Dog

There are quite a few micro-breweries in the Dordogne. I would buy the beer but the prices are sky high. I stick to Goudale it is pasteurised but hits the spot. I read of a Brit that set a micro-brewery up in Eyemet and got stifled with laws and ended up doing brewery trips as his only way to make money. Perhaps someone can update us on what finally happened? Met a Brit in Barcelona a master brewer and an incredible man who had set up a brewery in Spain and his life and business was made difficult every step of the way and he ended up bankrupt. He nows runs a real bar in Barcelona - well worth a trip. I must admit about all I miss of the UK is Fullers ESB on draught - especially if you can persuade the landlord to serve it on the day it has been delivered - it efferveses with bits of hops floating around it is amazing, a true elexir of life. It takes time to persuade landlords to break the rules but when they taste it they are hooked too!

Save money with a wood burning oven... Hadn't described this new addition to our outside kitchen having been off line for 6 months. Our pizza oven is very efficient for making lots of pizza and then lots of bread, but it takes quite a lot of wood to heat it up. So we found an old gas oven took out all the gas bits and the insulation plus made a few small mods and use the plate warming drawer to burn wood. A handful of sticks cooks two large loaves - save electricity and gas!

Why not eat with the wife - svae money, time, eat better and have more energy and avoid all the downfalls of eating dead animals. PS Tell the wife if she want to come eat with the like minded she is most welcome.

My use of accidental was probably not the best way to explain an unintended breaking of the speed limit. It is very easy in various situations to inadvertantly break the speed limit. I believe it to be safer looking where I am going than at the speedometer. For the past year with fuel prices as they are I have been travelling at our below the speed limit whenever possible, (my wifelet still chides me for occasionally breaking a limit) I would suggest that it has put me in far more danger than in my previous reincarnation when I drove as fast as possible. In the last week while adhering to the speed limit I have been overtook on double white lines on blind bends and as I slowed to enter villages. I have received various hand signals that I cannot find in driving manuals.

The 'Arab Problem' would probably not exist if Kemal Attaturk had not been so opposed by the British. I would suggest to you all to read 'The Shock Doctrine' by Naoimi Klein to get an insight into how the West and big business is carving the world up for profit. I cannot understand why the English do not rise up, they are treated in many ways in a similar manner to the way the despots and royals in the middle east treat the population.

It is unusual not to see anything enter or exit the holes. Lizards certainly live in holes in the grass whereas slow worm in my experience prefer somewhere damp such as under rocks. It is probably Field Crickets that have moved on. It is good to hear you are concerned for the welfare of the inhabitants of your garden so few people bother - I am angry with my neighbour for shooting anything that moves in the pond near our houses. If it's a sunny warm day and nothing comes in or out dig up one of the holes, I don't think you need to worry about installing the fosse if you find nothing. If you are really lucky you may have Mole Crickets but I doubt that you would be lucky enough to have so many. Mole Crickets are one of my favourite insects, the males sing like a bird to entice a female into his hole - though it must be damp. They are a magnificent scary looking insect.

It seems Tomtom are selling data throughout Europe to the Police and other interested Government agencies. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3f80e432-7199-11e0-9b7a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1NY4BZh4V This makes having a stanav play into the hands of the sleath-taxers who will look at the data and set up mobile traps where people accidently speed.

Went to bed last night listening to BBC Radio 4 - woke up at 4am to hear an interview with this unfortunate woman, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110517/wl_mideast_afp/irancourtjusticeislam_20110517125112 In the interview the attacker had so far been spared being blinded under anesthetic as a doctor was not available - chilling.

Seems to have forgotten Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup and the best UK bluesman must be Tony McPhee. Del Bromham plays the blues well too.

They are amazing - when we first saw it we thought it was an escaped parrot.

Crossy PM me we have a pet electricician who is an absolute gentleman and very very reasonable. Just need to check out if he is available. He is about 40K from you.

It's a big hype by the insurance companies to make more money - if so many johnny foreigners or anyone is making ridiculous trumped up false claims surely it's a stupid insurance company that pays out. We are the idiots for paying these vultures who make fortunes.

In previous years this bird would stay high up in the tree tops but today it was down low in the grape vine in front of my house. What a beautiful bird. [IMG]http://i823.photobucket.com/albums/zz152/wynkindeworde/GoldenOriole.jpg[/IMG]

So am I correct in thinking that the DVLC/Police are going to print out every vehicle registration number that doesn't show up on the insurance database and fine the owners? What a wheeze to make easy money. Quite amusing when the police are not insured and statistically have more vehicle accidents than any other profession.

