chessfou

[quote]I'll have you know, young lady, that I've never tied up anyone wearing flip-flops in my life![/quote] Any trained historian, seeing that sentence, will immediately wonder what the people that you have tied up were wearing ...

Yes, it does get confusing doesn't it ... Not sure how come I know so much about women's underwear ... [:$] but ... Aussies of both sexes wear rubber thongs ... on their feet but in most/all other English speaking countries (including now the US), thongs (not generally made of rubber although I suppose that some such are sold ...) are worn ... higher up. They are also apparently worn by 4-20% of US males. French "string" = G-string (also T-string and V-string, according to straps and ties - see wikipedia for the differences), Tanga or Thong. Anyone else remember the old Goon song (written by Spike Milligan): "Ying tong ..."? Written about 50 years ago but highly appropriate (even if for 4-20% of US males it could have been the "Yang tong ..." song).

"String" = G-string (but not the type you put on a violin) or Tanga ...

For an alternative view, you might enjoy « Au secours, les Anglais nous envahissent ! » by José-Alain Fralon (Éditions Michalon, 2006 - www.michalon.fr). I thought it was good fun.

[quote]Si vous séjournez en France depuis moins de 10 ans, vous devez fournir un extrait original de casier judiciaire étranger établi dans les pays où vous avez résidé durant ces années[/quote] Ah, that's rather Catch22-ish, apparently ruling out any applicants who lived in the UK during that time - if I understand correctly it is not possible, as an individual, to get such a thing in/from the UK.

"Anyone committing "l’outrage au drapeau tricolore et à la Marseillaise" could be punished by 6 months in prison or a 7,500 € fine." I thought it was "or both" rather than "either/or."

La mise en bière a eu lieu ce matin ... [6]

Nothing wrong with lightly chilled (decent) red wine, especially those  from the Loire valley but also Grand wines which, after all, ought to be served "chambré" - generally in the region of 16 degrees C (18 absolute max.). What is the usual temperature in your living room (20, 22, 24, even more?) or in your local restaurant? If I can't serve my wines straight from our cellar, then I bung 'em in one of our "caves à vin" (special wine fridges) for a bit before serving. Alternatives are to put them in a wine cooler, or briefly in the fridge (although that's far from ideal because the temperature shock is too great) or, in winter (provided it's not freezing out), to stick 'em outside in the cold for a bit.

No, it is certainly not celebrated in these parts. Though last year, I am sorry to say, I noted a "Gaillac nouveau" (which comes from not very far from here). Me, I shall do the same as every year and carefully avoid the muck but I do have quite a few bottles (roughly a case of each) of 2005 (superb year*) Brouilly, Fleurie, Morgon, Moulin à Vent, Régnié and Saint Amour, all from good producers and all of which are coming along very nicely. * I suspect it's the best of the three(!) "millésime du siècle" to have appeared so far this century - (the others being 2000 & 2003).

CM1 = le niveau de ma connaissance de la grammaire. [:(] Peut-être ils connaissent, les CM1-iens, plus de gros mots que moi. [:P]

Un seul cerveau mais (nettement) plus que deux neurones* à(?) se frotter. Oh, et les "skets" -  est-ce qu'ils sont peut-être les "Blaskets" (pas loin de Dún Chaoin). * je ne pense pas aux "nEUROn"s de Dassault! http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_nEUROn

Have given up on San Antonio - just got bored with them (I also tried the BD Histoire de France by Marie Marie) - lots of quantity, some chuckles but not convinced by the quality. Instead I've been reading the excellent French translation of Patrick Sueskind's book (Le Parfum) - trans by Bernard Lortholary (from the original German). I found this one thanks to the recommendations made by Pennac in Comme un roman.

If you live anywhere near Tulle and speak English, there are two free lunches going most months. I caught the start of this article (twice the same bit - @ 12.12 & 16.51) in the car but the whole thing is here: http://www.france-info.com/spip.php?article185735&theme=14&sous_theme=174 There's a bit to read and you can also listen to the broadcast (it is very short)  by clicking on the "add to player" link.

