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ssomon

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Everything posted by ssomon

  1. Words to dislike? ....... Just about anything said/screamed by Alex Jacques on Channel 4's Formula 1 coverage. His idiotic non-stop gibberish is almost destroying any enjoyment of the programme.
  2. In January I replaced our old Sky digibox with a Manhattan SX Freesat HD Box from Amazon, being the cheapest replacement I could find. We gave up our Sky subscriptions through a third party years ago. The box works very well with our existing 95cm dish, but we find the Menu and programme booking systems confusing and clumsy compared with the Sky box. It also turns itself off when not being used and has to re-initiate when the TV is switched on again, which is annoying. Can someone tell me if the current Sky HD digibox uses a similar system to that of the old non-HD one, or recommend a better box for receiving UK Freesat programmes?
  3. You can use any Notaire you wish. Not necessarily one local to the house you're buying.
  4. I invariably put "Regards" in English, "Cordialement" in French.
  5. Did you know that jerusalem artichokes are the roots of a type of sunflower. The English name s a corruption of the Italian name "girasole" They are not very exciting to eat, but taste better parboiled and fried. The French seem to associate them with poverty and wartime, along with parsnips, other cheap root vegetables, and chestnut flour. You can make an acceptable briam without peppers. Just use a few whole cherry tomatoes instead.
  6. You have been cooking it wrongly, probably stewing it. Try it like this https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/briam-recipe-greek-mixed-roasted-vegetables/
  7. We have an 8.7kW Canadian made pellet stove which I bought on UK Ebay in 2008, and moved from our previous house in 2012. It is installed in the main living room in the centre of the house, the other rooms being adequately heated by normal air circulation. I have maintained it fairly easily at reasonable cost, using parts sourced from both France and Canada. Our average consumption of pellets was 35 x 15kg bags per year. We used it as our main heating source once the outside temperature dropped below about 7C, when the air/air heat pumps became less efficient, until the winter of 2022, when the price of pellets soared from around 4€50 to almost 10€ per bag. We managed to get through the winter on 8 new bags plus 2 left from the previous winter by running the heat pumps longer and lowering the temperature in the house. A quick calculation showed that pellets are no longer economical, besides needing more cleaning and maintenance, so I bought and installed new, larger and more efficient air/air heat pumps. These have kept the house at 20C in the daytime, 18C at night, and we have only used about 1 1/2 bags of pellets when using the stove for a quick temperature boost on very cold evenings. Our electricity bill is manageable at about 1600€ for the last year, we save over 200€ a year for pellets, and no longer have the weekly cleaning and hassle of the stove, and shopping around to find acceptable prices.
  8. Who says they did? Maybe an uncle with connections sorted out their driving licence for them
  9. Yes, and 55 years later I am totally amazed that there are people like the OP who don't know what hazard lights are for.
  10. In October 1968 I visited the NSU factory in Germany to collect my new car, which I had bought from their agent in Teheran for a very good price, and which was the first car I ever had with hazard lights. We drove back to England via Switzerland and France without incident, but half way up the M5, near Dunstable, there was a serious accident and I suddenly realised all the lanes in front of me were at a standstill. I managed to stop in time, and immediately turned on my hazard lights. Seconds later a Triumph Herald ran into the back of my car at close to full speed, knocking us violently forward to hit the car in front of me. My wife and I suffered quite bad whiplash, our two youngsters on the back seat were lying down asleep, so were OK, but the herald driver got out and immediately collapsed in a heap. I never got to talk to him, the insurance eventually sorted things out, but I am convinced he had never seen hazard lights before, and thought he had to drive between my two flashing rear lights.
  11. This is apparently based on a true story.
  12. Returning to the topic, I think that veggies are sadly missing from most offerings, at least around here, apart from frites or pâte The closest we've been given recently was a spoonful or so of pale green mush, presumably of vegetable origin, at a well-know restaurant on the main road near Castelnaudary.
  13. I think that's what a large number of those who voted for Brexit wanted.
  14. Is the amount billed consistent with what you paid in previous years? Bear in mind that some authorities have increased TdH for second homes as from this year. I believe these are mostly in the larger towns and cities, and in popular tourist areas.
  15. I suggest you read the OP again until you understand it.
  16. There was a chateau by the beach in Bouisseville, near Oran, Algeria, where we lived in 1969-70, where an old French lady had lived on her own since Independence. My wife called to see her one day and found she lived in spartan conditions in just one room in the huge building.
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