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LAiffricaine

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Everything posted by LAiffricaine

  1. [quote user="just john "] [quote user="Rabbie"]   [quote user="Kitty"]Surely you can only really go to those places where you can speak the language.  Can anyone live in France successfully without speaking French? [/quote] I don't imagine living in the UK would be practical if you couldn't speak English.[:)][/quote] Then you would be very much misguided; - in areas of the UK there are large sectors of the population who do not have a rudimentary grasp of english, [/quote]   Da iawn cariad ! Sariad cymraeg ? [:)]
  2. [quote user="Hoddy"]Perhaps she had some stout hooks fitted to her chastity belt. Hoddy[/quote]   Serious elastic on her blummers [:D]
  3. [quote user="Pierre ZFP"] Le pénis représente 3 fois la longueur de son pouce. Les femmes clignent des yeux 2 fois plus que les mecs. [/quote]   Bien sûr que les femmes clignent des yeux 2 fois plus que les mecs. Elles re-ajustent leur vision pour bien voir cette quéquette supposée être 3 fois la longueur d'un pouce. En vérité elles n'y voient que 3 fois la largeur d'un poil [:P][:D][:D]
  4. [quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="Hoddy"]Don't take it to heart, Frenchie. You should hear Americans attempt Leicester and Loughborough. Hoddy[/quote]Or English people tryng to pronounce Kirkcudbright (a town in SW Scotland pronounced as Kircoobree[/quote] .... or Brits, French, Germans or any other nationalities you care to mention, except the Welsh  pronounce Machynlleth  ... You try it! The French will say 'machin lette'.  Brits will have a variation on 'mack in elieth' or 'muck an let' (my favorite[:D] and very apt for being a little farming town) or 'mar ink elieth' or 'marink keny lieth'. Germans have not yet progressed beyond the 'v' of village not pronounced as a 'w'. They'll insist on going to the weelage ... It's a town ! of 3000 souls including all the farmsteads in the surrounding hills ... Marr rann tleth ...    
  5. [quote user="woolybanana"] Are the tyres going on the edges, in which case it is a tracking problem and not unheard of with Peugeots? ....[/quote] Lisse comme un oeuf on the outside edge and brand new on the inside ... Truly don't want to change that car ... yet again ... forcibly or not ... Plus un rond dans la tirelire, plus un radis, fauchée comme les blés [:'(][:'(] Oh dear  ... [:(] 
  6. [quote user="glacier1"]try 123pneu.fr for cheap tires![/quote]   That would mean buying them on line, no ?... [8-)] then finding a local garage here in Wales to accept to fit them on ...
  7. [quote user="nomoss"] ... Is this a regular practice in french primary schools?   ....    [/quote] Yup ! remember it well [:(] ....  I was in my CM1 class at the time, our usual instituteur went on a 6 months sabbatical and was replaced by a most sadistic trainee teacher ... He thought of nothing to pull girls long ponytails or French platts. Ouch that bleeding did hurt [:'(] He only did it the once on me as I couldn't recite my 9 times table correctly... That Thursday (in those days, before the dinausors roamed the earth, we didn't have school on a Thursday) my mother took me to the hairdresser to cut my long hair off. Unfortunately my ears stuck out in the cold and were bright red as if signalling : 'Eh Mister ! them ears are good for a pulling !!' No distinction between boys or girls, we had same treatment. At least he believed in 'égalité des sexes' ... He lasted  not quite a month at that school for all the complaints ... and I now know my 9 times table [:(]
  8. A simple question from a dumb blonde [:$] How many miles do you manage to squeeze out of your tyres ?... Only asking as I've had this car for a little over 14/15mths or so now. Wednesday I will take it to the garage for its annual MOT and have yet another set of tyres fitted ... 3rd set of front tyres actually since ownership of said vehicle. Last set only did just about 10000 miles. Admittedly I do a lot of mileage commuting to and fro home/work - in excess of 300 a week. Then there is the odd weekend driving to London to visit Dearest Daughter, 500 miles return trip. Such are the train time tables that it just is not an option for a Sunday afternoon return, never mind going down on a Friday evening after work, so I do need car to visit her. Add to that the annual trip to France, the last one clocked over 1700 miles from here, a visit to as many relos as poss and back here. Just the same ... met'ink som'it is odd about it ... The car ?  a cheap Peugeot 207 diesel first registered in 2006. Which brand do you use and think is the best qualtiy one to get ? I am willing to pay for quality firmly believing that cheap is just short sighted false economy ...
