JohnM

I know he is "Innocent until proven guilty", but I found this "let's not jump to conclusions" comment in a report and it brought a small smile to my face (which I suppose was good because I'd been quite morose until then!)  "Investigators turned up a sword and photos of decapitated women during a search of the suspect's home, regional state prosecutor Eric Maurel said, adding that it was "premature" to pin the blame on him".  

Oh I no it's been going on for years and, to an extent, I was weakening, until I heard about ethiopia! No it may not work, but I feel I have to try!  

Aye, but it'll be Swiss workers and not English ones, as they have already gone. I wouldn't wish that to happen to anyone of any nationality, but many of these big multinationals do think that they can do what they like. I think the only way we can make them accountable is to hit them where it hurts... let the CEO's know that we are not impressed with their actions so will boycott the products and that will affect their bonus!  

I can't find my research at the moment, but I think there are two different beetles known as Capricorn. One of them only lives in growing trees and (again it's a "think") I think it is protected. The other lives in dead wood and can destroy beams. I may be misremembering, but I had a long email from an insect expert who claimed that if beams are old, then the larva can not dwell in the heartwood because they do need moisture to live, so in my circumstances he suggested that I was unlikely to have any trouble. Perhaps that is why some of the experts are saying do not worry? That being said, I aim to get my beams treated.  

My trouble is that I'm not brilliant at the "ethical boycott" thing. I love peppermint aero and every now and then I have one. But I think it's better to fail every now and then, than to not try at all.  

Here is a bit of background to the above. http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~stu/milk.htm http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/news_updates/archive2002/art3931.html  

I've a sneaking suspicion that Rowntrees have been owned by Nestles for many years and as I am very anti Nestles, I have been (trying to ) boycott their products for years. My reason for the boycott is what I consider to be disgusting (lack of) ethics by them concerning developing countries.  

Oh b****r, it looks like I've read duff information!  

[quote]What was it nelson said kiss me hardy,what must the french think?[/quote] Actually, I've been told that that is a misquote. Apparently many historians believe that Nelson said "Kismet" (as in Fate).  

[quote]I wouldn't mind co-ordinating a letter. Perhaps I could put together a draft and invite comments from everyone interested in putting their names to it. Unless someone else yearns to put pen to paper ...[/quote] Just a thought, but I have seen too many "petitions" that have been signed by friends and neighbours just to keep the petitioner happy, therefore if "I" received a letter with 1,000 signatures, "I" would treat it with a certain amount of "so what". However, if I received 1,000 letters then "I" would take it a bit more seriously. For the price of a stamp each I think we should all send a letter (even if it is the same one that Lin carefully drafts), I think it would have more impact and show more affiliation to the cause.  

I am sure that how you get treated will depend on how you treat others. Where I work there used to be two gay men. One thought that we all hated him because he was gay. Not so, we hated him because he was untrustworthy, slimy, nasty and kept pushing his sexuality in our faces. However, in his eyes we were homophobic. He didn't seem to notice that we all loved the other gay guy who happened to be a really nice person and was more interested in the fact that we had lots in common rather than the fact that he was different because he was gay. The obnoxious guy also failed to notice that the guy we loved also hated him! I am sure there are bigots around, I am sure it's because they have big problems, but I am equally sure that if you have few problems in England the same will be true in France.  

On reflection I will concede that I over complicated my "correction" of your posting. Judging by the tone of your reply, you took it as a personal dig, it was not meant that way, I just thought that the use of "Due South" was misleading. Sorry you felt put out.  

I know I'm being a bit pedantic as I guess, in France, there is more chance of error just by using the compass. But the satellite is actually 28 east of 0 (i.e the imaginary line which goes through Greenwich and Paris) and not east of due south as stated. So if by chance you are in Bucharest (26degrees east), then the satellite is only 2 degrees further east. (And in Johannesburg 28 degrees east, it would be due north! Yes, I know this is a useless bit of info as the beam does not point in that direction, but it amused me).  

