Piprob

Deepest sympathies, Alcazar. Spent lots of hours on Sunday trying to make my pc print Outlook Addresses as lables. I gave it up as a bad job this time last year but came out the winner this time. As Evianers says, the things are time-savers in theory. Not in my case they're not. However, even being told by hergoodself that 'it would have been quicker to write them by hand' didn't remove the smile from my face! Hope your anti-virus software keeps you safe from further harm.

Cor blimey mister! And I thought he was a foriegn geezer with a clapped-out transit who keeps creating those massive tail backs on the motorways!

Thanks for that Peter. Drat it! I bought our tickets last month, for a fiver each way. Not bad though. The flights from Bournemouth will be handy.

I'm sure we'll visit Ian's lakes, but we'll miss John's motionless basin - a mixed blessing. In the lea of the Pyrenees, especially heading up the valley from Axat, the rivers were in full spate early in the year. Never seen them that high before and, amazingly, they seem to attract white water rafters throughout the year. Higher up, massive hydro pipes collect and funnel the water to a generator. Its one of those ironies that the cost of very green hydro-electricty is some rather unpicturesque engineering; impressive though. I wonder what this winter will bring, and how much variation we will find in the seasonal patterns of the Haut Valley.

Hello Meyrac, We are coming out to the area next April, to Quillan, just down the road, and if you need any work done, there is a first class builder in Campagne Sur Aude. You probably already know that there are not a few 'ex-pats' in the outlying villages. I'm not sure how much holiday letting there is locally. However there are some local business people with successful B&Bs using this site. Good luck with your project.

I think Pushkin is on to something here. The animal kingdom has its tail up. They have been encouraged by the success of the UK anti-hunting lobby and now believe they can take the p*ss with immunity. Why this answer did spring to mind immediately I don't know. After all, wasn't the problem first brought to Living France by Quillan, when his moles started digging-up his railway, an unfortunate episode that was all too quickly followed by an ugly infestation of rogue chickens? Where will it end?

Ah yes, Fontremy, but that would only attract the attention of the 'Thought Police'. This way, we can amuse ourselves a little more discreetly without causing any acute sense-of-humour failure.  

Where a fine, smooth, surface is not required, its usually sprayed on in our locality, using a course, gritty, sand. Its certainly not plaster!

We have often wondered just what determines which legislation comes to the top of the pile. Some issues are more obvious; for example raising retirement age is an outcome of funding concerns. Yet governments routinely ignore reports and recommendations. The foxhunting ban looks like a consolation prize thrown to his MPs by a Prime Minister who's personal agenda seems otherwise to have side-lined them. Surely it is government finance speaking, rather than 'nanny'. Whatever your politics, if we want a free National Health Service, surely it makes no sense to fund the escalating costs of treating illness that are increasingly accepted as the result of 'lifestyle' choices. You either ration the treatment or prevent the disease.  

ACRONYMBYS Rule OK?

My heart skipped a beat when I first took the 'h' in your pheasant to be a typing error. I thought maybe they are classified as game this year. But alas ...  ... ... I've got the binos trained on the vegetable garden. They'll make straight for the greens, just like their smaller cousins.

Anyone who pays the least attention knows there's no such thing as right or wrong anymore. The concept has been abolished. To comment upon behaviour of any kind is a completely unjustified infringement of personal liberty. Setting 'standards' in anything is outdated and ridiculous if not actually criminally divisive. The dwindling number of conformists who complain about others who say and do just what they like are elitist idiots. I'm a banana. Vive la France!  

Yes, ... and I remember my embarrassment one day when we strayed too far down an innocent-looking beach and my very young daughter noticed the man we were walking behind had no trous on. "What's that man got hanging down?" she asked, a momentary betrayal of innocence. 'Yes' I found myself muttering, 'and I hope his knees crush it!'

I read your news, Lynart, with some mixed feelings. The call of security - another two years of earned income - is growing stronger in us too, now only a few weeks away from coming to our new home in Quillan. But, as time accelerates away, as we become increasingly immersed in the preparations (not a few of which are financial, like changing two cars for one), sleep is more frequently interrupted by doubt. It has become more difficult to separate the normal considerations of 'retirement' life-changes from the move itself. Each morning, as we leap around in our hurry to catch our commuter trains, I tell hergoodself that none of our plans are set in concrete. "I know" she says with a whistful smile. During our first two years we will miss your company.

If Quillan reads this will he please tell us whether he is suffering from wind, and if so how bad it is. Before we last left Quirbajou, I sheeted the wood pile as best I could and I just wonder whether Mrs Opas is going to find my bâche in her front garden.

To obtain Expert advice is wise, but I have often found myself challenging it; and when I do it frequently changes. Particularly where building are concerned, I have found it pays to look carefully myself, to identify anything I see that 'looks' or feels unusual, or that I don't completely understand. I then do a little research myself into possible explanations, causes, cures, and remedial costs so I have some facts of my own. This has saved me unnecessary worry and cash!    

I want some of the stuff you're on SaligoBay. Its life from your unique angle.

You mean the functions he will be organizing for me by then down at the 'gendarmerie'?

Yes. Peter Mandelson certainly knows where his bread will be buttered best. I have wondered if he really means what he is now saying or whether he merely seeks to ingratiate himself. Among all the things I haven't done to prepare for our move to Quillan, is to take a closer interest in the 'politics' of Europe - France in particular, of course.

Why not post this message on the Living France 'House Renovations' Forum. You may get a better response. (You may need to supply a little more information to help identify the white material.)

Integrating has always been my favourite doing thing. So we're all agreed. But don't any of you start until we're all ready, otherwise you'll have an unfair advantage. Integration does need some practice though, I admit. Attempting french conversation with a mouth full of course eleven whilst draining the dregs from bottle four and hammering on the door of a locked bathroom can seem a little insensitive to a new neighbour. But less sophisticated integraters than us would probably be in the pool by then. Or worse, they might be off down the road with SaligoBay, singing at the tops of their voices, slipper-shod, shotguns primed, keen to give Quillie's moles a thorough seeing-to. Shall I invite the mayor?

can't secure your delivery for you. But you have my full attention! Tell more. Where is the stuff more exactly?

My kind of thread, this. Absolutely no aggro, everyone being terribly grown-up and mature. Ahhh ... ... ... pass the coacoa someone  !

Done that, Terry. Lovely wig it is! I can now go about unnoticed on the streets of Quillan.

The 'Bonjour paresse' posting reminded that Corinne Maier makes some rather unflattering remarks about France. On page 103 she says "....la France est un pays ou l’on ne fiche rien. C’est une des facettes, peu connue, de ‘l’exception française’ : la quantité totale de travail de l’Hexagone est incroyablement faible au regard de sa population." She also says productivity in France is among the highest in the world, which was also news to me.