LAiffricaine

[quote user="skbfan"] I am a tour operator and got the same e-mail as the original poster. Glad I did a google search of Cowell Travel & Tours and came up with this link....     [/quote] Sorry can't get the link... or is that the joke : there is no link ...

Tis the season of mellow fruitfulness ... etc... and throughout the land Harvest Festival galore. My daughter is a teacher at a London primary school. She sent me this yesterday : >>>It's harvest time and we are popping over the green to the local church to celebrate singing Hooray for harvest and cauliflowers fluffy. All the muslim parents have had to send the words of these songs to their Imam to ensure they have no religious meaning and therefore allowed to attend the celebreation of singing a song that goes like this :  Cauliflowers fluffy, cabbages green, strawberries sweeter than any I've seen, beetroots purple and raddishes fat, marrows fattening hour by hour, beetroots purple and lettuces fat, broad beans round and runner beans flat....... The other song: Hooray for harvest jump for joy, hooray for harvest each girl and boy, hooray for harvest twist and shout, come and let us tell you what it's all about.  ... yes the songs go on - but is there a hidden christian, pagan meaning in this song??? <<<  [:-))] Wots wrong with good old : All things bright and beautiful ! Surely Allah who is great does appreciate a thanks or two for such a wonderful world over which he reigns.  Amazes me though that the words of such benign songs/ditties/praises have to be vetoed but the fact that the kids and mothers will enter an infidel's place of worship is not in the least questioned or considered.  And the grandees of this land want to build an integrated 'big society' [Www]

Sorry been away for a couple of days ... whilst that and munching on a discusting bought sandwich, I did put a post (can't remember which subject now) and was surprised that on my next looking in that the post was not there at all ... I blamed it on the company's MIS department blocking out all communications to an 'alien' website !    

My British must have : of all things Lipton's Jaipur orange tea. It has a lovely taste and something different to Earl Grey (sorry not very good with run of the mill builder's tea, I find it to acrid). I just can't find this Lipton's in this part of Wales, having visited all the supermarkets in a radius of 50 miles from here. So ... I go all the way to France at my parents nearby Intermarché and at this last visit, I've built up a stock to last me until next February I hope ... How sad that is ... Other British things I would have to take to France : Beef Bovril spread, Stilton, Lincolnshire Poacher cheese, good honest proper farm reared British bacon for I can't do without my Sunday bacon butty prior to a long walk in the hills!      Welsh sewin (say : soo-in... to you all it's a young wild sea trout. It has a very delicate salmon taste, lovely with lashes of lemon butter and mounds of Jersey Royals = summer heaven)       Welsh Black beef, the best Sunday roast ever! ... Limousin beef would just about supplant it ...    

I used to drink a glass of white wine with my meal every evening, until one night I seriously overindulged on some cheap plonk that had an overdose of sulfite in it, being at a friend's party. It took me well over a month to fully recover. From then on wine (even my weekly glass of Scottish wine) has been enjoyed in absolute moderation on high days and holy days. My son bought me a bottle of sparkling Vouvray for my birthday last month and that I did savour and enjoy. Thank you Son&Heir ! Now getting the liver into shape for the Christmas onslaught  [:D]   

[quote user="pachapapa"] Fish & chips..muscadet sèvre et maine, Pays Nantais, preferably sur lie. [/quote]   I quite agree with that [:D]

 Quite an other planet altogether ... Parallel universe or what  [blink]

Sad ... I remember one of his early program about the Ilala on Lake Malawi. This very old ferryboat just goes up and down Lake Malawi day in and day out since ...? possibly since Adam was knee high to a grasshopper, Heaven knows when. He was a brave man to go on board as I've seen that rotting, rusting hull of a boat and nothing in the world would have made me jump on board to travel on it.

I remember the questionaire alright. I eagerly ticked the box for a stop in La Rochelle as it is only an hour's drive away from where my wrinklies live in Deux-Sèvres. So long ago, it seems that I ticked the box for my 'must-have-can't-do-without-it presents' list from Father Christmas.... Getting old [:$] and 2 too many road accidents [:(] have made me weary of driving the long road from St Malo or Caen and the long road to Portsmouth. If only there was a ferry from Aberystwyth ... Yes I could fly you'll tell me or let the train take the strain, but I am a sucker for bringing back loadza goodies. I've only just come back from a visit where I bought about 2 yards worth of shelf space in books! never mind the cases of wine and the food stuff ...  so to have a car with me is perfect for loading all that malarky ...