I was just about to take higher ground and claim that I never did anything like that, but then had to climb off my pedestal when I remembered that I was in the Venture Scouts and we spent many of our evenings round a camp fire, baking potatoes in empty beer cans (we only emptied them so that we could bake the spuds - honest). Same thing just that our gathering place was not a public area and we had a fire to keep some of the cold away.  

You are talking reclaim, so you can probably ignore this missive but just in case it helps - I went with my mother to help her choose a replacement fireplace yesterday (in UK but I expect some of this applies in France).  She doesn't have a real fire very often (actually she's not had one for 30 years) but she wants the capability. However, the surrounds and hearths they had in the show rooms would not cope with the (extra) heat generated by a real fire. So, although there were some good prices in the sale, the conversion to "real Fire" put the prices up dramatically. If you want a real fire, make sure the surround and hearth are up to it. Back to mother, she has been thinking of changing the fireplace since 1962, so I guess the sales will be well over by the time she actually makes her mind up.  

Erm. Interesting, I did wonder if Kurt had a persecution complex, but I guess has had good reasons to have one! I had a good sailing and hope to use them again.  

I messaged them to see what the policy is on early arrivals and I had a phone call this morning to say that with these tickets you can turn up and go, but might have to pay the peak time supplement. Suits me.  

 Firstly, I do feel sorry for anyone who is tormented enough to jump and sorry for those who have to live with the aftermath. But as to how they can jump from so high, I will not bungey jump because the ground is too close, but I have parachuted, the ground was so far away that it seemed unreal. Perhaps the same applies with this bridge?  

I have got to admit that I haven't compared prices recently, but when I did, chains were much much cheaper in the French supermarkets than the English car accessory shops. The trunk routes to the mountains should be OK without chains (if not then I suggest you stop until they are.... it's a long way at 20 mph!). As for whether you need them when you get there... I understand that if you don't have any in the car and you are in a Snow Chain Zone, you can fined, even if the roads are clear. The thinking on this is that it might be clear going up to the car park, but if it snows while you are skiing you may need them on the way back down. A final point, yes, chains do damage your tyres, but replacing tyres a few thousand miles early is probably a better alternative than getting your car fixed (here speaks a man who had chains in his fairly new car, was about to put them on when a passenger said, "You don't need them" and stupid like I listened, going down hill at 10 miles an hour I had to stop, but couldn't... missed the car in front by about an inch - OK, may not have caused a lot of damage at that speed, but I didn't want any).  

Excellent, Not that it will be of any use to any of you, but I've just added my work 0845, I understand that we have to pay a premium on each call to 0845 so if it's cheaper for the poor dears to call the proper number they might as well do so.  

If your plane arrives late in the evening then hire your car from the country that the plane was going to. I arrived in the Swiss terminal in Geneva once, but had a hire car waiting on the french side, the French terminal closed at 11pm and even though Europcar market themselves as one huge European company, they are individual country companies and hiring a Swiss car for a day then returning it the next to collect the one I had booked, was a big hassal and it cost me a lot of money. It was also a major job getting Europcar to retrospectively give me a decent price on the Swiss car / a refund on French the car I couldn't get (that they hired out to someone else first thing next morning).  

How about a small brass bolt at the top of the windows???  

They seemed worryingly slow when I needed to top up the CA account in a hurry before my Taxe d'habitation was taken out. It took nearly three weeks to get there.  

[quote]Do you have to register for this or is it an included service? If it's included, please will you point me at the actual page on their web site (my French is getting better but I still struggle). Chee...[/quote] Wow. My french is getting better. I found the links in the FT web site all by myself... sadly I couldn't get to work. Despite having my phone bill in front of me and checking that I was entering the "amount due" accurately, it still didn't want to know me!  

[quote]France Telecom usage can be checked on line - I provide phone and internet access to guests and send an extract of call costs deducted from the security deposit at the end of each stay. The website is...[/quote] Do you have to register for this or is it an included service? If it's included, please will you point me at the actual page on their web site (my French is getting better but I still struggle). Cheers