  9. [quote user="Frenchie"] ... The vast majority of British people I know can't pronounce my son's name GUILLAUME  ...  He becomes " gwillem" or something like that... [/quote] Gwillym bach cariad [:D]
  10. [quote user="sweet 17"] ... The picture was captured by a reader in Carlisle showing a massive flock of starlings.  Because of the formation they were flying in, it looked like a killer whale was chasing a dolphin! It was very spectacular ... [/quote] Last weekend I went to the Aberystwyth Arts Centre Xmas fair. One of the stalls was selling cards made by a local photographer artist. Some of the cards pictured murmurations (not a flock[;-)]) of starlings flying above the Aber pier. It is a well known place for seeing starlings just before night fall as they roost under the pier at night. To see some of her work :  >> Home»Birds»Starlings»Starling roost, Aberystwyth»Starling roost, Aberystwyth pier 1. <<   You may have to copy and paste into the address line on your browser. http://janetbaxterphotography.co.uk/p412321677/h9b8f206#h3bc2cf20 Picture No4 and No30 look like dolphins peering above the waves, No8 sort of an exocet fish fleeting above the sea, No26 a fat lady's high heel boot, No55 is that Nessie on holiday from Loch Ness ?...
  11.  £200 prize for a cheaper meal. Very do-able and a royal feast compare to the 7p for that sarnie. That is truly being a miser ! Ebenezer Scrooge Xmas lunch is it ?  Simple : go out for a long walk in the woods or the fields : abundance of mushrooms, multitudes of berries, the odd rabbit that's eating up your precious garden, or that pigeon roucouling his heart out that it wakes you up, the odd catch of minnows from the river, nettle greens, wild garlic leaves, topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes) etc ... etc ... No end of imagination and gleaning to be done ... Plenty learnt in the cosseted bosom of a poor french peasant family [:(] Get the violins out [:P][:D]
  12. [quote user="sweet 17"]  ....  There was a piece on Jacques Cartier, who was an exlorer in the 16th century.  It was said that the explorers got to know some Micmac Indians and exchanged goods with them. For the trade, the explorers changed les "colifichets, couteaux, tissus et autres bimbeloteries contre des peaux d'animaux"...... [/quote]   Micmac has become a French familiar masculine noun for an intrigue, a machination or a difficult situation. 'Qu'est ce que c'est ce micmac?' could possibly be one of Mr Hercule Poirot's catchphrases. Enough for him to work out his little grey cells ... As to colifichet, bimbeloterie, bagatelle ... a more pejorative noun is sometime used  : quincaillerie for all the clinking bling worn by some people, indeed some of them bimbos [:D] 
  13. [quote user="Frederick"]  This could happen anywhere UK or France but happens to be my UK home today . I have open ground of wide grass verges opposite my home on a corner plot . Over the junction and off to my left the occupier of a house has cut a doorway in a 7 foot brick wall behind their home to give access to the verge .... Can you just cut a hole in your garden wall and put a door in ?....  .... Would you make the phone call as its not really fly tipping is it ?[/quote]   You should go to the local council archive and see if they have sought planning permission for that opening in their garden wall. It doesn't look like they have done so as you would have had a notice in your post, letting you know what was being sought by your neighbour and for you to examine the plans etc... at the local council offices and to ask you of any objections you may have for them to do such an opening as it is directly within your visual amenity. You would have had 28 days to lodge that objection or not.   As to the 'rubbish' left outside, it may not look like fly tipping but it is still fly tipping as it is not rubbish discarded in the usual household collection at the usual household collection point, or taken by the owner of said dwelling to the local recycle yard. It will, in no time at all, become an unsightly pile of rubbish to which, in the dead of night, other unscrupulous bods will see it as an OK place to leave their own rubbish... A diplomatic word with that neighbour (possibly the time has passed for that) or a citizen's call to the local authority .... 
