Dog

Onan the Barbarian always had shakey handwriting...

125mm pipe is what it's made for it will be fine. On a wood burner the exhaust should be hot. Best way to get a good draw is make sure the room has plenty of incoming air. Wood burners have trouble sending exhaust gasses up a cold flue, so get a good flare up with newspapers going, use a gas torch or some people use hairdriers. Putting a straight pipe out of the top may make rodding difficult as we have not found flue pipes with rodding points on straight pipes here in France. Also having the fire slightly into the room chucks out more heat. Don't forget to seal the chimney above the wood burner. One bend will do no harm. Use well dried wood and you should have no problem. The Jotul we picked up at the Vide Grenier for €100 had a rebuild and is working beautifully. PS The Troc in Perigueux on Saturday had two small French ornate and two large colonial style woodburners. The small ones were €75 and the larger €180 each, though the larger ones looked like they needed an overhaul.

[quote]Dog, I hope that one day you don't get yourself into big problems as it sounds like you've been very lucky to date.[/quote] Whilst I do my very best to avoid big problems - sometimes they are thrust upon you. I have had many bad problems and my early mistakes were made worse and very much more expensive by employing lawyers. I don't believe in luck.

I just had similar treatment visiting most of the major franchises. I went into the Toyota dealer in Perigueux got a 7 seater Verso for the price of a 5 seater a 7% discount and the Carte Grise all with a 5 day delivery. Plus got a bottle of expensive champagne when we picked it up. It kept the Mrs happy and she said I can have a Jensen CV8 when the building work is finished.

[quote]Dogthere is an alternative view ?"a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client"Peter[/quote] I've always had a broadly similar view on lawyers and those that use them and the law.

If you spend all your time listening to professionals you will get nothing but big bills. Use your intuition and common sense - nothing ventured nothing gained.. I have bought properties in the past that most surveyors would condemn and have never failed to get things sorted easily and cheaply and been very happy. Stop looking for negatives and look for the positives.

Not quite nuns - but it's about the nuns boss..... After getting all of the Pope's luggage loaded into the limo (and he doesn't travel light), the driver notices that the Pope is still standing on the curb. "Excuse me, Your Eminence," says the driver, "Would you please take your seat so we can leave?" "Well, to tell you the truth," says the Pope, "they never let me drive at the Vatican, and I'd really like to drive today." "I'm sorry but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! And what if something should happen?" protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning. "There might be something extra in it for you," says the Pope. Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Supreme Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 105 mph. "Please slow down, Your Holiness!!!" pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens. "Oh, dear God, I'm gonna lose my license," moans the driver. The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio. "I need to talk to the Chief," he says to the dispatcher. The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going a hundred and five. "So bust him," said the Chief. "I don't think we want to do that, he's really important," said the cop. The Chief exclaimed, "All the more reason!" "No, I mean really important," said the cop. The Chief then asked, "Who ya got there, the Mayor?" Cop: "Bigger." Chief: "Governor?" Cop: "Bigger." "Well," said the Chief, "Who is it?" Cop: "I think it's God!" Chief: "What makes you think it's God?" Cop: "He's got the Pope for a limo driver!"

You can buy Jotuls in France check out www.jotul.com for your local dealer. I personally recommend Jotuls some may look a little quirky but are practical and efficient. I bought a lovely little 602N for a mere €100 at a car boot last week. The local Troc has a sad woodburner that needs some TLC - get out and look!

[quote]Would that be Steve Stringer of Paington fame ?[/quote] ? Uh I don't know - the Steve Stringer I would like to find is or was a black and white photographer and printer.

It made me think today about where we live today. I was in the hardware store sorting flue and stuff for a woodburner - there were some more brits there doing the same thing - they had travelled 35 miles or so. We sometimes visit the hardware store twice a day, living 10 miles from a big town has its advantages.

My view is that you have to decide what you want - go find it. Then pays your money. I'd suggest buying a cheap place to explore the buying process or rent for 6 months til you can get to know the area. Have fun....

I am trying to find Steve Stringer an old chum of mine that I am told has gone to live in the Loire region. If anyone knows of him or he reads this please tell him to phone John the Husky Dog in Uk.

[quote]As a matter of common courtesy I would never try to persuade my vegetarian friends to eat any other way. Why do some vegetarians feel that they have the moral high ground and try to persuade those wh...[/quote] We are so similar mine is: Live and let live. (Live and let animals, birds, fish etc live.) and Learn from the diversity of nature and be a good compassionate person.

[quote]Personally, I don't eat pig for a number of reasons. But for me knowing how most of the farmed pigs are kept and what they are fed is more than enough to put me off, thank you! On another lovely not...[/quote] UK is one of the only countries in Europe that systematically dumbs human waste onto the land. It's well known what can happen.

