Innocents Abroad

There is a product called Superflex-3 which contains all of the things mentioned in this thread, i.e. Glucosamine (1500mg), Chondroitin (1200mg), and MSM (250mg). Glucosomine helps to strengthen, repair and maintain cartilage, Chontroitin attracts fluid to the area around the cartilage and therefore provides a sort of 'shock-absorber' effect, and MSM is a sulfur compound which helps to maintain a healthy inflammatory response in joint tissue. The cheapest I found was £19.95 for 150 tablets (the recommended dose is two a day) and postage & packing is free to anywhere in the world.  If you order more than one then the price reduces. This was with www.agestop.co.uk I've just ordered some - which is why I sound so knowledgeable as I've just read the website blurb [;-)] - so will let you know the outcome in a month or two's time! Lynda M  

Here's a couple of ideas that might be of interest: Cut raw courgettes into good sized batons (not too small).  Mix together SR flour and lager until you get a coating batter similar to the consistency of thickish but runny double cream.  Dip courgettes in batter and deep fry (yes, I know, but a little of what you fancy ..) until golden.  Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.  Lovley as a starter, with a bowl of crème fraîche for dipping into.  Can do any veg this way and onion rings are particularly good - no need to pre-cook.  Have only just discovered this way of making tempura batter and it's wonderful!  Also good with prawns (cooked or raw) Pan fry sliced aubergines till you have a decent stack - about three good sized aubergines.  In an ovenproof dish alternate a layer of aubergine, a layer of any chunky tomatoey sauce (I use the Provençal one by Panzinni) and a layer of grated emmental  râpée.  Repeat the layers and finish by adding a bit of grated parmesan to the top layer of cheese.  Cook in hot oven for about 25-30 mins. Enjoy! Lynda M

Have had a spa/hot tub (not sure if there's difference) for a couple of months and have been trying out a non-chlorine system which was recommended to us.  Not had too much success so we're throwing in the (pool) towel and going chlorine.  Never had a pool of any description before so not sure what products to get - though we're going out today to have a look at what's available.  Anyone got any recommendations? Poolguy: in a posting to someone last year (Oct I think) you said for them to PM you as you had useful information for water treatment of hot tubs.  Care to share it with us please?  Would have PM'd you myself but thought there may be others like us. Thanks in anticipation L & P

Hi Yvette.  In my (limited) experience I would suggest you go and have an informal chat with your local Mairie.  If your is anything like ours then they will be very helpful and should be able to answer all your queries.  Happy field planning!

Brilliant! Thanks a mill to everyone.  We shall definitely sleep easier tonight and dream of feasting on our own juicy figs!  We also have 8000sq mtrs of walnut trees so figs will now be able to be included in my forthcoming recipe leaflet; 1001 ways with walnuts ! [:D] P & L

Hi Chris.  Hurrah, finally managed to figure out how to input photo's - I hope you can see them OK and that they are of some use!  The second, rather blury, photo is attempting to show you a damaged leaf and also a blackened fruit bud that is about to drop off - it's the dark blob on my third finger.  Whilst I was taking the photo's this morning I did think that the bush was actually looking not too bad at all - and there is a lot of, seemingly, healthy new growth (pic 3).  Am I just  being paranoid?  But what about the fruits dropping off?  I read this morning that there are supposed to be fruit buds appear in the Autumn when they then over-Winter and then plump up the following year.  Ours was totally bare over Winter - ?            

