Coco

OH is on his way back from Nimes tomorrow and he needs to get from Gare du Lyon to Paris Montparnasse in 30 minutes to catch his connection.  First question:  Is this possible?  And secondly, can anyone tell me the line(s) he needs to get and maybe if Will is looking in, I know he uses this line regularly, what platform does the Paris-Vire train go from?

Had a look in Mrs Beaton today and she agrees with the R in the month thing for most shellfish, ie September to April being the best time.  Surprisingly however, the best time for crab is said to be August to October.

I think my mum joined about 25 years ago and I can assure you, she wouldn't ask permission of anyone [;-)]  Sorry, I didn't mean to affend anyone, I know the men do an aweful lot of good work too - it's just that it's a bit like joining a golf club for men, sometimes it's necessary to further their career and that's the sort of thing that gets picked up by the press rather than the good things they do.  I don't know of any of the women in my mum's lodge that it would have benefitted on a personal level in any way.  

[quote user="catalpa"] There are (or were) some Lodges set up for women in the UK... but allegedly the women had to seek their husband's permission before they joined. Yep, really wanted a piece of that. [:D] [/quote] There still are plenty and no they don't need their husbands' permission!!!  My mum was a ladymason for many years in the UK.  It's much more oriented to fund raising for good causes - unlike the men's lot which is used much more to further their own ambitions and careers.[;-)]

http://www.nisbets.fr has been good for me.

Well irrespective of her views or comments on teachers she still won the candidacy!  And without the need for a second round of voting. Big changes afoot in France then - either a woman in charge or Sarko!  I wonder if she would be afforded the same understanding if she is discovered to have a lover as previous leading politicians have [6]

[quote user="Russethouse"] I think James said the forum has been going 7 years....... [/quote] In that case it must have been May 2000.  It was definitely AFTER I bought my house and I remember that LF announced that a forum would be "coming soon" and I think, though can't be certain, that they even offered to email you to let you know when it had actually been set up, as at that time they had just a very basic website.  But about 7 years is near enough![:D]

My mum used them too.   I'd give the crew 12/10 for effort, friendliness and efficiency beyond the call of duty, but the owner of the company round about 2.  Don't think I can probably go into detail on here or it will get pulled.  But I cancelled by booking with them on the back of my mum's experience.  PM for details if you want them.

Around May 2000 I think.  I know it was May and it wasn't too long after we bought our house (Aug 1999) so presumably it wasn't 2001. Coco was originally a little brown burmese too.  Someone once thought I had named myself after Ms Chanel, but I wouldn't presume to be so chic and sophisticated, more short and cuddly[;-)]

[quote user="TWINKLE"]I'm going to listen to my Cristmas album to see if that cheers me up![/quote] Thanks Twinks.  I've been trying to think of an upside to OH being away for two weeks.  You've just given it to me.  I'm never allowed to play the Christmas CDs til the first week of December.  I can start tonight if I like now and have a full six weeks of Noddy! [:D] Unfortunately we've never been able to experience the kids Christmas, having none of our own, but I will never forget my nephew, when he was about 4 telling us that they had left a glass of brandy out for Father Christmas (hah!  crafty old dad!) and some carrots for the radiators!!!! [:D][:D]   I always thought it would be a good name for a pop group with a Christmas song.... Santa Claus and the Radiators.

I just had a quick look.  Couldn't find anything at 10 euros but did find incredible deal to get from Paris to Montpellier in 3 hours, second class 35 euros and first class for only 39.90.  The problem is, you can't get home!!!  Even within the special offer period all the fares were normal 90-110 euro prices. [:(]  Thought perhaps I could nip down and deliver friends Christmas presents personally - but La Poste is still going to be cheaper![;-)]

[quote user="Jc"]Supermarkets only have special offers or Faires when then are stuck with something they can't get rid of otherwise.[/quote] Not true AT ALL - what about foires au vins? and certainly up here near the "cold water" coasts the locals celebrate the arrival of the "coquillage" season with foires de St Jacques around the beginning of October. However, of course I can't comment about warmer climes and when is best for seafood down there.  All I do know is that our friends who live near the Med get withdrawal symptoms of our "superior seafood" up here - their words, not mine! [;-)]

[quote user="Jc"]As said in the previous post,many French buy and eat "coquillage" all thro' the summer months but my house,shops and restaurants where I eat are all within sight of the Med.[/quote] You are assuming that ALL French know the right time and way to eat things, just as a lot of French people assume that ALL Brits are hopeless at cooking!  Many have no more idea about the right time to eat seafood than (please excuse me here) Angela says she does. Most professionals will of course SELL you them all year round, they have a business to run, but most will tell you that the BEST time to eat them is in the winter.  And if you notice, most supermarkets have "Foire de St Jacques" etc from October onwards.

