Suandpete

Hi We will need to travel from north Deux-Sevres up to central Paris to go to the Chinese embassy to get visas.  I realise that we can easily get a TGV from Poitiers but we are also considering driving up and leaving the car near a metro station in the south west of Paris - can anyone suggest a station with nearby parking? Thanks in advance Su

I wondered why it was so quiet - we are in the centre of Saint-Varent and there is usually a fair amount of "quarry lorries" - but not today!

Thanks Katie.  Frenchie - where is the Niort one?

Whereabouts is the Poitiers one?

If it's anything like the Saint Varent by-pass don't hold your breath!   Ours has been on-going for about 15 years with a selection of different routes being "flavour of the month" each year.  Every now and again we get the chance to vote on the alternatives and then it all goes back to the drawing board. Mind you, Chiché probably needs one more than us. Su

Oddly Pages Jaunes is right in this instance - the hamlet is just round the corner from here - it's name panel says  La Viandiére but most maps say La Vivandiére!!

    I guess his situation is totally different from ours as he is "actif" and we are "non-actif".   Although sometimes it doesn't feel like that!

    No, we decided to let it rest for a while as we had the certificate signed by the Maire but we may go direct to Niort and see what happens there - maybe the new regulations are finally filtering through.  Interesting to hear that your husband managed to get one - is he from an EU country?  Does he work?

    Has anyone in Deux-Sèvres recieved their bill for the contribution due at the end of this month yet?   Last December we didn't get one at all and they sent two out in March - looks as if maybe it's going to be the same again this year?

    Our first 5 year Titre de Sejour has just exppired and so we went to our Mairie yesterday armed with print-outs of the appropriate legislation from the Government web site to ask for a new 20 year one which would no longer show us as inactif.  The "responsable" rang the Prefecture in Niort (we heard her end of the phone call and she told them that we were specifically requesting renewal and read out to them the relevant paragraph) they said that we could not have one but that she should issue us with an attestation signed by the Maire which shows the date we came to live in the Commune. Has any one (from a European country) managed to get a renewed Titre/Carte de Séjour from Niort?

    Just PM'd you with some info I found on line.

  Here in Deux-Sèvres (79) it's raining lots - and squally winds and more showers forecast for later on (75kph winds) so you're not missing a great deal weatherwise!

    You wouldn't believe the problems I had on the Saturday before Christmas when I went to our local LeClerc just to get some parsnips - while I was there I spotted a red cabbage and thought - that will be nice cooked up with some onions and apples.  Unfortunately the checkout girl thought that my red cabbage was a black radish..........  to cut a long story short when I explained at the acceuil that I had been charged for something I didn't have I had my trolley searched as if I was a shoplifter....................

    Secondigny is quite a big place.

    You haven't said where it is.........

    Admittedly they are not very exotic but I find that the Francine flours are absolutely fine.  Two thirds muti grain and one third either basic pain or pain de campagne makes a very nice loaf.

There's one in our village - St Varent on Saturday 9th Dec from 1500 until midnight.

Hi Eric - just checked your number and it looks as if you could get it at the lowest rate - 512kbps Su

This is an excellent site - you can input the name of your commune and it tells you exactly what the situation is. http://info.eau-poitou-charentes.org/

It's the immature buds that follow the sun - once the flowers are open they do just face east http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower  - but ours are just facing down to the ground now (we have them all round our veggy garden).

Ours here in Deux-Sèvres have already started forming their seed heads and are no longer following the sun as they are now too heavy.  I just hope that they don't die again this year due to lack of water as they have done in recent years.  They are really only beautiful for a couple of weeks and soon "go over".  Hold on to the memories!

What part of the country?   Never seen them here in Poitou-Charentes!

Just had 2 very odd questions which seem to be the second part of other questions if you know what I mean... 1.   Also the outlook of their monks' outfit was changed. What was the new look? 2.   On this "trip" through the Britain's islands, in which direction have I've led you? Has anyone else had these two?    Edit:   Just did it again in my other persona - didn't seem fair that I had no chance at all with those 2 questions!

Just in case anyone thinks I was cheating - the first time I did the quiz as suandpete the questions changed part way through (it was 7am) and a message told me to go back and do it again - and then added both my times together!  So I did it again (with different questions) as peteandsu!

Yet again a majority of Scottish questions - very odd.  Shame I know hardly anything about Scotland really!