OK, this "vieux motard" (né Fenian) has just acquired De l'antigel dans le calbute. [San Antonio series] De l'antigel dans le calbute récit à s'en arracher la peau des "quilles*" pour en confectionner un sac de soir à la dame de ses pensées ... I'll let you know how I get on - at least I'll have the words in front of me, unlike when watching Les Valseuses (I need sub-titles ... in French for that and even then ...). *my substitution in order to avoid the attentions of the software « font. » [;-)]

I've just finished the Pennac book. I do not propose to do an analysis of it [;-)] but  I don't find it to be in the same class as Orsenna's work*. Of course the one is more pedagogical than the other (and John Holt's books, especially "How Children Fail," are excellent for that) but I didn't find in Pennac any of the pure magic that (for me) abounds in Orsenna's books. I suspect that Pennac would say something like "Yes, of course, you're right; let's add Orsenna to the list of 'Sueskind, Stevenson, Márquez, Dostoïevski, Fante, Chester Himes, Lagerloef, Calvino' and, above all, Dahl." Having read the first two of Orsenna's books I'm now 1/3 of the way through La révolte des accents (really ought to be La revolte des accents) which, for me, is simply magical. The accents feel that they are unloved and generally misunderstood, so they decide to go on strike (and they start to disappear from the text) but then, even worse, they are stolen ... now I must read on. With Pennac's Comme un roman I was kind of relieved to finish it. With La révolte des accents I'm sure that I will slow down towards the last page, not wanting it to end (just as Pennac describes). * although I have no idea (yet) about Deux étés (which is also lying on my table).

Yes, it is fairly easy to "cheat" with spoken French but it doesn't help a lot with writing letters and e-mails, drafting statutes or writing articles.

What goes up must come down; what goes up a lot must come down a lot ... simple as that. (Just wish I knew in advance when the turns would come and how high/low the rises/falls would be).

"He also admitted that, because of globalisation, very few people outside France will being able to speak French in the future." Can we have any hope that journos at the Mail will being able to speaky or writey Engrish in future?

For me, gender. 80% of all words ending in "e" are feminine but that still leaves 20%... How do YOU go about coping with this and trying to learn what's what (for those with French as langue maternelle I don't think it is a problem at all, or is it?). Worse still, all those "bisexual" words: le moule & la moule le voile & la voile without even thinking about le totale & la totale.

With a year or two to go, get down there when you can and start to get local arrangements set up - once you're decided on the general area get the bank account up and running, say hello to the local immobiliers (there will be several who specialize in rentals - they're usually difficult to spot on the internet but easy on the ground), go into the local ANPE and ask what you will need to do to register and seek a job through them ... generally just start to make a few contacts. Above all, remember that here in France almost everything is still done on a personal level (as opposed to the UK's culture of email and phone).

PS: lat/long: 44.5833/2.3167 I can understand Google maps being useless but I'm surprised that Geoportail can't cope ... [:(]

It is in the commune of Noailhac (12320 not the other Aveyron Noailhac and certainly not this in Correze or Tarn). Look carefully between Conques and Decazeville - it is on the Chemin de Compostelle: http://compostelle1.uniterre.com/entry_tags.php?id=1541&w=compostelle1&tags=Livinhac-le-Haut

Only just found the new site - the old one was so miserable (little more than 24 hours of forecasts) that I rarely used it. I think the new one is great - I thought the click through (via the map from France-region-department) was simple and intuitive (especially if you used the old site) and the new features (not least the choice of almost every single town/commune/large village with 3-day forecast) excellent. As ever, if you don't like the weather forecast for your area from Météo France, then there are plenty of other alternatives which generally give you a choice of alternative forecasts [;-)].

Dunno but I know a "tyred" looking man who does :- www.viamichelin.com gives you access to all the restaurants listed in the Red guides. Assuming you mean the Prayssac in 46 (rather than the Prayssac in 12), there seem to be about a dozen (including two with star/macaron) within a radius of about 17km.

I believe that best of the best is Le Grand Robert & Collins électronique (gives both French-English and English-French). The software version (new edition just published needs WinXP or Vista; 2007 ed. also runs on Macs) is just over €70 (compared with just under €40 for the book). I have two copies of the book (one for upstairs and another for downstairs - it's too heavy to lug about) and am happily using an old version (2003-4) of the électronique. The électronique has an extra advantage (apart from the obvious) over the book and that is that even if you run it on a big, heavy notebook PC it still weighs less than the book!