Catalpa
-
Posts
2,468 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
3
Posts posted by Catalpa
-
-
It has been a mild autumn / early winter and in our lanes between Sourdeval and Mortain primroses are in bloom. In the mist and gloom.Yes, the grass has continued to grow - slowly! - (though we haven't bothered to cut it since October) so while I think it is stretching a point, in the absence of any other instructions your gardener *could* argue he thought it was necessary.Maybe you need to set a rule along the lines of: "grass will be cut monthly between March and November" or something similar and perhaps expect / accept a larger bill for the first cut in March. Happy Christmas
Carole
-
As I've just been reminded in another thread (thank you Will-le-C) that we need to register with a doctor next year, has anyone found a doctor approximately in the above area whom they can recommend? Some English spoken would obviously be nice because it would be comforting if we were having to consult about something serious but it certainly isn't a selection criterion. I suppose we're really looking for someone who is (or seems to be) up to date in her / his thinking, in diagnosis of symptoms, recommendation of treatments etc. Both of us are (touching vast quantities of timber now) very healthy so we're not looking for someone who will treat a cold with 6 different types of pills and potions but we do want to find someone who will listen and diagnose and recommend. And accurately, of course! Any suggestions? Or even any *must avoids*?
-
We are planning to go the wet underfloor heating route. I've read several times now that if you have underfloor heating throughout the ground floor (we will) it's unnecessary to have it upstairs - just have a small top up radiator (of some description) in each room. I'm unconvinced... does anyone else have a view on this?
-
has anyone got what they consider to be the ultimate tartiflette recipe?
-
[quote]As a very light user, I will not buy a French PAYG 'phone until such time as they stop the thieving practice of cancelling paid for air time if it is not used by the end of the month (or 2 months or w...[/quote]
Whaaaat? Is this really standard practice???I'm a very light user - I've had my current mobile for 15 months and still have money left from my original £30 credit. I do want to buy a French SIM and PAYG is the route I intended to go... but not if this cancelling of credit is normal.Bug...er... bother.
Carole
-
** Now I've just had a charming young lady offering me a free termite inspection, every inch will be thoroughly examined, she says. **Ewwwwwww. Is this something from which you might be suffering, SB??? ** Apparently there are over 5000 Jedi Knights living in the Birmingham area according a recent census carried out there. I shall now become our local Jedi when the Jehovahs Witnesses call again,might even buy myself a lifesaver too. **At the last census (2000?) in the… religion?… box, an option was to select “other” and state what the “other” was. If there were sufficient others of a specific type, they would be included as a category in the next census. (I think this was how it worked.) So there was a campaign suggesting people categorised themselves as Jedi Knight. It was apparently very successful. Hence 5000 JKs in Birmingham and more across the country - it will presumably now be included as a selectable option in the next census. Would such levity be permitted in France in a similar official exercise?Carole
-
Yeaaaaaaaaaaa!Superb.Thank you James, Tim and other techie-type people. Oh yes, and Archant.
Carole
-
[quote]Having justs sent off all our British cards we are in a dilemma as to when is the correct time to send cards to French friends. Do they expect them before Christmas or between then and New Year?[/quote]
For the past few years - living in the UK - we've sent Christmas cards to friends and neighbours in France, knowing that it isn't a French tradition but feeling (illogically!) mean if we don't do it. It does seem to be very much appreciated and we've always been thanked subsequently. This is our first year permanently in France so we *won't* be sending out cards locally but we are planning to see everyone by new year. It's a good excuse for socialising. Carole -
Hi Chris -seriously interesting pix. I really like the fireplace. We're trying to figure out what to do with our fireplace when we reach that point of renovation. At some point in the last 20 years, the (we assume) stone, Norman-style fireplace was replaced by the owners with a rendered surround which is painted red brick colour and lines have been traced in the rendering to imitate bricks. It's... lovely. ;^How old was the oak you used? Green or somewhat seasoned?CarolePS: you have a good supply of firewood there!