I went to the tax office today in Perigueux thay had sent an irate letter that I hadn't paid the tax fonciere on my second house. They had sent the bill to England. I got a ticket and then entered the cashiers and asked if I could pay. They said no it was issued in St Astier, I told them that on every previous occasion they wouldn't accept payment and sent me to Perigueux. The man went off and they obviously didn't like my accent as he reappeared with a man that spoke English. He tried to find the house on the computer but couldn't. He said you have a house with a swimming pool, I said yes but this bill is for my second house next door - It doesn't exist he said. OK I said please lose the other one and the swimming pool, he politely said this wasn't possible. He took me upstairs and abandoned me outside another department, they too scratched their heads and computers and said no this house doesn't exist. I told them it did and that usually every year I get to the third floor and speak to a man that get's out paper files and we get things settled. They took me to the third floor, it seems to be for the elite civil servant with lovely views, peaceful quiet and comfortable. The previous occupant retired two years ago and he was very pleasant offering coffee, somehow though I don't think public servants should be able to retire at 50. The new man got the paper files out and said I could pay downstairs, he updated the address for billing. I asked if it would be cheaper to have one big house rather than two - yes he said - so I asked if I needed to join the houses, his reply was negative - he gave me the form and helped me fill it in. I would recommend anyone to let the civil servants fill in the great big confusing forms they dream up, eventually they may make them simpler. I now have one big house instead of two, on paper, plus he let me change the central heating from electric, which they increased the tax for, to wood. I went back down to floor one, got another ticket and visited the cashiers and paid. Hopefully next year the taxes will be lower or they will have managed to lose my property completely.

The Gitanes in our area build little houses which seem to be left empty. They and their friends/family in multiple caravans use the toilet facilities and kitchen in the little house yet sleep in the caravans. I guess if the house is kept empty they avoid habitation tax. They then disappear, for some months finding work perhaps or to another of these little houses I presume.

[quote user="Loiseau"]But hang on. Surely pigs, poultry and fish are omnivorous, and would be eating protein of their own volition if they were in a free situation? Unlike cows, sheep etc, which are herbivores, and are not the subject of the ruling. Angela[/quote] You haven't been to Wales - in a touristy spot in the mountains in I saw some ramblers having their luncheon surrounded by sheep happily eating the ham sandwhiches they were given.

It's simple stop eating meat.

Don't let the bath stewards get you down - no matter what get up and keep punching however week you feel....

[quote user="audio"]Thanks for your comments. Young probably were involved and naturally the parents will protect but in the case I mentioned, the boar entered the owner’s garden and the dogs died trying to protect their master’s property. I was wondering what the law was in dealing with them if they became a menace on ones property. No good asking my local maire, she is always on a ‘day off’ when I ask. Incidentally, walking my dog on a lead, impossible! He needs to and can run a whole lot faster than me.[/quote]     If you don't keep your dog on a leash or control the dog can you blame the wild boar from protecting its own? What sort of dog do you keep? Most dogs will leg it if a boar approaches.

There are lots of wildboar where we live and they regularly come close to our house. We occasionaly meet them while walking in the woods but on the whole they are very secretive and far more interested in getting away from humans and dogs. Perhaps your neighbours dogs attack the boar in which case you can understand the boar defending themselves. I wouldn't worry about them - just keep your dog on a leed.

After seven years in France we get on fine with 4 of our neighbours but rarely see them. they laugh as we know the woods and walks better than them and where to find the mushrooms, wild strawberries, wild lily of the valley etc. For the first time in those seven years I had to lose my temper with the neighbour that lives behind me he lives in the old monastery and we call him 'Y-Fronts and Wellies' as that is usually what he is wearing as he tends his garden all day long. He is the local dirty old man and when there is totty in our swimming pool he sneaks by to look. He told me how he shoots 2 meter long grass snakes and we have seen him taking pot shots with his 12 bore out of his window at rabbits and also at the frogs when they croak loudly in the pond by our house. I have asked he nicely to refrain from killing grass snakes and from shooting the frogs but last week we heard shots and found him by the pond having shot two frogs. Big Dave told him to respect nature but he huffed and puffed and retreated back within the walls of his garden - I said please do not kill the frogs they are good for the environment. His reply was that I didn't understand. It's you that doesn't understand I said it is illegal to kill frogs, toads and newts that live in the pond plus illegal to fire a gun right by someones house in a public area. He couldn't give a monkeys, so I told him if he did it again I was calling the Cops - he sneaked off then and won't acknowledge me now. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...  

Hi we have used Specs by Post in UK for the last few years there service is excellent and they despatch to France. We went to Spec Savers for eye tests which cost £10.50 each as they advised us that there was a £10 off coupon on the back of the parking tickets dispensed in a certain carpark. I bought two minimum stays for £1 and didn't even park. Specs by Post know my measurements, they were making the first pair of glasses for my wife so she sent her last years specs. I got a pair of varifocals with high index lenses with anti scratch coating my wife got a pair of varifocals which automatically darken in bright conditions, total cost £350 including postage. The service is friendly and I recommend them as a happy customer.

The press should be able to print everything they want - let the readers decide what they want to read. The recent furore over super injunctions only hides the multitude of D notices served on the press by the government to hide their sins, reinforce propaganda and divert attention from how to change the rotten corrupt establishment. Try Googling          Birkenhead lawful rebellion       you won't find it mentioned on UK TV or in the press.  

Dang I thought it was yesterday - I drunk the cellar dry and told my mother in law what I thought of her - so now that's another 24 hours of nagging with a hell of a hangover.