that she got off my father, I remember her having hysterics when I put him in the washing machine once.Grandchildren have dozens of teddies........good for playing schools.[:)]
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Interesting question. Like you we buy our shuttle tickets with Tesco's reward points, though not normally the whole amount, and our friends use a frequent travellers scheme, where you buy 10 tickets (five returns) that you can take at any time during a period of 12 months subject to some restrictions about times of travel. Don't know offhand how much it costs, but they say it's a very good deal. Eurotunnel make extra money if you want to change the time of your travel etc, but as you say, you do wonder if many pay top dollar for their journeys.I prefer to take the tunnel because it's quicker and I'm not a good sailor, but OH says he misses the feeling of going on his holidays he gets when standing on board a ferry.
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Nice to hear you got a result Minnie. Now you can have fun planning how to spend it.[:D]
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How frustrating for you both, but I'm glad you seem to have got things moving again. Hope it won't be long before the telly can be turned down a little. [:)][:)]
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I believe that in Denmark, any collision between a pedestrian or cyclist and a car is always the fault of the motorist. This is because a car can be regarded as a lethal weapon.IMO a motorist should be held responsible unless it can be proved that the pedestrian or cyclist has done something stupid or dangerous, because they do at times. But then motorists aren't perfect either, and speed is not the only criterion, inattention causes accidents.
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I think the problem with very large people is that they don't look good in anything, trousers or skirts, but they have to wear something.I suppose you could always look away quickly?I concede that obese women should definitely not wear leggings or mini skirts.
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Thanks for the info Norman, very informative, though I still can't come up with a satisfying translation.It has last autumn's programme on it. I saw Marlene Bounniort who was fantastic, and Till Roeskens. He drew a map of his childhood area of Marseilles on the floor and told about his history. I found him less entertaining, because he didn't vary his tone a great deal, and at times I had difficulty hearing him.The communes involved often have the story-teller go into the local primary schools, where they give a potted version ( or maybe even something different) to the children.For me this culturel tradition is a highlight of my autumn stay in France.
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I was not a happy bunny yesterday, but there will be no slagging off my team. Win or lose, I support Scotland.
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Do you know what the "givres" means? I can only find 2 meanings, icy or screwy, nuts. I noticed that you used the masculine form, thank you, I had thought contes was feminine.Did you enjoy the sessions you listened to?
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Have you ever been to listen to one Sweet? Obviously it's great when the artiste is really talented, but they're good to go to as another aid to learning French. I find face to face conversation not a problem, because I can clarify when I don't understand, but (like watching films in French) a complete listening exercise albeit with gestures etc is very different. I don't get it all, but enough to enjoy the story.However I went to one a couple of years ago where the story-teller was from one of the Outre-Mer islands and had a very pronounced accent. I lost a lot there. My OH assured me that it was the equivalent of a French person being addressed by a person speaking English with a pronounced Indian accent, and when I thought about it, so it was.Oh, and there's always a glass of wine to set you up for the journey home.I think you might enjoy them Norman, well some of them.
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[quote user="Clair"]Get some pickle for a nickel!That's a pickle,! Not a tickle!Don' be fickle! Add some pickle![/quote]or: Pickle sweet or pickle sourEat it up in half an hour.Great with bread or cheese or meatClair's fine pickle makes a treat[:)]
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