Tay

I was 24 when I moved here, but first started to look at property when I was 22.  It's not a common occurence, and other than expat children, I am by far the youngest that has moved to this area.  I happen to enjoy rural life and the solitude that it entails, but appreciate that not many younger people like this sort of existence.  In our local area, there aren't many young French people, mainly because there are few jobs.  Alex's comments about moving to a large town/small city do make sense.  Even if you do end up in a rural area, you could also get involved with a local sports team and you should find that you make friends quickly even with limited language skills. Bon courage!

[quote user="Cassis"] I'd rather have rabbits than ragondin. [:)] [/quote] What about a nice beaver?  Couldn't resist... I would be interested to know the answer as I planted a number of ceanothus cuttings which were quite sturdy two years ago.  When I went to check on them, all but one had perished as 'something' had excavated a large hole around their roots.  My lavendar plants have never suffered the same fate, though.

On a serious note...  Please don't let these tales of 'torture' put anyone off from a visit to the doctor, should anything 'down there' be abnormal.  A friend of ours here was diagnosed with prostate cancer 3 years ago.  He had been somewhat reluctant to visit his doctor when things weren't right, and eventually plucked up the courage once he saw blood in his urine.  In one month's time, it will be the second anniversary of this death... 

Fantastic shot Wendy - and very brave!

Well, I haven't heard of him, so I don't know if it is good or bad... Vous ressemblez à Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 60% 2/ Jean-Philippe Allenbach 56% 3/ François Bayrou 52% 4/ Ségolène Royal 48% 5/ Jean-Marc Governatori 48% 6/ Marie-Georges Buffet 48% 7/ Nicolas Sarkozy 48% 8/ Corinne Lepage 48% 9/ Nicolas Miguet 48% 10/ Frédéric Nihous 48% Aha, just skimmed Wikipedia.fr and found that he was UMP but resigned in January as he didn't get on with Sarkozy.

Have you resolved this yet, Opas? If you are unable to move the screen size slider, it sounds as though the issue is with the driver - unless, as someone has suggested, you are in Safe Mode. If it is a driver issue (corruption etc) you should be able to download the driver from the manufacturer and then install it.

[IMG]http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g266/taymar_photos/PICT0007a.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g266/taymar_photos/PICT0097c.jpg[/IMG]

I have tried to get a reduction in charges in the past and had some success.  In the first year, I hadn't filled out a tax return, but this didn't actually matter.  I just needed to write to each of the organisation with my 'chiffre d'affaires' (amount earned) for that year, and ask for a reduction.  URSSAF said that I didn't have to pay anything for that year as I was below the threshold.  Organic wanted around €600 for the year in two installments.  CPAM (or whatever they're called now - the health cover side of things) also wanted money; I can't remember how much.  Despite being told by the Chambre de Commerce that I shouldn't be paying anything, these two organisations insisted that I paid.  I have an IT business so am registered with the CdC rather than CdM - I don't know if this affects the earnings threshold or the amount to be paid in cotisations. If I can help at all with getting a reduction, feel free to PM me - same goes for the internet stuff.

Sorry, that was a poor choice of wording on my part.  I should have said 'supply problems CAN exist' rather than 'do'.  And yes, an unfortunate side effect of the interference from the West...

[quote user="chris pp"]So, the consensus seems to be that there is just too much "stuff" on the move along with too many people, therefore any attempt at control of almost anything, guns or drugs, would appear to be a waste of time, although I still find it a trifle odd that there seems to never be a supply problem, the big importers must be very well organised. Chris [/quote] Supply problems do exist.  Afghanistan is one of (or the) world's largest producer of opium. Once the 'war on terror began', production levels greatly increased.  I can't remember any more about this; I either read something on the BBC site or saw a French tv program detailing this several months ago.  Here's a link to a wiki article, for those who are interested. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Production_in_Afghanistan[/url]

[quote user="Christine Animal"]Well there you go, I missed this thread, my fish ears didn't hear a thing.  I wonder if Napoleon planted pots, he must have done something to keep himself busy.  I quite fancy that idea, but I was wondering TU, how do you stop the weeds growing in them?   Edit : For some time I have been wondering what Beryl's avatar is.  Now maybe it's time to ask.  Is it a fish with ears?            [/quote] It looks like a somersaulting killer whale to me.  I prefer FK's suggestion though...[;-)]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]BRB* + PMT = !!!!!! *Big Red Button [/quote] Not all women suffer from PMT/PMS.... As some of you may have noticed, my current occupation is 'Universe Leader'.  However, BugBear has kindly pointed out that a cabinet reshuffle is long overdue.  Being a democratic person, I'd like to ask all of you to compose your 'dream team' of country leaders and post your nominations on here. My current thoughts... Furryknickers - The Republic of Ireland George W. Bush - Iraq (I feel have a hunch that a replacement may be needed soon after he takes up his post there...)

