Clarkkent

[quote user="Quillan"]I can't remember the names of those involved but when that farmer, Martin was it, shot the bloke in the leg and got sent to prison they interviewed the Chief Constable for that region who said that when faced with a person who is burgling your home and/or threatening violence towards you or your family you shout shout at them as loud as you can which should scare them off. Well if it were my MIL it probably would but for us mortals I would think it would be as much use as a chocolate teapot, stupid man. [:@][/quote] Mr Martin, who was banned from owning firearms, shot an intruder four times in the back with a shotgun of a type not legal in the UK. The case was not one of simply defending one's property, it was far more complex. A jury, who heard all the evidence, convicted him of murder. This was later reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of his mental condition. Few people who actually knew him shared the Daily Mail's heroic view of him. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/tony-martin-the-harmless-eccentric-whose-obsession-made-him-a-killer-721200.html

I have been away for 24 hours and it is instructive to see how this thread has developed since I last looked at it. I have found the contributions on the ... err ... gymnastics required when visiting certain ... err ... installations by those who are not male of great interest. They may find the following link useful http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080418201605AAmbPTE and googling "how to pee when standing up" will generate pages of useful links.  

[quote user="sweet 17"] I don't think I could possibly live in a house with no washbasin in the loo as I will have nightmares about people TOUCHING the door handle with hands full of germs before they can get to a washbasin either in the bathroom next door or in the kitchen![+o(] [/quote] I have been told that the most germ-ridden thing in most people's houses is the computer keyboard. When my daughter lived in Japan, she had a toilet which, when flushed, refilled via a small basin on top of the cistern (similar to the one referred to earlier). However, top-of-the-range toilets had all sorts of refinements controlled from a touch-sensitive electronic panel at the side. No need to have any contact with any germ-laden artifact or germ-laden body part!

[quote user="sweet 17"] For a start, think of how most BBC bods pronounce SarKOZy.  I hardly ever hear anyone there say SarkoZY (stress shown by capital letters). [/quote] Since the name is Hungarian, perhaps we should ask a speaker of that language for its pronunciation. And anyway, I thought that in French all syllables should be given equal stress so it should be SAR-KO-ZY. Fast spoken French - between people in heated discussion - often sounds like a machine gun. One of the attractive features of spoken English is the stressing of only some syllables, usually the first in a multisyllabic word. Thanks, I think to a stupid character in a mediochre sitcom, HARass has beome harASS. Not English - again, blame the BBC!

Earlier this year I was selected (apparently at random) while in line waiting for the ferry at Newhaven. I had to open my boot for inspection. As it happens, I don't travel with a suitcase but carry things in large, flat, transparent plastic boxes and it was very easy to see what I was carrying. There were two men, one wearing customs officer's uniform and one with a dog. The only comment I received was for my taste in wine, since I had a dozen bottles of Buzet rouge. And in July, at the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone, I was directed to a place which looked like a bus shelter where I was questioned about what I was carrying. They didn't look in my car, though - I wonder whar they would made of a 10 litre drum of very cheap emulsion paint from B&Q?  [Www]

OK Let's get down to the really important things ... Even allowing for the pound and the euro at parity, why are bananas in French supermarkets twice the price of those in UK supermarkets? [:@]

[quote user="pachapapa"] If BP take risks in the Gulf of Mexico, seems reasonable that a bunch of foolhardy prats in Wales will do similar. If the pictures of the mine are authentic then it is a death trap, I cannot remember seeing anything quite so bad and that includes illegal mining in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. [/quote] From what I can gather, this is not a conventional coal mine, with pithead machinery and employing hundreds of miners, but a tiny one-man-and-a-dog operation. It appears to be ill-equipped and poorly resourced and maintained - a disaster waiting to happen. Pachapapa describes it as worse than illegal mines he has seen in South America. If this is the case, why are such places permitted? I am saddened by this likely tragedy, but haven't these miners just taken too many risks? Are there others, Health & Safety black spots? If so, close them down.  

By "mayoress", do you mean the wife of the maire? Or is this some "little England" thinking whereby anyone female has to have a "feminine" ending to their official title?  [6]

Agreed. I do note the words "in America" at the beginning of the article and suspect that America's commercialised health provision "system" may be responsible. Another way for pharmaceutical companies - who are running out of new useful drugs - to make some money: pathologise the normal.

Bonne chance Norman. Don't have too much of Woolie's plonk and fall off the bed.

