Clark Kent II

OK. I'm now probably going to be accused of pedantry, but this isn't my intention. If anyone is concerned about and does want to do any research, its name is Lyme disease (after a town in New England). This disease, if not caught early, can lead to all kinds of long-term severe consequences. It is spread by a tick normally associated with deer and is widespread in the northern hemisphere.

[quote user="Patf"]Is there any evidence that using sun protection cream prevents skin cancer? I thought it was just to avoid sunburn. [/quote] Pat I have just been motivated to look at the Wikipedia entry on skin cancer (here). I would guess that it is probably reliable. It would seem that the answer to your question is not as clear cut as you would hope!  

[quote user="mint"] I feel a bit resentful that these things should cost so much.  I gritted my teeth and spent the money but I thought of people I know who would be put off by the price.   [/quote] I haven't bothered to look at these products in French shops since I acquired my supply in a supermarket in England. A Which? report, about a month ago, made a Co-op brand - at about £3 - its best buy. The report advised people to avoid a well-known brand costing about four times as much. I suspect that people are not particularly rational when buying sunscreens. They are pretty much a commodity product with little difference in effectiveness between the cheapest and most expensive brands. If it says on the bottle that it is factor 30, then its selling price is immaterial. Pay more than the minimum and you buying a fashion item, buying the brand rather than the product.

[quote user="Chancer"] I still buy things in France if they are cheaper I just put no value on the guarantee, the French are often wary of buying from overseas because of accessing the guarantee yet effectively they dont have one on most French bought goods. [/quote] I thought that there is now Union-wide EU prescribed customer protection legislation which is based on the English Sale of Goods Law?

My wife died over ten years ago. She had been diagnosed with cancer over seven years before she eventually succumbed to it. She received chemotherapy intermittently over that time and was eventually fitted with a continuous delivery pump carried on a belt. For this she had a permanently inserted PICC line. We came to France for four or five weeks each summer. Her oncology department (Cheltenham) provided us with sufficient saline packs for me to be able to flush her line every week. The nurse specialist at Cheltenham ensured that I was competent and gave me appropriate advice (part of which was don't let any GP get anywhere near it). Everything went well and we did not need any local help.

Why do people have such naïve views about weather? We were all taught all we need to know in third form geography: that the Atlantic seaboard of Europe - from Norway to Portugal - is  a maritime climate zone characterised by mild winters, cool summers, rain at all times of the year and unpredictability. The further south you go, the warmer it will be when the sun shines. There are things we know now about the jet stream, and its influence on weather, but as long as the Earth rotates in the direction it does now, and we are stuck on the eastern side of a very large body of water, we shall have unpredictable weather. But it does give us all something to talk about ...

I find myself thinking that neither side in this affair can claim any credit. However, it is not the only dispute in the Middle East, nor is it the bloodiest. But is it just because Israel is involved that it hogs our attention? Does it need to be placed into a wider context? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-a-rizvi/post_8056_b_5602701.html

Simon's Cat. Lots of him on YouTube.

[quote user="Patf"]Yes, gone are the days when you could get an hors d'oeuvre as described by Elizabeth David: [/quote] But hors d'oeuvre were not fait maison. The term means "outside work" and refers to the practice of buying them in ready made from some supplier.[6]