Catalpa

Three posts in a row seems a little obsessive but I think this relates to the thread as it was originated: Do any of you who are (reasonably) fluent in French and interested in French news topics such as the Ivory Coast ever participate in *French* online forums? I was just looking at le Monde online and noticed that they have active forums for debating a whole range of topics. Are any of you confident enough to join in those discussions? Carole

I'm intermittently reading France in the new centry by John Ardagh. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140259228/qid=1101469943/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_8_6/202-4787123-1742200 I'll admit it's occasionally a bit heavy going but it does provide a lot of the cultural and historical background that I'm lacking. And lots of more lightweight info such as the origins of the Leclerc supermarket chain. (I just have to remember it all now!) Carole

Interesting thread SB. The amount of UK-focussed posting - well, how many of the 5,300+ members of LF do *live* in France? As opposed to having holiday homes or wishing they had a holiday home / or lived here full time. Although, how many of the 5,300+ members actually post? It's a fairly small proportion I would guess and of that sub-set many probably only post in the specific forums such as house renovation, legal or health rather than the more general postbag. If someone *lives* in France they're likely to be more interested in regularly buying the local or national newspapers, watching tv, reading news online etc. We do buy the local papers and Le Monde on Saturdays and I am persevering because it's obviously helping my language acquisition and use. But it requires disclipline because instead of sitting with a cup of coffee (well, okay, bottle of wine!) and getting enjoyably lost in a newspaper - news, analysis and personal cogitations - I sit here with my dictionary CD onscreen and newspaper in front of me so I can (try to!) look up what I don't understand. But this takes it out of the easy enjoyment category and puts it in the bit of a chore category. Interesting and long-term useful, but still not the easy news hit it used to be. As I said, I'm persevering and getting better but it does take the immediacy out of being able to 'understand' the news because as I think someone said earlier, all the sub-conscious cultural references and information aren't embedded and available. But I want to better understand the country I've moved to so... (opens bottle, rustles Manche Libre) onwards! Carole BTW, I'm not *that* disciplined: I still listen to the Today program on R4 in the mornings and sometimes PM in the afternoons. And I have been known to watch News24. Is there a French national equivalent for any of those? And one other thing... I watched some of the UK State Opening of Parliament the other day: is it because I've moved to France that the whole thing looked ridiculously antiquated and completely irrelevant in 2004? Oh bother! That's UK-related! Sorry!!

LOL! I have a bottle of cidre nouveau seething quietly in the kitchen at this moment. It arrives in a cristalle mineral water bottle and it took just a couple of hours for the ribs on the bottle to expand. Venting the bottle (otherwise known as carefully loosening the cap) seems to help. I suppose I'd better drink it. I've not heard of any form of foire or festival. I know that there's a cooperative of sorts in Sourdeval where apples get pressed and (I believe) depending on your apple volume contribution you get allocated a liquid amount. I'm not sure how it works because my French got confused half way through the explanation. But no one said there was any form of get-to-gether celebrating the harvest. Cidre nouveau is quite sweet, only slightly fizzy and very cloudy. A glass or two at night certainly gets one moving in the morning! (TMI?) Carole

So... what happened, Mrs O? Did Mr O get the job? Carole

Good site, Di, thanks. Do the washing balls thoroughly remove the dreaded fly spots? Mrs H: Last year, I saw washing balls in Champion in Vire but haven't looked recently. I may purchase from the site Di recommended and if so, do you want some too? The company only deliver to the UK but I get stuff sent to my parents and pick up from there. We can discuss. Carole