[quote user="Russethouse"] I know there have been occasions where ISP's will not communicate with each other which has proved awkward for B&B and Gite owners, I'm surprised there haven't been more questions about this as it looks like a solution. [/quote] I was telling some US guests of ours back in May about the lost bookings I have experienced due to the fact that my wanadoo emails weren't getting through to certain ISPs.  They sent me an invite to gmail that same night and I haven't experienced any similar problems this year.  I also now have gtalk which is similar to Skype - free online phonecalls between gmail customers!  I can't understand why more people don't use these way so f making phonecalls.  I can't seem to get anyone that I speak to regularly interested in signing up.  I think they all think there's some hidden charge or something.

Thanks again for the photo Lynda, it really helped and today I managed to find one - hanging with the saucepans!  Don't know how I managed to miss it before.

Well that's amazing!  The old software never allowed you to do that.  If you tried to use your old name it said that someone else already had it - even though that someone was you!  But now I can return to my original identity and put the St Amour back in the wine rack!!![:D]

Well I've had 3 but only due to the forum format changing over the years and not allowing us to keep our former identities.  Also lost all previous postings, otherwise I'd be up somewhere between 5-10,000 by now I should think!!

[quote user="Russethouse"] One of the first things I remember was a desperate search in the Uk for some toy that Punch's daughters really really wanted for Christmas, it had everyone scouring the shops ! Thanks for the kind words, Punch. [/quote] Yes Gay it was some Disney thing that I was going to bring out for him when we came for Christmas but although I went into the Disney store in Regent Street and most Argos and Toysrus in Herts and central and North London I never did manage to get it for him.

I was here when there were less than ten members, Will, Deards, Mazan and MaggieM, Pixietoadstool amongst them.  The forum grew very rapidly and there were occasions when it got really nasty, with some vicious Trolls that needed banning but on the whole I think it worked because there were such lively "discussions" which these days would most definitely be deleted! [;-)] or locked before they were allowed to develop and then, as inevitably happened back then, peter out. A lot of us still lived in the UK then and met up at the Vive La France exhibition for a couple of years, when Lucy was Forum Admin and she provided a bottle of wine for us all to share - although she didn't have a bottle opener!!! [blink] Thanks for reminding me about MWJ Gay, she sent me an email quite recently and I forgot to reply - I shall rectify that immediately. Abrivado changed her name - she's not as light-hearted or enthusiastic about life in France as she used to be but she has very, very good reason.  She's still here but it's up to her to disclose her identity if she wants to. Mazan did indeed live in Mazan.  I always thought of him as a man, but perhaps "he" was a She.   "He" had lived here for about 25 years, since "he" was in "his" very early 20's and lived with "his" mum and the cat.  One of our more lively discussions was on the subject of hunting I remember [:P]

There again if all seafood is better in the winter (as we are told by all the restaurateurs round here who wouldn't touch oysters, St Jacques or mussels int he summer months - apparently only tourists do that!) why would warmer water help? [8-)]

I'd be more than happy to stick within the region but one or two of the BN would be enough for me then as my name would indicateI'd move on to the St Amour!

It's not tax I'm worried about though Bill, because that does work on the basis of paying in proportion to what you have earnt and I have no problem with that.  It's paying out cotisations whether or not you have the income which concerns us.  Mick just wouldn't have the time to do enough work to cover them if he registered as a separate business, which is why this idea is so appealing.

Can't give a helpful response Val just a bit concerned, as I need to buy some tickets online today for my husband.  The total comes to 227 euros and he needs to travel Monday morning - now I'm a bit concerned about doing it.  I didn't realise that you print your own ticket, not having done it before.  I assumed it would be like Ryanair and you would just be issued with a reference number to collect tickets at the station!

You b****r.  My husband and his mate are putting up the last piece of plasterboard on a 10ft high ceiling as we speak!!!!

Can't remember exactly, but we had to provide the previous year's avis d'impots, a letter from Newcastle to say that they will no longer be covering you (this should come automatically when the E106 runs out) and because our previous year's avis showed that we had only been in France from the April we also had to provide salary slips from the UK for January to March.  Yes contributions are based on earnings.  I was very worried that they were taking 3 months worth of our UK salaries into the equation because we probably earnt more in that three months than we earn in a whole year here.  Anyway, we were very pleasantly surprised with the contributions requested.  They have to be paid quarterly and you are then reviewed each September as to how much you will have to pay the following year.