-
You could always upload them to your own site and then post the link. Alternatively Forum Admin posted the following info in another thread and it may be of help to you.-----Uploading from your computer to this forum is not permitted due to security but you can link to pictures/images that are currently on the web by clicking the button and add the unique link to the prompt: 'picture source code' and it will then show up within your message compiler.If you have a photo on your computer that you wish to show on this forum and it isn't currently on the web, you could open an account with an Image Hosting company which in most cases is free (such as http://www.villagephotos.com or http://www.photobucket.com). You can set up a username and password and upload images from your computer to their site so you can share them with other people on the web, these websites are easy to use with step by step instructions, but remember that your pictures will be in the public domain.When you have uploaded an image onto their site, take note of the unique link given to each image (this is given when you upload an image) as you will need to use this.Then when you want to upload it onto this forum, within the message compiler use the button and add the unique link to the prompt: 'picture source code' and it will then show up within your message compiler.----I'd like to see the photos too. Carole
-
Tell them your dog has fallen in love with Mia and offer them money!Carole
-
I've always understood that builders sand is potentially contaminated with minerals and / or chemicals. These are unlikely exist in levels sufficient to damage established plants but are likely to substantially diminish the success rate when trying to get cuttings to strike. Carole
-
<< Too much Stargate. >>Hmmmm... or possibly not enough. May I also recommend Farscape to both of you. Lower hunkiness quotient unless you're into flatulent aliens (which your son may be!) but still very good.Ilikikea (sorry, can't remember the spelling) I'm not sure that the random thoughts on chocolate chip cookies you're likely to receive from me are going to help you with real marketing data which is what you need for your project. So I'll be a bit more general.You need to figure out what companies produce chocolate chip cookies in France - and they are probably most of the international food companies - find their web sites and see what you can interpret and perhaps contact them direct with your questions. I'll probably be in a supermarket tomorrow (Monday) so I'll have a look at a few packs and see who the manufacturers are and you could take it from there.SB is right - snacking between meals isn't a French adult thing except perhaps with morning coffee if visitors arrive so I agree your target market would be children. Except... if there are 500,000 British people now in France, you could mount your whole strategy around providing biccies to this nutritionally-impoverished group. Christmas presentation packs of Calva-flavoured Chocolate Chip cookies anyone?! Then partner with Delia Smith* and include your brand of chocolate chip cookies in a Delia pudding recipe in a tv program accompanied by a book and your product's success (and your virtual promotion to the virtual board of directors) is assured. *Delia is translated and published in France.Carole
-
Alexis - have you found an equivalent to horticultural 'sharp sand' and if so, a) what's it called and b) where did you find it?Yours in hope!Carole
-
[quote]One aspect that may be helping things is that I recon there are far fewer people logged-on at any one time. There used to regularly be two (or more ?) lines showing the names of current users. Now m...[/quote]
I'm guessing that the list of members shown as logged on or "active" may be only a proportion of those viewing. With 5000+ members - even if that's an inflated number as suggested by Will-le-C in another thread - I guess it's likely that while there may be a dozen registered users logged on and therefore 'visible' to participants, there may be many many more than that using the site and accessing threads but 'invisible' to the naked eye. Re the response times of the site, I find that for the past few weeks now, I've been mostly unable to access the popular threads - 4 pages+ - as I just get timed out messages. Which is a shame as I love to see how far long-running threads have moved away from the original post! Carole -
[quote]As we've just had a week with, I think, ten episodes of Coronation Street then even at five times a week Stargate (whatever that is) has a bit of catching up to do.[/quote]
10 eps of Corrie... nooooooooo! I can't stand these reality tv series! Carole(still in need of a tongue-in-cheek emoticon )
-
Can you approach the owners direct, not necessarily opening the discussion with: you are inflicting cruelty and stop immediately or I will report you! but more along the lines of: you can't take on a dog yourself but you've made friends with their dog and wonder if you can take him for a walk... that the exercise would be good for you and you would enjoy the dog's company... whatever. Then you could effect some change for the better in the dog's life and possibly begin to gently educate the owners. Of course, a difficulty with this approach may be that the dog has never clapped eyes on a lead and you'd first have to teach it. I do realise this chatty approach may not be an option for you.Expanding the subject slightly, it seems quite usual to see French families owning an indoor pet dog and a outdoor guard dog treating the two animals quite differently. The small, spoilt-rotten house pet gets petted, cuddled and over-fed with treats while there's a larger animal leading a parallel life outside, chained, not exercised, and seemingly more-or-less ignored. The other thing I've seen is a couple of farm dogs locally who clearly have burgeoning tumours which are apparently being ignored.It's a different attitude and perhaps one that, circumstances allowing, us incomers can influence a little over time. Although, there's plenty of casual cruelty that British people mete out to their animals. Never get me on the subject of sad little guinea pigs living out short, solo lives incarcerated and ignored in gloomy, cold garages.Carole
-
What about Alias??? I want to be Sydney Bristow. Come to think of it, I'd quite like to be Jennifer Garner. Fit in current and original senses of the term And for SG-1, what about poor Daniel! He's cute, in an intellectual sort of way. Or is the current series the one in which 'he's taking a rest having ascended to other levels?' And have you seen the Atlantis SG variant yet on French tv? Then take a look at Angel - David Boreanaznez-whatever is worth a look... er... sorry, sorry, I'll go away and drink my coffee now...Carole (who has possibly provided far too much information about herself)(btw, the West Wing is what I miss most from UK tv)
-
Quote:<< Any dangers from drinking unpasteurised fruit juice? >>Yes there are, Cabman. An Evian cap in the eye can be very painful. People just don't realise how lethal this stuff is. It's alive! For safer storage, use ex-fizzy mineral bottles because they're made stronger. Then always vent the bottles twice a day minimum. If you're happy drinking the juice of rotting apples, worms, earth and anything else that's shovelled up and thrown into the macerator to be pressed, carry on. We're in our second year of doing so and it doesn't appear to have done us any harm. Of course, I haven't had an internal parasite check recently. Carole
-
I probably should have qualified my previous answer a bit - it's not actually *cheap* perhaps - because GD stuff is reasonably expensive full price - but 50-75% off represents good value as far as I'm concerned. I'll definitely be visiting to see what might fit the Christmas present list (for other people only )Carole
-
Yes, I can back up W-le-C: I've been in there on a Saturday afternoon. There are some seriously good value offers and mostly plenty of stock behind each offer.Carole
-
Well, it works like this...-coconut or -cocoa or indeed -Coco ... are okay because there isn't a space preceding them.But******onut or******oa or******o are not okay because of the space.This is the little understood LF space-coconut rule which also puts in more asterisks than hidden letters.Carole
-
There are definitely new regulations in force next year. Speak to the Mairie and find out what the situation is in your commune. Ours seems very laid back - the Mairie in the next door commune arranges a soil test and survey when asked - ours doesn't. We were asked by our supplier / installer to obtain permission for our choice of an Eparco product...http://www.eparco.info/assainissement-individuel/filiere-compacte.htm... but that proved simple as the Maire told us the supplier does work for the commune so <
> no problem.The rules exist but as to when and how they will be enforced... visit the Mairie.Carole -
44?Recipes pleaseCarole
insert fire
in House Renovations
Posted