A number of members - including me - have commented on the slowness of the site and possible reasons for the problems. Someone from Archant corporate IT has taken the time to reply from a position of knowledge, not speculation. Yes he speaks technical: well... this is a technical issue. You could argue that he just didn't bother to 'dumb-down'. And it does seem they are seeking to resolve site problems. I'm bearing in mind that currently there's no charge for using this forum, we don't even have to subscribe to any of the magazines in order to access it (which to me would be a minimal and fair requirement). I do agree number of posts seems to have diminished - but over the past few years there have been a number of occasions when the membership has either been significantly pruned or started from scratch. On each occasion, the membership has rapidly grown to at least the previous levels. Some people may have moved to other forums because of site frustrations - either they'll come back in a few months or others will replace them. My personal peeve is that the archives are lost - people who posted extensively and knowledgeably on a subject previously don't necessarily bother to re-post the same information to a new variation of the question. But as someone else commented, even life in France evolves so information from a year or two ago isn't necessarily as valid as when it originally appeared. This forum is very useful - it may be less so for a few months - but as a contact and information exchange point for many knowledgeable and helpful people, it's excellent. Even if I can't understand LF's business case for providing it! Carole PS: what's with the comments about Tim Stephenson's job title? It's what he does. For seriously attractive job titles, go to IBM. I have business cards for a man who is an "E-Learning Evangelist" and a woman who is a "Thought Leader" !!

> You have to carefully specify acceptable response times in all circumstances *before* purchase in order to have a good basis for complaint after purchase. "You didn't make that requirement clear to us" being the permanent cry of many software suppliers... smirking as they prepare the quote for software enhancements which the purchaser never imagined wouldn't be covered in the original version. Carole

"Me Too" -type posts are always boring so apologies in advance but... I agree, this forum is extremely slow and I think response times are getting worse. I frequently get +server time out+ messages when navigating around LF and that doesn't happen to me on *any* other site. quick edit: forgot to say that I frequently can't even get the home page to load so don't get as far as selecting a forum / thread. That happened to me around 8am-ish this morning and again about 6pm-ish (UK time) Carole

Quote > Um... thought it was Harvie & Hudson ?? Carole

[quote]Aren't husbands a bit like this too?!?[/quote] Yes, I reckon it's a boy thing Carole

[quote]In today's Le Monde there is a story which makes me very unhappy. It seems some hunters, out with their dogs and guns and looking for sangliers, took it upon themselves to kill a female bear named C...[/quote] This isn’t hunting, it’s vandalism. Piprob > As far as politicians in either country not wanting to alienate powerful sections of their electorates… I think you’re spot on. And that's why the Canelles of France - and Spain - aren't truly protected. There isn't the political will. Carole

I received a reply this morning - and there's also an ad in Manche Libre - St James - Vente Usine Route d'Antrain - Zone Industrielle, Saint-James 50240 Vetements d'esprit marin (fins de serie et declasses) Samedi 20 Novembre 0900 - 1700 Lundi 22 Nov - 1000 - 1230 à 1430 - 1800 Mercredi 24 Nov 1400 - 1800 Vendredi 26 Nov 1400 - 1800 Carole

Reminder for those who know... and red alert for those who don't but like big country fair-type things albeit in the town of St Martin, not in a field... Saturday 6th - Wednesday 10th November Foire St Martin lots of stands, stalls, agricultural stuff, animals, flea market, furniture etc etc. Up to 100,000 people visit. For more info, Manche Libre dated 7 November (but available today) has a pull-out section. Carole Edit: I'm a duh-brain - it wasn't till I saw DickSmith's comment below that I realised I'd typed St Martin instead of St Hilaire - the foire is around the centre of *St Hilaire*. We went over this morning - lots to see, some of which is similar to what can be found in St Hilaire's weekly market in the season, but the Foire aux Chiens is worth visiting... providing you don't have my genetic defect which makes me want to buy every puppy I see, particularly the beagle pups... and the Jack Russell pups... then there were some sweet little labs and some gorgeous spaniels... aaaagh! TOH had to frogmarch me away and feed me a galette saucisse! Why that distracted me I'm not entirely sure. Afternoon (and I assume evening) is busiest and there's a fairground in the centre of town.