120/87 a couple of months ago - in a doctor's surgery so possibility of white coat syndrome. But it has been around that for years. Could you be dehydrated? I heard an item on the radio a few weeks ago suggesting that if people don't have a sufficient liquid intake there is a chance that their kidneys may be removing fluid from their blood and reducing the total quantity of plasma. But I'm sure we have appropriately qualified people on this forum who can comment on this.

Seventy is not old age!!!

Hi Anne Does this help? http://mushroom-collecting.com/mushroomking.html

[quote user="idun"]  One day it is bad for you, the next it is good. Heck they'll be saying having sex is bad and how stupid would that be eh![:-))] [/quote] Sex can make you very fat!!!   [Www]

[quote user="pachapapa"] In France 95.5% of milk sales are long life...??? [/quote] My source was Elliott, Valerie (2007-10-15). "The UHT route to long-life planet". London: Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2658175.ece. I accept that it is about four years old, but I doubt that milk consumption patterns change quickly.

In France 95.5% of milk sales are long life, in Britain 8.4%. In both countries I buy pasteurised milk and can store it for an indefinite period in the freezer. When opened, and kept in the fridge, pasteurised milk stays usable for rather longer than UHT. I don't particularly dislike the taste of UHT but much prefer pasteurised. Because UHT is easier to handle and store than pasteurised, I wonder whether its predominance is a producer-led phenomenon.

If a list of the greatest French men and woman were compiled, Louis Pasteur's name would probably be near the top. Why, then, don't the French buy his milk?

I shall be out tonight - I'm having a meal with friends having just arrived back in England from several weeks in France. I have just checked my PVR and I have lots of Proms recorded. This one will join them. John Wilson is an excellent conductor and appears regularly with the CBSO, he specialises in English music and I heard him do Holst's Planets a year so ago. It doen't matter what its origin, good music is good music. The Proms has featured Rodgers and Hammerstein on a number of occasions - including a concert performance of Oklahoma! The great Hollywood film composers were masters of their art - there is a lot of very good music lurking in the soundtracks - it is good that we can hear it like this. (PS It is good to back on broadband - my French dial-up was so slow it almost drove me to suicide.)

At a sad time in my life Saligo Bay contacted me and we corresponded for a while. She had suffered her own tragedy and was courageous and strong. She is a lovely person and she has my very best wishes.   Did someone say that TeamedUp is back on this forum? Good heavens! Who would have guessed? You don't think that Pachapapa is really Outcast, do you? Or perhaps Miki (The St Malo One) taking his revenge ... ?

The ability of small children to learn multiple languages is well known and well documented and well researched. I recall, as a psychology undergraduate 40 years ago, learning about Noam Chomsky's hypothesised Language Acquistion Device. According to Chomsky, we are "hard wired" to learn language. A small child growing up in a bilingual environment will not acquire a first and a second language but two first languages. As others have said, speak to her in both languages, don't place any constraints on a preferred language and let her sort it out. She will. And your own French may improve, too.

[quote user="woolybanana"]Will a solicitor know of the potential pitfalls which a notaire might spot, such as rights of way, droits de seigneur?[/quote] Droit de seigneur only applies in New York.

[quote user="Théière"]Many many years ago when we learnt le chat was a cat, my friend Graham was told his French name was Guillaume, is that not right?[/quote] Graham, I have been informed, is derived from Grantham. I have known a couple of Granthams - and it was also the place where I grew up!

I suppose I should declare an interest here ... It was the problem of changing quickly in telephone boxes and having to deal with both knickers and tights. At least Supergirl does have that frilly little miniskirt ...

Hi Idun As you know, I've been on this board as long as anyone (I remember when you had the problem over someone identifying and flaming you) but I tend only to post when there is a subject I feel I can make some contribution. All too often I feel that there are members who behave as a self-appointed, mutual admiration clique. I like to give the benefit to others of being a holiday home owner of 17 years experience and of what I know and think about various subjects. I sigh when I see fluffy France postings - unless I can contribute something real, I ignore them. France is not crotch deep in pixie dust but whatever I say is ignored or flamed. And I walk away (metaphorically) when postings deteriorate into private mutual love-ins! Where is Dick Smith when you need him? Or the delightful Saligo Bay? At the moment I am in France and am forced to use interminable dial-up (So slow that sending a letter would be quicker) or risk my life by eating a t Macdonalds for their free wi-fi. Hence am not responding much.

Well, here in Lot-et-Garonne it is 34 degrees outside and 28 degrees indoors with humidity of 70%. The little face on my weather station display looks very glum --- so if it gets hotter will it become even more humid? I can stand heat when it is not opressive ... Still, the washing dries quickly but then there is the ironing!