Hi Chris, thanks for responding. The tree is sited at the west facing end of  a low outbuilding, is quite sheltered from any wind and gets sun most of the day.  Interestingly, perhaps, is that the 'good' side is the one facing south.  I'll take a couple of photo's and post them in the morning. Regards Pete & Lynd

Have been excitedly watching our fig tree (I say tree, but it's more a large shrub) for the last few weeks as the leaf buds and fruit buds have started to show.  This morning we noticed that a lot of the leaves look as if they are being eaten but, despite meticulous inspection, there is no sign of any sort of bugs or larvae.  Also, to our grief, most of the little fruit buds have gone black and are dropping off [:(].  There is part of the bush that still has very healthy looking fruit, and the leaves don’t look as if they’ve been ‘eaten’ quite as much but we're worried that this will also become afftected.    We’ve only been in our house (South Charente) since December last year so don’t know the history of the tree, though we do recall seeing a few fruit on the tree when we came to see the house in September.  I've looked in our Garden Pests & Diseases book but everything it suggests for figs doesn't seem to apply to our problem.  Any suggestions gratefully received. Pete & Lynd

Sorry if our questions are a bit naive - we have looked at previous threads but are a little bamboozled by routers, splitters, filters and stuff [8-)] We have gone the route of Wanadoo and livebox (yes, we know, but we were just too exhausted from making a zillion other decisions since our permanent move to France eight months ago).  We have been told that we can make free calls within France for the first three months and then have free calls to the UK thereafter so we're trying to get ourselves sorted for when we can make the calls to the UK - we've been 'on-line for about a month now.  Just for info, we currently have a 'standard' France Telecom line - with phone sockets almost in every room, though currently just have a cheap phone in our office and our UK telephone/answer machine, with an adapter, in the living room. Our questions are: Our laptop and livebox is permanently situated in the office, which is in a different part of the house, but we would obviously like to use the Internet connectivity for making/receiving calls in the living room and our bedroom.  Suggestions?  Is there a way of utilising the 'standard' phone sockets that are already there - or is that too stupid a question?[:$] This may be a question for France Telecom's excellent English speaking Helpline, but once the UK free calls are in place we won't really need the 'standard' line; can we get rid of it, i.e. terminate the contract? If we plug a phone into the livebox, does it need to be a 'special' type of phone - we've tried it with our cheapo phone but it doesn't seem to work? Finally, when we currently use our 'standard' line we are hearing the ADSL 'activity' as they are  obviously sharing the same line.  Is this a case for one of these 'ere filters, as formally mentioned? If so, please can someone tell us where we get one - and what their French name is? Hope this has made some sort of sense.  Thanks for taking the time to read it - and thanks a mill in anticipation of any feedback. L & P (V South 16)

Many thanks for your posting and kind words of encouragement. Your timing of 26 hours fits in with our estimation so it was good to have it confirmed.  All our 'reckies' have been done via Ryanair and whilst we have driven down to the South of France a few times we've never done it with the necessity of so many stops; we were planning on every couple of hours too, for leg stretches for all and driver swap over.  Do you stick to the obvious map route or have you discovered any useful little detours that you might want to share with us? Good luck with your move too - and also to you Lyndap! Bonne courage!

Many thanks for your replies and suggestions for accommodation.  Must confess, we hadn't got as far as thinking about having to leave the trailer - packed with too many 'essentials' to unload - in a hotel car park for the night!  Might be back to Plan A after all! Thanks again!

First ever posting so please be gentle with me. In two weeks time (yikes!) we will be setting off for our new lives in France and driving from North Yorkshire to south of Jonzac down in southern Charente-Maritime. In the car with us will be our two dogs and two cats, and in the trailer behind, enough 'stuff' to keep us going for a few days till the rest of our belongings catch up with us. We've got a largish animal crate for the cats to travel in so they can move about and we can put a bowl of water in, and we've also bought a couple of harnesses so that they can safely stretch their legs and use the litter tray, etc. We were planning to grit our teeth and do the whole trip in one go but our thinking is now changing and we're considering having a half-way overnight stop, probably an hour or so south of Calaise. The obvious problem with this is our four furry ones. Sizewise, we have a border collie and a largish retriever. I'm sure there must be lots of you out there who have done a similar journey so any advice and/or suggestions of (overly) pet friendly hotels who don't mind pets en masse would be greatly appreciated. Lynda & Pete