Noisette

Errr....old news? It was thriving before confinement, but haven't been down for a while. It was a haven in a country that's becoming inundated with burger/pizza joints!

There you go....no excuse for a less-than-impeccable garden, invite all and sundry (apart from infected Brits, obviously) , and fait comme tout le monde à l'époque de la morte noire ;-))

Spot on WB! Thing is...99% of the time, the 'chef cuisto' has consumed rather more jungle juice than the legal limit to be in control of a car, let alone a cooker! You give them countless books with precise instructions and lots of interesting things to do with courgettes...the result? Well let's just say that even the cats won't touch it! Especially the 'marinaded' dross that les grandes surfaces pass off for consumption.

Same for the concerts! Best take a deep breath and look forward to 2021 ;-) It'll be terrific if we're all still alive to make the most of it!

IKEA Bordeaux 'adjusted' it's prices exponentially after the makeover of the store, some time ago now. As you so rightly say, expensive tat! @ the OP, re. bathroom fittings from Castorama, it's worth noting that they're not particularly long-lasting. How to put this...;-) despite 'normal to light' use and decent maintenance, the bondes have rusted, the loo has cracked and some of the cupboard doors have discoloured while the housings stayed the original colour. Not due to sunlight or chemicals, I hasten to add. After just 10 years. Disappointing.

Hello mint, not a spray, but you could try a pheromone trap. It's the right time of year to use one. Available in all the GCs and most big supers, also through Amazon etc. You hang the plastic pyramid containing the sticky card and the pheromone capsule in the tree, it attracts the male moths, they get stuck, no hanky-panky with the females so no (or fewer) grubs in the fruit. It's worth changing the capsule after a couple of months, as advised, to get the second flush of males.

You could thin them to two fruits while they're tiny. There might be a 'June' drop (in May) which will reduce them further, so at least you're left with well-spaced fruit. The way the weather's going this year, you might also need to water the trees! :-)

ericd, just clarifying :-) It's a bit like saying that tomatoes grow on trees, or that banana plants are trees, (they're big, herbaceous perennials). The RHS definition of a tree is a single, or multi-stemmed, deciduous or evergreen, woody plant with a clear trunk and a crown of branches. A shrub is a multi-stemmed, twiggy, deciduous or evergreen 'bush'. You can turn either into the other, but that's their natural definition. Plant 'families' can contain examples of both. But as an easily recognised description goes, you couldn't really describe Capparis as a tree. I won't tell you what I describe it as when I get hooked up on it ;-)

As far as I'm aware, capers are small to medium, spiny bushes. There is a non-spiny variety, but it's still only a bush :-)

Agree 100% about commitment. My first French 'penfriend' was obliged to learn English for his job but I was learning French because I wanted to. No comparison in the results. His wife ended up doing better than he did, much to his disgust and despite lots of in-house courses, immersion stays and practice hours :-)

I could develop deep paranoia if I hadn't seen others having trouble too! So, what's the secret, cajal? stp?

Euuwwwww! And covered in bacteria! I've seen where they stick their noses 8-o

Couple of questions....why don't links work on this forum? And why is the quote facility such a mess? Oh and while I'm at it, Why don't smilies work either? Bit prehistoric, isn't it?

Thank you NormanH . Every little helps :-)

Condoléances, Blodwyn. Can only echo Betty's sentiments. x

I could cope with that....it's the aarggghhzel that pees me off lol. Still, had the chance to change it to something French, glamourous, even sexy, during the nationality application and bottled out. I'd never have remembered to answer to it :-) Like calling a Rottweiler 'Woofles' heehee.

[quote user="mint"]Noisette, I am still in bed, looking at the méteo and trying to decide whether I can be bothered to get up and go walking. Asthma playing up in these days of endless rain and .......ugh! But you have made me laugh.... And it's true that laughter is the best medicine[:D] [/quote] Tsssss! The sun's out here, at last! I occasionally think back to my mother's UK GP telling her how good the SW French climate would be for her arthritis! Ha! Poor old biddy died of terminal rust! Nowhere's perfect, is it? At least nowhere that we can afford :-))

ALBF, I'll have a look at the link in a minute. Hope it's more interesting than Rouen's, though. Pass on the McDo's thanks all the same :-) Happily, I don't live in the Dordogne. The Lot et Garonne is a bijou little département without anything particularly spectacular but quietly lovable, well-tended, great fun in summer but not overrun with tourists, or toursists :-) It's a shame that Mrs ALBF's (presumably) french love of her country hasn't rubbed off over the years. Most French I know still think that most of it is worth exploring fully, as well as the newly discovered joys of long-haul travel :-) Isn't it wonderful to have the choice?

Good morning, richard51 :-) Apologies for having put you on the defensive! It was just a poor attempt at humour :-) My name really is Noisette. The French can't cope with 'H'. https://youtu.be/1JlRyK3Q6gc Aren't we lucky that there are so many different methods for learning nowadays! It's just a matter of finding the ones best adapted. Bonne journée :-)

You can't argue with that...the Peruvian jungle is singularly short on cinemas. Just as Tours is a bit lacking in rare plant and insect life. I understand that there are some bizarre and endangered species of mammal, though :-)

Nuts to you, sweetie :-) As for that codswallop about age, I'll be 105 this year and I've still got all my own teeth. They're in a box in a cupboard somewhere ;-) Thank you for the example, though! Very concise. Don't worry about it, Pat. I doubt it will crop up much in NE England :-) Hope all is going well for you both!

Not even! Round here, it's 'bon, allez!' At least 4 times before actually departing lol. But then, we're not 'elegant' ;-)

How come they missed off Tours? Shameful! ;-)

Not sure if this will work.....https://youtu.be/ribZ06BmFf4 but if it does, it's one of a series worth a look on a wet, miserable day :-) @EuroTrash lol...

At the risk of appearing a know-it-all (far from..) I know, I know, I know and I know lol. I just lurrrve hearing them say that I speak 'better' French than their children/friends/neighbours.... whatever. Pure vanity :-) And I will sort out this subjunctive thing, if it takes me the rest of my life. Oh and that's another one....no rule for à or 'de' in front of a verb. Isn't it about time the Académie got off their backsides and defined one? All you get is a Gallic shrug and 'you learn it as you go along'. Oh no you don't!