As I knew little about this disease, and I enjoy learning about genetic illnesses, I have wiki'd and googled.  From Wikipedia... "HD is autosomal dominant, needing only one affected allele from either parent to inherit the disease. Although this generally means there is a one in two chance of inheriting the disorder from an affected parent, the inheritance of HD and other trinucleotide repeat disorders is more complex. When the gene has more than 35 copies of the repeated trinucleotide sequence, the DNA replication process becomes unstable and the number of repeats can change in successive generations. If the gene is inherited from the mother, the count is usually similar, but tends to increase if inherited from the father.[4] Because of the progressive increase in length of the repeats, the disease tends to increase in severity and have an earlier onset in successive generations. This is known as anticipation." From the Australian Huntington's Disease Association... "The defective gene may be passed from parent to child at conception. If a parent has the gene, each son or daughter has a one in two (50/50) chance of inheriting HD. A 50/50 risk factor does not mean that exactly half the children in a family will get the disease. One child in a family of four children could develop HD or two may get it or three or perhaps all four or none. Each person faces his or her own 50/50 risk regardless of whether any brothers or sisters are affected or not. If a person does not inherit the defective gene from the affected parent they can't pass it on to their own children. Huntington's Disease does not appear in one generation, skip the next, then reappear in a third or subsequent generation. However it may appear to skip a generation. Consider, for example, a theoretical case where a grandfather had the disease, his son apparently escaped but the son's daughter eventually developed the symptoms of HD. Rather than having skipped a generation we know that the defective gene was also present in the son but he died, perhaps in an accident or from a heart attack, before symptoms appeared." I presume that the earlier comment about male twins was referring to non-identical ones?

Soon after we moved here, we were speaking with our neighbour saying that we intended to start sowing various seeds. "Non! Quinze Mai!" Eventually we figured out what he meant. He explained that here, the 15th of May is the last known date that frost has been recorded.  An acquaintence in the Creuse told me that her neighbours had told her that it was the 8th there.  This has always surprised me as the winter seems so much harsher in the Creuse than here.  Most people who live near to us are involved in farming, which is perhaps why they have this knowledge?

[quote user="pcwhizz"] Not til the first of May can a Man say that Winter has gone away.  I read this recently, (cant find the source now) but it does have a ring of truth about it, even in France. [/quote] The dates for the last frosts are app. May 15th here and the 8th in the Creuse.

She is 77.  Ok, there is nothing wrong with window shopping.....  So if my mother is similar to yours, there is at least another 11 years of her ogling 'young' men?!?!?

[quote user="Missy"][quote user="Tay"]....... because my mother fancies him!!!  [/quote]   It would worry me a great deal if my Mother fancied the same blokes as I do...  Competition would be a little too tight [Www] [/quote] Exactly why I don't fancy him!  Nor Richard Gere, Kevin Costner, Patrick Swayze and Brad Pitt.  My mother is far too old to be drooling over blokes anyhow!

Not necessarily an age thing; I prefer older blokes. Just not George!  Maybe it's because I hate those awful Nespresso adverts, maybe because he is too 'smooth', maybe because my mother fancies him!!!

GC - beurk! 

Those photos are of swallowtails.[:)] This is a scarce swallowtail... [IMG]http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g266/taymar_photos/scarceswallowtail.jpg[/IMG]

I'll put things straight - I didn't think that you'd nabbed his pictures as he has a few of mine on his site. I should have said that's what I meant. Sorry.

It isn't similar - it is the same photo.

Mark, I had clicked on reply, then got distracted so didn't see Bugbear's response.

Hard disk.  Was computer not good enough? I had already guessed, but if you do 'save as' the photo name was HD, so fairly obvious....