Noisette

[quote user="You can call me Betty or Queenie if you prefer"]Please don't look at this link if you find swearing offensive or indeed if you have a tendency to find anything offensive just for the hell of it. You have been warned. https://goo.gl/images/b56m5k[/quote] Looks like current English usage to me. Apart from the grammar stuff ;-)

I really haven't got time to plough through the old posts, but if anyone else in 47 needs professional advice or help with their pool, the Berrone brothers (PiscinesSwindo) are very good. It's an unfortunate name ;-), at least if you're anglophone, but they're good, honest and experienced. No vested interest, just a happy customer. http://piscinesswindo.fr/index.php/nous-contacter/

I'm glad you found one, Mint. I trawled the websites and a couple of rose nurseries locally, but none of them stock it. Tip from the Pres of the former Royal National Rose Society: Give it a deep mulch of well-rotted each year, if you can, keeping it away from the stem, of course :-)

Hi Mint, they are standard roses. I think sometimes they're grafted twice, once low down and then again under the head. There are a lot of rose nurseries round here (47). If you PM me the variety name, I could enquire about availability. Oups, sorry WB...crossed posts :-)

Another vote for Mona Lisa here. They're infinitely better than Agata which seems to be the most common variety on offer. It's a bit of a faff but scoring par-boiled potatoes all over with a fork before tipping into hot fat results in lovely, crispy roast potatoes. Cooking in an Actifry comes a close second.

[quote user="Judith"][quote user="richard51"] Is to the west of say Marseille any better than to the east.[/quote] West of Montpellier, the "real" south of France, is far superior to anything east of it ... I do wish that people would not equal the Cote d'Azure and Provence as the only bit of the south ... much better places, as already said darn sarth, than the Riviera to actually live ... work and even play. [/quote]In your opinion. The Côte d'Azur isn't all pretentious but it does have class and beauty. Unlike the western side of the Med coast. In my opinion.

I suppose that, like mine, it's immaterial, but next year the limit for paying by cheque drops to €300. Isn't it linked to all the rigmarole about preventing money laundering? Can't pay by cash or cheque over an ever-decreasing limit? Whatever....just don't try buying any building materials from Castorama until your blood pressure is safely low again. They make the foncs look distinctly amateur ?

Don't mention it....

Not so much for moths, but a friend rigged up a frelon trap that proved fatally attractive ? Take one inspection lamp, suspend over a strong, open-top container of diesel, switch on lamp and wait for the mass suicide!

It sounds as though he could do with one of those gazebo affairs with mosquito net curtains and a decoy light some way away from it!

https://www.lesjardinsdejosephine.com/contents/fr/d17_SULTAN-BLANC-SP.html http://www.richter.fr/fr/plants-de-vigne-table/greffes-soudes-raisin-table-blanc.html?id=94&phpMyAdmin=13b47b7e63334919037a04b76546ef98 There you go :-) I'll be doing cuttings of mine shortly if you want to have a go at growing ungrafted plants...

Isn't there a selection of casses in your area? That would be the preferred French source of cheap parts I suspect. Depending on whether you have someone to dismantle them and whether the garagiste would fit them :-) Would the E-Bay stuff be genuine?

I could write a book, Judith! Having just been through the interview process for nationality, got the Recepisse, been told that the dossiers would go straight off to Paris, I was disappointed to receive yet another letter from the Préfecture four days later asking for another load of justificatifs. At least half of which they've got already. When you read of the experiences of Brits living in PACA, who sail through the process with the greatest of ease, you do get the tiniest impression that only the stinking rich need apply :-)

[quote user="EuroTrash"]It's not an idiom but it kind of follows on from idun's post, about English words becoming part of the French language. By coincidence I've recently come across this "import" in two totally unrelated books that I've read, the first time it seemed so horrible I couldn't quite believe I'd read it, and the second time I started thinking Good grief is this actually becoming common usage. The word is "bodybuildé", to describe a muscular chap - has anyone else come across it?[/quote] Yes, it appears in a Daniel Pennac book. But then every other word in his books is slang (or bastardised English). The first one I read involved paperback in one hand, dico in the other :-)

That's disgraceful, Norman! Which Préfecture is it? I'd write or call and give them a nudge. What if you want to apply for a CdS?...You'll need your certificates for that. WB, It seems perfectly natural to me, but then it's a bit like transsexuality.....some people are born in the wrong body, some in the wrong country :-) Betty.....true to form ;-)

Eeek! How do you go about acquiring falsies in deepest, darkest rural France? :-)

I thought about it, albf, 'cos that's what the French call me anyway ;-) Awww thank you...that's sweet of you. I certainly won't have any fingernails left by next July! x

Just back from the Préfecture in Bordeaux where we had our long-awaited interviews for French citizenship. The dossiers were submitted in May. The interview was much, much easier than expected. I must give credit for that to the guidelines issued by the Government department itself, the RIFT website and various other sites where previous applicants have posted their experiences. We now have a 10 month wait to see if we're accepted or not. If anyone is considering going down the same route, feel free to PM me for details.

Hi Pat, gosh that compares well with the price of Friskies! They eat both sachet food and biscuits, as well as controlling the local rodent population! Will check out the co-operative. Thanks. Quite why it's assumed that we 'drink at home' and don't have a social life, I can't imagine, but we've always found that a glass of wine with a meal enhances both. :-)

I think Linda is the only person who's mentioned 'offers'..i.e. promotions. We live very economically (especially in the summer) by stocking up on pricey foods we like only when they're on promo, by conserving/freezing/drying, and by growing our own fruit and veg. A wide variety of fruit and veg! The biggest single grocery item is cat food, but again, bought in bulk when on promo, it's nearly half the price. Ditto espresso coffee. I do agree with Betty, though, that the other costs of living like taxes, carburant, clothes and eating out have all risen considerably. On the bright side, (sorry, Betty ;-)) the wine is cheap and extremely good. And you can't put a price on happiness :-)

If you read French, the Rustica website is quite useful. Based on Paris, but they acknowledge regional differences. HTH https://www.rustica.fr/articles-jardin/legumes-et-potager/

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Yes, but Idun. If you move to the Dordogne (for example) you will be seen as another 'Anglais' that will come and go. They have seen it all before.[/quote] Try not to generalise, dear ;-) I moved over in 2007 with OH and mother in tow. Fair enough, 'our' village is totally anti-Brit, probably because there are 30+ Brit families here. But then again, they hate the Parisiens and each other too :-) So, I got adopted by a French Gersoise family and spent the next 8 years living a dual life. English during the week, French at weekends. A whole village-full of family and friends. Very rural and no pretensions, no one-up-man-ship. Just warmth, friendship and acceptance. So....try not to generalise, hein?

Good God! You've converted 15 granges already? And still have the energy to reproduce! Chapeau :-)

And here it is again tonight....came up blood red and now climbing serenely to illuminate the frogs and cicadas while they do their nightly concert. Beautiful!

[quote user="You can call me Betty"] Not that I buy them, but French-dwellers, you're being royally ripped off on iceberg lettuce. Even Lidl wants 99 cents for one. 49p in Morrison's.[/quote] It's a long way to go for a lettuce, though :-)