  14. [quote user="sid"] ... now I can't remember the last time I saw one on the road.[/quote] The last one I saw on the road was my grandfather's. One of my cousins did use it for a time after Grandfather died but when I last saw it, it was all forlone in the garage whilst the house was waiting to be sold. I remember being on holiday at my Grandparents and going to the market in the nearby town-about 4kms, being given a little cushion to sit at the back on the solex and being told 'Tiens bon, y a 2 sous de bonbons au bout de la route!' (Hold on tight, there's 2p worth of sweets at the end of the road) All in the days of  :  no child seat, no seat belt, no helmet [:D] My Grandmother was following on her bicycle way back ... well [:$] one happens to know one's priority [:D] No one thought of this solex as a piece of great value other than the value of very many happy memories we had as children. 
  15. The poppy : a display of political symbol [:-))]  Mr Blatter needs his head examined and have a good read of this :  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6133312.stm I like the poppy and every year I proudly wear it in rembrance of one my French great uncle who came back home blinded by a shrapnel in WW1. and also because I also have an in-law serving in the British forces.
  16. [quote user="powerdesal"]    ....  Exactly. what goes up must come down !!!!! The UAE eventually banned the firing of weapons in the air at ''celebrations'' .... [/quote] On the subject of what goes up must come down : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14616491
  17. [quote user="pachapapa"] ...  satisfied customer.[:)] .... Or should that be "client".[/quote]   Same diff innit ?... money was paid for services [Www]
  18. [quote user="sweet 17"]...  I think it would be so difficult to have 11 (or whatever number it is now) different currencies instead of just the one.[/quote] 27 different currencies it would be now. As to difficulties [8-)]!...  I've worked for over 10 years now in the same company and it used to have stores all over Europe and the world. At one time I had to deal with : UK sterling, French francs, US dollars, Spanish pesetas, Italian liras, Austrian shillings, Netherland florins, Deutsch marks, Belgium francs, Luxembourg francs, Swiss francs ... Possibly forgot a few along the way... Some of the managing store staff were assigned to be sort of 'floating' staff and went wherever if one manager in one country's store was ill or absent for whatever reason etc ... converting the different currencies on their expense claims, reconciling it to UK£ and reimbursing them in their own country's currencies was a nightmare. That is were I saw the benefit of the €uros but couldn't see the benefit of the €uros to the Joe Bloggs, Mr and Mrs Average in each country. The €uros should have been kept as a 'virtual' unit of currency for trade alone and each country still with their own currency internally.
  19. What amazes me is the obtaining of a shooting licence but not that of a licence to hold a shotgun or a riffle. In France you have a licence/certifcate to shoot. So just have any weapon you fancy and go blasting. My sister, long ago, used to dish them out in the Prefecture de Niort. I did ask her once how it worked as 'im indoors wanted to come shooting in France one holiday. I don't remember her asking if he had a gun licence, insurance etc... only thing she worried about was his 'permission to shoot' licence. What about if the person asking for a permit had mental illness she would have been none the wiser ... Whilst in UK you have a licence to own a riffle or shotgun. And don't I know how pernickety the police is about 'im indoors to have all his armoury in tip-top condition, insurance, licence all up to date, all locked up inside a steel cupboard hidden in the house and me not knowing where the keys to the cupboard are, with a once in a while an unannounced inspection by the local PC Plod, the palavar of having the licence renewed, double and trebble checks done on the owner's mental health, the palavar around the sale of a gun or a rifle or even the mere gift of passing the gun onto one's son or nephew ...  
  20. [quote user="Renaud"] ...  The programme told little about Hasler himself, a pity.[/quote]  Nature of the man, nature of the times, nature of the operation at hand ... to melt away and be forgotten in the great woosh of time ...