Whilst in France this last week I went to see : 'La guerre des boutons' and 'La nouvelle guerre des boutons'. Both from the book written by Louis Pergaud (1882-1915) It is the story of 2 gangs of kids from 2 neighbouring villages somewhere in the french countryside and their everyday 'war'. Each skirmish is rewarded by the number of buttons taken as trophies from the enemy's garments. It lends to some quite funny & tender moments. Both films had equal merits. Both charming films though at times some of you, that feel challenged with the french language, would find it difficult as there was a lot of colloquialism. I was in nostalgia country OK, especially with the first of the 2 versions. Being but a mere child at the time the scriptwriters placed the story i.e. around the early time of la guerre d'Algérie. I certainly remember being sent to church with a scarf on my head (if you do watch it : notice the young girls on the sunday, all with their heads covered going to church) and the schoolroom had changed very little. The second version was placed during the second world war and for me was more reminiscent of stories I had heard from my parents and grand-parents. There are 2 other versions made of that book. One filmed in 1962 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Buttons_(1962_film) which I dearly want to see as the actor Jean Richard is in it and he was a native from my neck of the woods. I remember him once he was famous, he came to visit his old primary school of which I was a pupil. My claim to fame! Also a version made in 1994 where it is all happening in Ireland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Buttons_(1994_film) and the story was regigged by Colin Welland and produced by David Putnam (them of 'Chariots of Fire' fame) I am also re-reading the book (it was part of the reading list in primary school years, so long ago...) to see how much these films have differed from the original story written. Amazing how many stories you can make on one book. I bet the bloke is turning in his grave for all the royalties he is missing as the new law on lengthening (going from 50 to 70 years) the copywrights/royalties is not yet on the french statute book. Still it would not have helped him, but maybe his descendants ?...

Just received this : >>>Julie Andrews turned 70 , this is brilliant! To commemorate her birthday, actress/vocalist Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP. One of the musical numbers she performed was 'My Favourite Things' from the legendary movie 'Sound Of Music'. Here are the lyrics she used:  If you sing it, it's quite hysterical!!!    Botox and nose drops and needles for knitting, Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,  Bundles of magazines tied up in string, These are a few of my favourite things.  Cadillacs and cataracts, hearing aids and glasses, Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses, Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings, These are a few of my favourite things.  When the pipes leak, When the bones creak, When the knees go bad,  I simply remember my favourite things, And then I don't feel so bad.  Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions, No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,  Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,  These are a few of my favourite things...    Back pain, confused brains and no need for sinnin',  Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',  And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,  When we remember our favourite things.    When the joints ache, When the hips break, When the eyes grow dim, Then I remember the great life I've had,  And then I don't feel so bad.

[quote user="Visvaldis"].... I wonder how the average French person would react to Monkey Dust.[/quote]   Giv'us some I'll tell you.  American humour to me is : Woody Allen, Bob Hope, Georges Burns, Jack Lemmon & Walter Mathau... not much contemporary as you can see so can't really say... though I did like the satire and  irreverence of 'The Daily Show' with Jon Stewart. French humour : Coluche, Thierry Le Luron, Guy Bedos, Fernandel, Bourvil, Fernand Reynaud, some lyrics in Pierre Perret's & George Brassens songs, Anne Roumanov ... It's been so long that I've listened  to or seen any French comics [:(] British humour : Monty Python, Have I got news for you, Not the 9 o'clock news, the first serie of Little Britain (2nd and any subsequent were gross and repetitive) with Matt Lucas and David Walliams and their latest offering 'Come fly with me', Wallace & Gromit, Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connelly, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the 2 Ronnies, Kenny Everett, Only fools and horses, any hard gritty humour from some northern comedians...  Definitely not a fan of Benny Hill (I don't understand what my father sees in that kind of humour, absolutely laps it up), Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Bruce Forsyth, Terry Wogan. The latter 2 are not truly comics they just think they are funny .... Oh dear ... shows I've been in UK rather longer than originally intended [:P]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Have recently watched a comedy called Gavin and Stacey. Didn't laugh once but cringed a lot.[/quote] That's because you don't understand the Welshies! That's a proper *isstake on South Wales people x 10. As to the Essex stereotype ... mange tout, mange tout !! [;-)][:D]

To put it into perspective (ref : the OP) :  it is only a £18 increase on the same trip (out of UK and back same way) for 1 person and car + cabin for 1, from this last Sept.14th up to last night as I've just done. And I'm not a BF club membership cardholder. Maybe I should be ...   

I had my ovaries removed and was put on HRT some 15 or so years ago. I had to stop the HRT within 6 months as my body bloated from a regular size 14 to an unmanageable size 20 [:(] Finger joints were also quite painful almost as if riddled with arthritis. Hot flushes galore. Light sleep to the point of insomnia. Since then I've had to cope with a strict diet with no milk products, very little red meat, lots of fish, fruits and vegs, pulses, brown bread, very little alcohol ... all that saintly stuff [Www]  Finger joints no longer painful, hot flushes occasionnally, still a light sleeper (as you can see) weight and dress size (still a 20 [:(]) under control ... It is quite a bore at times as I'd love to tuck into a tub of ice-cream when watching a stupid weepie film, stuff myself silly with a plate of chips and lashings of mayo or get into 'the spirit' when out on an evening with friends. Well ... I do sometime go wayward on the path [6]   but ... oh boy!... do I know I have strayed [:$]

