lynarth

Hi does anyone know of a man with a van.  We are moving, live in a village house and our road is too narrow for the furniture van.  We need a man with a van to transport the furniture from the house to the removal lorry.  There is not a lot of furniture involved and there will be the removal van to do the packing and unpacking.  It will take less than a day.  We live between Perpignan and Prades.  Thanks

Hi, have you tried putting this message on the 66 website?  It is purely for people living in 66.  Address is anglophone-direct.com  Lyn

Yes thanks we did get our heating requirements sorted. We found a guy just outside Nefiach who has the thickest accent I we have ever heard. We think he is delivering the wood at 10am tomorrow morning.....................! Until now we have used the wood we inherited from the previous owner plus that we had to cut off a very badly diseased orange tree. You are right it does get cold of a night, but yes the old bones are warmed by the daytime sun ( now its stopped raining that is). Regret moving here? Never Vive  la 66. Arthur

We have had lots of different types including a Krups and a Murphy Richards, none were that great. Then last christmas we forked out an awful lot of money on a lovely red Kitchenaid it cost a fortune but it is excellent. That said I appreciate that doesn't help you but I would go with the consnesus ie is the Senso. Every week when we go shopping at either Auchan or Carrefour there are always people buying them so I think they must be good and they won't break the bank. Arthur

Le Gronards or more properly Les gronards are nothing to do with anythings or anybodies testicles, it was the nickname for Napoleons 'Old Guard'. Never tried testicles myself but I suppose if I was presented with them I would close my eyes lie back and think of England and try them. Er that is I think I think I would. Arthur

Alece I think you have to have a french name calling it The Red lion or John Bull wouldn't be a good idea. Something like Le Gronards an unusual name as there are lots of Cafe du Midi's, Resteraunts Centres etc about. But I agree with all thats gone before go for it, good food will always be popular. Best of luck. Arthur

Interesting the debate this has generated. Perhaps I should have moved to the Limousin? Seriously I agree that many french resteraunts serving 3 courses for 10-12 euros are very poor, but someone must patronise them or how could they stay open? I do think it is a particular problem here in 66 as when we had a house in the Aude near Chalabre there were 4 or 5 resteraunts within reasonable driving distance that were excellent and not all that expensive. It's certainly not a lack of good ingredients as the shops are full of high quality food that only specialist shops or Waitrose or Marks and Spencers had back home and that was at a price. Arthur

Ian Re Le tour, Lyn and I may join you for that ride into Carcassonne if thats OK? Arthur

An interesting subject. We live near Prades ( moved out from the UK about 7 weeks ago now). We have been there a few times but haven't seen an English Chippy there. Does it still exist I wonder? I think an English/British resteraunt might be successful, certainly around here at this time of year there are not many resteraunts that remain open, and there are some where the food is appalling and French. That said there are also some very good ones. I don't think we would particularly want to visit a British resteraunt on a regular basis over here.That said I do believe that eating out in the UK is now generally better than eating out over here. A sweeping statement and one that will no doubt bring down a lot of wrath upon my head, but we used to live in Witney near Oxford and there were a fairly large number of both pubs and resteraunts where you could guarantee a very good meal( no not in Oxford itself) there is not the same strength n depth here. Thats doesn't mean I should be in the UK, we moved here for a lt more than the food. Arthur

Yes Now we live in Pyrenees Orientates we have become very chauvinistic over wine and normally will only buy local which I agree is now good. That said there is still some awful stuff about. The revelation to me was drinking cold red wine in the summer with tapas it was really nice. At the moment a fitness and weight loss regime has broken out in the saville household so its wine only on a saturday night, which makes it really important we get it right. Arthur

I see this topic is live again, glad to here your new book has arrived. By the way the Wines of Languedoc is very good and I can recommended that as well, I think it must be her husband. Arthur

Hi Thanks for all the good advice. Where would I be without the Forum? Its great there is always someone on here who can help. Hopefully I will be able to advise people in the future, but certainly not on the internet connections. Lynarth

I speak as a total technophobe. Yesterday I got onto Fr Telecomms britline from the UK and was pleased to find how easy it was to order a telephone for our house in Nefiach ( near Perpignan) which we move into on the 30th of this month. We also want internet access on broadband and the operator informed me having checked that we could have an 8 meg for 43 euros a month going up to 48 after 3 months. It is a lot of money but I am happy to pay it to ensure good internet connection. That said does this mean that Fr telecom are going to be my internet service provider( rather in the style of BTworld) or do I still have to get an ISP such as wanadoo?. The computer we are taking with us from the UK, it was originally Windows 98 but our computer whiz son-in-law has changed it to XP. Any advice gratefully relieved. Lynarth

Hi Just picked this up. I grill steak on a gas barbecue in the UK( but not from next week when we move permanently to France, hooray). I always use sirlion and I marinade it in a recipe from Floyd on Fire, its in storage now but as I recollect it, you put two tablespoons of olive oil and one of mustard he suggests English prepared, but I use Dijoin or Meaux. whip the two together and then pour over the steak which should be in a dish then salt and pepper both side) cover with clingfilm and put in a fridge for at least an hour ( I try and do it for 2 or even all day) turn ooccasionally Then bbarbecuefor about three minutes a side bbrushingthe rest of the marindae on dduringthe cooking. I have never had a failure yet and I am no great chef. I hope you haven't been driven indoors yet from the bbarbecue Arthur

Peter and Richard Many thanks for solving this problem for me, clearly looking at this thread I wasn't the only one who was confused. lynarth

Hi Thanks for this we will look him up after the 30th of September, seems like we will have to find neighbours who can obtain cheery wood in the long term. lynarth

Thank you for this, so the wood mafia don't work in that area of 66. What is the location of the wood yard you mention that everybody uses? Presumeably you order and they deliver by dropping it in a heap outside your house? I was surprised last September at montjardin when we ordered the wood that the man not only delivered it but stacked it!!!! lynarth

I am sure there is a very simple explanation known to everyone but me. Why is it that a few french cars have red number plates whilst the rest arew the same as in the UK? lynarth

Buying wood is it the same situation as we found in Montjardin? There we went to the Mairie and were told to buy it from a particular chap in the village we did and it was no problem, but apparently it does get fraught if you buy from someone else. Or in sunny 66 can you buy from anyone? lynarth

Yes Why are you indoors when you could be by the pool. Some of the recent replies to this thread are very encouraging, roll on the 30th of September. lynarth

Peter Thanks for that. lynarth

Oh What a problem to have too many figs!! Next year we will be in the same awful situation, together with equally distressing one of too much wine and good food. I must see if I can get a copy of the Book by Strang. lynarth

Thanks for that, we have a house near Chalabre( or will have until the new owners take it over on the 23rd September) friends of ours stayed in it last winter( the ones who now have the house near Narbonne) and they said how really cold it was. I wonder what we are in for this winter? The met long range forecast for dear old blighty is a very hard winter. lynarth

Hooray we will soon be joining you all the sunny south permanently. Can anyone tell us what the weather has been like around Perpignan recently? A friend living near Narbonne says it wasn't that good round there last week. lynarth

I agree its a great recipe book, fortuneatley I still have mine, and as we are moving to 66 in a month we will be able to cook from it more often than we have been able to in the UK, as the figs for example are so much cheaper than in Waitrose were we currently shop. lynarth