  21. [quote user="Alan Zoff"] ...   Hitler and his generals were effective leaders and organisers - whereas the likes of Britain had Whitehall.... [/quote] Leader, opportunist, demagogue certainly but organiser ... debatable ... It was revealed long after the war that Hitler was actually often playing his generals against each other, all egostistically eager to please him and playing Brutus on one an other  ... whilst Britain had our Winnie and bumbling fools in the Home Guard of Dad's Army ... I am glad of people doing great deeds under the cover of being bumbling fools ... Always method in madness ...   Having said that the Cockleshell affair was truly a deplorable waste of humans and ideas and perhaps a wake up call to Whitehall ...
  22. Well done Pacha [:D] It is whence I hail from   [:$]  ... Now no one is quite sure of the origin of the name Aiffres but it is believed that in roman times a garrison of roman soldiers was based there and that garrison was made entirely from slaves captured in deep darkest Africa hence Aiffres being a derivation of Afrique and Aiffricain(e) a derivation of africain(e) Africa has a lot to answer for in my life [8-)] ...   but this is digressing ... Let's get back to mouth watering offerings [:D]  
  23. [quote user="idun"].... So what have you made that exceeded expectations and will rest in your memory for a long long time. [/quote] The meal that will stay in my mind for a long time : the Xmas I thought 'bugger bognor, turkey, sprouts, MIL and SIL who are the only ones to eat the darn thing!' The week before I went to Manchester to a lovely indian supermarket I know in Rusholme and went 'to town' on ingredients. Came home, wrote my menu, sorted my recipes, got my kitchen organised with all the utensils, pots pans etc..., proceeded to cook with Dearest Daughter as the scullery maid. Kitchen and dining room locked up, out of bound to the entire world and his mother. Xmas meal here is more of a late lunch or an early evening meal as during the day MIL will go to church and visit the old dears at the retirement home and all guests, family, brats and 4 legged friends will go out for a long walk as the sherry and whisky will have dried out and all the presents will have been opened and snarled at with gleeful expressions ... D.D. was just wonderful at transforming the dining room into an indian palace. We were both so busy to arrange this that neither of us thought of taking photos, to our eternal regret.  Every one came back from their walk and diner was served ... Samosas, bahjis, parathas stuffed with paneer, poori, mulligatawny, naan bread, rogan josh lamb, saag aloo, murg tamatar, beef in garam masala, various vegetables cooked with an indian twist, poppadums etc... etc... all laid out on a side table for people to help themselves to. The ooh and ahh ! D.D. and I were so pleased with the effect as no one knew what was going on.  Not a crumb left ...   ... and do you know ... MIL and SIL still complained that they weren't served turkey ... I told them to stuff it [:P] - and the turkey - next time [:D]
  24. ... [:$] ... so back to my earlier question : was the choir master retiring the last program in the serie ?... and as a French living abroad : I didn't recognise France at all. To me it was just a parallel universe with some endearing characters who in time will completely melt within French society (thinking of the farming family) without ever asking themselves or their neighbours that sempiternel question 'how do I intergrate [:P]'. Whilst others like that fusty colonel/army man, he is just an 'arrivé' and merits the ridicule he will have collected from the show. A sort of male Hyacinthe Bookay [:D]  
  25. [quote user="pachapapa"]     ... But then again the M 25 videos seemed a little more serious, nasty stuff fog with a fireworks display. Was that at bridgewater or taunton? ... [/quote] M5 Pacha... Taunton just after the entrance of J25 on to North bound M5. I saw the helicopter pictures just before lunch on BBCNews and at least 6 lorries are involved, 3 of these are just a charred pile of tangled steel and several cars still stuck inside that mess. Dreadful [:(] ... I remember driving along the M4 to London on Bon-Fire night last year. It was quite a scary drive as every ten miles or so you could see fireworks going up from nearby towns and villages. At times you could well have thought that the fireworks were taking off from the carriage way itself as in the dark you are oblivious to any point of visual direction. Some were quite near indeed and we all know the unpredicting nature of fireworks once lit up ....  
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