I'm using Mozilla and in certain circumstances - particularly online shopping - Mozilla throws up errors and I have to switch to IE. Firefox may get over that so I'll investigate. In Mozilla I don't get many of the formatting options available on LF... but I don't consider that much of a downside. I certainly prefer Mozilla to IE but the other browser I used to use and liked - but just haven't got around to downloading again - is Opera. Carole

LOL. What a perfect observation, Pucette. Same probably applies to authors. One with the initials CD perhaps. Carole

jfm quote: > Continuing your off-topic... we've seen one of these wood chip boilers too. Very interesting. We didn't get into the details but it seems they can be multi-fuel and will burn chopped maize and presumably chopped straw too. The one we saw in action was computer-run and you told it what fuel was being loaded and it dealt with it accordingly. We don't know the details of how it worked but one thing seemed definite: you need a large, external 'shed'-type building to store the fuel before it gets pulled by auger into the firebox. My green fantasy is: plant a number of acres with fast-growing willow, poplar or whatever - biomass. After about 10-12 years begin to coppice, convert harvest to woodchippings and use the resulting pellets for the boiler. I've yet to work out how many hectares of wood are needed to make one totally self-sufficient in fuel year on year! Add solar panels and storage batteries and energy-self-sufficiency beckons! In my dreams. Carole

We’re looking at appointing artisans for the major parts of our renovation work – stonework and roofing – for the latter, both the carpentry side and the slate work itself. One of our devis is from a cooperative of local artisans and the work would be managed by their maître d’œuvre whose charges are 6% of the cost of the work. Payment system proposed is as follows: One third payment for each artisan as they *start* their piece of the work. One third payment *half way through* each section of work. Balance on *satisfactory completion* of the work. The maître d’œuvre’s fees would be paid half on commencement of the work and the balance on satisfactory completion. Has anyone else had any work done on this sort of contractural basis? Is it unusual for France? If we go with them there are issues to be agreed – such as for each artisan, what precisely constitutes *half way*. For the maître d’œuvre, are there accepted responsibilities to which he should perform? I know what *we* would expect him to do and if we go this route, I know what we will ask of him, but I wondered if there are any formal expectations – a recognised service level agreement I suppose. I would add that we’re in a part of Normandie where there is a large British population – both permanent residents and second home owners and there are stories about some workmen getting caught out when British owners either disappear back to the UK for months or run out of money and disappear permanently. Perhaps this has driven the suggested payment schedule. Carole

Thanks, Pucette. Happily, she's done so well (or perhaps the holiday weekend has had something to do with it?!) because she's home. We're visiting her tomorrow with a nice plant arrangement. Now we just have to find the right facial and verbal expressions for the gory details. Carole

Is it also a state / tax thing? If a job's worth doing, it's worth being able to levy taxes / social charges for it? Carole

Thanks for the info, Will and The Johnsons. I've emailed St James and asked when the sales are this November. If I get a response I'll post it here. Carole

The woman from whom we bought our house is in hospital recovering well from a hip op. We're planning to visit her on Monday - is it okay to take flowers? a get well card? (Naturally, we'll avoid chrysanths especially as Monday is Toussaint!) Should we announce our intention to visit to her husband or can we just turn up? (in visiting hours, natch ) Advice would be appreciated. Including just how much information on the operation itself is *too* much information?! TOH is a bit worried! Carole

I'm a tree hugger too... but that doesn't preclude eating meat and if the meat was running through a wood a few days ago, in my view that's much better than buying it from a supermarket. Glad you enjoyed your introduction to just one aspect of French culture, Don1. But don't go out with a loaded gun *after* lunch. Carole

I remember him from a time when only John Peel and me (yeah right) believed in Space Oddity... the last few yars I've been listening to him intermittently on Home Truths and because of that, I keep thinking the circumstances of his own death would be something on which he'd interview family and friends on that show. Something like the horrors of bereavement aborad. It's sad because it's too soon, but he's certainly stamped his existence on the music scene. Carole

Hereford said: > We have got two gas bottles as we currently do hot water and hob cooking via gas. Very irritating when I've got a head covered in shampoo and the hot water ceases. We have a changeover... valve?... widgit?!.. which connects two bottles and when one is empty the widgit automatically flips over to the full bottle so there's no break in supply. There is a red line in the indicator of the widgit which shows when this has happened so the empty one can be changed. I can get details from TOH if you or anyone else is interested. Carole