Howzat for un derrière ample [IMG]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r116/Missyesbut/MalteseVenus.jpg[/IMG]  

Looks like it if someone can be so self-deprecating ! Who says Belgian don't have a sense of humour [:D]

It seems that the word infidelity is less used in such situation than the expression being unfaithful. Why is it that only the act of going to bed with another man (or woman) is 'unfaithfulness'. What about persons that have to cope with a gambling partner or a drug addict partner or a drinking partner ?... These people are also suffering of unfaithfulness because their partners are committing the offence of no longer having faith in them, hence the guilty one is seeking some kind of other selfish satisfaction (drugs, alcohol, men, women, gambling) outside of that relationship.

[quote user="NormanH"] Surely it's boredom that leads to infidelity? [/quote] How does boredom start ?... From no longer doing things together ? not having enough mutual interests once the family has fledge the nest ? boredom from one part of the 'partnership' of always having to put up with (at first) silly little antic/dislike in the other which become major issues ?  financial matters that are never agreed or acted upon ? Infidelity is a manifestation of anger to make the other one face up to his/her silly antics. Infidelity doesn't have to be an affair with another man or woman. It can be just moving to the spare room, no longer eating meals together, only appearing together (if the matter is at a too sensitive stage and best kept private between the 2 protoganists) at a major family event on the calendar, having financial independance, travelling on one's own ... Divorce ?... Mental divorce has been consumated years ago and becomes a mode of survival. Physical divorce is not always possible. The lesser of 2 evils is best so one puts up a public front to show that all is OK     ...ish.        

[quote user="Gardian"]  The concert disappointed me a bit. Difficult to put my finger on it: part of it was the content, part performance by the vocalists.......    [/quote]   Ditto [:(] I thought of many things : my TV was on the blink ? the sound technician in the hall was still in training ? my hearing was defective ? average performers  (I'd never heard of any of them before) ? ... Just couldn't find any depth or colour in their voices. 'Put on your Sunday clothes' from 'Hello Dolly' was nothing like Barbara Streisand belts out. This one last night was flat. Even the Fred and Ginger numbers were disappointing [:(] Oh well, I am looking forward to go and see Carmina Burana in late October at the Albbert Hall, that should have some colour, depth etc... with 400 or so voices.

[quote user="Gardian"] .... for those who have liked John Wilson's previous Prom concerts, the above is being broadcast on BBC2 at 21.15 UK time this evening.[/quote]   Hooray for Hollywood !! I'll be locking the front door, draw the curtains and take the phone off the hook [:D] 

So easy to make ! Need :  Foil dishes left over from that last take away or a bucket. Blocks of lard. Packets of bird seeds from the pet shop, apple cores & peelings, carrot peels, any bit of vegetation trimmed off whilst preparing vegs, all that cut/shredded/diced up fairly small, bread crumbs or any stale bread made into crumbs, maggots from the fishing tackle place. Gently melt the lard in a large pan and once melted, mix in thouroughly all the other ingredients. Put into the foil dishes and leave to cool before distributing around the garden. Or fill half of a bucket and leave to cool. When solid, turn the bucket on its side and wedge between 2 stones or in the V of 2 tree branches, anywhere you can have a good view of the oiseaux for your photo endeavour. This way the little birdies will have shelter from the wind and rain when they come to feed in the bucket. A 1/2 bucket lasts my birds about a month. I also fix over the bucket some chicken wire as the big nasty magpies, jackdaws, jays, squirrels are not invited to this restaurant.  It seems expensive and time consumming but for a little enjoyment certainly cheaper that 6.50€. Economy of scale ...

That's old game ! I remember seeing it being done on Lake Malawi in the 1990's. You had to sit on a big tractor tyre pulled by a speed boat on full throttle. The driver of the boat would manoeuver such way that the tyre went over a sort of skateboard floating ramp and if you didn't grip hard enough on the tyre, you got a good dunking. Nearly lost one kid by drowning so eager he was to try out the contraption. I keep to hot air ballooning [:D]

Did you know that in parts of Africa, a woman with a large bottom and hip definition is considered by a man a very good asset to look out for whilst prospecting for a wife.     My mother's wise words when I first left home : 'Look after yourself and don't get a fat bottom my girl, or a foreigner we'll take you away for marriage' [:D] [:$] Sorry Mum ...

[8-)]  Gallic humour ....   Sorry [:$] this French lass has lost any meaning or understanding in translation ...   Whether grammatical errors are made in French or in English, in even the best of publications, when you have a young future king, Eton educated, presenting his intended wife at a gathering of Welsh dignitaries as : 'Me and Catherine etc...' there is not much hope for us the plebs [:D]