Patf

Not just food, Wooly, but water. It's nearly as dry here in the UK.

In the summer they seemed to prefer harvesting at night, when it's cool. In fact it was de regle. Rest during the day.

Perhaps the farmers down south are slower to catch on to modern developments. During our 16 years there I did notice that as the older generation retire or die the sons and daughters either escape to the cities, or try to catch up with the new demands of farming.

Linda wrote "Farmers barely make a living anyway." My opinion too, from the experience of living in the Gers. I just knew you would have to come back on that Wooly. So the farmers are rich where you live?And as for "the blockade season has started" - Before we left France, ?Jan. 2018, the Gers farmers were blockading the main routes to protest against their inclusion in the Pyreneen zone in which it's impossible to grow cereals (exempt from subsidies.)I don't know if they won or not.

We also got a barrow load of manure from a farm a few times.Someone told us not to put it on the earth 'neat', but to soak in a lot of water and use the water. Use a large dustbin for that.

Maybe the quote from Shelley's Ode to the West Wind should be changed toIf spring comes, can summer be far behind?It's not so bad here (SE England) but we've had a few thunderstorms and a lot of rain too.

Did your father have a european health card before his carte vitale?If so he might get reimbursement from the UK.

Andy:"I never could understand people who won't use the pool in the rain. Are you afraid of getting wet? "Me too - we used to swim in the sea most days in the summer, and the water always felt warmer if it was raining. (North Sea).

I think the notaire acting for the person who buys your house has to check that permission was obtained for any alterations .But interior changes don't usually need permission.Best to have a chat with a notaire yourself - if you're selling you should have one anyway. The 13 years of passive condoning might be significant.

You would get a better rate of interest in France.  OTOH to transfer it, the exchange rate is still poor.

It's pouring down here too (Bedfordshire).  I went out for a walk and got soaked. But not cold.

Russethouse - good to see you again. [:D] Melania - I don't know if she'll stand by her man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2KP9fYZUWA But she  seems a bit reluctant at the moment.I'm so pleased that one of his decisions has been shown worldwide to be stupid and impulsive ie the meeting with N. Korea. He seems to have got away with others, but this one was so ridiculous, to expect that Kim would comply.

cochonnerie , nom féminin Sens 1 Familier Objet de piètre qualité, sans valeur, mal faite. Exemple : Que voulez-vous que je fasse de toutes ces cochonneries ? Synonymes : saloperie, pacotille Traduction anglais : rubbish My french neighbour used to say her dog would enjoy eating any old cochonnerie. eg long buried bones of dead deer etc.Not exactly 'cool' though.

I've just edited my post of this am to "would NOT let you open an account".

"I can see no way that pensioners could not pay their pensions into a UK bank account and then use " transferwise" ," xe.com", etc. to transfer to a european bank. " That's what I've been thinking, Parsnips, and what we did. Except that if you don't keep a UK bank account when you move to France, I think I've heard that some UK banks would NOT let you open one after you've become french resident.

As above plus - we found that timber was much cheaper in France in the UK. More plentiful, at least in our dept. (Gers). There were many hectares of dense oak woods. Someone mentioned chestnut - that was available, but more expensive, rarer. And there's a disease attacking chestnut .

Andy - press control then scroll forward until the adverts etc disappear off the side.

We had a condensing boiler installed a long time ago - ?2006? Plus whole heating system. If I remember rightly the plumbing company ( french registered) gave me a document to send off to the tax people and we received a cheque soon after. I think the amount was equivalent to the 20% vat tax that would otherwise have been charged on the price of the boiler itself. Not the labour or other parts (eg pipes, radiators.) I could be wrong, and the rules might have changed, but I do remember being pleasantly surprised. 

I remember being very involved in a TV series back in the ?'70s called the Roads to Freedom, based on books by Sartre. That's my only experience of french intellectualism. As for the semitic races - they have much in common, though neither would like to admit it.  Both descendants of Abraham via Ishmael and Jacob and still squabbling over their inheritance.

Lots of uses of this bacillus given from this link: https://www.rustica.fr/recherche.html?recherche=bacillus+thuringiensis

You can get mycose on other parts of the body too, m&f. The french call it a champignon ie mushroom/fungus.

I thought this would wake you from your torpor, ALBF  [:)] There was a chateau not far from us in France which had been bought by an anglais, he did a little bit of work then gave up.The locals were very upset when it became dilapidated, (it had some historical interest), and were trying to trace him. The trouble is, there are thousands of old chateaux in France, mostly falling down, and even the french don't want to rescue them. If interested Google La Depeche St Blancard chateau. In our commune of about 100 people there was a chateau with date 1794 . It was a ruin, almost covered with brambles etc.

This is a follow-on from the original series. Several british families who have bought chateaux in France and are 'doing them up'. Helped by Dick and Angel. Quite entertaining. But these chateaux must be money pits.

A further moan about Antargaz - we ended our contract in Feb. and the new owners have taken it over. Antargaz still owe us about 200 euros.  After sending 2 emails, then an ordinary letter, I've now sent a registered letter ( cost £2.65). I wonder if we'll ever get the refund?

We planned to change suppliers a couple of years ago, got estimates from 2 other companies. It would have involved a change of tank.  It seems the tank always belongs to the company. We asked if we could buy the tank from them and it was possible but not worth the cost. In the end we stayed with the same supplier but on a much reduced tariff (Antargaz.) Why they didn't offer us that in the first place I don't know. Instead of putting the price up each year. We'd been with them for 11 years.