Refried beans, Fullers ESB, Haloumi cheese, perhaps baked beans but if you add some ketchup hint of garlic lemon juice and condiments French Haricots can be made like Heinz Haricots.

Have no problems with our walnuts but any ideas on the best way to store a few hundred weight of sweet chestnuts to be used throughout the year?

[quote]So, 1 serial killer who feeds his victims to pigs tars all meat-eaters with the same brush? Is that your point?[/quote] No my point is that pigs do not systematically abuse humans. Just live and let live.

[quote]People may not want to eat human flesh but pigs will if given the chance;there have been a number of cases of small children and babies and bodies being eaten by pigs(cuddly or not).[/quote] There have also been cases of humans eating humans and humans feeding humans to pigs. I have yet to hear of pigs keeping humans for meat. I was not being anthropomorphic. Recent case: CANADIANS horrified by the discovery of an alleged serial killer in their midst have been confronted with even worse news -- they may have eaten animals that ate the victims. The farmer suspected of killing at least 22 women is feared to have disposed of their bodies by feeding them to his pigs. The pigs were then slaughtered on his farm, 30km east of Vancouver, and the meat given to hundreds of locals. Police this week confirmed samples of the pig meat probably contained human DNA, raising the prospect that those living near the farm of suspected killer Robert William Pickton "ate" his victims. Pickton, 54, apparently had a habit of slaughtering pigs, wrapping up the meat and distributing it to associates and friends. Many of Pickton's victims were prostitutes. The killer regularly gave pork from his farm to other sex workers. "Those are my friends that he served up," said one prostitute this week after learning she may eaten meat contaminated with her friends' DNA. Families of the missing women expressed shock at the news, with one telling a Vancouver radio station: "I'm not eating dinner tonight." Police have asked anyone with frozen pork products from the farm to turn them into authorities immediately. Health officials are examining whether human pathogens and diseases such as hepatitis and HIV could have been transferred through the meat products. Police arrested Pickton in February 2002, but only announced this week they had found human remains and other DNA samples at the farm. Pickton has been charged with 15 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearances of women over the past 20 years. Many of the victims vanished from Vancouver's drug-ridden areas. More than 60 prostitutes went missing over the past decade and are feared to have been murdered at the farm.

That was not an insult it was a suggestion. I do not find it necessary to humiliate, deride or mock men wearing beards.

If you are sick of sanctimony I suggest you give it up....

I was shocked at prices of secondhand goods and furniture. Antique furniture is very expensive - I reckon it's because most is eaten by woodworm or other wood eating bugs. Even the stuff on sale is wormy. Brocantes are not exactly cheap but I find the Troc prices more reasonable. I wonder if skips and rubbish dumps have been invented/discovered in France as there is a lot of absolute junk about. I find Vide Greniers good - what seems to work is to offer 50% of what is asked and when they decline walk away. Either then or when you walk past again they settle for this amount. If the tat in the Brocs and Trocs actually sells there is a living to be made bringing over what general auctions in UK cannot sell and is sent to the tip.

Sorry but I feel physically sick at this discussion. Pigs are beautiful creatures and deserve better than to be eaten. Pork tastes like human flesh - please stop and think...

Not yet being able to get Fullers ESB or Merrydown Cider in Auchan I can recommend the 'La Goudale' bierre Blonde a l'ancienne - a reasonable 7.2% best drunk on the coolside. This is a pokey bit of tackle and a couple of bottles usually does the trick. No more than three bottles before motorcycling home...

Do you have an 888? I used to have an SP4 though finally sold it to buy different bikes for different occasions. What do you class as a sportsbike? Big Dave and I are in 24. Though must admit with advancing years I don't feel the need to roadride during the winter - perhaps you would like to come off-road we have a spare KTM525 if you would like to join us.

We got suckered into the airbrushed glamour of the Intersex Kenetic European Absolute. We trekked to the store in Bordeaux, climbed the dizzy stairs to enter the surreal world of genetically modified ABBA design. It's like entering a tunnel of hate - the mood of the people turns from wonderment through optimism to abject anger. We finally left when Big Dave yelled " If we must buy rubbish lets buy old rubbish made from real wood!" As we left all hot and bothered - there outside the main entrance was a triple pallet made of solid wood, it was big and heavy and we lifted it up and carried it to the van through the bemused crowds of coffee table magazine brain washed same sex couples. We made good our escape with the only real wood from the Princess of Darknesses shoppe. We have since used the wood to build real furniture and the left overs will keep us warm on the fire this winter.